Because this is only an introduction to Inform, many features are treated
rather superficially, or ignored altogether. The definitive text is Graham
-Nelson's Inform *Designer's Manual* (Fourth Edition, July 2001), commonly
-known as the DM4; you cannot hope to use Inform successfully without having
-this splendid book by your side. Our guide should be seen merely as a
-supplement to the DM4, offering step-by-step descriptions of those aspects
-of Inform which are most important on first acquaintance. In any matter
-where we seem at odds with what Graham has written, you should assume that
-he is right and that we are, well, confused.
+Nelson's |DM4| (Fourth Edition, July 2001), commonly known as the DM4; you
+cannot hope to use Inform successfully without having this splendid book by
+your side. Our guide should be seen merely as a supplement to the DM4,
+offering step-by-step descriptions of those aspects of Inform which are
+most important on first acquaintance. In any matter where we seem at odds
+with what Graham has written, you should assume that he is right and that
+we are, well, confused.
As a tutorial, this guide is intended to be printed out and then read
sequentially; it isn't meant for online usage or designed as a reference
* http://www.inform-fiction.org/
The Inform home page, maintained by Graham Nelson and a small team of
- helpers. Most important, this is where you can find the *Inform
- Designer's Manual* in PDF format.
+ helpers. Most important, this is where you can find the |DM4| in PDF
+ format.
* http://mirror.ifarchive.org/
Uncommon and deprecated directives
==================================
-You're unlikely to need these; look them up in the *Designer's Manual* if
-necessary.
+You're unlikely to need these; look them up in the |DM4| if necessary.
| `Abbreviate "{string}"... "{string}";`
| `End;`
In order to make the download small and fast, these folders include just
enough to get you started as an Inform designer -- the compiler and
interpreter programs, the library files, the ``Ruins.inf`` example file
- from the *Inform Designer's Manual*, and a template for your own first
- game. A few other folders are included as placeholders where you could
- later download additional components, if you wanted them. As soon as
- possible, you should download the *Inform Designer's Manual* into the
- ``Inform\Doc`` folder -- it's an essential document to have, and has
- been omitted from this download only because of its 3MB size.
+ from the |DM4|, and a template for your own first game. A few other
+ folders are included as placeholders where you could later download
+ additional components, if you wanted them. As soon as possible, you
+ should download the |DM4| into the ``Inform\Doc`` folder -- it's an
+ essential document to have, and has been omitted from this download only
+ because of its 3MB size.
3. To verify that the downloaded files work properly, use Windows Explorer
to display the contents of the ``Inform\Games\MyGame1`` folder: you will
9. Using the same techniques, you can compile and play ``Ruins.inf``, which
is held in the ``Inform\Games\Download`` folder. RUINS is the game used
- as an example throughout the *Inform Designer's Manual*.
+ as an example throughout the |DM4|.
.. rubric:: Setting file associations
In order to make the download small and fast, these folders include just
enough to get you started as an Inform designer -- the compiler and
interpreter programs, the library files, the ``Ruins.inf`` example from
- the *Inform Designer's Manual*, and a template for your own first game,
- which you may copy and rename each time you begin a new Inform project.
- A few other folders are included as placeholders where you could later
- download additional components, if you wanted them. As soon as
- possible, you should download the *Inform Designer's Manual* into the
- ``Inform/Doc`` folder -- it's an essential document to have, and has
- been omitted from this download only because of its 3MB size.
+ the |DM4|, and a template for your own first game, which you may copy
+ and rename each time you begin a new Inform project. A few other
+ folders are included as placeholders where you could later download
+ additional components, if you wanted them. As soon as possible, you
+ should download the |DM4| into the ``Inform/Doc`` folder -- it's an
+ essential document to have, and has been omitted from this download only
+ because of its 3MB size.
3. To verify that the downloaded files work properly, use the Finder to
display the contents of the ``Inform/Games/MyGame1`` folder: you will see
For full details on which library property values can be embedded routines,
and which return values are significant, see :ref:`object-props` and
-Appendix §A2 of the *Inform Designer's Manual*.
+:dm4:`Appendix §A2 <sa2.html>` of the |DM4|.
Return to the marketplace
=========================
.. note::
- Although the text of our guide calls Benny's establishment a "café"
- -- note the acute "e" -- the game itself simplifies this to "cafe".
- We do this for clarity, not because Inform doesn't support accented
- characters. The *Inform Designer's Manual* explains in detail how to
- display these characters in "§1.11 *How text is printed*" and
- provides the whole Z-machine character set in Table 2. In our case,
- we could have displayed this::
+ Although the text of our guide calls Benny's establishment a "café" --
+ note the acute "e" -- the game itself simplifies this to "cafe". We do
+ this for clarity, not because Inform doesn't support accented
+ characters. The |DM4| explains in detail how to display these characters
+ in :dm4:`§1.11 <s1.html#s1_11>` "*How text is printed*" and provides the
+ whole Z-machine character set in Table 2. In our case, we could have
+ displayed this::
The town's favourite for a quick snack, Benny's café has a 50's ROCKETSHIP look.
``before`` property and alter its default, pretty useless behaviour. If
not, it's "Your singing is abominable" for you.
-All actions, useful or not, have a stock of messages associated with
-them (the messages are held in the ``english.h`` library file and listed
-in Appendix 4 of the *Inform Designer's Manual*). We have already seen
-one way of altering the player character's description -- "As good
-looking as ever" -- in "William Tell", but the other defaults may also
-be redefined to suit your tastes and circumstantial needs.
+All actions, useful or not, have a stock of messages associated with them
+(the messages are held in the ``english.h`` library file and listed in
+:dm4:`Appendix 4 <sa4.html>` of the |DM4|). We have already seen one way of
+altering the player character's description -- "As good looking as ever" --
+in "William Tell", but the other defaults may also be redefined to suit
+your tastes and circumstantial needs.
John Covarth, aka Captain Fate, could happily settle for most of these
default messages, but we deem it worthwhile to give him some customised
The effect is that we manage to leave it as it was before we tampered
with it.
-Well, that's about everything about doors. Everything? Well, no, not
-really; any object can grow as complex as your imagination allows, but
-we’ll drop the subject here. If you care to see more sophisticated
-doors, check Exercises 3 and 4 in the *Inform Designer's Manual*, where
-an obliging door opens and unlocks by itself if the player simply walks
-in its direction.
+Well, that's about everything about doors. Everything? Well, no, not
+really; any object can grow as complex as your imagination allows, but
+we’ll drop the subject here. If you care to see more sophisticated doors,
+check Exercises :dm4:`3 and 4 <s6.html#ex3>` in the |DM4|, where an
+obliging door opens and unlocks by itself if the player simply walks in its
+direction.
So far, we have the player in front of a locked door leading to the
toilet. A dead end? No, the description mentions a scribbled note on its
things that we've chosen not to tell you about, but which you're quite
likely to encounter if you look at Inform code written by other designers.
-The tone here is perhaps a little dry, but trust us: in walking this
-dusty ground we touch on just about everything that is fundamental in
-your overall understanding of Inform. And as always, the *Inform
-Designer's Manual* provides rounder and more comprehensive coverage.
+The tone here is perhaps a little dry, but trust us: in walking this dusty
+ground we touch on just about everything that is fundamental in your
+overall understanding of Inform. And as always, the |DM4| provides rounder
+and more comprehensive coverage.
Expressions
===========
social life thanks to Inform." No problem, but you'll have to be one
damn charming designer. Oh, well.
-Inform has been designed to let you do simple things intuitively and
-quickly. Left to its own devices, it offers a wide range of default
-functionality, and we’ve seen that it’s also easy to alter some of its
-standard behaviour. The desirable goal is for you to reach a state of
-such familiarity with the system that you can concentrate on designing
-your games. By "such familiarity" we are not implying that you should
-know the innards of the library inside out; such people exist, but
-they're few and far between. However, once you become reasonably
-proficient at typing in code, with a knowledge level similar to the one
-provided by this guide, a careful look at the appropriate section of the
-*Inform Designer's Manual* should help you through most difficulties.
-Admittedly, there are problems and *problems*, from the slap-on-the-head
-trifle to the teeth-gnashing nightmare. We advise you to put the
-nightmares on hold for the time being. It may be that one day you
-discover that their fangs were not as sharp as they seemed.
+Inform has been designed to let you do simple things intuitively and
+quickly. Left to its own devices, it offers a wide range of default
+functionality, and we’ve seen that it’s also easy to alter some of its
+standard behaviour. The desirable goal is for you to reach a state of such
+familiarity with the system that you can concentrate on designing your
+games. By "such familiarity" we are not implying that you should know the
+innards of the library inside out; such people exist, but they're few and
+far between. However, once you become reasonably proficient at typing in
+code, with a knowledge level similar to the one provided by this guide, a
+careful look at the appropriate section of the |DM4| should help you
+through most difficulties. Admittedly, there are problems and *problems*,
+from the slap-on-the-head trifle to the teeth-gnashing nightmare. We advise
+you to put the nightmares on hold for the time being. It may be that one
+day you discover that their fangs were not as sharp as they seemed.
There are many interesting topics that you could pursue next. Here are a
few:
counsel as you are likely to get. Encourage them to comment on your
achievements in both programming *and* design.
-Now: where to go, what to do? Allow us to insist one last time on the
-importance of reading the *Inform Designer's Manual*, an excellent book
-in all respects. While you are at it, write small games, training
-exercises; we don't advise you to try an epic saga for your first
-scenario, but if nothing else will work for you -- the Think Big
-approach -- don't let us deter you. It's a good idea to play other
-people's games, because you'll know the average level that players may
-expect; check the newsgroups for comments on good titles. Be sure around
-September to keep an eye open for the Interactive Fiction Competition
-(http://www.ifcomp.org/), an annual showcase for short(ish) works.
+Now: where to go, what to do? Allow us to insist one last time on the
+importance of reading the |DM4|, an excellent book in all respects. While
+you are at it, write small games, training exercises; we don't advise you
+to try an epic saga for your first scenario, but if nothing else will work
+for you -- the Think Big approach -- don't let us deter you. It's a good
+idea to play other people's games, because you'll know the average level
+that players may expect; check the newsgroups for comments on good
+titles. Be sure around September to keep an eye open for the Interactive
+Fiction Competition (http://www.ifcomp.org/), an annual showcase for
+short(ish) works.
And, who knows? It might be that next year we’ll all be smashed by
*your* entry.
# ones.
extensions = [
'sphinx.ext.todo',
+ 'sphinx.ext.extlinks',
'tools.blockdiag',
]
# output. They are ignored by default.
#show_authors = False
+# Global substitutions.
+rst_epilog = """
+.. |DM4| replace:: *Inform Designer's Manual*
+"""
+
+# External links.
+extlinks = {
+ 'dm4': ("http://inform-fiction.org/manual/html/%s", ""),
+}
+
# The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
pygments_style = 'friendly'
projects / ibg.git / commitdiff