Starborn

Science
Fiction

Outer space

Even Newer New Year's Speed IF
Participant

Starborn

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Author(s)	Juhana Leinonen
Publisher(s)	{{{publisher}}}
Release date(s)	08-Jan-2011
Authoring system	Inform 7
Platform(s)	Z-code
Language(s)	English
License(s)	Open Source
Multimedia
Color effects	optional
Graphics	none
Sound/Music	none
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Merciful

How It Begins

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Notable Features

Instead of traditional IF commands, Starborn uses keyword entry. For example, instead of typing a direction like NORTH, the player types the name of the room to visit, e.g.: HALLWAY. Most of the other keywords are names of nearby objects which can be examined. Naming an object will usually just act like EXAMINE [object], but if there's anything else that can be usefully done with the object, that will happen as well.
The SETUP command lists several options on how the player can configure the game's output.
- OPTION [number] lets the player choose how keywords are highlighted. For example, OPTION 1 results in capitalized keywords (this is the default), OPTION 2 results in boldface keywords, and so on.
- KEYWORDS OFF turns off all keyword highlighting.
- KEYWORDS REPEAT turns on an optional message that lists all available keywords at the end of each turn.
- KEYWORDS DEFAULT resets all keyword-related display options to their defaults.
- PROMPT OFF and PROMPT ON toggle the display of the > prompt.

Trivia and Comments

Walker & Silhouette (C.E.J. Pacian; 2009; TADS 3) was an inspiration for Starborn and uses similar mechanics.

Versions

Speed-IF version (Release 1)

Starborn (Juhana Leinonen; 08-Jan-2011; Z-code 5).
- Release 1 / Serial number 110106 / Inform 7 build 6F95 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
- IFID: AD80FFCD-EC11-4BBA-9168-53BF2EDE008C
  IFID links: IFDB
- Even Newer New Year's Speed IF entry.

Note: Version 1 was uploaded to Floyd and played by ClubFloyd as planned. However, the author of Starborn has asked that it not be included as part of the Speed-IF collection. Instead, players should play the post-comp release.

Post-comp version (Release 2)

Starborn (Juhana Leinonen; 15-Jan-2011; Z-code).
- Cover art composed by Juhana Leinonen from images by NASA (Public Domain) and Suiseiseki [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Cover art license CC-BY-3.0.
- Release 2 / Serial number 110116 / Inform 7 build 6F95 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
- IFID: AD80FFCD-EC11-4BBA-9168-53BF2EDE008C
  IFID links: IFDB
- Download Starborn.zblorb from the IF Archive.
- zblorb/z8/source is also available via the Google Code Archive, with effort. (NB, some links on that page don't work)
  - Head of repository is release 3; release 2 requires reconstructing Subversion history from archive zip or svndump.

New features in the post-comp version:

options to change keyword and prompt display,
the Open Source license,
cover art.

Release 3

Starborn (Juhana Leinonen; 29-Jan-2011; Z-code).
- Release 3 / Serial number 110129 / Inform 7 build 6F95 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
- IFID: AD80FFCD-EC11-4BBA-9168-53BF2EDE008C
  IFID links: IFDB
- Download Starborn.zblorb or Starborn.z8 from Github.
- Source code, at Github.

Mostly changes to keywords and synonyms, and keyword hinting. One bug fix.

Undum/Vorple version

Starborn (Juhana Leinonen; 10-Jan-2012; Undum/Vorple)
- Also using Atmospheric Augmentation theme by The Search Engine Guys, LLC ; Music by softspace
- Play online
- Blog post announcing the release of the game

A year after the second Inform 7 release, the work was ported by the author to Undum using the (at the time unreleased) Vorple 1.2 framework. The keywords are replaced by a hyperlink interface, and the game features a dynamic map, as well as music.

Ramus version

Felix Plesoianu ported Starborn to Ramus.

Blog post.
Play online (dead link 🔍).

Links