Past raif topics: Development: part 1
From IFWiki
This is part one (of two) of a collection of Past raif topics to do with the "development" side of IF creation.
The rest may be found at Past raif topics: Development: part 2.
If you add or change any of the sections on this page, remember to update the entry on the Past raif topics page as well.
Intro to IF creation
See also => Writing IF games in the IFaq
See also => Lessons Learned The Hard Way: Advice for creating your first game (XYZZY News article) (archive)
See also => Writing IF at Chateâu d’IF
- Advice for non-programmers learning to write IF (Apr 2006)
- Making IF (Jan 2004)
- How to make IF (Jul 1999)
- Getting started writing IF / learning curve (Feb 2002)
- Getting started / IF systems (Oct 1998)
- Starting out advice (Dec 2000)
- New to writing IF (Oct 1999)
- Writing IF when used to writing static fiction (Jun 2002)
- Writing without having played much IF (Jan 2003)
- Need to know a programming language already ? (Nov 1999)
- IF & non programmers (Feb 2002)
- Lessons learned (Aug 2000)
- My game is ready ... now what? (releasing a game / IF competitions) (Feb 2007)
Authoring systems in general
See also => Choosing a Text Adventure Language (Brass Lantern)
See also => Cloak of Darkness IF language comparison page (Roger Firth)
See also Authoring system (IFWiki article)
- Comparison of IF systems / Cloak of Darkness sample game (Sep 1999)
- Strengths and weaknesses of most popular IF languages (Jan 2007)
- Most used IF creation system? (Jul 2007)
- Which IF engine is the best (Mar 2000)
- New IF author advice (IF languages) (Nov 2006)
- Choosing a tool (Oct 2004)
- Easiest adventure creator ? (Mar 1999)
- Easiest IF system (Jul 2003)
- Best IF language for a beginner (Feb 2007)
- Which IF language for beginners (Feb 2003)
- Game creator for dummies ? (Aug 2002)
- Best language for graphics (Feb 2003)
- Platform (IF system) poll (Jun 2007)
- Why your IF language was chosen (poll) (Oct 1998)
- Best IF language for coding AI and NPCs (Feb 2007)
- IF creation systems - power & flexibility always required? (Dec 2006)
Inform, TADS & Hugo authoring systems
See also => Tier 1 authoring systems
See also => Inform home .. TADS home .. Hugo info page
See also => Inform .. Inform 7 .. TADS .. TADS 3 .. Hugo (IFWiki articles)
See also => A Comparison of TADS 3 and Inform 7 by Eric Eve
- Big three - Inform, TADS, HUGO (Aug 2004)
- TADS vs Inform vs Hugo (May 2003)
- Hugo vs TADS / Inform (Sep 1996)
- Relative difficulty of Inform / TADS / Hugo (Apr 2001)
- Why more Inform than TADS games ? (Jan 2001)
- TADS or Inform or other (Sep 2004)
- TADS vs Inform comparison (Sep 2000)
- Inform vs TADS + extending the Z machine (May 1998)
- Look-and-feel of Inform / TADS (Jan 1997)
- Most platforms supported (TADS vs Inform) (Dec 1998)
- Quality of IF languages & compilers (Inform) (Dec 1996)
- Limitations of Inform & TADS (Nov 1995)
- TADS & Inform the only IF languages ? (Jul 1998)
- What exactly is Inform ? (May 1999)
- Future of Inform (Nov 1998)
- Original ideas for TADS 3 (Aug 1994)
- TADS 3 design - globals (Sep 2003)
- TADS 3 General Release announcement (Sep 2006)
- Hugo language (Sep 2000)
Inform 7 / Natural Language Programming
See also => Inform 7 (IFWiki article)
- Inform 7: possible future developments (Jan 2007)
- Inform 7 Public Beta release announcement (May 2006)
- Reponses to Inform 7 related White Paper ("NL, SA and IF") (May 2006)
- More responses to White Paper (Inform 7) (Jul 2006)
- Natural Language interfaces + logic programming and IF (Sep 2006)
- Natural Language programming / Dijkstra (Jul 2006)
- Blessings of Natural Language programming (Aug 2006)
- Philosophy behind design of Inform 7 (Jun 2007)
- Stylistic differences between Inform 6 and 7 (May 2006)
- Differences between Inform 6 and 7 (Nov 2006)
- Popularity of Inform 6 since release of Inform 7 (Apr 2007)
- "Inform 7" is the wrong name (Mar 2007)
- First impressions of Inform 7 (May 2006)
- Initial reactions to Inform 7 (May 2006)
- More reactions to Inform 7 / logical IF language ideas (Jul 2006)
- Why is it hard to do simple stuff ? (Inform 7) (Aug 2006)
- Observations on using Inform 7 (May 2006)
- Reflections on Inform 7 (Spider & Web toolcase) (Jun 2006)
- Thoughts on Inform 7 + importance of a powerful Virtual Machine (Feb 2007)
- Thoughts on Inform 7 / publishing + bundling games into executables (Feb 2007)
- Readability of Inform 7 code (Apr 2007)
- Inform 7 & non-English IF (Dec 2006)
- Intervening in actions in Inform 7 (before, instead, etc) + logic programming and IF (Jul 2006)
- How to organize Inform 7 source code (Nov 2006)
- When the moon hits your eye (Inform 7 humor) (May 2006)
- Inform 7 adaptation of poem "A une Damoyselle malade" (May 2007)
Learning Inform / TADS / etc
See also => "House" Inform Tutorial .. Roger Firth's Inform FAQ .. Inform programming tips
See also => TADS Tutorial .. TADS tip sheet (1996)
- Learning Inform (Aug 2003)
- Learning the Inform language (Aug 2000)
- Advice about learning Inform (Apr 1996)
- Dream "Inform for dummies" book (Dec 1997)
- Inform programming tips (Oct 1994)
- Inform trivia quiz / tricky corners of Inform (Jul 1995)
- Confusing things about Inform (Jun 1995)
- Getting started using TADS (Nov 1992)
- TADS 2 tip sheet (Mar 1994)
Other authoring systems
See also => Easy IF Languages (Alan and Adrift) (Brass Lantern)
See also => Adrift home .. Alan info
- Alan IF language (Oct 1992)
- How powerful is Alan ? (Sep 1996)
- Alan language + annoying parsers (Nov 1999)
- Experiences with different systems (Hugo, Alan, AGT) (Jun 1996)
- Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) / IF & non programmers (Oct 1996)
- Adrift, CAT, Quest - simple authoring systems (Aug 2003)
- Quest 4.0 IF development system (Jan 2007)
- Quest IF authoring system (Oct 1999)
- Review of StoryHarp IF creation system (May 1998)
- COOL IF system (Jan 1993)
- SUDS simple IF system + selling software (Oct 1999)
- Review of SUDS IF system (Nov 1999)
- CAVE IF system (announcement) (Feb 1999)
- CAVE IF system + adverbs (Dec 1998)
- "START" parser (Mar 1997)
- "Mob" smalltalk-like multi user adventure game language (Mar 1990)
- PAW & Scott Adams adventure interpreter coding system (Apr 1996)
- CircumReality multi-player IF development toolkit (Mar 2007)
- (Humor) RAIF Pool, the ultimate IF language ! (Apr 1996)
Writing IF in a general programming language
See also => Adventure in Prolog (online book)
See also => Homebrew Parsers in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also in the IF Archive)
- Using an IF language vs a general language (Jan 2003)
- Difference between IF languages & general languages (Mar 1998)
- IF in a general language + multiinside & multiexcept (Jul 1999)
- IF engines in other prog languages (Jun 2001)
- Poll: using a general language vs IF language (Sep 2000)
- Writing IF in C / other non-IF languages (Feb 2000)
- Writing IF in C + words recognized by Infocom games (Feb 2000, RGIF)
- Writing IF in C (with Z machine as target) (Sep 2006)
- C library for creating IF ? (Sep 1998)
- Writing a text adventure in C++ (Aug 1998)
- Coding an IF game from scratch (C/C++) (Jul 1998)
- Writing IF in C++ (Dec 2001)
- Writing IF using C++ (Aug 2000)
- Using C++ to make IF (Apr 1996)
- IF# (a .NET IF language) (Aug 2003)
- WhatIF language (written in Ruby) (Jun 2005)
- PAWS - Python Adventure Writing System (Jan 2004)
- Python Universe Builder (Mar 2001)
- Java as an IF authoring language (May 1998)
- LISP like IF engine + Inform vs TADS (May 1998)
- GINAS, a LISP IF system (Jun 1999)
- Lisp IF Library - proof of concept version (Aug 2005)
- + Why Scheme is good for IF + incremental compilation (Feb 1996)
- Using Smalltalk for IF (Sep 1997)
- IF in Smalltalk (Aug 2001)
- IF in perl / other languages (Mar 2004)
- Inform-like objects in Perl (Jun 1999)
- Using PROLOG for IF / non-imperative parsing (Jul 2002)
- Example PROLOG code for a game (Jan 2000)
- Reasons to use Prolog for IF (Oct 1996)
- IF in Prolog (ideas) (Aug 1991)
- IF in LISP / Prolog (Mar 1992)
- Writing IF in Prolog (Mar 1994)
- Using Prolog for IF (Apr 1995)
- "NPC programming language" / planner (Prolog) (Oct 1996)
- Visibility / line of sight / surfaces with "inside" & "outside" (Prolog) (Sep 1996)
- Making IF using Visual Basic 5 + create-by-playing (Jun 1998)
- Writing IF in QuickBasic (Feb 1996)
- Porting games from BASIC (Oct 2000)
Creating an IF language
See also => Building_a_new_interactive_fiction_system (IFWiki article)
See also => So you want to write a text adventure authoring system (XYZZY News article) (archive)
See also => IF Authoring System Developer's Guide
- Why do IF languages exist (TADS, Inform, etc) ? (Mar 1998)
- Any need for complex IF languages (TADS, Inform ,etc) ? (May 2005)
- What's wrong with existing IF languages (Jul 2002)
- Disadvantages & false advantages of IF languages (Mar 2002)
- What makes some IF systems unpopular ? (Aug 2001)
- On developing a new IF system (Jul 2002)
- Lessons learned creating an IF authoring system ? (Jul 2005)
- IF language design (Apr 1996)
- Why newcomers struggle with IF (parser intelligence, etc) (Sep 2005)
- Authoring System evaluation criteria (Dec 1995)
- Ideal IF language (Jan 2006)
- Requirements for a good IF language / system (Aug 2003)
- What should an IF authoring system be like ? (Sep 1997)
- Features of an IF authoring system (Aug 2000)
- Kinds of features for an IF language / "forwarders" (Mar 1990)
- Implementing "forwarders" for an IF language (Feb 1989)
- IF engine feature requests (Aug 1999)
- IF language wish list (Apr 2003)
- Simple / intuitive IF systems (Nov 1999)
- Simple / visual authoring tools + dream "Inform For Dummies" book(Dec 1997)
- Building an IF engine / Cycon Online Gaming Engine (Apr 1999)
- Creating an IF language (Jan 2003)
- Creating an IF language #2 (Jan 2003)
- Ideas for an IF language (Jan 2003)
- Ideas for design of a new IF language (Nov 1993)
- Draft specs for a new IF platform (Jan 2006)
- New IF engine ideas (Feb 2006)
- Best syntax for an IF language (Mar 2002)
- Syntax / style of new IF language + virtual machines (Jun 1998)
- IF languages & encapsulation (Apr 2003)
- New IF engines + complex parsing (Sep 1999)
- Dropping an object: checks done by IF engine (Aug 2001)
- Criteria for comparing game engines (Mar 2002)
- Easy & difficult IF system designs (Jul 2003)
- + Incremental compilation + why Scheme is good for IF (Feb 1996)
- New IF langs & plot driven IF (Aug 2003)
- Calling one IF lang from another (Oct 2003)
- Object Oriented IF languages (Oct 1992)
- Object Oriented approach to IF / world organization (Jan 2000)
- "Verb" vs "Object" Oriented (Nov 1998)
- IF language with classes for verbs / hierarchy of actions (Feb 2007)
- Alternate Object Oriented prog model (Feb 2004)
- Using multiple dispatch in an IF system (Feb 2002)
- Rule based systems / scripts triggered by events ("Haunt" game) (May 2005)
- Programming model for IF / rule precedence (Jan 2006)
- Properties and more (rule based IF) (Sep 2006)
See also => Rule-Based Programming (Andrew Plotkin) - Rule ordering by grouping (Inform 7) (Oct 2006)
Potential for IF language for non programmers
- Idea for program to help non-programmers write IF #1 (Jul 1998)
- Idea for program to help non-programmers write IF #2 (Jul 1998)
- What do non programmer types want in an IF language ? (May 2005)
- An easier IF language ? (Feb 1998)
- IF & non programmers (Aug 1994)
- IF & non programmers / Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) (Oct 1996)
- IF as easy to program as it ever will be (Jun 1998)
- Cannot avoid the need to "program" to make IF (Nov 1995)