View source for Parser-choice hybrid

'''Parser-choice hybrid''' (or just '''hybrid''') interactive fiction covers works which are not easily categorised as either [[parser]]-based or [[choice-based]] IF, having some characteristics of both.

==Parser games switching to choice==

Some parser games switch to choice-based play for certain sequences, then back to parser. The choices are usually presented as a numbered menu, and the player makes their choice by entering a number at the [[command prompt]]. This is commonly used for [[menu-based conversation]], which has largely replaced the previously ubiquitous [[ask-tell]]-based conversation in the 2010s. When this kind of choice sequence is used only for conversation in an otherwise parser-driven work, it is generally not considered a hybrid game.

Some works, however, use the numbered menu system to represent not just dialogue, but the player characters's actions during certain sequences. For example:

* ''[[Brain Guzzlers from Beyond!]]'' opens with the player character filling out a questionnaire in a magazine, the result of which determines the player's starting inventory, among other things. The game then switches to parser, and several times later goes back to menu-based input for fast-moving scenes that transition between sections of the game (as well as using menu-based conversation throughout.)

* ''[[Taco Fiction]]'' has menu-based conversation with options that include consequential non-verbal actions such as pointing a gun at people.

==Choice games with parser-like world models==

Some games made with traditional choice systems, like [[Twine]] and [[Ink]], implement a geographical world model with connected [[room]]s as more usually found in parser games. The player [[navigation|moves between adjacent rooms]] by clicking choices, which may show the names of the connected rooms or (more parserishly) [[compass]] directions. Some take the world model further and implement portable [[object]]s which can be carried in the player's [[inventory]]. Examples:

* ''[[Cactus Blue Motel]]'' takes place in a motel that the player moves around by clicking links with the names of adjacent rooms and corridors; many of [[Astrid Dalmady]]'s other games implement similar world models.
* ''[[16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds]]'' models the layout of a burger restaurant and its surroundings, as the setting of a [[puzzle]]-heavy game with many available inventory items and uses for them.

==Reduced parser games==

'''Reduced parser''' games use a parser interface, but with a severely reduced set of commands, effectively giving the player a choice-like, finite set of options at every turn. Many of [[Arthur DiBianca]]'s games fall into this category, notably ''[[Inside the Facility]]'', which accepts only the four cardinal compass directions, LOOK, WAIT and STATUS.

=="Parserless parser" games==

Some games and development systems implement a full parser-like world model, but eschew the parser interface in favour of choice-style buttons or links. Examples:

* ''[[Detectiveland]]'' and many of [[Robin Johnson]]'s other games are written with a [[Homebrew parser|homebrew]] JavaScript engine that includes a geographical world model, portable inventory objects and [[Two-word parser|VERB NOUN]] action model, displaying context-sensitive buttons to show the available verbs.
* [[Gruescript]] is a development system that creates games with the same world model and interface. ''[[The Party Line]]'' was rewritten in Gruescript as its example full-length game.
* [[Mikael Lindqvist]]'s JavaScript system, prototyped in ''[[The Morning Game]]'', implements a world model which shows in-text hyperlinks for locations and objects, with a finite set of verbs (GO TO, LOOK AT, USE, PICK UP and DROP) shown as permanent buttons. Commands are made by clicking a verb, then a word in the text.
* [[Adventure Prompt]] by [[Felix Plesoianu]] [https://github.com/felixplesoianu/advprompt] is an engine for creating web-based games with point-and-click gameplay in a simulated space.

The term '''parserless parser''' was coined by [[Bruno Dias]] in his 2017 essay ''[https://brunodias.dev/2017/05/06/parserless-parser.html Towards a Theory of Parserless Parser Interfaces]''.