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| In chapter 1 of <i>Twisty Little Passages</i>, [[Nick Montfort]] writes that the term "was apparently coined by Robert Lafore and popularized by [[Scott Adams]] of [[Adventure International]] more than 20 years ago... and was then used widely by [[Infocom]] to designate their canonical works." (See [http://www.studiob.com/content.asp?cID=183 Lafore, 2002].) The term has been used more generally in some academic writing, to include literary hypertext and other sorts of computer games and digital art. | | In chapter 1 of <i>Twisty Little Passages</i>, [[Nick Montfort]] writes that the term "was apparently coined by Robert Lafore and popularized by [[Scott Adams]] of [[Adventure International]] more than 20 years ago... and was then used widely by [[Infocom]] to designate their canonical works." (See [http://www.studiob.com/content.asp?cID=183 Lafore, 2002].) The term has been used more generally in some academic writing, to include literary hypertext and other sorts of computer games and digital art. |
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| | ''Related articles: [[Eric on Interactive Fiction]].'' |
| [[Category:Glossary]] | | [[Category:Glossary]] |
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| <font size=20 face="geneva"><b>A</b></font>sk--“what is Interactive Fiction to you?” Define it and you make it yours. [http://mirror.ifarchive.org/ Interactive Fiction (IF)] means the reader becomes the lead role in a dramatic game or story. The reader is the player is the actor. He or she actively drives the plot towards climax using the theater of the mind's eye, by essaying words, and receiving sublime answers. IF is the natural language extension of a machine interacting with a user to create or play out experiences and plots, via any interface. By this definition, IF is not just for 1980’s era personal computers like the Amiga, Commodore 64, or IBM PC DOS. IF can, and does, include futuristic games, online websites, and advanced simulators. IF interfaces range from a parsed text terminal to an [http://www-vrl.umich.edu/index.html immersive virtual reality] simulation. An [http://nickm.com/if/rec.html Interactive Fiction story] is what you make it, with your mind’s visualization, imagination, and natural language.
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| It is a misconception among ‘IF purists’ that IF cannot use graphics or video. It is true that most graphics cannot compare to reading a great IF text story (or a good book) and using your mind’s eye to ‘see’ it. But one picture tells a thousand words. The false belief, that IF is just scrolling text, is based only on Infocom’s precedent of starting out that way. Infocom’s game designers wanted full graphics and lots of visual aids, but they were limited by floppy drive size and a lack of graphics on computers. To expand past the floppy drive size limit, and add more story and graphics, Infocom went to great expense to print manuals and add [http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/ external ‘feelies,’ posters, artwork, blueprints, maps, hintbooks], and special swag, to every one of their game products. External ‘feelies’ such as those at [http://feelies.org/ Feelies.org], also prevent software piracy, because their clues are often required to win the games, and collectors want the swag as much as the games. Infocom used in-game graphics in their last four Z6 format games. Infocom always created excellent graphics side-by-side with their IF games. Recently, independent IF author [http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~obrian/IF.htm Paul O’Brian won awards] with his [http://www.wurb.com/if/game/1665 Earth and Sky (EAS) IF game] trilogy. Part three, Luminous Horizon (eas3.blb), adds an excellent digitial ‘feelie’ comic strip.
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| <font size=20 face="geneva"><b>I</b></font><font face="geneva"><b>F is more than the interface. IF is the experience.</b></font>
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| IF [http://www.wurb.com/if/ thrives today in different forms] and [http://www.carouselchain.com/if/statistics.php?limit=50&type=rate the best modern IF] has a [http://www.xyzzynews.com/if-links.html growing community] of [http://emshort.home.mindspring.com/literacy.htm facile authors] and [http://www.eblong.com/ inept players] ( ;-D ). IF can have more than one user sharing the same story or multiplayer game. IF -- or portraying IF style natural language experiences -- is imitated in many walks of life, computer games, software simultations, websites, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD Multi-User Dungeons (MUD’s)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPG’s)], movies, anime, science-fiction, and pop-culture. What else can you think of that is inspired by natural language IF?
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| --[[User:Eric.xyzzy|Eric.xyzzy]] 09:42, 6 Mar 2005 (Central Standard Time)
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| * The ifwiki [http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Theory Theory wiki].
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| * The ifwiki [http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/FAQ F.A.Q. article] by [[Nick Montfort]].
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Revision as of 19:26, 6 March 2005
A computer program that generates textual narrative in response to user input, generally in the form of simple natural-language commands (e.g. "take keys" or "headmaster, tell me about Malcolm"). Following instructions encoded by the designer, a computer sends typed input through a parser to identify its grammatical structure, then respond by describing, in a few lines or paragraphs, whether or to what extent the game world has changed in response to the action requested by the player. The game might also announce that the input was not understood, or ask the player for additional clarifying input.
In chapter 1 of Twisty Little Passages, Nick Montfort writes that the term "was apparently coined by Robert Lafore and popularized by Scott Adams of Adventure International more than 20 years ago... and was then used widely by Infocom to designate their canonical works." (See Lafore, 2002.) The term has been used more generally in some academic writing, to include literary hypertext and other sorts of computer games and digital art.
Related articles: Eric on Interactive Fiction.