Past raif topics: Miscellaneous

This is a collection of miscellaneous Past raif topics not directly to do with the development of IF.

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.

Courses in IF

See also => A sample one week and one month syllabus on IF (Nick Montfort)

• Course in IF (Jan 2003)
• Teaching class on IF (Sep 2003)
• Teaching IF writing (Inform 7) + presentation/content of manuals (Jun 2007)
• Designing a curriculum for interactive design / game design (Apr 2007)

Books

See also => Book list (IFWiki article)
See also => "Game Design: Theory and Practice" review (Brass Lantern)

• Suggested reading related to IF (Jan 1997)
• Recommended reading (IF related) (May 1992)
• Influential books / references about IF (Jan 1991)
• Best books on interactive storytelling? (Feb 2007)
• IF Theory bibliography (Aug 2007)
• Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to IF (Nick Montfort) (Apr 2004)
  See also => Twisty Little Passages
• Second Person book review (Feb 2007)
• Creating Emotion in Games
• Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
  See also => review by Emily Short
• IF Theory book / academia vs others (Dec 2001)
• IF Theory book / narrative vs puzzle (Nov 2001)
• Hamlet on the Holodeck (book review) / stories (Sep 1998)
• Infocom books (Enchanter, etc) (May 1993)
  See also => Played the Game? ... Now Read the Book!

Humor

See also => Humor and Examples of Humor in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also in the IF Archive)

• RAIF Pool, the ultimate IF language (Apr 1996) ..
• RAIF Pool #2 (Jan 1999)
• If life was like IF ... (Sep 1995, RGIF)
• The well dressed adventurer (Aug 1997) ..
• Signs you've been spending too much time on RAIF (May 1998)
• You've been coding too much Inform when ... (Jan 2001)
• You know you've played too much Infocom when ... (XYZZY article) (May 1996)
• The "IF cabal" comes clean (Jul 2002, RGIF)
• Chicken crossing the road (Jul 1998)
• Getting a kitten out of a tree (Jun 1999)
• Silly game elements: round one (May 1996)
• Silly game elements: round two (May 1996)
• Silly game elements: round two #2 (May 1996)
• Silly game elements: round three (May 1996)
• Murphy's rules of IF (Aug 1996)
• Make IF fast ! (Sep 1996)
• Playtester available immediately ! (Dec 1993)
• Announcing "Zork: Mimesis" (Apr 1996)
• NPC's point of view (transcript) (Jun 2005)
• Songs translated into IF commands (Jul 1998, RGIF)
• How to order a bagel / toroidophagic intent (Jul 2000)
• IF Haikus (Jul 2000)
• Game author sued for mentioning "caves" (Sep 2000)
• Shooting yourself in the foot in various languages (Jun 1999)
• Snap - a new IF language ! (Apr 2004, RGIF)
• Funny game quotes (Nov 2002, RGIF)
• Favorite game responses (Oct 2000, RGIF)
• In MY day ... The Four Yorkshiregeeks (April 2007, RGIF)
• Adventurer's creed (May 2007, RGIF)
• Difficult-things-to-implement minicomp idea (Jan 2007)
• When the moon hits your eye (Inform 7) (May 2006)
• Inform 7 poetry (adaptation of "A une Damoyselle malade") (May 2007)

Quizzes

See also => The Great Interactive Fiction Excerpt Hunt (Part 2, Part 3) by Jason Dyer

• IF title quiz + game name anagrams and palindromes (Mar 2007, RGIF)
• IF author quiz (anagrams) (Mar 2007, RGIF)

History / Infocom

See also => The history of IF .. "Let's Tell A Story Together" (history of IF) .. A brief history of amateur IF .. The Colossal Cave Adventure page (& Wikipedia article)
See also => Timeline of IF (Brass Lantern) .. Timeline of Adventure Game History
See also => Infocom home page .. The Infocom Page .. The Storybook History of IF (Infocom) .. Infocom game trivia (archive) (XYZZY News)
See also => New Zork Times and The Status Line archives
See also => History of IF: Level 9 (Brass Lantern)
See also => Infocom .. Infocom games (IFWiki articles)
See also => if-archive/infocom

• Adventure: Crowther's original source code found (Aug 2007)
• Milestones in the history of IF (Sep 1993)
• Why text adventures died (Oct 22)
• Infocom fact sheet (chronology, list of games, etc) (Dec 1992)
• History of Infocom (Dec 2000)
• History of Inform language & Z-Code (Jan 2000)
• Zork Implementation Language (ZIL) (Feb 1996)
• Infocom data file format (Feb 1991)
• Best Infocom game (Mar 1997, RGIF)
• Favorite Infocom games (Dec 1992)
• Favorite Infocom moment (Aug 1996, RGIF)
• Worst Infocom game (Apr 1994)
• Least satisfying Infocom games (Dec 2000)
• Most difficult Infocom game (Oct 2000)
• Difficulty levels of Infocom games (Jul 1997, RGIF)
• Infocom books (May 1993)
• Copy protection schemes in Infocom games (Sep 1992, RGIF)
• How do you picture the large white house in Zork ? (Nov 2006, RGIF)
• Brief history of IF from 1996-2006 (Jan 2007)

Polls / surveys

• What kind of IF author are you ? (Jan 2004)
• How did you get hooked on IF / changed opinions of IF / favorite puzzle (Jul 1994)
• Initial experience of IF (Apr 1999, RGIF)
• Why do you play IF? (brief stories) (Mar 2007)
• Age of RAIF people (Jun 1997)
• Average age of IF authors (Feb 2001)
• Demographics of "1893: A World's Fair Mystery" players (player age) (Jul 2007)
• Unfinished WIPs (Feb 2003)
• What are you working on? (Dec 2006)
• Sequels you would like to see made (Sep 2006)
• Games people would love to see (Jun 2005, RGIF)
• How people design games (Aug 1995)
• How long to learn IF system / write a game ? (Jun 1999)
• Time taken to write game (May 2003)
• Time taken to write IF comp game (Jul 2000)
• Taste in games / what people like (Mar 1995)
• Prefer long or short games ? (Aug 1997)
• Longest IF game you have played / would play (Apr 1996)
• Style / game type preferences (Nov 1996)
• Style / game type preferences #2 (Nov 1996)
• Preferred narrative form in IF (1st/2nd/3rd person & tense) (Jun 2007)
• How people came up with game titles (May 2003)
• What would you like to see in a game ? (Mar 2004, RGIF)
• Ideas for first attempts at IF (Nov 2003)
• Game ideas / things already done (Apr 2001)
• Settings / what has already been done (May 2001)
• Settings done before in IF games (Dec 1999)
• Desired extensions to Inform (June 2004)
• Which OS people use for development (Jul 2002)
• Perfect world / if given unlimited resources for IF (Mar 1999)
• The perfect game (Jun 2001)
• Favorite game (Apr 2006, RGIF)
• Least favorite puzzles (Oct 1995, RGIF)
• Most hated puzzle (Feb 1998)
• Cruellest puzzle (Jun 1997)
• Fiendishly cruelest game still worth playing (Apr 2007, RGIF)
• Hardest (fair) non-puzzlefest games (Jan 2007)
• Best game endings (Jun 1998, RGIF)
• Best game ending (Aug 2007, RGIF)
• Good game endings (Mar 1995, RGIF)
• Good beginners' IF (Mar 2007, RGIF)
• Good non-dead-ending games (Apr 2007, RGIF)
• Good story games (ie. non puzzle games) (Feb 2000)
• Character-driven games (Dec 2006, RGIF)
• Funny games (Apr 1997, RGIF)
• Scary games (Jan 2007, RGIF)
• Music to listen to while playing IF (Nov 1999)

Recommended Games

See also => Interactive Fiction Recommendations (Nick Montfort) .. IF Literacy (Emily Short) .. 50 Best Games (pre 2000) (archive)
See also => Recommended_games (IFWiki article)

• Adventure game canon / most important games (Jun 1996)
• Canon of IF / most influential games (Oct 1999)
• IF game recommendations (Jan 1999)
• Favorite IF game (poll) (Mar 2006)

Children, Education and IF

See also => Teaching and Learning with Interactive Fiction .. IF in the Classroom (Brendan Desilets)
See also => Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) using IF .. Teaching Critical Thinking using IF (Brass Lantern)

• Kids' interest in IF (Aug 2005)
• Writing IF for children (Sep 2000)
• Children and IF - problem solving and compass directions (Sep 2000, RGIF)
• IF games for children / recommendations (Oct 1998)
• IF games suitable for kids (Sep 2005, RGIF)
• IF suitable for children (Aug 2000, RGIF)
• IF games for children (Dec 2006, RGIF)
• Children authoring IF (Inform 7) (Apr 2007)

Web based IF

• Web based IF games (Nov 1998)
• Web based IF (Dec 1999)
• Web based IF (May 2005)
• Web based IF (SSM / Standard Stateless Mode) (Sep 1999)
• Putting text adventures on the web (Sep 1999)
• Any IF online ? (Jun 2005)

Relatives of IF

See also Choose your own adventure .. Role-playing_game .. CRPG .. Mud (IFWiki articles)

• Static fiction vs IF (Sep 2001)
• Static fiction vs IF + puzzle fairness, narration and simulation (Jan 2006)
• Adapting static fiction (Tower of the Elephant) (Nov 2006, RGIF)
• Writing IF when used to writing static fiction (Jun 2002)
• I-Story telling vs I-Fiction (Jan 2004)
• Hypertext fiction (Oct 1994)
• Hyperfiction / hypertext fiction (May 1995)
• IF and game books (Apr 2007)
• Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) (Jan 2004)
• Choose Your Own Adventure system (May 1998)
• Choose Your Own Adventure + comments on Photopia (Dec 1998)
• Choose Your Own Adventure system ideas (Jan 1998)
• Choose Your Own Adventure & MUDs & IF (Jan 2000)
• IF vs MUDs (Apr 1998, RGIF)
• MUDs & IF (Jan 2004)
• Adding plots / storylines to MUDs (Feb 1997)
• Difference between IF and MUDs (Feb 1998)
• MUDs & multi player IF (Jan 1993)
• MUDs and multi user IF (Nov 1994)
• Role playing & IF (Feb 1999)
• Role Playing Games (RPGs) & IF (Dec 2000)
• RPG elements in IF + disabling undo (Reqliques of Tolti-Aph) (Apr 2006)
• Using RPG elements in IF (Oct 2006)
• Things found in RPGs not desirable in IF (Dec 2000)
• RPGs & IF / FUDGE as an IF system (Dec 2000)
• Myst vs text adventure (May 1998)
• Point and click adventures (May 1998)
• Roguelike games (Feb 1997)
• 3D Interactive Fiction (Sep 1998)
• IF & 3D engines (Quake) (Jun 1998)
• 3D Interactive Fiction? (Jul 2007)

Accessibility / IF for Individuals that have low vision and/or poor hearing

• IF for the visually impaired (June 2001, RGIF)
• Playability by the blind (Apr 2005)
• Access to adventure games for Deaf-blind (Sep 2000)
• Multimedia and blind IF players (Jul 2007)
• IF on terminals and the like (graphics / GUIs) (Jan 2007)
• IF & voice technologies (Jul 2003)
• "Talking" IF (Feb 1997)
• Story Harp authoring system for audio text adventures (Apr 1988)