Gargoyle

Gargoyle
Interpreter
Link	Download
Developers	Tor Andersson, Ben Cressey
Formats	AdvSys, AGT, Alan 2, Alan 3, Glulx, Hugo, Level 9, Magnetic Scrolls, Quest, TADS 2, TADS 3, Z-code
Interaction style
Systems	Windows, Mac, Linux
System details
Latest version	2019.1 / 18 Nov 2019
Status	Stable
Implements
Uses
Multimedia support	Different for each game format
License
Notes	Original OS list: Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows. Written in C++, C. Licence: GPL (front-end code), others (interpreters). Original Gargoyle homepage. Other format: JACL.
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NOTE: This article is about the interpreter. For the ChoiceScript game by Simon, see Gargoyle (game).

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Gargoyle is a Glk API library for both the UNIX and MS-Windows operating systems. It was specially designed to optimize the typography of the I/O system. Gargoyle was originally developed by Tor Andersson. It is currently maintained by Ben Cressey.

The name Gargoyle is also used to refer to the set of interpreters (with a common front-end) which Andersson ported to use his Gargoyle library. The interpreters currently (as of June 2009 with some 2017 edits) included in this set are:

• for ADRIFT games:
  • Glk SCARE 1.3.10

• for AdvSys games:
  • AdvSys 1.2

• for AGT games:
  • Glk AGiliTy 1.1.1

• for Alan games (v2 and v3):
  • ARUN 2.8(6)
  • ARUN 3.0 beta2

• for Hugo games:
  • Hugo 3.1

• for Inform & Infocom games:
  • Z-code (Z-machine VM):
    • Glk Frotz 2.50
    • Nitfol 0.5
    • Glk Bocfel 0.6.3.2
      • partial version 6 support
  • Glulx VM:
    • Git 1.3.4
    • Glulxe 0.5.2

• for Level 9 games:
  • Glk Level9 5.1

• for Magnetic Scrolls games:
  • Glk Magnetic 2.3

• for TADS 2 and TADS 3 games:
  • TADS 2.5.12/3.0.16
  • HTML TADS is not supported yet.

• for Quest games:
  • Geas 0.4

• for JACL games:
  • JACL 2.3.14

Specifics

Gargoyle is intended to care about typography, that is, to render the IF in a way most comfortable for reading. Features include specially chosen fonts, kerning, ligatures, text justification and many others. The options can be fine tuned in the simple text file 'garglk.ini'; for example, using Notepad on MS Windows, the text justification can be turned on by changing the line containing:

justify		0	# 0=ragged-right 1=justified

to

justify		1	# 0=ragged-right 1=justified

See also: Spatterlight, a similar program for MacOS X.

Links

• Gargoyle - Gargoyle's homepage.
• Unofficial build for Mac OS 10.12. Released November 2016.
• Updated version on GitHub - Supports Unicode. Updated by new developers. Note the Issues for bug reporting has relative high levels of activity.
  • New features in the 25 August 2009 release include color support for Frotz/Z-Machine, copy/paste support to and from the text buffer, and Glk hyperlinks support.
  • Mac binary (1 Jan 2012) with increased undo buffer (needed for "undo" in Counterfeit Monkey)
• Modified Gargoyle (description is in Italian though) (Broken link. No archived copy)
• Gargoyle for Amazon Kindle for the e-ink low-power devices, which uses GTK 2.0 in the Kindles.