Menu "How to Play IF" Pages

[Roody_Yogurt]

Another thing that I think would be helpful (well, it'd benefit me, at least) is if someone threw together some "how-to-play IF" pages with our own spin that we could use just for Hugo games.

I know such things are out there already. I am hesitant to use those because 1) I know that at least one common one out there is more verbose than I'd like (I think it's fantasy-heavy, too) and 2) I figure we could have one with our own "Hugo" spin on it.

I see CZK handles this by including Stephen Granade's "What is Interactive Fiction?" article and then has a page of game-specific commands.

Among the things I think such a page could cover is some of the "lost" Hugo meta commands- things like RECORD ON/OFF, PLAYBACK, DISPLAY WIDE/TALL. I think it's getting to the point that the only people who remember features like this exist are people who used them 10+ years ago.

Anyhow, instead of writing the damned thing myself, I thought I'd mention it here first in case such a task is really up anyone's alley. Otherwise, I guess I'll get around to it eventually...

[Bainespal]

Among the things I think such a page could cover is some of the "lost" Hugo meta commands- things like RECORD ON/OFF, PLAYBACK, DISPLAY WIDE/TALL. I think it's getting to the point that the only people who remember features like this exist are people who used them 10+ years ago.

I don't think I ever knew about those, either. Maybe I heard about them a long time ago and forgot. So, yes, a Hugo-specific tutorial would be helpful!

These features aren't prominent in the Hugo Book, are they? I'm busy with college work, but I won't always be -- maybe I will be able to try drafting a Hugo-players tutorial in a couple months. I'll have to find the original sources of documentation myself first, of course, so I can learn what I'm supposed to be writing about. ;)

[Roody_Yogurt]

They're mentioned in the Hugo Book. They just aren't commonly used.

RECORD ON/ PLAYBACK are the commands for recording just the commands of a play session. It's mainly used by authors testing a walkthrough between different builds. This is mainly the command that annoys me when I can't remember it. Some interpreters (like Windows Frotz, I believe) add an option in the interpreter for it, which is an ok way to handle it, but it'd probably be better to just note it better in Hugo game documentation.

DISPLAY TALL / WIDE changes how listings (like >INVENTORY) show up. I <i>think</i> it mainly exists because of small-screen ports like the PalmOS port, but who knows. This one is less important, but still.

[RetroRomper]

The Tall / Wide option is still relevant, as this was a feature I wish the TADS interpreter for the iphone contained (though it is TADS and I assume the hugo Tall / Wide option had more to do with fitting pictures into the available windows than anything else).

But maybe expand on this and describe deprecated IF commands in general? I know there is functionally in I7, TADS, and Hugo I'm missing because of a lack of time to wade into the Hugo Book.

A general overview of some kind (tracing a bit of the history as well perhaps) would both be intriguing and welcome.

[Johnny]

(though it is TADS and I assume the hugo Tall / Wide option had more to do with fitting pictures into the available windows than anything else).

Inform 5/6 had it in the standard library. I7 seems to have dropped it, like it dropped 'dig'.