The Best IF system?

[Bimbam Wakawaka]

So if I wanted to write tge Great Anercan novel in IF form, which is the best app to make it?

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Thanks for asking. I'll reply shortly. Let me know if you want a full account?

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

In my opinion, the best IF system is Hugo.

Great parser. Support for graphics, music and sound effects. Modern interpreter that has games running flawlessly on Windows, Macs and Linux.

Hugo's been my choice since 2000.

[Tdarcos]

So if I wanted to write tge Great Anercan novel in IF form, which is the best app to make it?

Simple answer: Whichever one will permit you to tell the story the way you want to. But that's just the beginning, the means to write the game is probably the least importan part of developing the game. I'll explain in more detail.

Before IF languages came out, you had to know a general purpose programming language (Crowther and Woods Colossal Caves Adventure as well as Bob Supnic's Dungeo[n]* were written using FORTRAN IV (FORTRAN 66). Others have been done in Basic, C, Pascal, PHP, and probably many others.

Today we have a number of Domain Specific Languages designed specifically to aid in creating Interactive Fiction. These include Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT), Hugo, TADS, Twine, and ZIL, among many others. Each has strengths and weaknesses. It might be a good idea, before spending dozens of hours to learn an Interactive Fiction Writing System, that you see if it does what you want to do, because once you've invested weeks of time on a project, learning the language and designing the game, then discovering that you picked the wrong language to implement it, then you either have to modify (shoehorn) the intended game to fit the constraints of the language, drop the parts of the game you either won't shoehorn, or can't get to work, or throw out all the work and start over.

You also have to decide what audience you are targeting: do you want something to run as a desktop application (either interpreted through an Interactive Fiction System or written in a compiled language like Basic, C, C++, or Pascal, etc.), run on the web as a browser game (some IF systems allow you to do both, or you can use a web-based language like Javascript, Python or PHP), or do you also want it to run as a mobile application?

Also, what features do you want to use? Are you willing to "settle" for text only with typed-in commands, to add pictures, sound, video, or even "point and click" with a mouse? You need to decide what are the features you must have to tell the story, those which are important but either you could live without, and those that are nice to have but if they're dropped it won't affect the story. Then determine which one(s) support the most important parts.

Also, consider what type of story it is. Is it simply a "scavenger hunt" where the player just has to find things? Are there puzzles that have to be solved? Are there Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that have to be interacted with, questioned, fought, or killed? Then consider the motivation of the player: why would they want to play your game? What genre is it in (historical, gothic, western, crime story, mystery, puzzle, science fiction, fantasy, or some combination of two or more of these? How are you going to write the story first person, (where the game expresses everything in terms of itself, e.g. "I see a mailbox","I met Joe") third person (where it refers to everything indirectly. "There is a mailbox here," "Joe walked in to the room") or the most common (for Interactive Fiction, and rare for books) second person ("You see a mailbox here," "Joe walks up to you") or some combination?

Also, what is the setting? Where does it happen? How many rooms are there? What is the player's motivation? What is the end goal? Writing an Interactive fiction program could take weeks or even months, are you willing to sink the time into it?

There is more involved in the decision than just, "What is the best app to use?"

---
* Technically Dungeon (which is a clone of the computer game Zork I) was called Dungeo because the PDP-11 minicomputer only supported six-character file names.

[pinback]

Alright, well, can we at least narrow it down to Hugo and FORTRAN IV?

[Casual Observer]

Alright, well, can we at least narrow it down to Hugo and FORTRAN IV?

You're a man tits piece of shit.

[pinback]

That really is the sickest burn you can come up with, isn't it?

It's okay. You're doing great!

[Casual Observer]

That really is the sickest burn you can come up with, isn't it?

It's okay. You're doing great!

No. I actually don't make a habit of shitposting other people's threads but I'm happy to start.

[Tdarcos]

Alright, well, can we at least narrow it down to Hugo and FORTRAN IV?

People used Fortran IV (Fortran 66, because the standard was released in 1966), because, other than possibly Cobol, it was one of the few programming languages that were available just about everywhere and were frequently taught in college. Now, as far as languages available on all three platforms (Mac, Unix types (BSD and Linux) and Windows) and fairly well known, there are Basic (Free Basic, QB64, wxBasic), C (C 99), C++ (C++ 11), Forth, Java, Javascript, Lua, Pascal (Free Pascal and GNU Pascal), PHP, Python, Rust, and Scheme.

[Tdarcos]

Alright, well, can we at least narrow it down to Hugo and FORTRAN IV?

You're a man tits piece of shit.

That really is the sickest burn you can come up with, isn't it?

Let's try this:

"Your weak and impotent attempts to lapidate and hurl invective bore me. You are nothing but an insignificant boil on the buttocks of the universe, awaiting the lancing which will terminate your less than worthless existence."

[Bimbam Wakawaka2]

Wow, two useful answers and 8 childish insults. Thus board is massively toxic, judging by that and peeking at some other forums. I registered for an account but it hasn't been approved, thank goodness. You can ignore my registration. If I wanted this kind of hateful screeching I would go to 4chan.

I'll be on my way, but before i do, as a courtesy to the two people who actually answered, I'll say this: Thank you to the ICJ for your advice. I'd rather do as little coding as possible and concentrate on the story. All I know right now is it will be political and humorous. I.e., satirical, probably set in modern day US unless I can think of something better.

I will look at Hugo, thank you. I am also looking at Adrift. It seems easy and powerful, and is also cross platform.

Tye rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves, even "Tdarcos", who wrote a mature response but still gleefully participated in the hate. This whole experience has been like going to a shop and having the owner's kids brawling in the background, fighting, screeching, insulting, hitting. I can get thst anywhere. Buhbye.

[Gary4000]

That's a fat person's reply.

How much do you think Bambam weighs, fellows? 400 pounds? 700?

[LilBabyBuford]

"wakawaka" is the sound he makes as he upends the next entire sleeve of Pringles over his mouth.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Come on guys. We had a bad thread. We aren't this toxic normally.

[Tdarcos]

Come on guys. We had a bad thread. We aren't this toxic normally.

Famous. Last. Words.

He doesn't realize something. Every one of us here has been here for, well, I've been here for 14 years! And I'm probably the newest member of the "regulars" that infest this <s>clown farm</s> fine institution. We are a bunch of brats who fight with each other, but the difference is, we all know none of it is personal.

It just looks that way from the outside.

[Shut Up Finsternis]

Shut up, we all knew it was u

U fucking loser