Learning Inform 7
I finished playing Syberia the other day and was very impressed by it. I decided that I really do want to try writing my own game for the interactive fiction competition this year and am starting to learn how to program in Inform 7. I7 a new version of a programming language for adventure games that was released less than a month ago. For this new version the syntax is in natural language and reads just like regular English. The language designer has written books and articles about the theory of interactive fiction as literature and about the computational linguistics of the natural language syntax. I find it very interesting, and think I’ll read some of them after I finish learning the language. Here’s a sample program somebody posted to rec.arts.int-fiction yesterday. I think it’s brilliant. Can you guess what it prints out?
The game I’ve started writing is called “Cranberry Lake Canoe Trip” and the goal of the game will be to find a geocache! I’m having lots of fun with it and have already got the map written so you can walk around the game. Right now I’m working on the room descriptions. I’m using the Rideau Trail Guidebook as a reference and am trying to describe all the trees and rocks and animals that I imagine would be in each location. Christine suggested I go to the library and check out some nature books and look at those too. I think I’ll see if they have any field guides that help you identify trees.
I’m guessing it prints out
For want of a nail, a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a rider was lost
For want of a rider, a battle was lost
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
It’s an interesting language. It reminds me of prolog, and the declarative, rule based AI languages I studied very briefly in school (much more briefly than the instructor intended).
Good luck with your interactive fiction.
Comment by Peter — May 23, 2006 @ 12:52 pm
It is an interesting language. The world model it uses is object oriented and there are lots of neat language features just for interactive fiction. A new build of the IDE & compiler was just released with a newer version of the chapter I’m reading in the documentation, so I’ll have to get the new one.
Comment by michael — May 23, 2006 @ 11:24 pm