Welcome to my simple faq on interactive fiction games. In this short tutorial, I'll explain what exactly interactive fiction is, how it works, how you can get it for yourself, and how you can find assistance with interactive fiction from the people that write or play the games. If you have any comments about this tutorial or anyother item you wish to be shown on my site, just drop me a line on the contact link below.
Interactive fiction games are text-based games that use little or no sounds or pictures, just the written word.
Simply, you the player just type in simple statements in english, and the game does the best it can to do exactly what you told it. Example: Pick up the ball. Computers Response: ball taken. Easy, huh? The better the author, the LESS LIKELY you'll get back a response of "I didn't understand that sentence" or something as equally irritating. Some authors even provide in-game hints that can help you out of a jam.
You need two things to be up-and-running, an interpreter and a game. Since there are several different flavors of interactive fiction, you have to decide which is best for you. Personally, I've chosen the inform system, since its the most popular. On the previous page I've provided the game called Castle Amnos, an inform game with a .z5 extension. For test purposes, try these two files and see if inform and interactive fiction is right for you
If this trips your trigger, there are hundreds of more games available free for you to download whenever you want. The best place to find games are at the Ifarchive ftp site or the Ifarchive web page.
Badly stuck in a game and the hints aren't helping much? Does the game not seem to run like you expect it to? Are you looking to begin your own interactive fiction? Don't despaire! There are friends out there, and most of them are writers and fellow game players.
Using a news reader program connected to a news server, just go on over to either rec.arts.int-fiction or rec.games.int-fiction. That's where I go if I have a game question, I'm looking for a different interpreter, or I'm considering if I want to take up writing my own games. Don't be afraid to ask a question of these geeks because they were once in your shoes: Brand-new at working with interactive fiction, and some of them are just getting started themselves. Also browse the solutions section of the if-archive ftp site, or the solutions page on the ifarchive web site, where you might find a walkthrough for the game.
There's a wide variety of Adrift games avaiable. The official Adrift adventures page is one good source, and you can certainly find plenty on the ifarchive's adrifts games folder or the ifarchive's adrift games page. I would recommend the Scare interpreter, which can be configured to use sapi speech.
The Advsys flavor of interactive fiction also is pretty good, though unfortunately there are very few games available. You can find the games on the ifarchive advsys ftp section or the ifarchive advsys game page. The best interpeter for playing these games can be downloaded here. Go into options to turn on speech.
The agt system is another interactive fiction system with a fair number of games available and an interpreter that can use sapi. The games can be found by visiting either the ifarchive agt games page, or by visiting the ifarchive agt ftp folder. The best interpreter can be downloaded clicking here. Again, the options must be accessed to turn on speech.
Alan has a good interpreter available, but only a dozen or so games. The interpreter can be snagged by clicking here. The games can be downloaded either from the ifarchive alan ftp site, or from the ifarchive alan games page. Turn on the speech in options and have fun.
Glulx is a good seletion, similar to the inform format. The best interpreter can be shad by downloading this zip. The games can be downloaded either from ifarchive's glulx games ftp section, or from their glulx games page. Again, change the options to use sapi speech.
Hugo is another if game format, and there are at least a couple dozen games available. You can get the games from ifarchive's hugo ftp section or from their hugo games page. You can download the interpreter. Change the options to activate speech.
Inform is the most popular interactive fiction format, with well over 500 games and more added each week. The games can be found on the ifarchive inform ftp site, or on their inform games page. There's at least two interpreters that offer speech as an option; Windows Frotz 2002 or Windows Frotz TTS. Both require you to activate the speech in options.
The quest system is another good choice and has a good number of games available. Download the games from the official quest website, or from either ifarchive's quest ftp section or from ifarchive's quest games page. You can download the interpreter from here. Set options to enable speech.