Interactive Fiction

Today I'm going to delve into the world of interactive fiction, or IF. Interactive Fiction is kinda like a video game, but it was invented long before graphics had any place in gaming. As a result, all interaction in the game takes place through text. A room or situation is described, then you can interact with the game world by typing what you want your character to do. The amazing thing is the sheer number of games that can be found absolutely free online.

While a lot of the games were written in the 70s (when IF was invented), most games are written by modern-day aficionados of the style. This is mostly because it's a simple outlet for ideas that doesn't take a lot of hard work to program. Where a normal person could take months to design and create even a simple, buggy platformer, a pretty good "text adventure" can be written in hours (once you know the language).

And so, here is my IF primer. There are a couple of platforms on which the games are written, the two biggest being Z-code and TADS. There are some advantages and disadvantages to each, so I'll let you figure out which you like best on your own (IF purists tend to like Z-code more). There are dozens of interpreters for all the languages, but here are the best:

Mac users, get Spatterlight. It plays every single game I can find (You need OS X 10.3.9 or better).

Windows users, try Gargoyle. It's supposed to do the same thing as Spatterlight, but I don't know if it works (I don't have Windows). Drop me line in the comments below. I will modify this post accordingly.

The games are easy enough to find, just Google "Interactive Fiction", but just in case, I'll give you some links to the best games:

Little Blue Men: For those who love to be so scared they never, ever sleep again (You can reach an ending in about 10 moves, but there's so much more to it).

Photopia: For those who aren't good at puzzles, or just like their games to be artistic.

Pick Up The Phone Booth And Aisle: For those who love to laugh out loud. My favorite game (if you're confused, it's based on two other games, Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die & Aisle. But even if you don't know those, you'll laugh. Also requires some basic IF commands beginners might not know).

Shade: For those who like to be creeped out by their games (one of the first I played. Not for nighttime).

Spider & Web: For those who love puzzles and twists in their storylines.

Worlds Apart: For those who love to explore.

And to finish off this extra-long post, I'll give you some of the best IF links on the web:

Baf's Guide to IF (highly recommended)

IFWiki

Inform (if you want to write your own Z-code game)

Enjoy!