Town Walk

Today, the second day of my weekend holiday, we all wen't sight seeing in the local towns. We went to many towns, in the area of the hotel. The furthest away form the hotel was around 25 miles. I bought a few things, including a book and other things.

The temperature outside was below freezing as it was snowing lightly around the market.We went for food, and we browsed the local sweet store and market. We was walking back to the car when we heard the bells of the church, we saw a wedding welcoming as we passed, walking back to the car.

I also bought this weird game which is all about pirates. It is very confusing and has well over 50 rules which must be followed in order to play the game right.

It was a great day, all in all.

As I said I won't be posting inform 7 stuff until Monday 1st April or Tuesday the 2nd.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Wow! I Got Connection

Now I know I said I wen't on holiday, and I was not able to connect to the internet. Well there is actually Free WI-FI here. So I am now able to post things onto my blog during my holiday.

Well, my holiday so far is going pretty well. It took us around 31/2 hours to get here by car. When we arrived we saw the great view of the royal gardens and the parks which surround the complex. We drove past Birmingham and we arrived at the hotel called '  Bosworth  ' it is an old fashioned hotel which has a large history.

When we entered the building we had to wait a while so I started to read a book, or leaflet on the place. I got to this place within the book which started talking about   ' The Grey Lady '   .

You may be wondering what happened and why she had this name. Well let me tell you.

One day, back in the 16th century. The owner of Bosworth house had a daughter. When this daughter reached 17 years of age, she fell in love with a beautiful man a bit older than herself. Every night she used to creep out of her room and meet her lover on the gardens of Bosworth. Her father was told of this and he was not happy with her. Her father never liked her daughters lover, so one night he watched out of his balcony window. His daughter passed. The next night in the same place, her father set a snare trap, or something like that, and awaited the a arrival of his daughter.His daughter passed and got caught by the trap leaving her to bleed rapidly. She was so far away from where she was supposed to meet her lover, that he left leaving her on the gardens. The next day a servant brought her in still alive but barely. She was put into the hospital of the hotel, later to die 5 days later in her bed.

The locals still believe that her ghost still walks to the same place her long lost lover was supposed to meet her. Only until she sees him again will she be put to rest.

This is the story of  ' The Grey Lady '  this story was passed down for 500 hundred years and it is still being passed down by the modern day.

The Grey Lady now walks all over the hotel complex and in the corridors, and at night in the gardens looking for her lover.

Hope you enjoyed the old folk tales of Bosworth.

During this weekend I will only be posting about my trip. On the Tuesday 2nd March I will start posting things about inform 7 again. Sorry, but you are welcome to join the experience.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Holiday

Over this weekend I will be going on a short holiday. During this time I will not be able to post any comments or posts on inform 7 guide. You are welcome to keep reading and posting comments but I will not see them until I get back on the Monday.

I will be gone from the 29th March to the 31st of March. In this time no posts will be posted as I will have no access to the laptop.

But I wish you a happy Easter for Sunday the 31st of march 2013. Hope you have a lovely day, with all of the Easter eggs, chocolate. You are never to old to have chocolate, I always say.

Please, don't forget the real reason we celebrate Easter. To be with family, to share the feeling of the day.

Please leave a comment on how your Easter went, and have a lovely, happy day with your family.

Have a good day.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Why Do We Use Inform 7

A common question asked frequently is, Why Do We Use Inform 7? Well my personal opinion is mixed, I myself, uses inform 7 for various different reasons.

One . to get to know and learn more about inform 7.

Two . to create games and publish them free to play.

Three . to try out new tactics and extensions, like my crafting dialog.

Four . to improve upon my skills as working with inform 7.

And Five . to enjoy gaming in the fullest possible way, creating your own.

So, that's my state of mind, but what I would really wan't to know is Why Do You Use Inform 7.

As I said before, peoples opinions are all different.

So please leave a comment telling me your 5 reasons why you use inform 7, anyone can comment, even without a Google account.

Oh.. and one more thing. Using inform 7 takes some skill. As we all know. Well that's why my first target for page views will be a big 1000. I aim to get this by by the middle of April to the end of April.

So please share on Facebook, Google and Twitter. These quick and easy buttons are located at the top right of my blog. So thanks for the ever growing support.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Top 10 Interactive Fiction Games

1st Place: Spider and Web , by Andrew Plotkin

2nd Place: Lost Pig , by Admiral Jota

2nd Place: Photopia , by Adam Cadre

4th Place: Anchorhead , by Michael Gentry

5th Place: A Mind Forever Voyaging , by Steve Meretzky

6th Place: De Baron , by Victor Gijsbers

6th Place: Blue Lacuna , by Aaron A. Reed

8th Place: Savoir-Faire , by Emily Short

9th Place: Shrapnel , by Adam Cadre

10th Place: Shade , by Andrew Plotkin

These are some of my favorite interactive fictional games, I have not put all of the following names on here for just one purpose, No! 

I enjoyed all of these games for the fun and excitement they gave me, but for the way they were put together. Like BLUE LACUNA by Aaron A. Reed, at the start of the game it asks you a few questions to do with your character and the first actions on which he/she makes.

I think this is in genius, more than that. Now I know I said I said the top 10 games, but I honestly think they all deserve to come first. For their amazingly structures games and the game play within them.

But the reason why I made up my mind for first place Spider and Web, was that it gave a whole new perspective on an interactive fiction. It is impeccably great to see such marvel, and creativity. So that is the reason why this game stood out from the rest.

But all of the games listed are worth having a good go at, as they are all great.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Creating a Container

In this post I will be showing you how to create a container. This can be quite confusing so please pay close attention to the following instructions.

First think of a name for your container.

A Box is a container.

This is how you code and say it is a container. Next we must say where it is. As so...

A Box is a container.
A Box is in The Cave.

We must now say if it is a locked container, an open one or a closed one.

To do a closed one, 

A Box is a container.
A Box is in The Cave.
A Box is closed.
A Box is openable.
A Box can be closed.

This tells inform that your container is closed but it is openable. If you don't explain that the box is openable, the player won't be able to open your container. When it is saying it can be closed,this means when the box has been opened it can be re closed.

To do an open container,


A Box is a container.
A Box is in The Cave.
A Box is open.
A Box can be closed.
A Box is openable.

To do a locked container do the following,


A Box is a container.
A Box is in The Cave.
A Box is locked.

To make the key, do this

A Key is in The Cave.
The Key unlocks A Box.

You can also specify how many items the container can hold be doing the following coding.

A Box can hold 5 items.

To add a description do the same as an object. Have a look at creating an object in older posts of my blog.

The description of A Box is "Just a normal card board box."

That is it. Oh ... and to put something inside a container do this. 

An Egg is in A Box.


Thanks,
danielfrogs

Dark Rooms

Dark rooms act as an add on to your game. It gives the player a bit of excitement. Dark rooms cannot be interacted with until the player is carrying a lit torch or light source. When the player is carrying one of these they can see the description of the room and the objects it holds. Without a torch of light source you won't be able to interact with that room. You can move around while in a dark room, but you can't see.
To do this we must think of a name for our room, give a description. If you don't know how to do this look in the blog archive on the right of the screen and find a section on rooms.

Mine will be ........

Study Room is a room. "You are in the study room, you are surrounded by lovely books, old and young. There is a desk on which another thicker book is lying. To the west is another passage."

This is a room you can see. But to make it a dark room you must add this.

Study Room is a dark room.

Put this after you have explained it is a room. You must now make a torch. My torch will be a lantern. I suggest putting this in the room before this one, as the player can pick it up. If you put it in the dark room it won't be a dark room any more.

A Lantern is in Hallway. A Lantern is lit. 

Or

A Lantern is in Hallway. A Lantern is unlit.

The player will not be able to light the unlit light source. So I suggest having any Light Source lit at all times in the game.

Hope this helped you in your text adventure.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Create an Object

This is a quick tutorial but very detailed showing you how to create an object which is on the floor.

You do not specify that it is on the ground, because its not on a table, or shelf.

Tables, shelves, mantle tops, and anything you can place an object on are called supporters.

We will explain how to use supporters later in our blog.

First we must type the name of our object.

A Spinning Top

This is how you code it

The Classroom is a room.

A Spinning Top is in the classroom.

Just type the name in and say where it is you can also add more detail as so.

The classroom is a room.

A Spinning Top is in The Classroom.
The description of A Spinning Top is "Bright in colour, a very fun toy. It looks quite new and has a label on it stating ' This is school property. '"

This just adds a description to your item, so when its examined it shows the text.

So that is about it, Oh I forgot to put your item into a container just say.

A Spinning Top is in a chest.

At the end put the name of your container. Remember to recompile your game often to save and compile changes put in.

I would like to hear your comments,

Want to find out how to create rooms, well click here thanks,
danielfrogs 

Player Health

In this post I will be explaining how to use health. I will only be explaining for the player, in later posts I will show you how to give healh to an npc, character.

You must first explain the properties of health heres how you do it.

A person has a number called max health.
A person has a number called present health.
A person can be hostile or docile.
A person is usually docile.

This defines that a person has health points and current health points. Simple right.


Next we must define what your players health is, we simply type in.

The max health of a person is usually 100.
The max health of the player is usually 100.
Definition: a person is dead if his present health is less than 1.

This tells inform 7 the max health overall of most people. We can change this for crtain players if needs be. As below.

The max health of the player is 100.
The present health of the player is 100.

This just tells inform that we have a maximum health of the player 100. In other words the player starts with 100 health, and can only go to 100 health. If attacked by another npc, I will explain in later posts how to create an enemy. The player will lose health, it will be desplayed when attacked.

We now need to include this rule.

After printing the name of a dead person (this is the I see dead people rule):
 if the person is dead for at least 1 turn, say "[apostrophe]s dead body" instead.

If you happen do die during your adventure this quote will appear. If you are a beginner at inform, I dont suggest changing the rule to what quote you want to desplay as it needs correct punctuation.

This only works for the players health, dont try to code an npc, it might decode the following above. In the upcoming posts I will show you how to do so.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

What is the Documentation

Inform 7 has a unique documentation section. Many people don't know what this is used for well I am here to tell you just that.

The documentation bar is ocated in the top right hand corner of the square. when you click it it lets you type in what every you need. Say we type in -

Rooms

Into the documentation box. A smaller tab will appear with examples of other peoles work and how to do it yourself. But it is very advanced and its hard to uderstand if you dont know what it means.


This is how you use it but how can it help you.

If you ever need help with grammer, how you code a certain thing. It shows you working ways and examples of how you do it.

So please share with friends, twitter and facebook.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

New Form

I have recently made a form for you to submit questions to me. In the form you have to put your email in and other informtion needed.

I said that I will get back to you via email, but if I don't I wll post the answer in my blog

http://inform7guide.blogspot.com

So you might get an email, or it will be on my website above.

To submit a question click the link to the right.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

Word of Advice

When ever you make a game useing inform 7 I have always said to always, always make a mind map. I use MindMaple. A really good site. When ever you make a room just pop it onto the map. That way you wont frgt which way everything is when creating a game.

This is not really every ones taste but I honestly recommend doing so as it will help you.

Now let me tell you a story of when I first ever started making games.

I once aimed to maing a game called  '  The Lost Empire  ' I got really far in doing this game. I was half way through when I hd to re check what I have done. This was very difficult as I did not have a mind map, recorded. I then messed up big time and was forced to delete it all and start upon more games. These games have not been released.

So weeks of hard work gone all because i did not make a mind map. You would not want that to happen to you now.   Would you ...........

Well I hope you do follow this simple but amazing way to keep track of your game.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

How to Create Your First Room

Now to start any basic or advaced interactive fiction you need to start witha simple room. This is one of the basic things to do in inform 7. But can be challenging for a begginer. So here is how you do it.

First thing of a name for your room.

Mine will be

A mountain top is a room.

Any room after the first will be said as below, only the first room is written like above.

A mountain top is west of lake.

The one above does not apply, the first will be your first room and anything after that will be connected to that room using any points of the compass.

Now to add a description to our first room.

A mountain to is a room. "The clear and thin air is around you. The air has got the better of you as you cannot focus. The sky is clear and you can see may birds flying arond your location. You are not qute at the peak of the mountain but your are prtty close. Down from here is he bottom of the mountain."

Remember to alwys start and end your description of a room with ' "  " '  .

Be descriptive. A good game needs good descriptions.

In the description say which direction the player can go next. This is very important.

Thanks,
danielfrogs


Follow Along With New Video on Youtube, Made By Danielfrogs

  

The Go Button

The go button is located at the top right hand corner of the screen. As shown in the diagram below. When you have at least coded one room, this button will work. It will just recompile your game. Recompiling is when every edit you have made since the last recompile will fir in to it, all the edits you have made will be added into the game. This button will start your game over, so when you play to a certain extent, it will start it agian.

This is when the refresh button comes in handy. The button next to go looks like any refresh button but it still does the same as the other button we just explained about. It recompiles your game, but it starts it from your place you left of without even saving.

Saving only works when you have packed your game into a blorb file. (That is what I call it). Ready to be published for the world to play.

Thanks,
danielfrogs

My Project I'm Working On

I am currently working on an interactive fiction called 'Stone Age I'. The game will have my crafting index on it. I believe I am the first to code this, it is not an extension but it could be in the near future. My game will be completed in around 5 - 6 months depending on any issues and bugs I need to sort out. The game will be free and you are more than welcome to play along with lots of other people.

My crafting index will allow the player to craft items using things he/she has in their inventory. This can only be obtained by being is the crafting area in the game where there will be a workbench and blast furnace. Any on their place, this would not work.

The player only needs to type the command craft. A list will appear, just choose the chosen item from the list and type in the corresponding number. Simple.

I believe my all new 'Stone Age I' will have a totally new way of using interactive fiction and playing it.

Please come back to hear about my progress in my 'Stone Age I' interactive fiction by Daniel Behan A.K.A. Danielfrogs

Thanks,
Danielfrogs

Welcome to Inform 7 Guide

Welcome to my new blog. I, myself being a home interactive fictional author using inform 7 has quite a bit of experience in the program. I was thinking, when I was learning how to code and form inform 7 I could not find any help guides that were free on the internet. If they had to be payed for they are more than likely just there for you to fail.

My blog which will be undated often, offers a free guide on inform 7. The basics and advance of it. Helping you to understand and code your very own game frog home. With this free, helpful blog I aim to support and help you when doing this. This is why I say to you now that you can ask a question to me through comment. Or coming in a few days, a help form.

We Now Have the Form Up and Running

This help form will be linked to the right of my log. Just type your question and your email, and I will get back to you with 24 hours due to different times around the world.

Inform 7 only understands English but in a little twisty way. It wants you to give the exact information so it can be programmed into a game.

So please share with friends,

http://inform7guide.blogspot.com

And ask any questions when ever you want in a comment or through the new form. (A Few Days)

Thanks,
danielfrogs