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What do I need to make a game?

Besides imagination, you will need the Inform compiler and a text editor. A text editor is a program capable of creating plain text files. The EDIT program which comes with DOS 5.0 and later is an example. If you are running Windows 3.x/95, you should have a program called Notepad. This will work just fine until your source code grows larger than about 64,000 characters. Windows 95 users also have a program called WordPad, which can handle much larger files than Notepad. You must be sure, though, that you choose the Text Only button when you save your file. (Don't worry; WordPad will prompt you every time you go to save a file as plain text. I wish it could understand that if I really wanted to create a Word document, I'd use Word.) The Windows 95 version of EDIT can also handle files over 64K, and it supports indenting lines and multiple files [footnote 1].

On the Macintosh, the basic editor is Simple Text [footnote 2]. However, I've been informed that Simple Text can't handle more than 32K of data (making it apparently worse than even Notepad), but that the editor which comes with Inform for the Mac is perfect for the job [footnote 3].

There are several text editors available for UNIX systems, such as vi and emacs (and joe, and jed, and so on). I doubt that many people who are actually using a UNIX-type operating system would be reading a "Dummies"-type book, but I include the reference for completeness. (And also so I don't get hate mail about being Windows-centric. Sorry folks, it's what I use. Deal with it.)

The editors I mention here come with the respective operating systems. There is a myriad of other editors out there, some free, some not. Use whatever you're comfortable with.

It would also be handy to have a program to play the games you create. I mean, unless you're really good, you'll have to test what you write. (And if you are that good, why are you reading a beginner's guide?) A program that plays story files is called an interpreter. You can find them at the I-F Archive. I use Frotz. There are others, ZIP being the only one on a popularity level with Frotz [footnote 4].

Footnotes

  1. Thank you, Scott Steubing.
  2. Thank you, Barnaby Evans.
  3. Thank you, Russell Mirabelli.
  4. That line originally read simply, "There are others," but I figured I might get slammed with mail complaining that I didn't mention ZIP. Ya gotta try to please everybody nowadays....
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