Re: Potential new IF author needs advice


14 Nov 1995 02:08:27 GMT

Hi, everybody. I'm the lazy, good-for-nothing louse who originally posted
this message. Ok, you've all convinced me. I guess I'll give Inform a
shot. It sounds like the best one for me at the moment. ALAN sounds too
restricting, and TADS, well, let's just say I'm a lazy, good-for-nothing
louse with very little money. I recently visited the Infrom tutorial site
and it looks very helpful. I just may be able to get through this whole
programming thing after all. I guess one of the reasons why I was so
leery about learning to program is that once I dive into a complex
left-brained exercise like that, my creative side completely shuts off. I
don't know why that happens, but needless to say, I can pretty much give
up the idea of "making it up as I go along," which is what I had hoped to
do originally. I have most of the basic ideas mapped out in my head, but
I haven't even begun to work on the actual prose involved in creating my
IF story. I'm not the greatest writer in the world and I'm definitely not
a programmer. I'm sure I'm not even 1/16th as literate as the authors of
Christminster and Jigsaw appear to be (my 2 fave games so far, btw). You
won't find many literary or historical allusions in my game. Mine will be
very "pop-culture" oriented (that is, if I ever even get the darn thing
started). Wow, I bet you're all drooling to play this thing already! <g>
Hey, I'm an American tv baby, ok, I admit it. I do, however, love playing
IF games and I know what kind of elements make me obsessed with solving
them. Anyway, now that I've decided to take the plunge, let me ask you
guys the big question. Would you recommend actually writing out my whole
adventure before I begin learning how to program? I've always preferred
spontaneity over premeditation in writing. I guess I'll have to give this
up for IF authoring, eh?

Chris