Inferno

[baltasarq]

Hi, there !

Inferno is a tool for writing IF easily. In fact, it has to do with
mappers and other tools (source code generators), but instead of using
graphical views, it presents a text view.

IF pieces are written as if they were being played. This way, rooms,
and objects can be easily generated for Inform 6, or even Inform 7.

http://www.caad.es/baltasarq/prys/inferno/

The documentation is still spanish-only, but the software (Java
program) is in english

You can see a demo here:

http://www.caad.es/baltasarq/prys/inferno/demos/infernoGraphics.htm

And the downloads here:

http://www.caad.es/baltasarq/prys/inferno/dist/index.html

Regards,

Baltasar

[Carlos Sánchez]

Sorry for this gravedigging but I just realized this was here, and is
not that old :)

I have to say that Inferno is an interesting piece of software, and
that it doesn't actually requiere too much documentation, or actually,
not at all once is explained a bit.

What can you do with Inferno?

Basically, you write a game as if you where playing it, and the
Inferno generates source code for your game (I6 and I7 supported,
among others).

For instance, you can type this on Inferno:

-----------------------
The kitchen
You are at the kitchen, a passage leads north.
>N
The Dining Room
You are at the dining rooom, you can see a table. A door leads to the
kitchen at north, there is an open gateway to the backyard at west.
>examine table
A long table with six chairs around.
>examine chairs
They are all wooden and same size.
>W
The Backyard
The backyard is basically empty except for a roses plant on one side.
You can see a knife.
>take knife.
Done.
>examine knife
It's quite old.
------------------------------

Then if you generate the source code you will have three rooms
(kitchen, dining room, backyard, and several objects like table,
chairs and knife, but first two would be scenery.

It's just a different way of defining a map ;)

[Milos Przic]

Hi,
But what if you want do define different behaviour of the game
after the same action? Whith that way of writing a game, I don't see
the possibility to define the object properties and conditions, and
without that you can't make a good piece of if. I am going to download
and try it now to see if that is possible, and if yes, why would
people use inform 6 or 7 then?
Best regards,
Miloš Pržić

[Captain Mikee]

It sounds like it would be a useful tool for generating source code,
if you can then insert the source code into your project and edit it.
Is that the intention?

[Carlos Sánchez]

Yes, exactly, well, actually it generates a complete source code not
just a part of it, so it's more thought to be used at the start of
development.

Inferno doesn't pretent to be a whole solution for IF design, but a
tool that helps you to start with it. With Inferno you can basically
define rooms, objects and some standard actions (like 'examine').
After doing that, you have of course to keep on programming in the
usual way to build up the rest of the game logic :)

It can also generate an HTML that is browseable, so you can check
everything is ok before going on with I6/I7 source generation.