03.10.07
Reading and Writing
Having watched a number of films and listened to hours of music, I needed something else to do that I could pick up for short periods. Not feeling up to visiting a book shop I started looking for eBooks and stumbled upon two other things worth the download.
The first was WordNetCE for the Pocket PC, WordNet for Windows.
The second was Interactive Fiction, “IF”.
Roughly 25 years ago I played the first of the Zork series on my Tandy TRS-80. I hate to think how many hours I spent as a kid solving that game. There is a great IF editor called Inform that lets people create their own IF, with versions for both the Mac and Windows. It supports creating stories in a number of formats, so your game can be played on just about any hardware that supports an operating system.
I’ve started an IF for my daughter to explore. She’s a lot more into reading the past few months, and seems to like the little world I’ve created for her. It’s not just a case of creating rooms and static objects, you can create a world as complex as you like, with objects and people that interact with you or each other.
The coding is not that hard:
A printedpages is a kind of container. A printedpages is openable. A printedpages is always open. Instead of taking the printedpages: say "You think about ripping out some pages for a second, then think better of it." On the top shelf is a closed openable container called a manual. a printedpages called the pages is in the manual. The pages is fixed in place. The description of the Pages is "After you read a few pages you realise this manual's been well used. There are notes written in the margin of some pages." Concealed Notes is in the Pages. Notes is fixed in place. Instead of taking the notes: say "Short of ripping off bits of pages or photocopying them you'll have to leave them where they are." The description of Notes is "'Remember to add your own process checking scripts.'"
When playing the game it looks like this:
Book Store
You can see a blue door, a book case and a Sales Clerk here.
>examine book case
It’s a simple book case with a top, middle and bottom shelf.
>examine top shelf
An dusty empty wooden shelf, save for a Red Book and a manual.
>get manual
Taken.
>examine manual
You can’t see inside, since the manual is closed.
>open manual
You open the manual, revealing the pages.
>examine pages
After you read a few pages you realise this manual’s been well used. There are notes written in the margin of some pages.
>examine notes
“Remember to add your own process checking scripts.”
>get notes
Short of ripping off bits of pages or photocopying them you’ll have to leave them where they are.
>get pages
You think about ripping out some pages for a second, then think better of it.