Topic by fastfinge 2012-02-16 21:46:17

  • Registered: 2010-06-17
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Hi, all:

Just wanted to post a quick message letting you all know about a website I just found.  I've tested it with NVDA and Firefox, and it was quite accessible.  It allows you to program and play games written in the inform7 programming language directly in your browser. You don't need to download or install anything, just click a game and start playing.  When you're on the page for the game, it shows in a frame in the middle of the page. You can read the game text, then press enter on the edit field to get into focus mode, type your command, and press enter. You can then use NVDA+space to exit focus mode, and read the text that printed as a result of your last command.  If you want to create your own game, click the sign up link, and go to the extreme bottom of the page to find the register form.  Registering currently requires no CAPTCHA, so just fill out the form. Once registered and logged in, you can click start to start programming a new game. Type in a title, then type your inform7 code in the editor provided, and press save and test.  The address for this website is:
http://www.playfic.com

Perhaps this deserves a listing in the database? They don't have many games up yet, but I'm sure as the website gets popular, more and more people will use it to create new games.  This could become a really easy way for people who have never tried interactive fiction because they can't figure out interpreters and all the rest to get started. 

Also, you can press view source for any game on the website, so if you're interested in learning how to make games in inform7, this could be quite helpful.

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Reply by Dark 2012-02-16 22:49:23

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Hi Fastfing, nice your back.

Actually this sounds a lot like The I fiction.org site, see index accept that doesn't let you write your own inform code, only play the games.

So as you said, quite likely worth an entry for people who don't want to muck about with interpreters. I'll look it over and see about doing one (what is it, is it raining if these days or something?).

Btw, there was a really! hilarious mistake on the I fiction site entry.
I think I must've been downloading podiobooks at the time I last edited the page, and coppied the wrong url into the entry, sinse when people clicked on it they'd get a file download of the first episode of the very gorey, very violent, very horror podcast bloodcast by Scot sigler!

I dread to think how many visitors might have been accidently traumatized by that one, in fact I was a little sorry to remove it sinse it was so perfectly an example of unexpected gore! but I have done for purposes of keeping the piece.

Still, there is the next April fools day, guahaha! big_smile.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

Dark's Website

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Reply by fastfinge 2012-02-16 23:17:24

  • Registered: 2010-06-17
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Hi:

The other difference is the interpreter used by playfic and ifiction.  The ifiction interpreter does all the work on the server, while the playfic interpreter, called Parchment, is written in JavaScript, so the game is played entirely in your browser.  I've been doing more research on this idea of playing interactive fiction in your web browser, and I made another find:
http://www.iplayif.com
This website lets you play any glulx or z-machine game in your browser, using the same accessible Parchment JavaScript system!  To start a game, just make a link that looks something like this:
http://iplayif.com/?story=http://ifarch … advent.ulx

That will launch the game in your browser, all ready for playing.

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Reply by Dark 2012-02-17 05:55:24

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Blindncool, these aren't sites or games Fastfing has written, but like I fiction.org are just places where you can play If games online without using an interpreter, so downloading would be A, a little pointless and b, already is possible, just go to the if archive and grab what game you want.

Btw, I realized this belongs in new releases, sinse it's about a newly discovered accessible games site.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

Dark's Website

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