Handy Inform Tricks

I've played a bunch of Inform games and I've written some too. Here are random programming ideas that may be helpful. Also, mistakes which (too many!) people make.

All the techniques listed here have been tested with Inform 6.21, library 6/10.

I'll update this sporadically, as more thoughts occur to me. But "sporadically" could mean months apart, I'm afraid. Feel free to send me suggestions -- but I may not act on them immediately. (It takes time to write one of these pages. I test all this code, you know. Did I mention testing?)

Newlines in the Headline (bug)
No Darkness (tip)
Parse_Name Variations (tip)
No Score (bug)
Blocking Take From a Container (bug)
Special Input Prompts (bug)
Objects Integrated into the Room Description (tip)

Oh, and this is a good place for links to the Inform Designer's Manual, the Z-Spec, and the Inform Library Patch Page. Just in case you need them.

Also some links to the InteractiveFictionPatterns section of Wiki Wiki Web, including Lucian Smith's Inform Tips page.

Also Andrew Clover's old Inform Programming Page.

Last updated March 3, 2004.

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