Difference between revisions of "FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions"

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* Using an expression in a restriction.
 
* Expression builder to aid in writing expressions.
 
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* Hints
  
 
==== How much will it cost me? ====
 
==== How much will it cost me? ====

Revision as of 07:46, 27 April 2012

What is ADRIFT?

ADRIFT stands for "Adventure Developer and Runner - Interactive Fiction Toolkit". It is a Microsoft Windows based system for creating and playing interactive fiction. The system was created and is still supported by Campbell Wild. There are two programmes, developer and runner. The runner (current version run500.exe) is used to play Adrift games, and will work with most games written with Adrift 3.9 and 4 as well as version 5. The developer (current version dev500.exe) is used to create new Adrift 5 games, and can also convert most older version games to version 5.

What is interactive fiction?

A fictional story in which the player becomes one of the characters in the story and controls their actions, changing the way that the story progresses. They are also called "adventure games" and are largely text based, although graphics and sound are often used. Interaction can involve moving between different indoor and outdoor locations, examining objects, picking them up, and using them in various ways, as well as talking to other characters (often called NPC's - non player characters)

What other systems are available for writing I.F.?

  • TADS 3

Acronym for the Text Adventure Development System, created as a shareware package in 1987 and then released as freeware in 1996. It uses a programming language which resembles C and Java. TADS is a powerful object-oriented language with high-level string and list datatypes.

  • HUGO

Hugo is an abbreviation for the Hugo Interactive Fiction Development System, a freeware programming language developed by Kent Tessman for creating IF games. Its structure and style of programming is similar to Inform 6 and TADS 2, making use of both attribute-setting/clearing and class inheritance in defining objects. It inherits Inform's strong "object tree" structure in dealing with manipulation of objects.

  • Inform 7

Inform 7 is an interactive fiction authoring system. It is notable for its use of a subset of natural language and for being rule based, rather than object based.

  • ALAN

An acronym for Adventure LANguage, Alan is an authoring system designed to make it easier for people unfamiliar with programming to write IF, or text-adventure games. The language features a self-documenting, English-like syntax similar to COBOL, and several built-in classes of objects commonly used in IF. Version 3 of Alan comes with complete object orientation, inheritance and an extensive library.

Why should I use ADRIFT?

Most of the other systems for writing I.F. are very similar to programming languages, and hence need to be learned before you can start writing I.F. ADRIFT has a graphical user interface (GUI) which allows you to create adventures quickly and easily by filling in text boxes, selecting checkboxes, and choosing items from drop down lists. It is unique in that no programming is required, yet it is very powerful allowing the creation of complex adventures. ADRIFT is very simple to understand and learn.

Adrift 5.0 is currently in Beta. What does that mean?

Some of the more advanced features have not been finished yet or may not work as expected. The current version can however be used to create large complex adventures with hundreds of rooms, characters, and objects, each of which you can define your own properties for, plus timed events, complex commands, text substitution, randomised output and much more.

The following advanced features have not been implimented yet:

  • Restrictions on movement directions do not display their failure message. (will be available in release 23)
    Workaround: Create a specific movement task for that location and direction.
  • Writing the contents of a text variable to a property. (will be available in release 22)
  • Controlling conversations from Actions.
  • Setting a text property using an expression.
    Workaround: (when release 22 available) Write the expression result to a temporary variable with one action, then use a second action to copy it to the property.
  • Using an expression in a restriction.
  • Expression builder to aid in writing expressions.
  • Hints

How much will it cost me?

Adrift 5.0 is completely free. If you do want to contribute to further development you can make a donation using paypal on the Adrift web site

Where can I find ADRIFT games to play?

Adventure Library

Where can I get help with an ADRIFT problem?

If you cant find a solution on this Wiki, then help with your problem can be found on the Adrift 5.0 Forum.

Take a look through past posts as your question may well have been answered. If you don't find the answer then become a registered member and post your question and you will probably get a reply within a day or two.

How do I convert an older adrift story to the new version?

Just open it up with the Adrift 5 developer and then save it with a new name. It'll be converted to version 5.

What are the Adrift file extensions?

.TAF is the main game file created by the generator and used by the runner.

.TAS is a saved game. It is created and re-loaded by the runner.

.AMF Adrift module file. An XML text file containing data exported from a .TAF
Note that .AMF files from earlier Adrift versions use a completely different format to Adrift 5.

.Blorb combines a TAF file with associated image and sound files all in the one file.