Tutorials & Tips Some of these sites help Inform newcomers to get started, by talking through the design of simple games. Others aim to supplement the Inform Designer's Manual by explaining in greater detail, or at a slower pace, some specific aspect of Inform in particular, or IF in general.
About these Links
Tutorials and Tips
Inform Guide Jim Fisher
Link
A collection of contributed articles on specific aspects of Inform programming; the material ranges in complexity from introductory to advanced.
Inform for Beginners Jeff Johnson
Link
An Inform tutorial which starts well by setting the scene, describes Objects and their properties and attributes, starts taking about routines... and stops dead in its tracks. Still technically correct, but hasn't been updated since January 1998.
InfLight Roger Firth
Link
An introduction to the Inform compilation process (including useful compiler switches), and to the basics of debugging your game. Also mentions a few utility programs.
Inform Primer Marnie Parker
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Explanation of a handful of concepts which may prove slightly tricky when first encountering Inform.
Inform Programming Tips Marnie Parker
Link
Half a dozen fragments of useful code and explanation, plus some Inform links.
Inform tricks Andrew Plotkin
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A few programming tips and tricks from one of the masters.
Inform catalogs Sean Barrett
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Lists of Inform's action categories and message numbers.
Int Fic tips Lucian Smith and others
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A somewhat unstructured collection of Inform questions and answers.
InFancy Roger Firth
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The principles of Inform Object and Class definitions; the differences between properties and attributes; how objects name and describe themselves; inventory listings.
Writing and Playing Inform Games John Escobedo
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Tutorials on playing IF, and on writing Inform games (the latter is currently incomplete).
InfAct Roger Firth
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Some basic guidance on creating a Non-Player Character (NPC) in Inform, with reference to library extensions which can slightly ease the pain.
Inform Troubleshooting Emily Short
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How to resolve a variety of problems, some general, and some specific to the Z-Machine, to Glulx, or to the Apple Macintosh.
Concept and Design Emily Short
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A series of well-reasoned articles on the nature of IF, and on techniques for creating realistic worlds populated by credible NPCs.
Syntax colouring Fredrik Ramsberg
Link
If you plan to present an Inform game in source form on the web, you can use this engine to generate the game as HTML with applied syntax colouring.
Last updated 6 December 2004.
This site is no longer supported; information may be out of date.
Maintained as a historical archive by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.
Copyright 1993-2018 IFTF, CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
This page was originally managed by Roger Firth.