The Zed People *Inform 7* **Work in Progress**

[Sinsun1]

Introduction to Me
Hello, I usually lurk many forums online and it's really hard to find a community that I like getting into. Over 50 forums lurked and probably only a member of 5 and post in 2 (and now this one). I have been starting and stopping project after project, getting stuck and getting over frustrated to the point that I lose all interest in ever completing it. But I'd like to actually finish a game, a fully functional Interactive Fiction game for now (have had work with Flash and other software in the past, but I am in no definition of the word "artist"). I find describing the world a bit easier and perhaps a bit more fulfilling with a unique world created for everyone since no two minds think the exact same. I like that power words give over graphics, the pure power of imagination, probably the most powerful tool that has kept me alive through my life so far and I hope to bring that imagination to life here.

I am no English Major so grammar, spelling, etc may be a bit off. Though I find it hard for people to care that much on grammar, as long as you know what they are talking about and it looks nice and runs smoothly I do not believe they need be perfect as to the rules of English, English has enough rules without taking the complete fun away from creativity.

Currently I am about to graduate highschool this week (Thursday get my diploma then party afterward, woot!), no job, work alone on all projects online and in too many MMORPGs to count. I am doing this as a hobby for now, hopefully one day I will be making games for a living, but we'll see.

Introduction to the Game
So now that the boring part of meeting me is out of the way, I'd like to take a bit of your time to talk about this game I am working on. It is an Interactive Fiction Game being made with Inform 7. Learning the rules built into Inform 7 is taking some time as I am working in a sandbox room, picking up and putting down items. Creating interactive objects and just making the room interactive as a whole.

I suspect the process will be slow and tedious, but all games worth putting time into playing needs time coding, designing and creating. But so far the basic outline, no true story yet built, is you are a male/female (hopefully learn how to implement this in a way later version of the game) starting off inside your bedroom. You just woke up and you must explore your house for items. Activate "Act 2" somehow and the zombies begin spawning, which then the REAL fun begins. Escaping your home and checking on your friends and family's last known locations. (That's it for now, I don't want to solidify myself yet to a storyline until I can make the world of what I got so far).

If anyone is experienced in Inform 7 coding I'd appreciate some pointers on how to simplify and remember different bits of code.

Currently NO PORN is "planned" to be in the game. We'll see down the road.

Contact
I will be maintaining my blog with ALL updates to the game when it is available and will be in and out of here as time goes on. Hopefully if I feel a bit more comfortable in the community I will become active daily, but until then you might not see me for a week or two at a time.

http://dogscreations.blogspot.ca/ <---- Blog, and yes "Dog Creations" right is my unofficial company/brand name. Hopefully one day I'll officially own that title, but I am not sure how the whole legal things go with that sort of stuff. >.<

Not really sure what else to say, just starting off and hopefully will keep going through it. No playable demo yet so I guess I'll update this post once I get something playable out (and ask a mod to move this to creations corner non flash games once it's PLAYABLE).

Downloads
It should not be surprising that Inform 7 requires an interpreter. For the moment I'd prefer people to use Glulxe where as it's more reliable and malware/virus free.
Glulx

[Zeus Kabob]

I'm glad you like it here! I wish you luck with your project!

[BlueLight]

How can i help? About the only skill i have is programming in java but i'm sure i could help you debug if worse comes to worse.

[Sinsun1]

How can i help? About the only skill i have is programming in java but i'm sure i could help you debug if worse comes to worse.

Right at this moment I could use help finding a good free bullshit free site for people to download from (if it somehow helps me with each download that'd be a bonus XD)

Other than that, the only other thing at the moment would be getting a creative commons license officially implemented.

Currently I advise people to use an interpreter called Glulxe. It is a bit more heavy duty for variables and numbers.
http://www.davidkinder.co.uk/glulxe.html <--- Click "downloaded" highlighted in blue in the second paragraph, then go through the download procedure.
If there are other interpreters people think would work I am all ears. But Glulxe is reliable and no virus/malware issues to report with it from anyone I've heard from.

So basically, if you want to help, just formal things need to be put in place. I'll update the main post with the Glulxe interpreter actually. It'll help save time for when the game actually is ready to try out.

[BlueLight]

https://mega.co.nz/ is i think considered the best site right now for doing downloads.
It's not 100% bullshit compared to mediafire but it has the advantage of not knowing what's in your file so they're less likely to do terms and service deletion unlike media.

[Sinsun1]

https://mega.co.nz/ is i think considered the best site right now for doing downloads.
It's not 100% bullshit compared to mediafire but it has the advantage of not knowing what's in your file so they're less likely to do terms and service deletion unlike media.

Just awaiting them to send me a confirmation email (some sites seem like they are actually manually doing it with the length they take... As if).

Currently no updates besides Poll #2 coming to a close. As I suspected, Survival and Escape are in the lead, surprisingly with Mystery not too far behind Escape. Poll 3 was more of the content but I have already decided on the content so that poll will never exist.

I am going camping next weekend, but my goal is to release a very.. small.. demo for people to mess around with. It will be a fun little demo just to get use to using interactions within Inform 7 with me getting use to allowing a player to move objects around the room. Whether I reach this time goal or not, this will be how the first demo will work. Some people may wish to give it a pass if they know how to use Inform 7, but others may wish to try it out and see how well they can interact within the Inform 7 world.

To be honest, I love Inform 7, I picture it like my brain. Blank until you begin imagining things and then you can completely bullshit your way through making things up with your imagination. Only it's like a dream as to it has restrictions as to how much control you have over creating random events within the world. I sense I need to read the guide more, but as of now it seems like a brain world of imagination and restrictions. Anyone who hasn't messed around with Inform 7 before I highly recommend you check it out and try messing around with it.

Currently my biggest problem besides needing to read up on the guide more is my own brain. It keeps getting side tracked easily and stops the creative flow mid-sentence. Picture it like a movie, the film is rolling, the setting is all there and then it just melts away from sitting in the hot sun for too long, except in my case it just shuts down and wants to move onto a different idea. I am wondering if this is what everyone experiences in game and story processes.

[Sinsun1]

Been off and on, learning Inform 7 code is not as easy as I had hoped, but I am slowly getting the hang of how they run things. Pretty sure I am close to cracking them wide open >:)

Anyway, posted a little intro to a choose your own adventure story I am working on on the side on my blog if anyone wishes to check that out to get a taste for what I can do writing wise. (Mind you it's not the good copy yet... the site I uploaded the original draft I was working on made me log in after I finished about an hour's work so I flipped shit and wrote a 15 minute version one.. I get angry easily when I make things up on the spot and something like that happens with NO way to go back and at least get the work I worked on :/)

http://www.chyoo.com/index.php/main.story.cover/9339 <--- Link to the story I am doing on the side, got it a bit further than the first page. Not really many paths to take but hopefully this gives people the idea of what THIS game is going to be like (except with zombies!!! >:3)

[Sinsun1]

My apologies for being away almost all summer. Been busy but haven't forgotten this project, in fact I've been messing around with the software a bit more and I can say that I understand how a room, time and lights work. These three are essential to my overall plan for this game.

But for now I just want to fill you guys in on a few commands for the game. (List will be updated, but for now just basic things).

For words with []'s around them, please fill in the actual word required.

COMMANDS

Movement
There are actually quite a few directional movements pre-built into the game. So far I have found the following all are correct movements (I think I might be able to add more in if I am absolutely required later on).

(Also note, if you have a specific way you'd like to type something I can actually override the code to allow you to type a word and have it mean any of the below, so suggestions are welcome. This goes for ALL the commands).

N, North, move North = Move North
W, West, move West = Move West
E, East, move East = Move East
(You get the idea of the 3 types)
South = Move South
Northwest = Move Northwest
Northeast = Move Northeast
Southwest = Move Southwest
Southeast = Move Southeast
Inside = Move Inside
Outside = Move Outside
Up = Move Up
Down = Move Down

Go to [location] = Instantly move to a room in the entire game.
^ This one I plan to take completely out as it would ruin the game as a whole. However until enemies are added it is not my top concern.

Use [object]

This one is a bit complex to write out in point form for each use it has. Regardless, using a door will open it/go through it. Using a container will open/close it. Using an item will wear/eat/attack with/etc that item. Use has many different ways that is can be used.

However, while "use" works, if you know exactly what you are doing you can "Unlock" "Open" "Close" "Eat" "Drink" "Wear" etc the objects in the world.

I may or may not disable the word "use" depending on how well people will be able to grasp actually using the proper words for interactions.

Also to note, for an example, say we have items that have long names like "Steel Medieval Axe", instead of typing out the object's name every single time you use it, you can just say "use Axe" or "Equip Axe" depending on the situation. Inform 7 will automatically fill in the blanks for you. However, if we say bring in a "Iron Medieval Axe" into the same room as the steel one, we will actually have to write out the words.

Time

For the moment, no commands will actually be told because I am trying to decide whether to make it a watch that you have to "Check" or to make it into the status bar and be told at all times. Would it be a hassle for people to check the time if I put it into a watch?

Also, expect to see a version up sometime this month. Probably move it to the creative corner by then. I have some personal goals for this game, but I'd rather not share them publicly because I do not wish to disappoint people and myself with timelines not being met. Though fear not! Eventually this game will be finished (Come back sometime around the year 41,507. You might be able to see the finished version then ;o).

[Bjorn the Dreadnought]

I hate to post without doing anything helpful with it, but I'm gonna do it anyway to say this sounds like a cool idea.I don't think I can really contribute anything to help, but I'm definitely eager to play. Wish ya luck and hope everything goes well!