E-Publishing - Week Six

Programmed Writing

Practical lecture in which we looked at interactive fiction and in particular 'The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' which is a text-based game/'story' produced by Infocom.

In the first half of the lecture, we were split into pairs and were set the task of using the Hitchhiker's Guide software in order to progress in the game as far as the pub. The game itself, I found to be very interesting, and also unusual to be playing a game without pictures. As a pair we found it quite difficult to progress using text controls and commands in order to do the most simple of tasks, I also think that it would help to know the story behind the game.

In the second half of the lecture we were introduced to software called 'Inform' (free download to any computer) which would allow us to create our own text-based game. After talking us through how to use the basic controls we were set the task of creating a virtual building similar to the Creative Studies building. The process for creating a text-based game is very slow and sometimes infuriating but when you get it right it can be very rewarding.

If we want to, we can use this software to create our own text-based game for the final assignment. I feel that if I was to do this I would need a great deal of practice on the software and I would have to do a lot of reading into how to create various details. However I do feel that is a preferable project for me and I am considering doing this for my final project.