How to reduce coding/test time, increase reliability AND make a game look more professional
Home	Introduction	3D Planetfall Maps	Stationfall Blueprints
Planetfall Transcript	Enchanter Transcript	Beyond Zork Transcript	Lurking Horror Elevator
PET Corner	Doctor Who	Micromouse	Email Webmaster
Inform Interpreters	How to write a Transcript	How to reduce code/test time	How to submit a transcript

x8 Inform Libraries

Simple, industrialise and use libraries. Inform allows .h library files to be incorporated into your programme all you have to do is include the command Include "AskTellOrder.h"; for example at the top of your programme usually after Include "VerbLib"; which must always be included. The comments in each library will tell you if your include command needs to go elsewhere. Most libraries have been heavily tested both by their programmer and in games that have been in general use so are highly reliable. Some are written for Inform version 5.5, the current version is 6.15 so this may cause some problems but Inform is designed to be backward compatible. Here are some of the libraries I have come across that I found useful. Which libraries you choose to use really depends on what your programme is going to do and how professional you want to make it.

AskTellOrder.h (3Kbytes)
Converts ASK/TELL THE NPC TO DO SOMETHING into NPC, DO SOMETHING. Standard Inform doesn't understand the first sentence configuration and most people would normally type this and assume a puzzle in a game couldn't be solved this way. So it is a good idea to include this library if you have any puzzles of this type ie. if you use an NPC (Non-Person Character or Actor) to solve a problem for you.

follower.h (3Kbytes)
A follow command isn't implemented in Inform but this library provides one, so you can follow NPC's when they are not in the same location as you, even if they are in moving objects like a car. Inform is generally an easy language to programme once you have learned it but it does seem tricky when trying to refer to an object not in the current location, looking through this library will show you how to deal with this problem.

footnote.h (5Kbytes)
A very useful and easy to use library which allows footnotes to be implemented. Footnotes can not be referred to until mentioned in the game thus preventing the player learning anything too early, and are numbered in the order they are mentioned so the player never knows how many there are.

locktest.h (2Kbytes)
This library automatically chooses locked and key objects first during the parsing routine to make the game look smarter e.g. you might normally type:
>UNLOCK TOOLBOX WITH KEY
but with this library you could type:
>UNLOCK and it would add
(the toolbox)
(with the key)
You unlock the toolbox.
This library is also very simple to use.

Outofrch.h (17Kbytes)
This library prevents the player taking out of reach objects when in a seat, chair, bed etc... and drops items on the floor instead of the object you are sitting on. Reach zones allow desks, tables etc... to be reached by the player when required. Beware! If you alter the floor object as I did in spacestation (version 2) so I could call it deck this library may not work and go into a infinite loop. But otherwise it should work fine and has been well tested.

hints.h (9Kbytes)
This library provides some facilities which make writing an Infocom style on-line hint system a lot easier.

menus.h (9Kbytes) and AltMenu.h (14Kbytes)
Provide on screen menu routines similar to the Infocom on-line hints system. I haven't actually used them myself but have played a lot of games that utilize them. They give a very professional appearance.

Virtually all libraries currently available can be found at
http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXcompilersXinform6XlibraryXcontributions.html.