Examples of Interactive Fiction
A small anthology of pieces by the makers of Inform
It would be impossible in this small space to give a full or even a representative picture of what people have done with IF in the last thirty years. The Interactive Fiction Data Base (IFDB) is IF's answer to the more famous Internet Movie Data Base, but with the advantage that it offers most of the works in question for free and rapid download.
Just as a taste of the medium, and for something to test interpreters with, here is a short selection of works by the makers of Inform. Each download here is a Blorbed Z-machine story file.
Welcome booklet. Click on the PDF logo (left) to
browse or download a guide-book on how to play IF, written by Emily Short.
Will Crowther and Don Woods
Adventure (1976-77). Okay, Crowther and Woods did not
make Inform: but they did pioneer the whole genre. This is a modern playing
edition of the very first work of IF in the modern sense: the original
Adventure game, set in the Colossal Cave.
Graham Nelson
Curses (1993). Looking through an attic for a tourist
map of Paris turns into a shaggy-dog story of unexpected diversions: magic
realism with added daisies and a vexing aunt.
Jigsaw (1995). Sixteen interlinked re-enactments as a
mosaic history of the twentieth century, plus some animals to draw in a
sketchbook for reasons which will not become clear for a very long time.
Andrew Plotkin
Spider and Web (1998). A vacation in our lovely
country! See the ethnic charms of the countryside, the historic grandeur of
the capital city. Taste our traditional cuisine; smell the flowers of the
Old Tree. And all without leaving your own armchair!
Shade (2000). A single location, crowded in with
claustrophobia and ambiguities. As Baf's Guide (a Halliwell-like
reviewing site) noted, "it's difficult to say much more about it without
spoilers".
Dreamhold (2004). An award-winning introductory
game intended for those entirely new to the medium, and filled with hints.
Emily Short
Galatea (2000). A conversation with a work of art.
"47. Galatea. White Thasos marble. Non-commissioned work by the late
Pygmalion of Cyprus. (The artist has since committed suicide.) Originally
not an animate. The waking of this piece from its natural state remains
unexplained."
Savoir-Faire (2002). The beautiful life is always
damned, they say. As for you, you've overexpended yourself: fifteen years
of prominence, champagne, carriage rides in the Tuileries, having your name
whispered behind manicured hands, getting elegant ladies out of elegant
fixes - and you're in debt. Bound by oath and honor to a pack of
scoundrels.