Writing AIF
If you
take a look at the mission statement you will see that
some of the main purposes of the newsletter are to
encourage growth in the community and production of
quality AIF games. With this in mind, the newsletter has
included many fine articles dealing directly or
indirectly with how to write AIF games. Even if you have
never written a game and have never seriously considered
doing so these articles are still very interesting and
give a glimpse of what it takes to write a good game.
The summaries are mine and if you find anything misleading or erroneous there then the fault is also mine. Please let me know if you do and I will correct it.
| Article Title | Author | Summary of the Article | Issue | TXT | |
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| The Zen of Testing: Part I | A. Bomire | Part I - The Art of Alpha
Testing In the first part of the series A. Bomire discusses how to organize and test your game yourself. It includes many good hints for the new (or even not so new) author to keep you from getting overwhelmed by the project. |
Feb-05 | TXT | |
| The Zen of Testing: Part II | A. Bomire | Part II - Desperately Seeking
Testers Part two deals with how to find beta testers for your game as well as when you should seek their services. |
Mar-05 | TXT | |
| The Zen of Testing: Part III | A. Bomire | Part III - Making the Most of a
Good Thing Ok, so now that you have your game and your beta testers what do you do with them? A. Bomire gives some hints to help you figure out what you want and what to do with the information you get. |
Apr-05 | TXT | |
| Story in AIF | BBBen | BBBen take a look at the story in AIF. What should it be like? Should it be character driven? How much sex is enough? Does AIF even need a story at all? You'll have to read the article to find out. | Feb-05 | TXT | |
| Beta Testing Games: A Primer | A. Ninny | A. Ninny has probably beta tested more games than any other single person out there. Who better to give some hints on what it takes to do the job and do it well. | Mar-05 | TXT | |
| TADS and ADRIFT Compared | Lucilla Frost | Lucilla Frost is in a rather unique position to compare these two systems having written her British Fox game in ADRIFT and later porting it herself to TADS. A very insightful article about the strengths and weaknesses of each system. | May-05 | TXT | |
| Programming File Editors | A. Ninny | A. Ninny reviews Crimson Editor 3.7 and Imaginate 1.5 with an eye on the pluses and minuses of using them to write AIF. | Jun-05 | TXT | |
| Persistent Worlds in Games | Orgun | Orgun explores the possibilities of having multiple games taking place in the same world. Not just something that looks the same but one where old save games would work, objects could be carried over, etc. A very interesting idea. | Jul-05 | TXT | |
| Stripping in an SSS | BBBen | BBBen takes a look at the different stripping systems used in games and the pros and cons of each. | Aug-05 | TXT | |
| The Free City of Stolgar | DrisArter | DrisArter suggests a communal AIF project where the same location and themes would be used by multiple authors spanning several games. | Sep-05 | TXT | |
| Non-Linearity and Choose Your Own Adventure | BBBen | BBBen takes a look at why a choose your own adventure type game may not be the best way to show non-linearity in your game and discusses some alternatives. | Oct-05 | TXT | |
| Gamism and Simulationism is the SSS | BBBen | BBBen examines two of the main approaches to writing a SSS and games in general. | Nov-05 | TXT | |
| Drawing the Line and Getting it Done | BBBen | A look at how to avoid "scope creep" and how to cut down all those great ideas you have into something manageable that you can actually finish before 2028. | Dec-05 | TXT | |
| Review of Inform 7 | A. Bomire | A. Bomire reviews Inform 7, a new system that boasts a 'natural language' programming language. | Jun-06 | TXT | |
| Impressions on Interactive Fan Fiction | Grimm Sharlak | Grimm Sharlak gives his impressions on a new game engine and how it stacks up to ADRIFT and TADS. | Aug-06 | TXT | |
| Review of RAGS | A. Bomire | A. Bomire reviews the Rapid Adventure Game System (RAGS) and tells up the good and bad about this new authoring system. | Mar-07 | TXT | |
| Review of CYOA Development Systems | A. Bomire | A. Bomire takes a look at Tweebox and QuestML, two tools used to create choose your own adventure type games. | May-07 | TXT | |
| Why Write AIF | Pual Swift | Paul Swift talks about his ideas and experiences in writing AIF. | Jun-07 | TXT | |
| The Vachon Method | BBBen | BBBen lists the rules that must be followed if you want to write like Vachon. | Jul-07 | TXT | |
| Deconstructing AIF | StormNinjaBlade | StormNinjaBlade takes a look at the three parts of our AIF acronym and how each fits in to make a good game. | Aug-07 | TXT | |
| Writing AIF Using TADS 3 | Knight Errant | Knight Errant takes a look at TADS 3 with a focus on features useful to the AIF author. | Sep-07 | TXT | |
| AIF and Fetishes: Part 1 | Deathworks | Deathworks discusses a few of the fetishes out there with an eye to how they can be used to add additional content to AIF games. | Nov-07 | TXT | |
| AIF and Fetishes: Part 2 | Deathworks | Deathworks discusses a few of the fetishes out there with an eye to how they can be used to add additional content to AIF games. | Dec-07 | TXT | |
| Writing Sex in AIF | BBBen | BBBen gives some hints and tips to help you write those steamy sex scenes that we all love so much. | Mar-08 | TXT | |
| SSS Layers | BBBen | An article about using layers in steamy sex scenes to make them more interesting and engagin. | Jun-08 | TXT |
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AIF
101 Johnny Freebase's excellent tutorial on how to write AIF was originally posted on alt.games.xtrek and was re-printed in the newsletter in the same serial form that it was there. It is a great tool to help authors learn what they need to do to write a successful game. Although this is just one style of organizing and writing a game and may not, in the whole, appeal to everyone, there is certainly a lot of good information here that any author or potential author would benefit from reading. |
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AIF
Author's Log In the very first chapter of this series Bitterfrost comes right out and says that this is not a guide on how to write a game but is a little something he likes to call "How NOT to write AIF". In each installment he takes us through the disillusions, disappointments, and distractions that conspire to keep the game from ever seeing the light of day. Of course, it doesn't help much that his first attempt looks to be about as big as War and Peace and Les Miserables combined. I find myself alternately smiling and cringing as I read about the problems he has encountered and I'm amazed at how often I (as an author myself) can identify with what I read. If he ever finishes the game it is liable to turn out to be one of the best ever written. I just hope a few of us are still alive when it comes. If your looking for a guide on how to write a game check out AIF 101 above but for a guide on how NOT to do it, there's none better. Well, maybe the Vachon Method but that's another matter completely. |
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How
to Write a One Night Stand
by Purple Dragon This is a very basic tutorial on how to write a One Night Stand type game. That is, a game with only a single NPC and few rooms. The first three parts deal with general and specific information on writing the actual text of the game. Starting with Part 4 it turns into a basic Inform 7 tutorial showing how to take all the text written in the first three parts and put it together into a game. |
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