• www.adrift.co

• github.com/jcwild/ADRIFT-5

ADRIFT (Adventure Development & Runner — Interactive Fiction Toolkit) is a GUI driven IF development system for Windows, allowing to create text adventures via dialog boxes and GUI controls instead of writing code. Supports graphics and sounds.

Developed by Campbell Wild since 1997, ADRIFT Developer (formerly called Adventure Generator) used to be a commercial product, then in 2011 it became freeware, and now the full source code is available on GitHub under BSD 3-Clause license.

There are different versions of ADRIFT, adventures created with a specific version of ADRIFT Developer should be played with the same version of ADRIFT Runner — but ADRIFT Runner 5 should be able to run adventures created for v4:

• ADRIFT 5.0 (2011–)

• ADRIFT 4.0 (2002–2012)

• ADRIFT 3.9 (2001)

• ADRIFT 2.0 (aka Adventure Generator, 1997) — legacy 16-bit DOS app

For more information, see also:

• IFWiki » ADRIFT

• Wikipedia » ADRIFT

• adventuron.io

• adventuron.itch.io

A free to use, proprietary (closed source) in-browser text adventure and gamebook authoring tool, by Adventuron Software Limited, UK.

• Adventuron User Guide

• markdamonhughes.com/Aiee (Wayback Machine, 2018)

Aiee! is a cross-platform tool (Java) for creating and playing text adventures, or "interactive fiction". Aiee! adventures are written in a simple XML-based format, without the need for any programming experience. Aiee! adventures can even include illustrations and sound.

• www.alanif.se

• Alan IF discussions — official mailing list at Google Groups.

Alan (Adventure LANguage) is an a cross-platform open source authoring system based on a dedicated IF language with an English-like syntax, intended to simplify writing adventures for non-programmers. Its webiste also offers a dedicated IDE and other useful tools to aid IF authoring.

Alan was created in 1985 by Thomas Nilsson (now Thomas Nilefalk) and Göran Forslund, and is actively maintained by Thomas Nilefalk. The latest version is Alan 3.

For more information, see also:

• Alan Wiki — official Alan Wiki, publicly editable.

• IFWiki » Alan

Source repository:

• github.com/alan-if/alan

Libraries for Alan 3:

• github.com/AnssiR66/AlanStdLib — Alan Standard Library v2, by Anssi Räisänen.

• ALAN Library v0.6.2 (at Alan Goodies) — an earlier library ported from Alan 2, still working with current Alan version, but today mainly used to compile legacy adventures and tutorials. Deprecated in favour of the new StdLib v2.

• github.com/alan-if/alan-i18n — The ALAN Internationalization Project, multi-language translations of a basic ALAN IF library to create text adventures in different languages, and provide reference implementations to add support for new locales.

Alan in other languages:

• github.com/tajmone/Alan3-Italian — Italian translation of the Alan StdLib 2, by Tristano Ajmone (incomplete Alpha).

• Alan Spanish — the pALANte library, by Bruce Humphrey and Marcos Donnantuoni.

Books and tutorials:

• git.io/alan-docs — The official Alan Documentation website, offering various books, guides and tutorials for on-line consultation and download:

  • The Alan Manual — on-line version of the latest ALAN Adventure Language Reference Manual.

  • Alan Cookbook v2 — Anssi Räisänen’s collection of tips and tricks on how to implement and achieve various effects in the ALAN language or using the Standard Library v2.

  • Alan 3 Beginner’s Guide — Michael Arnaud’s step-by-step tutorial for the creation of the TV TIME! adventure using ALAN Library v0.6.1.

  • Alan IDE Reference Guide — Robert DeFord’s guide on how to install, configure and use the Alan IDE to craft text adventure in ALAN.

Alan editors, IDEs and editor extensions:

• AlanIDE — complete Alan Integrated Development Environment, by Alan author Thomas Nilefalk. In Java/Eclipse.

• Sublime Alan IF — Alan 3 syntax for Sublime Text 4 (usable Alpha).

Syntax highlighters supporting Alan:

• Highlight — natively (see: alan.lang definition file).

• Highlight.js — via external syntax definition for Alan.

• XSLTHL — via external syntax definition for Alan.

Alan-related projects:

• github.com/alan-if/alan-docs — Alan IF Documentation Project.

• github.com/alan-if/alan-by-examples — Learn ALAN IF through examples.

• github.com/alan-if/alan-repository-template — GitHub repository template for Alan IF projects.

• github.com/alan-if/alan-goodies — “Alan Goodies”, a collection of assorted Alan IF assets.

• github.com/alan-if/alan-xsl-fopub — DocBook XSL Template for Alan PDF documentation via Asciidoctor-fopub; includes an XSLTHL Alan definition for Syntax Highlighting.

• nickm.com/curveship

• www.generalcoffee.com/hugo

The Hugo Interactive Fiction Development System (1995-2006), created by Kent Tessman, is a cross-platform, free and open source (BSD-2-Clause license) programming language and set of tools for authoring and playing Interactive Fiction adventures, supporting images, sound and videos. The latest official Hugo release is v3.1.03 (2005).

For more information, see also:

• IFWiki » Hugo

• Hugo Wiki (care of Tristano Ajmone).

• Not Dead Hugo — an active blog with precious news on Hugo.

• hugoif.github.io — the “Hugo Resources” page, a collection of useful Hugo links.

Hugo official documentation, by Kent Tessman:

• The Hugo Book (PDF) — at the IF Archive (direct download).

• The Hugo Book (HTML) — New AsciiDoc port and HTML edition, revised with Kent Tessman supervision, Jan. 2020.

Tutorials and learning resources:

• IFWiki » Hugo Tutorials

• Hugo by Example — a website of useful resource for those wanting to learn Hugo:

  • hugoif.github.io/hugo-by-example (2021-) — the new Hugo by Example website, now hosted on GitHub.

  • hugo.gerynarsabode.org (Wayback Machine, 2019) — the original Hugo by Example wiki, by Royce Odle aka «Gerynar».

• Jolt Country (Wayback Machine, 2018) — Unofficial Hugo discussion forum.

The Hugo Library, by Kent Tessman:

• Hugo Library (v3.1.03.1) — at the IF Archive.

• Hugo Library (v3.1.03.2) — on GitHub (care of Tristano Ajmone).

Third party libraries for Hugo:

• Hugo Code Lab — a collection of Hugo libraries by Jonathan Blask.

• IF Archive — library extensions for various purposes contributed by members of the IF community.

Editor syntaxes:

• Hugo ConTEXT — Hugo syntax for ConTEXT (direct download), by Paul Lee, 2010.

• Hugo EditPlus2 — Hugo syntax for EditPlus2 (direct download), by Ben Parrish, 2002.

• Hugo Emerald — Hugo syntax for Emerald (direct download), by Jonathan Blask, 2012.

• Hugo Kate — Hugo syntax for Kate (direct download), by Jonathan Blask, 2012.

• Hugo mode — Hugo mode for Emacs, by Christopher Tate (GPLv2).

• Hugo Npp — Hugo syntax for NotePad (direct download)++, by Jonathan Blask, 2011.

• Hugo Source Edit — Hugo syntax for Source (direct download) Edit, by Jonathan Blask, 2012 .

• Hugo Textpad — Hugo syntax for Textpad (direct download), by Jonathan Blask, 2012.

• Hugo UltraEdit — Hugo syntax for UltraEdit (direct download), by Gunther Schmidl, 2010.

• Hugo Vim — Hugo syntax file for Vim, by Marc Simpson.

• Sublime Hugo — Hugo for Sublime Text 3, by Tristano Ajmone, 2019 (WIP).

Hugo source code:

• github.com/tajmone/hugo (care of Tristano Ajmone).

• github.com/curiousdannii/hugo (care of Dannii Willis).

• github.com/0branch/hugo-unix (care of Marc Simpson).

  • github.com/realnc/homebrew-hugo — Homebrew tap for the Unix Hugo CLI tools.

• github.com/juhana/hugojs — HugoJS, an online Hugo interpreter. Created from Hugo sources trans-compiled to JavaScript via Emscripten.

Syntax highlighters supporting Hugo:

• Highlight (see: langDefs/hugo.lang).

To find games created with Hugo:

• IFDB » Hugo — all Hugo games on the Interactive Fiction Database.

• IF Archive » games » Hugo

• IFWiki » Hugo Works

• HugoJS — a collection of Hugo games playable on-line, in the browser.

• inform-fiction.org

See also:

• Inform 6 Free eBooks

• Inform 6 Cheat Sheets

• inform7.com

Based on natural language.

See also:

• Inform 7 Commercial Books

• Inform 7 Free eBooks

• Inform 7 Tutorials

• Inform 7 Cheat Sheets

Online tools:

• I7 Thing Creator (I7TC) — by Juhana Leinonen. A web form to quickly create i7 objects and reponses; the produced code can then be pasted into the project’s source.

• github.com/inkle/ink

• tab.thinbasic.com

T.A.B. (ThinBASIC Adventure Builder).

For more information, see also:

• www.tads.org

TADS (Text Adventure Development System).

For more information, see also:

• IFWiki » TADS

• IFWiki » TADS 3

• Wikipedia » TADS

TADS sources:

• IF Archive » TADS 2 sources

• IF Archive » TADS 3 sources

• github.com/tajmone/tads-sources

See also:

• Mapping Tools » TADS

• github.com/jaywengrow/tuvi

• twinery.org

See also:

• Twine commercial books

• idmillington.github.io

• varytale.com/books (via Wayback Machine, 2015)

• versu.com

• xvan.nl

XVAN is a an open source (GPLv3) cross-platform parser-based IF authoring tool, by Marnix van den Bos. It consists of an authoring language, an optional library, a compiler and three types of interpreters: terminal window, Glk-window and GUI. XVAN is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS, in English and Dutch.

See also:

• gitlab.com/strandgames/brahman — Brahman IF, the IFI-XVAN back-end for IFI (the Interactive Fiction Interface) by Strand Games.

• github.com/infiniteammoinc/Yarn

• github.com/thesecretlab/YarnSpinner

• www.caad.es/superglus/doku.php

• github.com/Utodev/Superglus

For more information, see also:

• IFWiki » Superglús

• Wikipedia (ES) » Superglús

• github.com/Silvan87/Confabula

• Fizmo — a generic Z-Machine interpreter-development library in plain C, used in various interpreters. Supports Z-code (1-5, 7 and 8).

• Frotz — for Linux & Mac OS X, supports Z-Machine story files.

• Gargoyle — for MS Windows, Linux & Mac OS X; supports most story file formats by including the following interpreters: Agility, Alan 2 and 3, Frotz (glk port), Glulxe, Hugo, Level 9, Magnetic, Scare, Tads 2/3.

• Spatterlight — story files supported: AGT, Adrift, AdvSys, Alan, Glulx, Hugo, Level 9, Magnetic Scrolls, TADS (text-only), Quill, and Z-code (except v6).

• Zoom — supports Z-code, TADS 2/3 and HUGO story files.

• Windows Glulxe

• Windows Frotz

Andorid

iPhone

PalmOS

• Parchment — written in JavaScript, supports Z-Machine story files.

• IFM (Interactive Fiction Mapper, 1998–2014) — IFM is both a language for keeping track of gameplay progress and a command line tool (for Windows and Linux) capable of representing the collected map-data in different output formats (PostScript, Fig, ASCII text, and others) and offering many other features, including automapping. Windows executables can be downloaded from the IF Archive. Linux users can build IFM from the Bitbucket sources via GNU make. (Online Manual | Bitbucket | IFWiki)

• IFMapper — A map drawing tool, written in Ruby, with lots of features, including automapping. Can read and save IFM files and Inform/TADS3 source code files. Exports to PDF. (Online Manual | GitHub)

• SVGmaps.zip (2008) — A JavaScript framework for producing IF maps using the standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) language.

• Cocoa Mapre (2004) — (cocoa_mapre0.6.7.dmg) A tool for generating maps of Multi-User Dungeons on Mac OS X.

• AutoREALM (2006) — A vector-based map drawing software (FOSS) designed for RPGs. Allows the creation of detailed full-color maps; ideal for the creation of elegant game maps where «room boxes» are superimposed on a realistic up-to-scale representation of the game world.

• Campaign Cartographer — A commercial tool for drawing fantasy-style terrain maps — not the classic rooms/directions-based diagram IF maps, but ancient-looking «realistic» full-color maps, with villages, lakes, sea, forests. Execellent for creating feelies maps.

• Frobot Magic Adventure Mapper (1998) — Automapping tool for Windows 95.

• GUEmap — Map drawing tool, can also generate directions for moving around the map. GUEmap v1 (1998–1999) is Sharaware, GUEmap v2 (1998–2007) is now free and open source. Runs on Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0.

• Informapper (1996) — A map drawing program for Windows, Spanish only user interface. Can export as a skeleton file for SINTAC. Can’t execute on modern versions of Windows.

• Map Maker (1999) — A Windows 95/98/NT world-building tool for visually designing maps to be converted as AGT, AGX, Hugo and TADS source code. Can still be executed under Windows 10.

• The Mapper (1994) — Automapping tool — comes as a .COM executable format. Can’t execute on modern versions of Windows.

• Trizbort (2010-today) — For drawing Infocom-style maps. Automapping feature. Saves in XML, exports to PDF or PNG. Actively developed.

• Adventure Map Utility (1994) — A shell script that implements a domain-specific language for creating printable PostScript maps from plaintext input files.

• asciimapper (2005) — A Perl script to create IFM maps from ASCII art maps. Intended as an easy way to draw a map and have it converted to IFM format.

• ifm2i7 (2008) — A Perl program to convert maps in IFM format to Inform 7 source code.

• informap (1999) — A perl script that draws maps out of Inform source code.

PalmOS

Here’s a list of mapping tools or libraries which are designed for specific IF systems.

TADS

For a full list of IF story files extensions, see:

• IFWiki » List of file extensions

• IFDB » File Formats

IF story files are distributed with different file extensions, depending on the IF authoring system used to create them and/or the output format the story has been compiled/converted to (in case of authoring systems that support multiple output formats, like Inform7, or when story files are converted from an old format to a newer one).

The following table resumes the most common story file extensions.

The following table resumes some common extensions used by IF authoring systems as source, headers or resource files. In some IF authoring systems, the source code file and the story file distributed for playing are one and the same.

The following table resumes some other common file extensions related to IF that don’t belong to any of the previous categories.

See also:

• https://github.com/iftechfoundation/ifarchive-if-specs

Z-machine

Glulx

T3 VM

Various standards shared by Interactive Fiction story files or authoring systems.

See also:

• https://github.com/iftechfoundation/ifarchive-if-specs

Blorb

The Treaty of Babel

• The Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp) — since 1995.

• Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction — since 2002.

• The XYZZY Awards — since 1996.

• https://itch.io/jam/talp — various text adventure competitions, usually themed, suitable for children with no prior experience; hosted by Adventuron.

See also:

• IF Archive section on magazines

Discoverer’s Digest

IF History

IF Theory

Inform 6

Inform 7

PAW

IF History

Inform 7

Twine

• Get Lamp

IF Authoring Guides

Designing IF Authoring Systems

Inform 7

Inform 6

• TALP (The Text Adventure Literacy Project) — The TALP project aims to provide a friction-less method of teaching the next generation how to play text adventure games.

• Teach with Inform — Inform7’s website educational resources page.

• inform7.com/news/category/education^ — Inform7 News Section, «Education» category. RSS Feed subscription available.

• Teaching IF — a list of IF courses in schools, curated by Emily Short.

• Gaming The Past » Interactive Texts — A repository for theory, research , and implementations of simulation games for history education. Created and maintained by Jeremiah McCall. Offers Inform 7 and Twine resources.

• The Foyer is a Room — Inform 7 Examples, Snippets and PDF handouts by John Timmons, created by educators for students and the classroom. Freely reusable material.

• Viking Studies Course Materials — Includes various IF story files (30+). Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, PA).

• Voices of Spoon River — An instructional IF game based by Creative Learning Environments Lab (Utah State University), based on Edgar Lee Masters' The Spoon River Anthology. (see also, IF Wiki » Voices of Spoon River)

• Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History — by Jeremiah McCall. New York: Routledge, 2011. Available in paperback, hardback and digital editions (Kindle).

• Student-designed text-based simulation games for learning history: A practical approach to using Inform 7 in the history classroom — by Jeremiah McCall (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).

• Interactive Fiction: ‘New Literacy’ Learning Opportunities for Children — by Deborah Kozdras, Denise Marie Haunstetter, and James R. King (2006), E-Learning, 3(4), pp. 519-533.

• Goethe’s “Elective Affinities” as E-Learning: Developing Exercises for German Classes in the Secondary School Level 2 — by Wiebke Schwelgengraber, Mario Donick, and Franziska Schonfeld, presented at the E-Learning Baltics 2009 Conference.

• Mixing Story and Simulation in Interactive Narrative — Mark O. Riedl, Andrew Stern, Don Dini.

• Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment’s Monthly Interactive Fiction Meetup

• Interactive Fiction Community Forum — hosted by the IFTF.

English

Italian

ifMUD