A Guardian Gamesblog community production

You are the captain of a ship…

Why?

•Observing vs. Participating•High-profile collaborative creative projects•UGC + Social media = something beautiful•1% rule? No wai.

The Dream

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

The Reality

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

The Winning Formula

The Abominable Snowman--------------------------------------------------------------- x One Million Penguins(Douglas Adams + Emily Short)

How?

The Wiki Way: (http://textadventure.org.uk)

Attempt 1:Contamination

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are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Attempt 2: The Skeletal Penguin

•Phase 1 - framework + synopsis•Phase 2 - regulars build a skeleton•Phase 3 - develop lists and forms•Phase 4 - community recruitment•Phase 5 - implementation (pseudo interactive demo)

•Phase 6 - motivation (to play, to participate)

•Phase 7 - community recruitment[repeat as necessary]

•Phase 8 - dissemination•Phase 9 - go to Phase 3

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Where’s the launch pad?

http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html

INFORM - Background

Designed for writing interactive fiction in 1993.

Became a standard tool for this purpose.

Inform 6 was comparable with a traditional programming language.

Latest iteration Inform 7 took three years to develop.

Inform 7 uses natural English sentences.

INFORM 7 - Basics

Name and author of the projectBreakdown project using headingsDefine your roomsDefine objects & actorsDefine your custom actionsDefine how actions are to be understoodDefine rules for performing actions

INFORM 7 - Basics

INFORM 7 - CompilersThree options to choose from.

Z-Code v5 supports up to 256Kb

Z-Code v8 supports up to 512Kb

Glulx supports up to 4Gb

Z-Code vs Glulx

Glulx has more support for multimedia effects.

Much larger story files are possible with Glulx.

Less interpreter support for Glulx.

INFORM 7 - Interpreters

Windows - Glulxehttp://freespace.virgin.net/

davidk.kinder/glulxe.html

Mac OS X - Zoom or Spatterlighthttp://www.logicalshift.demon.co.uk/mac/

zoom.htmlhttp://ccxvii.net/spatterlight/

Linux - Zoomhttp://www.logicalshift.demon.co.uk/

unix/zoom/

Java - Zaghttp://wso.williams.edu/~jon/zag/

Consistency of implementation somewhat like the early days of CSS.

Google Code / Subversion

Code Repository

http://code.google.com/p/gamesblog-textadventure/

Subversion used to manage collaborative working.

Merges working copies automatically on commit.

Flags up an conflicts and forces resolution.

Tracks changes allowing rollback etc.

Release

Inform 7 bundles everything into a BLORB wrapper for release:

Story FileCover ArtWalkthroughWebsite

Well Here It Is:

http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html

Plus, Spaceship! Goodies

Other sites of interest:

http://textadventure.org.uk (the wiki)Google group

http://www.brunton-spall.co.uk/ChapterOne.html (Contamination)http://www.toastkid.com/Spaceship.html (background)http://emshort.wordpress.com/ (Emily Short)http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Inform%207.html (Inform7)http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/series/wikigame

(The Guardian’s Wikigame coverage)http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml

(Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

Many thanks to…

AleksK DennisChow

Phillip Walters Perrin Ashcroft

Michael Brunton-SpallBarry Tucker StatusJones

Bambino Tostare Bridget Dack

Limni CavalcadeCtmiller

Dave Chapeskie Edible Visions CunningStuntFantomex Hambargarz HiddenAway MeepMeep

NDG Tin Robot Nybble Weefz Camax

AlobsterApocalyspse Cow

AndyHillAndy BorleyAdamCrowe

ColonelKilgoreCheddarFrenzyCharlesUllman

DafElsa

IlluminantRobkunRolf

Nick PlainFearofFoursJim PooleyJumbleJumble

JetamoKerry TurnerMachineisboredThe Mighty JagTrev ver TSonofSaitoMitoto

SalubriousoneSenor Monkfish

The Selfish GiantUnPremeditated

YorkiebarZoozoobabaEd SluddenGeo AshtonAleks’ Mum

Our Anonymous ContributorsEmily ShortGraham NelsonThe GuardianGamesbloggers

http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html