This is a sample compilation of programs and files that have been taken
from ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/inform6/ (and surrounding folders).
It's all you need to write your own adventures and have a damn good time.
(Oh, and all of these programs are freeware!)

Of course ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/ contains more Inform (and other) games,
several different compilers, emulators, game solutions, etc....

"compiler and library" contains the Inform 6.14 compiler for OS/2 and
the Inform Library 6/7. (Compiling parsem.h and verblibm.h as modules can
speed up compilation time a lot, so try it after reading the manual.
Using an *.ICL file can save you a lot of time, too)

"contributions" contains little add-ons for the Inform library, for example
an implementation of the famous "What is command" from Infocom's Hitchiker's 
Guide to the Galaxy game.

"frotz interpreter" contains the Frotz interpreter (Beta7) for OS/2. It can
run both your old Infocom game files and (of course) all games produced with
Inform. (Don't worry about the word Beta, the interpreter is solid, but lacks
some less important features that the Dos Interpreter supports).

"game sources and samples" contains four example games (Balances, Museum of 
Inform, Toyshop and Through the Looking Glass) and several little demonstration
blurbs which are mere examples of Inform features. (Don't forget to compile
them with Inform before you try to run them in Frotz.)

"games" contains two games made with Inform, Curses has been programmed
by Graham himself. Incidentally Curses is among the best of all 
Inform games. This is just a small amount of the available games, more Inform 
games can be found on ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/infocom/.

"manuals" contains two of Graham's four Inform manuals. Craft of Adventure is
a treatise on the design of good adventure games and the evasion of mistakes.
The Designer's Manual is a excellent source for learning Inform. It explains
every command, the design of adventure games and walks the reader through the
programming of a small sample adventure called Ruins. Both Manuals have been 
included as TeX and Ascii Version (and there are more versions on ftp.gmd.de,
for example a postscript version), as some people don't have TeX. But i
recommend using the TeX version, since that one's definitely more beautiful and
easier to read. (The Programmer's Manual and The Translator's Manual have been
omitted because they are not very important for programming and playing Inform
games. The Programmer's Manual is important for people, who want to port or 
program an interpreter for Inform, since it explains every detail of Inform's
z-machine. The Translator's Manual explains, how the library can be ported, so
it supports other languages (like german or russion, for example). Both can 
be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/inform6/manuals/
or on Graham's Web Site (http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/inform.html).

competition_announcement.txt contains this year's announcement of the
Third Annual Text Adventure Competition and it's rules for participating.
You can win prizes and compete with authors from all over the world.

If you need help with a piece of code or if you want to talk about
existing if games then try the two most interesting newsgroups in usenet:
rec.arts.int-fiction (questions and discussions about if-programming) and 
rec.games.int-fiction (questions and discussions about if-games).


There are other compilers as well, like Inform's brother, Tads, which is 
just as (maybe a little less) popular as Inform. Lots of Tads games can
be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/tads/ and the Tads Compiler package
(complete with interpreter) can be found in 
ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/tads/ (tads2os2.zip).

A fairly new compiler called Hugo is also getting popular (it's quite similar
to Tads and Inform), but hasn't been ported to OS/2 yet. So if you have 
some time to spare (and if you're a good programmer) then try to port it.
I'd be soooooo glad.
It's source code can be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/hugo/source/.

This package was whipped together and packaged by 
Heiko Nock (zifnab@rhein-neckar.netsurf.de)





