Re:Inform is a programming language for creating interactive...
by tkb on Thursday December 22, 2022 @12:34PM
(#34095991)
For some data on the game size (based on my implementation and analysis of a BBC BASIC four-room game "MINI" which I referenced in another comment and won't self-promotionally spam again...)
The source code for MINI weighs in at 4.6 K, saved in the tokenised form used by BBC BASIC.
In comparison, the Inform 7 source is around 3.3K in size. But that isn’t executable - it can be run in Inform 7, or it can be compiled into a “story file”, of which Inform 7 supports two formats. In the older, more portable, Z-Code format, I got a blorb (package) of 406 K; in the newer, more sophisticated Glulx format, I got a blorb of 602 K.
And to actually play the story file, you need an interpreter - for example, Windows Glulxe, an interpreter for (as the observant reader might guess) playing Glulx story files under Windows, is a further 275 K. Inform 7 can also produce a story file and bundled Javascript interpreter for a version playable in a web browser: for MINI, this bundle weighs in at 1.1 MB.
Re:Inform is a programming language for creating interactive...
by anthk on Thursday December 22, 2022 @02:09PM
(#34097168)
For 8 bit computers I'd use Puny Inform. Much easier to develop and the resulting ZMachine V3 file will run everywere. Even on Game Boys and PostScript interpreters.
The source code for MINI weighs in at 4.6 K, saved in the tokenised form used by BBC BASIC.
In comparison, the Inform 7 source is around 3.3K in size. But that isn’t executable - it can be run in Inform 7, or it can be compiled into a “story file”, of which Inform 7 supports two formats. In the older, more portable, Z-Code format, I got a blorb (package) of 406 K; in the newer, more sophisticated Glulx format, I got a blorb of 602 K.
And to actually play the story file, you need an interpreter - for example, Windows Glulxe, an interpreter for (as the observant reader might guess) playing Glulx story files under Windows, is a further 275 K. Inform 7 can also produce a story file and bundled Javascript interpreter for a version playable in a web browser: for MINI, this bundle weighs in at 1.1 MB.