This is orthogonal to Dannii’s transcript-collection proposal, and much simpler:
I think that a modern interpreter should save a transcript for every game session. No player interface at all. Just automatically create a file “Game Name 1.txt” when the game is loaded, then “Game Name 2.txt” next time, etc. All in an interpreter-owned directory. Disks are big, and every play session at our Boston events has been introduced by forgetting to type “transcript on”. There’s no reason not to keep this stuff.
They shouldn’t be kept forever, and cleanup should be invisible too. I suggest keeping the most recent week’s worth, or the most recent three transcripts, whichever is greater. Naturally, if the player moves a transcript out of the folder, it won’t be wiped.
Then the interpreter can have an “open transcripts folder” menu option, and also “wipe transcripts folder” for the cases when the player wants to clear the cache.
I like it. Personally I don’t think there’s even a need for an autodelete of the transcripts cache–just keep it all. At least by default–as you said, these files are small. Interpreters could offer a simple interface in the preferences dialog: A checkbox, which when active would enable the user to provide a number: delete transcripts after X days/weeks/whatever, alongside a “delete cache now” button.
I basically agree with this. Textfyre does something similar although all transcripts are tied to a saved game and we’re going to limit that to 10 saves. We also save the game and transcript of the “current session” so when the player reloads the application, the app automagically loads the current state (game and transcript).
This should be seemless and invisible to the user.
They should be able to load one of their saved games and the state of the entire application, including fonts, colors, transcript, and game state…all of this should be restored.
The Delete functionality isn’t needed. Text files are small, and many players simply don’t play I-F often enough for storage to become a concern. And of those who do play so often that the space for storing some text files becomes significant, I imagine they are computer-savvy enough to know how to delete files using the OS’s ability.
I’d rather it not be so darn easy to destroy things, especially if it’s a toll on terp authors’ time while the OS has a perfectly cromulent solution already.
Now, if you wanted a built-in transcript browser, then delete would be something to have. But that’s orthogonal to a terp.