I know you can create games on Notepad. I have seen the “echo” command used a lot. But those were simple, almost trivia or CYOA type games. I saw one coding language use a lot of brackets as I recall, but that was over a decade ago and not sure where I saw it or if it was part of an actual game kit. Is it possible to make an IF game the likes of Anchorhead using just Notepad? Thank you.
Almost every language can be programmed in Notepad. What programming editors like VS Code or full IDEs give you is the opportunity to find and fix some bugs before you run the compiler or just run the script if there is no compiler for the language.
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Maybe the OP is not asking what languages you can write in Notepad, but if you can use Notepad itself as the UI for a text adventure. It seems possible (like the sort of thing people do with Excel games for example)
Probably a little bit of both. I was not sure if there was definitive coding to make it happen, realistically.
If you’ve seen simple games that involve the “echo” command, those are possibly batch files. Batch files are a way of writing programs in a way that’s understood by the Windows command processor. They’re usually used for tasks like starting a program with some specific settings or automating moving files around in a certain way. As you’ve already seen, the options for creating games with them are pretty simplistic.
Based on some of your other posts, I think what you might be asking is “can I write IF without installing any new software on my computer?”
If you want to write any kind of program, you will need software on your computer that understands how to run that program. So you can write all kinds of programs in Notepad (almost any, because almost all programs are just text, which is what Notepad produces), but you will need software that understands that program. In the case of batch files, that software is already built into Windows. If you wanted to write IF in a language like TADS or Inform, you could write the code using Notepad, but you would need to install the compiler to turn your program into a form you could play.
If you want to write IF without installing anything new on your computer, your best option is to use something which runs in your browser (i.e. a web site which allows you to edit and run the code). Someone in another thread already suggested using https://borogove.app/ which allows you to write in several different IF languages. There is also a system called Adventuron (https://adventuron.io/) which works entirely in the browser, and maybe others.
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MUCHO is a great program used to create choice games for. ZX Spectrum. This uses notepad to create the Game and you compile It afterwards.
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[Based on some of your other posts, I think what you might be asking is “can I write IF without installing any new software on my computer?”]
Partly. ^^! I am in a fairly odd mood right now and want to both discover new things, but also punish myself. When I heard you could make games simply using NotePad, I got overly excited. Seeing the end results, at least from the sources I have seen, they were a bit lack luster.
And as I said before, I remember coding of just using a lot of brackets (or something similar). They did not have to be all ducks in a row, the spacing was just for eye convenience. But the brackets did have to be in the correct spots or it would not work. The more I think about it, it may have been TADS with a suit of armour in a tutorial. Or a completely different system, it’s been too long.
When you say brackets do you mean parentheses like (code)? Or {code}?
I honestly could not tell you. In my head they look like [code] or even (greater than sign) code (less than sign), but they very well could have been {code} ^^!
I just remember the tutorial saying that it was not as important as just making sure the brackets were all in the right places. The code strings could be collapsed and still function properly
[code]
-[code]
–[code]
—[code]
----[code]
[code]
[code]
[code]
[code]
[code]
I use Notepad++, which is Notepad’s bigger brother. you can certainly create QuestJS games with just Notepad.
Pixie, you are from Quest forums, right? And I actually do use NotePad++ ^^!
Yes! But have not posted there for some time.
I was going to the other day. Signed up and everything, just to find out they use GitHub now ^^!