Does anyone know where I can get an interpreter just for this?
Remember I’m a novice and don’t know about templates, modules, libraries, or extensions.
If I unzip the program with an extra library (including AIF libraries) would the game use it?
I’ll assume when you say “interpreter” you do mean “interpreter for playing the games” and not “program for creating CYOA”, though the answer is pretty much the same anyway:
There isn’t a universal interpreter, just like there isn’t a universal IF interpreter. There isn’t even a gargoyle-style bundle of interpreters. Any IF language out there - Inform, Tads, Hugo, Alan, ADRIFT, whatnot - can theoretically produce a CYOA game playable on the machine’s interpreter. Then you can have web-based CYOAs like ChoiceScript and Undum, and “Instead” is a russian program that can churn out some pretty cool stuff. There’s also something called the “Game Book Player”, and another called “Millestorie”, but I don’t think many people use them.
Jon Ingold had written a Windows application called “Adventure Book” a number of years back which produced CYOAs in the Z-machine format. It’s no longer posted on Jon’s current homepage, but I could probably dig up a copy somewhere if you’re interested.
Right. For Inform 7 users.
IMO, generating games in the Z-code format is not particularly useful for multiple-choice/CYOA games. The natural way to play these games is by clicking on the options (or tapping on a touchscreen) which is easy on the web but mostly unsupported in Z-code interpreters.
I have an unofficial tool to build a command-line version of ChoiceScript games, where the text is printed to stdout and decisions are accepted via stdin. (“A monster appears! A) Fight, B) Magic, C) Summon, D) Run”).
I used it to generate a version of “Choice of Broadsides” that could be played in ClubFloyd on ifMUD. If people are interested, I could try to package it up into something other people could use.
In case anybody’s still looking at this, I meant “Own” not “One”.