Glulxe Games on the iPad

Authoring Inform 7
1

  1. Questions:

  2. Does the iPad even have a desktop as the Mac does?

  3. Can a zipped file be downloaded from the archive or a website and unzipped on the iPad’s desktop?

  4. Can a transcript be done and saved on the iPad’s desktop.

2

No, there is no desktop. Each app has its own private document storage directory.

If you install iOS Frotz, you can set it up to accept Zcode or Glulx game files. However, the procedure is kind of a pain in the ass. See the “File Transfer” section in the Frotz info/settings page.

In iOS Frotz, if you switch to the Notes page and tap the page icon near the top of the screen, you’ll see a list of all the transcripts you have saved. You can read a transcript and copy its text to the clipboard.

3

thanks for the feedback

4

Frotz on the iPad is much nicer if you use Dropbox. You can have it save both your transcripts and saved games to Dropbox, and then open up those files on any other computer, or in a different app on the iPad. You can also use Dropbox to get games into Frotz, which is far more convenient than the file transfer procedure.

5

Oh, right. I had completely forgotten that option. (I don’t have a dropbox account.)

6

It’s actually extremely easy to download zipped files into Frotz if you install a zip application on your iPad. I’m using the free app Zip Browser, but there are alternatives. Mobile Safari will automatically offer to load the zip file in the zipping application. And then in there when you look inside the zip file you can click on the game file and again the iPad seems to know what to do, and will offer to open it in Frotz. And then it’s in your store of game files in Frotz on the iPad. Works really easily. I was using that technique last night to download and play a number of zipped game files from the web, using just my iPad.