As an experienced ADRIFT user I disagree that ADRIFT necessarily is a bad path to take. The main problem is that the current online Runner is horrible so people have to download an interpreter. But you can do that on all systems, especially now where they are trying to integrate Frankendrift into Gargoyle. I think ADRIFT 5 is finally beginning to thrive and we may find a better way to play online in a not so distant future.
Once you know how ADRIFT works you don’t need help all the time as I did with Inform rule books etc. For me, it takes so long to get up to speed with Inform. I agree with Dan that Inform is the most popular and also excellent but for some people other tools are the right choice.
The other main problem is that ADRIFT appears so easy, so new users “never” ask for help. If they take the time to watch a 12 minute long map tutorial (LINK), it will be so much easier to design a beautiful and functional auto-map. And if you ask on the ADRIFT forum on how to approach the parser to get a good parser (many ADRIFT authors neglect this step) you can get a really good parser.
You can definitely make Colossal Cave in both ADRIFT 5 and Inform. The question is: Do you need the exact same screen setup? I am mainly thinking when you type Inventory should it look like the old Main Frame game or would it be acceptable with a modern take on writing inventory? The Inform version of the original Adventure does NOT use the old screen setup but writes inventory in its own way. I think that is a bit more difficult to change that in both Inform and ADRIFT but certainly doable.
