How popular is TADS?

First i’d like to say i checked out your app and it looks pretty awesome.

But i could be totally off on this but i always assumed since TADS can publish as a website you could just use one of the many convert website to android apps out there.

Please correct me if i am wrong because i was depending on this lol

Yes and no – you can compile to a playable web app but you need to store the actual game on a server. So the Android app would also only work when there’s an Internet connection available.

Plus, it would miss a lot of niceties and features exclusively made for a mobile app. I would have scoffed at those (like double-tapping a word to select it)… before I actually tried it. Now I wouldn’t dream of playing mobile IF without it.

Oh I assumed it was possible to put the file into the app directly. Though this leads to a followup question. Couldn’t you simply add a download after the fact where you load the file locally to your phone or tablet and run from there?

Also as far as the buttons and such. I’m starting to feel extremely misinformed becuase i thought you could integrate javascript right into the game. So adding support for buttons, word clicking and even a map is a matter of writing the javascript to make it happen.

Bit sleepy at the moment, so I’ll do a bit of a round up answer:

  • Running a game on a webserver always comes with the problem of connectivity. No reception, no play. You have noticeable lag and your carrier will charge you (depending on your data plan).
  • You could run a local webserver on your droid, but you would likely still experience a bit of lag. After all, you are runnign a virtual machine (TADS or ZCode engine) inside a virtual machine (Javascript) inside a virtual machine (Java) on a device that has the number crunching capabilities of a 10 year old desktop computer.
  • A native app allows for a lot of usability tweaks you can’t have with a web app.
  • I kinda make it a point to use this chatstyle UI. While it is technically inferior to traditional UIs (I waste a lot of screen space), it looks superior 8in terms of visual appealing) and that does a lot for acceptance.
  • HTML and JavaScript are not really my cup of coffee.
  • There is an interesting legal aspect about “webified” games. Namely: where to get them. Currently, I can simply point people to the IF archive and tell them to download from there. Going the web way would mean that I would have to host the packaged up games. Besides raising questions about copyright, packaging up the games is additional hassle, I’m not too interested in.

do it, dude. Not only because of it’s historical significance but also because it’s still actively developed and used to write games.

some of my favorite IF are TADS games, such as Walker & Silhouette (as well as other of Pacian stuff), Kissing the Buddha’s Feet, Babel, Elysium Enigma (and other Eric Eve stuff) and The Horror of Rylvania (first IF I’ve ever played still in the 90’s)

there’s definitely great value to be found there

BTW, fine app and good idea on the chat-style interface.

BTW2: definitely a worthwhile contribution. Works might fine for the touch interface, makes it really easy with the common verbs represented by icons and any word from the text readily selectable, as well as the exits underscored. Besides TADS, it only needs a shelf-like interface for the games, as in Aldiko or Kindle…

keep it up