HTML TADS interpreters on IFDB and ifwiki

[dfabulich (Dan Fabulich)]

I forgot what the last word was/is on having Parchment support multimedia HTML TADS.

I remember that we’ve concluded that no modern interpreter supports WebUI TADS, not even QTads, but QTads does support HTML TADS, and so it seems like it ought to be possible for Parchment to support it, too.

[Dannii]

QTads isn’t a Glk terp, so it’s not really comparable.

I want to add at least some of HTML TADS to Glk TADS/Parchment, but it will be a very long process.

[dfabulich (Dan Fabulich)]

@bg

If I click the “play online” link on the IFDB page, it seems to get stuck on a “Loading” page for a while before getting to the menu screen.

I don’t reproduce that. It did take about ten seconds to load, but then it loaded for me in Parchment.

1893.gam is 70MB large; it seems likely that the download was just slow for you at the time.

@bg

Do we need a separate list of interpreters at IFWiki just for interpreters that will run HTML TADS games? I understand not all interpreters support all features, but if this is a situation where the game won’t even run at all, that seems like a different situation than an interpreter that has a reduced set of features but still runs the game.

I’m not aware of any multimedia-enabled “HTML TADS” games that aren’t completable in Parchment.

FWIW, I’ve updated a few of the interpreters on https://www.ifwiki.org/TADS_interpreters to say “No TADS multimedia support” in the “Multimedia” column. Now, only QTads states clearly that it has multimedia support for TADS.

@clintmbishop

TADS has been beaten up over these issues for years now. The full game, with its images, maps, and compass rose in QTADS, looks so polished and professional. It’s almost a shame to default the game to a Play Online version instead of the complete version. Makes some of the IF classics look less appealing, not more.

IFDB prefers to include a “Play Online” button wherever it can, because it is quite challenging for IF newbies to download interpreters.

First, you have to acquaint newbies with the idea of an “interpreter,” and then present them with a list of interpreters, then they have to pick a decent interpreter that works on their OS, then they have to download the interpreter, then download the game file–which can be quite challenging on mobile–and then open the game in the interpreter.

By comparison, the “Play Online” button just works when you click on it, even on mobile. QTads doesn’t even run on iOS or Android.

Currently, IFDB thinks it should include a “Play Online” button for all “TADS 2” and “TADS 3” games, but not “TADS 3 WebUI” games (which, confusingly, is a separate thing from HTML TADS 3).

Most of the top-rated TADS games in IFDB don’t use multimedia, or not in any essential way.

It’s not at all clear to me that games that do have multimedia support, like According to Cain or 1893 would be improved by removing the Play Online button.

I’m not even sure it’s wise to discourage the Play Online button for these games. “This game will play better when you download an interpreter, so here’s a list of interpreters, but, gotcha, only one of these interpreters is the good one, and good luck if you don’t even know what an interpreter is” is not going to make these IF classics more approachable for IF newbies; quite the opposite.

[bg]

@dfabulich

@bg

If I click the “play online” link on the IFDB page, it seems to get stuck on a “Loading” page for a while before getting to the menu screen.

I don’t reproduce that. It did take about ten seconds to load, but then it loaded for me in Parchment.

It took about 22 seconds to load for me when I tried it just now. It did eventually load.

@dfabulich

FWIW, I’ve updated a few of the interpreters on TADS interpreters - IFWiki to say “No TADS multimedia support” in the “Multimedia” column. Now, only QTads states clearly that it has multimedia support for TADS.

Thanks!

@dfabulich

here’s a list of interpreters, but, gotcha, only one of these interpreters is the good one

I was wondering if it would make sense to do something different here instead of the standard link to the whole list of TADS interpreters.

I see your point about making newbies jump through hoops. It does kind of make the game look broken, though, when you see that initial menu with the items all on the same line, and no instructions.

I could phrase it more as a “if you run into problems playing this online, try QTads” kind of thing so it’s a little more neutral.

[jnelson (Jim Nelson)]

(Catching up on a long backlog of unread messages.)

@dfabulich

It’s not at all clear to me that games that do have multimedia support, like According to Cain or 1893 would be improved by removing the Play Online button.

For the record, I would like to keep the Play Online button for Cain. I do like the idea that people can immediately jump in and try it out without downloading an interpreter.

I spent a good deal of time coding Cain to work reasonably well with Parchment, Lectrote, and QTADS. It required a bit of code that degrades if such-and-such feature is unavailable. So, this might not be true for all TADS games.

Another user added the “Best played in an offline TADS interpreter with multimedia support, like QTads” message to the IFDB page, which I think conveys the choices well. (If TADS had a bigger footprint today, I’d even suggest a checkbox on IFDB that says “This is a multimedia TADS game” and automatically included such a message, with a link to download QTads.)

Obviously, I’d prefer if the experience was the same across all three interpreters (and others) but am aware of the coding hurdles to make that happen.

[Piergiorgio_d_errico]

The only T3 multimedia/HTML component I use are some < center > < /center > here and there, and the lone offline 'terp honoring the centered text is Qtads, but I don’t have an idea how the 'net terp handle those (I guess that by nature, they honor HTML formatting tags, but in coding, nothing must be taken from granted…)

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.