Inform 7 documentation and resources

Authoring Inform 7
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I7 9.3 is no longer maintained and I7 10.1 fixes numerous bugs. Unless you have some specific reason to use 9.3 (e.g., you’re in the middle of a large 9.3 project or your project depends on an extension that isn’t available for 10.1), you probably owe it to yourself to upgrade. That said…

I7 9.3/6M62 (released 2015-12-24)

9.3/6M62 language and IDE docs (included in the IDEs)

For official packages mentioned below: I7 9.3 Downloads.

MacOS

Use I7 site’s package, not the App Store’s.

Known issues:

An unofficial MacOS IDE release addresses these (but testing examples in Extension Projects doesn’t work)

Windows

Use the package on the I7 site (said to work with any version of Windows from XP SP 3 on). There’s a current 64-bit-only beta release of a new Windows version that allows compiling for any of 6L02, 6L38, 6M62 that has been tested only on Windows 10, but may work with older versions. Be warned that there have been multiple reports of security/antivirus programs causing problems with it: Avast, AVG, Windows Defender.

Linux

The 6M62 IDE uses GTK2, not modern GTK3, making it hard to build in modern Linux.

Unofficial rpm/deb IDE packages

Linux kernels < 4.11 (c. 2017) are incompatible with versions of ni prior to 6M62. To use 6L38 or older try an old Linux in a VM or Windows Inform in WINE. For 6G60, try playfic.com or borogove.app.

The official packages include components with more recent versions, e.g.,

Where to find I7 extensions includes info for 9.3/6M62.

Tutorials

Licensing

If you encounter memory limits in compilation, see Memory Limit and Storage Variable Limit settings or try I6 6.36 or higher, which does away with these limits

The I6 Template Layer that Inform installations have under Internal/I6T. Once called Appendix B of the docs, the template layer’s comments document some things not documented elsewhere.

Standard Rules

I7 includes the Standard Rules in every game. They’re the authority on I7’s World Model and defaults and can be browsed within the IDE: see “Contents” for any compiled game. They used to be called Appendix A of the docs. Some things in the SR may look modifiable but they’re really interdependent with something hard-coded in the compiler. Beware that 9.X’s Standard Rules (6L02, 6L38, 6M62) are all marked Version 3/120430 but each is different. (Likewise, 6E59 through 6G60’s Standard Rules are each different but all marked Version 2/090402.)

Bugs

6M62 Patches by Friends of I7 provides fixes for some known issues in 9.3/6M62.

The I6 that shipped with 9.3/6M62 was 6.33N. The current version is 6.43. Bugs in (the current) I6 can be reported at the Inform 7 bug tracker

The old I7 suggestion forum, via archive.org.

Beyond Inform

(invaluable resources not specific to Inform)

Language Comparisons

History

Toward I6: New Tricks for an old Z-machine

  1. Digging the Trenches
  2. Hacking Deeper, or Follies of Graham Nelson’s Youth
  3. A Renaissance Is Nigh

Toward I7

Toward I7 v10

Legacy Projects

Miscellany

Jeff Nyman

@emshort

Z-machine implementations on some notable hardware

Updating 6G60 code