I tried searching before asking here but had no hits. Is it possible to put Inform 7 on an iPad?
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If you mean authoring Inform 7, then no. If you mean playing a game written in I7, then certainly. Frotz is an iOS interpreter for any games in compatible formats, including blorb files created by inform.
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Thanks. I had authoring in mind. Trying to work away from the computer.
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Yeah-- go look in the app store for Frotz. It’s free.
When you upload your game to IFDB, you can select and play it through Frotz on iPad. It’s great.
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Oh, then Phil’s right-- no. But you should still get Frotz if you’re as attached to playing stuff on your iPad as I am.
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Doing it now!
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Depending on what you’re doing, you might be able to get away with using borogrove, which is a web-based IDE for multiple IF languages, including Inform 7. It can be challenging to use for more complex projects - it can’t handle extensions, for example, so you need to manually paste those in - but it might be a viable option.
(Actually let me tag @Lancelot since I think he wrote his recent Inform game via Borogrove).
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Oh, fun! I had no idea Borogove was this flexible. I’m delighted to be wrong.
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If you’re comfortable with building software from source and using the command-line, it might be possible to create a local Linux environment on iOS and build the Inform 7 compiler (and the rest of the intools suite) there, but not the IDE (the thing that includes the editor and access to the docs that’s what most people mean when they talk about installing Inform).
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You just earned the “Mad” in “Mad Scientist”.
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It’s not as convenient as being able to test and run live in Inform, but I often write in a text editor on my iPad and later transfer the code to the project. In some ways it’s useful because I spend more time focusing on the content than getting distracted by other bits.
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I don’t code in Inform on my iPad - Borogrove is nice, but I don’t find it practical for bigger projects. But I do write game segments and text, that I can then later transfer over and copy/paste in. Also figure out some game logic stuff. I brainstorm using the Ulysses writing app that I pay a subscription for. There are vastly cheaper options! But I find it handy for creative IF work that I can do on the iPad, even if not full blown coding.
Here’s an example of the type of text thing I write on my iPad. In this case copied from Ulysses running on my Mac, but I wrote the original in Ulysses on my iPad. This is from a game in progress (long long way off finished 
). As the example shows I put in the text that will appear on screen and can then consider how the game will react to other player actions. The resulting text can be quickly copied/pasted into Inform code on my laptop. Later. Much later!
Alt text for above picture
One day in late autumn, as the months move towards the close of the year, an unexpected visitor arrives at the homestead.
You are all gathered together in the main chamber, sitting around the fire, occupied with various tasks. Outside the remaining daylight is fading, and it looks to be another cold night. You pull your clothes around you, glad to be indoors.
Suddenly the dogs bark, and look towards the door fiercely.
examine dogs / listen → code suitable response
examine door → hear a knock on the other side, “Open it, girl!” says an elder
open door → what you see; person comes in; you close the door behind them
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Yes I definitely did. My IFComp 2023 entry “One King to Loot them All” was created using Borogove. Granted, it is not as great as using the Inform IDE (no nice integration with the documentation for example), but since I was not allowed to install any third party tools on my laptop at the time, Borogove was the next best thing. To ensure my work would not inadvertently get lost, I stored all code in GitHub.
The one major disadvantage for me of using Borogove is its inability to create release builds. I submitted a debug build by accident to IFComp last year, but fortunately Jacqueline was kind enough to allow me to send a release build instead.
So to get a release build I used a Docker container online to do the actual building.
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I would pitch in generously for an iPad port crowdfunding effort.
Since apple now appears more willing to allow emulators for vintage games, perhaps they would allow Inform7 into the store.
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