Invisiclues-style hint page generator

Authoring Publishing
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I am working on finishing up my first parser game, and got feedback on my hints file – apparently rot13 is unfashionable these days. I knew how to create Invisiclues-style HTML, but it was annoying to do so for a large number of hints.

So I made a tool to do it for me. Presenting the first version of the hints page generator: Invisiclue-style Hints Generator

Of course, one still needs to write the hints, but now they are at least easier to present in a nice, spoiler-light format.

I hope someone else finds it useful. Let me know what you think!

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I updated it so that it can host your hints as well, as long as they are small enough. You might want an URL shortener for that, though…

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nice job! what was the version without the long url?

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The previous version just gave you the raw HTML and you had to host it yourself.

With this version you can still download the generated page (with a plain ctrl-s in the browser) and host it yourself if you’d like to.

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Can you add a button or something other than a keyboard command? I already have ctrl-S set to something else that overrides website commands. Alternatively, have two buttons: generate raw HTML and generate website.

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I’ve been pretty happy with posting hints here on the forum.

The forum is a particularly nice way to host these, because it’s immediately obvious how to reply to ask for help/clarification.

I’ve also hosted a few hints on Github pages, which is pretty convenient. https://dfabulich.github.io/infocom-hints-html/

If you wanted to add features to ClueGen, you might consider adding headers and tables of contents, like this: Invisiclues Hints for "A Mind Forever Voyaging"

You can see the code I used for this here: https://github.com/dfabulich/infocom-hints-html/blob/main/generate-html.mjs

At the top level, the table of contents links to only the h1 headers. At the top of each section, there are links to the headers of the next-level-down sections, and to the list of questions in the current section. (If there’s only one question in a section, e.g. “Sample Question,” it doesn’t need a table of contents.)

Also:

  • Better mobile layout e.g. <meta name="viewport">
  • Add support for screen readers. Right now in iOS VoiceOver, when you navigate to a hint, it simply reads the hint aloud. (You can see how I do it in my Infocom hints; the aria- attributes do the work.)
  • Were you intending the font to be sans-serif? Your CSS says font-family: sans which matches nothing on my machine; it renders as Times New Roman.
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I will see if I can do that. Sounds like sonething that ought to be possible. In the meantime, you might have more luck with right clicking and going to “view source”.

These are indeed a significant inspiration for this project! Thanks for making them.

I agree with your other feedback as well. The lack of viewport directive and the sans-serif typos are particularly embarrassing. Flattered you took such a detailed look.