The hoops described here ‘compiled → download → upload’ remind me that our chefs are not playing on a level field: they had to bring their own kitchens, and our challenger’s kitchen is the sort of thing I would burden an IF superstar with, should I want to give them a handicap.
Onno’s own computer is neither able to compile nor interpret their game! They start with borogrove:
create and edit the file online, click ‘compile’, then download the compiled file, then upload it to a different web site (iplayif.com) to see it in playable form.
It’s the sort of thing that would drive me bonkers. I’ve described my kitchen before (a combination of Visual Studio Code and the Inform 7 native IDE), and while it wasn’t quite as smooth as I would like, it was certainly a lot smoother than this! IIRC, one of the advantages of the ‘ink’ development system is that your edits are live: you type something in to your left window, and the right window (already running the game) updates in real time. This is, frankly, kind of magical. (Someone tell me if I’m off my rocker here–this is half-remembered lore from two years ago.)
This made me wonder if there might be a way to combine these two online pieces: an edit window, but also another ‘play the game’ window.
Then I mucked about with borogrove.app. And… it’s already there! You click ‘go’, and the right half of your screen becomes your compiled game. You can even click ‘go’ on the default ZIL game and it’ll compile and play it, (>X ME “You look like you’re up for an adventure.”)
So, Onno! Click the ‘Go’ button! Save yourself the time! You’ll need all of it!
(Also, the default game already had ‘LIGHTBIT’ in it, too.)