Memory and Storage

Authoring Inform 7
1

I’m pretty new to IF in general, but I came across some interesting thoughts yesterday and I wanted to know what you all think.

Some graphical games, when they came out, comprised of two disks–one with one part of the game, and the other with the second part. This was due to file size and storage limitations. Nowadays, a larger game might – and often does – require some online connection to download all the game files. I know that these games often come with multiple program files and a single “character save” file that each program file can access and edit when it needs to, so as to create a fluid experience for a single character (rather than having to create a new character for each program file).

Is it possible to create an IF that has this feature? Regardless of how often it would even be necessary – I just want to know if this is even possible.

2

Yes, it’s possible for an IF game to save character data and import it into a sequel.

For Inform 6 on the z-machine, see the @save and @restore opcodes (§42 of the DM4).

For Inform 6 on glulx, see the glk file stream API (gull for an overview, the glk spec for details).

For Inform 7 (glulx only), see the material on files (§23.11 and subsequent sections of Writing with Inform).