Vorple for Inform 7 has just been released. It’s a customized Parchment interpreter and a set of extensions for Inform 7 that let the story file and the browser communicate between each other, which in turn lets us do all kinds of cool stuff with the user interface. Some of that is demonstrated in the example story.
There’s been a couple of posts here lately asking for the kind of features Vorple provides, so I decided it’s time to release even though there’s an embarassing list of things not quite there yet. The extensions are also just a small set of what’s planned for the future. Bug reports and feature suggestions are always welcome.
(Though, man, it’d be nice if I could write games fast enough that I could finish something for Shiny New Tool A before Shiny New Tool B comes along… well, okay, Z-code only. That’s a good enough reason to wait.)
Ok, let me try to say this without getting to many heated hating replies.
It’s a wonderful system, it really is, and it pushes Inform to a whole new level. And of course, things as the YouTube video are by necessity online.
Still…
…and I do realise this is still a work in progress…
…it would be brilliant if we could play it in our browser offline. It would be even better if, in that case, we could download any videos ourselves - our own responsibility - and have Vorple access the files locally, if it finds them, rather than online, which it always could if it didn’t find the files locally.
I don’t think this has anything to do with Vorple, but rather how authors structure the urls in their game. I guess Vorple could make this easier somehow by having some kind of resource handler?
Maybe. I’d be happy with just a way of playing “offline”, and if all that meant was a zipped folder with all the necessary files, then I’d be happy.
The only thing that Vorple would take into account, in my fluffy, happy, dreamy world, would be to check whether a certain file was available locally, and if so, use it; otherwise, use the online item.
The author can zip the web site Inform generates and provide that as a download. It will work offline if the author hasn’t used any feature that requires an online connection or doesn’t rely on features that won’t work without a server (saving persistent data is one major component). It will also require that the person who downloads the package knows a little bit on how stuff works (what file to open and how, what those IE warnings mean, etc).
Vorple is primarily an online interpreter and offline play is not really supported, unless someone JavaScript-savvy volunteers to develop and maintain offline features. It’s unlikely but all contributions are welcome.
That’s all most interesting. Exactly what sort of things (apart from external files, videos, images) require a server? Your comment about “saving persistent data” goes a bit over my head, I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Does you example require it, for instance?
It’s good that it can all be zipped and distributed by the author. I would love for someone to help with the offline features - I’d be that person if I knew anything about JavaScript, which I sadly don’t. I also don’t think there are many of those around thinking offline play is a very great priority. But at least the author can distribute a zipped download… that’s something.
EDIT - For instance, Guilded Youth - after a first, skimming glance - uses images stored in an “image” folder. Would those same images be used if when playing offline the directory structure remained intact? Or does a Vorple game link directly to the images in a certain website? Would it be possible, as I mentioned, to have Vorple access the files locally if it found them? Is it, in fact, one of the things you need JS-savvy people for?
I hope that eventually Vorple will work with the planned Glk updates, with everything all included in the blorb. When that happens Vorple games will be playable online and offline, as well as in traditional terps.
I think an example of persistence would be like in a MUD, where after you die you can come back to the same spot in a later playthrough and see your “ghost”, or tombstone, or whatever. You can do that with separate files, offline; but if that data is stored on a central server somewhere instead, A) you can find that ghost even when you play the story from a different computer; B) other people could, too. It opens up some interesting possibilities for interaction between players.
Well, that is VERY interesting. Certainly I wouldn’t want features of that sort to be crippled - however, unless a game is meant to be played as a group, and impossible (or hardly enjoyable) to play single-player, then I would be quite happy to play an offline version of the game, knowing in advance that there are features I wouldn’t be able to access.
Persistent data is anything that’s remembered between play sessions or shared between players. Personal settings and high score tables are common examples.
But yeah, you could easily do something like “You see the bones of 42 dead adventurers here.”
I have only minimal skills with I6 so I can’t do it myself, but if you check the Vorple Core extension, the JavaScript interface is all I6. It should work in a pure I6 project as well, although you’d have to attach it to the interpreter manually (the easiest way would probably be to create a minimal I7 Vorple project, release that and switch the z8 files).
Again, if someone wants to make I6 versions of the extensions, they wouldn’t be turned down…
I am not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question. But is it possible to import data from an excel file into inform 7 (using maybe javascript)?
I’d be happy with just a way of playing “offline”, and if all that meant was a zipped folder with all the necessary files, then I’d be happy.