Spaceship At £5 App

A Guardian Gamesblog community production

You are the captain of a ship…

Why?
Observing vs. Participating
High-profile collaborative creative projects
UGC + Social media = something beautiful
1% rule? No wai.

The Dream

The Reality

The Winning Formula The Abominable Snowman --------------------------------------------------------------- x One Million Penguins (Douglas Adams + Emily Short)

How? The Wiki Way: ( http://textadventure.org.uk)

Attempt 1: Contamination

Attempt 2: The Skeletal Penguin

Phase 1 - framework + synopsis
Phase 2 - regulars build a skeleton
Phase 3 - develop lists and forms
Phase 4 - community recruitment
Phase 5 - implementation (pseudo interactive demo)
Phase 6 - motivation (to play, to participate)
Phase 7 - community recruitment
[repeat as necessary]
Phase 8 - dissemination
Phase 9 - go to Phase 3

Where’s the launch pad? http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html

INFORM - Background
Designed for writing interactive fiction in 1993.
Became a standard tool for this purpose.
Inform 6 was comparable with a traditional programming language.
Latest iteration Inform 7 took three years to develop.
Inform 7 uses natural English sentences.

INFORM 7 - Basics Name and author of the project Breakdown project using headings Define your rooms Define objects & actors Define your custom actions Define how actions are to be understood Define rules for performing actions

INFORM 7 - Basics

INFORM 7 - Compilers
Three options to choose from.
Z-Code v5 supports up to 256Kb
Z-Code v8 supports up to 512Kb
Glulx supports up to 4Gb
Z-Code vs Glulx
Glulx has more support for multimedia effects.
Much larger story files are possible with Glulx.
Less interpreter support for Glulx.

INFORM 7 - Interpreters Windows - Glulxe http://freespace.virgin.net/davidk.kinder/glulxe.html Mac OS X - Zoom or Spatterlight http://www.logicalshift.demon.co.uk/mac/zoom.html http://ccxvii.net/spatterlight/ Linux - Zoom http://www.logicalshift.demon.co.uk/unix/zoom/ Java - Zag http://wso.williams.edu/~jon/zag/ Consistency of implementation somewhat like the early days of CSS.

Google Code / Subversion Code Repository http://code.google.com/p/gamesblog-textadventure/ Subversion used to manage collaborative working. Merges working copies automatically on commit. Flags up an conflicts and forces resolution. Tracks changes allowing rollback etc.

Release Inform 7 bundles everything into a BLORB wrapper for release: Story File Cover Art Walkthrough Website Well Here It Is: http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html Plus, Spaceship! Goodies

Other sites of interest: http: //textadventure .org. uk (the wiki) Google group http://www.brunton-spall.co.uk/ChapterOne.html (Contamination) http://www.toastkid.com/Spaceship.html (background) http://emshort.wordpress.com/ (Emily Short) http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Inform%207.html (Inform7) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/series/wikigame (The Guardian’s Wikigame coverage) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml (Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

Many thanks to… AleksK DennisChow Phillip Walters Perrin Ashcroft Michael Brunton-Spall Barry Tucker StatusJones Bambino Tostare Bridget Dack Limni Cavalcade Ctmiller Dave Chapeskie Edible Visions CunningStunt Fantomex Hambargarz HiddenAway MeepMeep NDG Tin Robot Nybble Weefz Camax Alobster Apocalyspse Cow AndyHill Andy Borley AdamCrowe ColonelKilgore CheddarFrenzy CharlesUllman Daf Elsa Illuminant Robkun Rolf Nick Plain FearofFours Jim Pooley JumbleJumble Jetamo Kerry Turner Machineisbored The Mighty Jag Trev ver T SonofSaito Mitoto Salubriousone Senor Monkfish The Selfish Giant UnPremeditated Yorkiebar Zoozoobaba Ed Sludden Geo Ashton Aleks’ Mum Our Anonymous Contributors Emily Short Graham Nelson The Guardian Gamesbloggers

http://barrymars.co.uk/spaceship/index.html

Spaceship At £5 App

by Aleks Krotoski on Dec 12, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 1

Statistics

Spaceship At £5 App — Presentation Transcript