How do I learn Inform 7?

Question

What are some good resources or tutorials for learning Inform 7?

Answer 1

The documentation that's built in to Inform 7 is very helpful, and includes a "recipe book" of examples that can be pasted into a new project so that you can modify them and experiment. You can download Inform 7 from the Inform 7 website.

Carolyn VanEseltine's Quick-Start Guide to Inform 7 is nice if you want instructions that are less comprehensive, but that will get you making a game more quickly.

Answer 2

You can also search IFDB for games that have the Inform 7 source available, play the game, and study the source: http://ifdb.tads.org/search?searchfor=tag:I7+source+available. If you want games that are written in the newest version of Inform 7, you may want to stick to newer games. Some of the syntax that worked in an older game may not work in the newest version of Inform 7.

Answer 3

If you're willing to spend a little (and support other community members) Aaron Reed's book on Inform 7 is also very nice, and as a bonus, Sand-Dancer is available on the web for free. So you can play it, compile it if you want to, and see which part of the code does what.

 

Don't feel you have to understand certain parts of the documentation, as if there was a quiz on the whole IDE. You may miss parts entirely, or not understand them, until you need to make things work.

Comments

Note that both Sand-Dancer and the book were written for an earlier release of Inform 7 and aren't 100% compatible with the latest release.

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That's a good point. I'm still going with 6G for the moment, so it hasn't affected me, but the jump up to 6L will be worth it for some.

Has anyone managed to touch up Sand Dancer so it compiles in 6L? I think that would be a good exercise.