Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction

Frequently Asked Questions on rec.arts.int-fiction:           Updated 12/18/92

     1)  What is the purpose of this news group?
     2)  What topics are appropriate here?
     3)  What languages are available for writing text adventures?
     4)  Where can I read more about Interactive Fiction theory?
     5)  Who is doing R&D in Interactive Fiction?
     6)  What happened to that great publisher of adventures, Infocom?
     7)  What is IF anyway?  What *are* you people talking about?

You may want to save a copy of this file for future reference, rather than
post a frequently-asked question.  This file is updated regularly.


1) What is the purpose of this news group?  

Rec.arts.int-fiction is a news group for discussion of Interactive Fiction
(IF).  We do talk about adventure games here, but the discussions are from the
viewpoint of "the advancement of Interactive Fiction".  Discussions range from
Adventure games and Interactive Fantasy to Hypertext, with emphasis on the
development of IF as a new literary genre and/or a new form of computer-based
art/entertainment.  Discussions of adventure implementation languages is
appropriate in this group, as well as ideas on applying popular technologies
(such as Object Oriented programming) to problems in Interactive Fiction
development (such as environment representation, parsing, and natural language
generation).


2) What topics are appropriate here?  

Topics related to Interactive Fiction design, theory, and implementation are
appropriate.  Please don't post questions about specific adventure game
puzzles to this news group, as it was set up only for discussions of the
*development* of Interactive Fiction.  Please post your queries about specific
adventure game puzzles to rec.games.int-fiction.  Discussions of MUDs
(multi-user dungeons) belong on rec.games.mud.  Info on LARPs (live-action
role playing games) can be found in rec.games.frp.*. 

Posting to more than one group is not a good idea.  Select the appropriate
news group and post only to that one.  Just as you would not post questions
about specific games in this group, please refrain from posting questions on
IF design and implementation in rec.games.int-fiction.

Controversial viewpoints are sometimes posted here; when you post a dissenting
view, remember to attack the idea, not the person.  Let us debate, not battle.


3)  What languages are available for writing text adventures?

Here are the most frequently mentioned ones:

ADL:    Adventure Definition Language by Ross Cunniff (cunniff@fc.hp.com) and
	Tim Brengle.  Latest version is 3.2, June 1987.  No object-oriented
	programming, but still a robust and flexible system.  LISP syntax.
	Excellent parsing capabilities.  System includes a debugger.  Source
	code (in C) is available.  Package includes sample adventures, and
	standard definitions for verbs.  Runs on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Unix,
	and VAX; could be ported to any platform.  ADL is available from your
	comp.sources.games archive.  For example: ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu,
	and get files under /usenet/comp.sources.games/volume2/adl

AdvSys: Adventure Authoring System by David Betz.  Latest is version 1.2, July
	1986.  Written up in BYTE magazine, May 1987.  This was probably the
	most well-known adventure system, but recently seems to be eclipsed by
	ALAN and TADS.  LISP Syntax, fully object-oriented language.  Source
	code is available for compiler and interpreter (written in C), so the
	language highly portable.  Unrestricted for non-commercial use.  No
	debugger is available.  Available on comp.sources.games archives.
	Example: ftp ftp.uu.net, in /usenet/comp.sources.games/volume2/advsys
        A library of standard verb and class definitions is available from
	ftp.gmd.de as /if-archive/programming/advsys/standard.adi.*

AGT:    Adventure Game Toolkit, by David Malmberg (73435.1277@compuserve.com)
	and Mark Welch.  Current version is 1.35, November 1991.  (Soon 2.0).
	Shareware, available on many BBS archives.  Registration fee is $20.
	Not an object-oriented language.  Syntax resembles natural English.
	Documentation (150 pages) states that no programming experience is
	required.  The standard definitions cover the ordinary commands, and a
	meta-language is provided to create your own commands.  Many games
	have been written in AGT (over 35 are described in the documentation),
	with source code available.  AGT runs on MS-DOS, Macintosh, Atari ST,
	and Amiga.  Available from Softworks, 43064 Via Moraga, Mission San
	Jose, CA 94539.  Download free from Adventureland BBS, (606) 271-0558.

ALAN:   Adventure Language, by Thomas Nilsson and Gorfo (thoni@softlab.se,
	gorfo@ida.liu.se), Sweden.  Latest version is 2.4, Nov 1992.  Syntax
	similar to English.  The main difference between ALAN and the others
	is the non-programming design of the language.  Not an object-oriented
	language, but verbs attached to an object can override the global
	definition of a verb.  Source code not available.  Manual includes a
	tutorial on adventure game design.  System is distributed free by
	email from the ALAN owners only, no BBS or ftp sites.  Send email to
	alan-request@softlab.se with a one line message of the form:  SEND
	<request>, where <request> = AMIGA, SUN, VMS, or PC (for complete
	distibutions including executables, documentation and demos), TEXT or
	POSTSCRIPT (for documentation only), or INFO (for an overview).  A
	port of ALAN to the MAC is planned.

OASYS:  Object-Oriented Adventure System by Russell Wallace
	(RWALLACE@vax1.tcd.ie).  Current version is 1.0.  Written in C++.  Not
	a formal object-oriented language; procedures are called methods and
	types are called classes, but it does not support inheritance,
	encapsulation, or messages.  Has documentation and two sample
	adventures.  Control structure is user-defined so fuses, daemons, etc,
	are not a problem.  System is public domain (no restrictions of any
	kind on use or distribution).  Runs on MS-DOS, could be ported to
	others.  Posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc, vol 20, issues 081-083 in
	1992; available from ftp archives of that group, or ftp from
	ftp.gmd.de under /if-archive/programming/oasys (Zoo archive plus "the
	missing file").

TADS:   Text Adventure Development System by Michael Roberts.
	(73737.417@compuserve.com).  Latest version is 2.0, October 1992.
	Shareware.  Object-oriented language, including multiple inheritance.
	Syntax similar to C.  Source code for TADS is not available.
	Excellent documentation (including tips on adventure game design) for
	those who register (which is highly recommended).  Includes a library
	of standard definitions of verbs and object classes.  Large example
	adventures written in TADS are available.  The Unnkulian games were
	written in TADS (contact is Dave Baggett, dmb@ai.mit.edu; the
	Unnkulian source code is not distributed).  TADS runs on MS-DOS,
	Macintosh, and Atari ST.  Available from many ftp sites, including:

           msdos.archive.umich.edu: msdos/games/adventure/tads.zip
           atari.archive.umich.edu: atari/Games/Tads/tads.lzh
           mac.archive.umich.edu:   mac/game/gameutil/tads#.#.cpt.hqx
           mac.archive.umich.edu:   mac.bin/game/gameutil/TADS (via Appletalk)

         If you can't download a copy, you get it from:
            High Energy Software, P.O. Box 50422, Palo Alto CA 94303.
         The $40 shareware fee covers the code and documentation.

Each of these systems contain a compiler and an interpreter for the compiled
"virtual machine code".  All are text-only systems.

For a more detailed description of IF languages, plus advice on writing your
own adventure, see Nathan Torkington's "Adventure Authoring Systems FAQ"
posting, which appears here in rec.arts.int-fiction.

If you can't find what you want on a local archive, try ftp.gmd.de in Bonn,
Germany.  Under /if-archive you can find IF languages, completed games, and
archives of discussions on rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction.
They accept contributions in /tmp/if-uploads; if you do, notify blasius@gmd.de 
explaining what it is and what it runs on.


4) Where can I read more about Interactive Fiction theory?  

Some recommended background reading on Interactive Fiction includes:

  Buckles, Mary Ann. "Interactive Fiction: the Computer Storygame
  'Adventure'" (University of California at San Diego, 1985).  Focuses only
  on the original adventure game.  Limited in scope, but a fun read for any
  hard-core fan of Interactive Fiction theory.

  Laurel, Brenda.  "Towards the Design of a Computer-based Interactive Fantasy
  System" (Ohio State University 1986).  See also her "Computers as Theatre"
  (1991, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, ISBN 0-201-51048-0).  This book extends
  the work that Laurel began in her PhD dissertation, which addresses the
  problems in automating plot which integrate the player's actions.

  Meehan, James.  "The Metanovel:  Writing Stories by Computer" (Yale 1976)
  Meehan used the natural language technology of Roger Schank's Yale group
  to construct some primitive Aesop's fables.

  Sloane, Sarah.  "Interactive Fiction, Virtual Realities, and the
  Reading-Writing Relationship" (Ohio State University 1991).  Sloane presents
  her views on narrative theory, as well as analyizing IF R&D in progress at
  CMU (led by Joe Bates) and at Interactive Fantasies (Brengle and Graves).

These four PhD dissertations are available for ~$50 each from University
Microfilms, 800-521-0600.  (Half price for students).

The following are also recommended:

  Lebowitz, Michael.  "Creating Characters in a Story-Telling Universe"
  Poetics, 13, 171-194. (1984).  Poetics is a periodical; check your library.

  Thurber, Macy & Pope. "The Book, the Computer and the Humanities"
  (Aug '91 issue of T.H.E. Journal (Technology in Higher Education)
  Discusses a project to foster critical thinking using a computer with
  hypertext and interactive elements becomes a humanistic new medium.

References on "rules" for story generation.  Most of these authors never
guessed computers would exist, but that shouldn't stop you from using their
work as the start for your "AI rule base" for plot unit integration.

  Aristotle.  "The Poetics".  Translated by Ingram Bywater.  In "Rhetoric and
  Poetics of Aristotle".  New York:  The Modern Library, 1954.  Aristotle
  defines the basic elements used to construct stories and drama, although
  his model is frequently attacked by modern narrative-theory researchers.

  Campbell, Joseph.  "Hero with a Thousand Faces" (1949).  New Jersey:
  Princeton University Press.  Campbell defines the elements which are common
  to heroic folktales in all cultures, forming a single template, which is
  called "the monomyth".

  Polti, Georges.  "The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations" (1916).  Boston:  The
  Writer, Inc.  (617) 423-3157.  ~$10.  This is really quite unique and
  brilliant, identifying a truly interesting and challenging subset of
  story-outlines useful in developing a plot knowledge base.

  Propp, Vladimir. "Morphology of the Folk Tale" (1968).  University of
  Texas Press, Austin.  Written about the same time as Polti's analysis.

ART COM (electronic) Magazine #43 and #44 (Nov & Dec '90) were devoted to
Interactive Fiction.  These two back issues are available by e-mail.  Send
requests to dag@hpsemc.cup.hp.com, with the one-word Subject: ArtCom.
Requests are processed by a program; append a personal message if you wish.

I have published a few papers on Interactive Fiction technology, which are
available by e-mail.  They are:  "Second Generation Adventure Games" (which
focuses on the physical world model, parsing, text generation, and simple
agent planning), "Bringing Characters to Life" (which summarizes the progress
in Artificial Personality over the last two decades), and "Plot Automation"
based on my presentation at the Computer Game Developer's Conference in spring
of '91.  To receive all three papers, send mail to dag@hpsemc.cup.hp.com, with
the one-word Subject: Papers.  Requests are processed by a program, but I do
review personal messages appended to requests.

The Journal of Computer Game Design occasionally prints articles related to
Interactive Fiction.  Subscriptions are $36 per year (a non-profit publication)
for six issues.  Write to 5251 Sierra Road, San Jose California, 95132.
The editor welcomes articles from the readership; contributors receive a free
one-year extension on their subscription.


5)  Who is doing R&D in Interactive Fiction?

The Oz Project, directed by Joseph Bates at the Carnegie-Mellon School of
Computer Science, is developing technology for high quality interactive 
fiction.  Their goal is to provide users with the experience of living in
a dramatically interesting simulated world that includes simulated people.
Their focus is on the simulations behind the interface, which they call 
the deep structure of virtual reality.  A good first reference for their
work appears the journal PRESENCE:

       Bates, Joseph, 1992.  Virtual Reality, Art, and Entertainment.
       PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 1:1, 133-138.
       MIT Press.  Cambridge, MA.

The article's bibliography contains references to their more technical papers.

In 1989, the Oz folks conducted a search for those doing research and
development in Interactive Fiction.  Many individuals responded, stating their
interest in the results, but the search revealed only the Oz project itself,
and the team of Brengle and Graves.  (See references above).  Many others are
developing IF using traditional methods, of course.


6)  What happened to that great publisher of adventures, Infocom?

Around 1986/87 Infocom was having serious financial trouble.  Their database
product, Cornerstone, was expensive to develop but was not selling.
Activision then bought Infocom.  Infocom was relocated to Mountain View,
California, but most of the staff did not stay with the company.  Infocom
became a label, and Activision went through a radical reorganization.
Finally, Mediagenic was formed.  Mediagenic was (and still is) the parent
company of Activision and Infocom.  You may see new products come out under
the Infocom label, but the original writers have moved on.


7) What is IF anyway?  What *are* you people talking about, anyway?  Here are
some definitions related to IF:

  User Paced Sequence:  A linear sequence of fixed content.

  Progressive Disclosure:  Content is fixed, but exposure to the content
     varies.

  Point of View Shift:  The first-person viewpoint moves between characters.

  Browse Around:  The player wanders and explores an environment.

  Plot Branching:  A tree or network of fixed content.

  Physical Modeling:  The system simulates a physical universe with which
     the player may interact.

  Character Modeling:  The system simulates characters with whom the player
     may interact.  Characters may generate goals, actions, and emotions.
     Character modeling may be broken down into intelligence modeling and
     emotion modeling.

  Intelligence Modeling:  Rules for simulating intelligent behavior by
     characters.  This may include setting goals and making plans to 
     achieve them.  Since intelligence modeling is typically focused on
     problems of logistics, it is tightly coupled with physical modeling.

  Emotion Modeling:  Representation of emotions as data, and rules for
     processing that data to derive behaviors consistent with a character's
     perceived personality.  Emotion modeling is typically focused on the
     feelings associated with interpersonal interaction.

  Dramatic Modeling:  The system has a representation for dramatic elements 
     (plot fragments) and a "plot calculus".  This allows the system do
     plot generation on the fly -- taking into account the actions of the
     player character.

  Computer Adapted Story Telling:  A presentation of different but consistent
     experiences of the same story.  Could be achieved through point of view 
     shift, browse around, or plot branching.

  Interactive Fiction:  Narrative based experiences that tend to be either
     puzzle solving or plot branching.  This term is usually applied to
     the "first generation" Adventure games -- those developed in the last
     decade.  The second generation of IF is moving towards the development
     of Interactive Fantasy as a new genre.

  Interactive Fantasy:  A first person dramatic experience.  Achieved through
     a combination of physical modeling, character modeling, and dramatic
     modeling.  (Consider the Star Trek Holodeck as a vision of a future
     Interactive Fantasy platform).

Interactive Fiction is difficult to define concretely since it is a new
artistic form, still in its infancy.  The first work of computer-based IF was
a story-game called "Adventure".  To this day, games of this type are called
Adventure games, named after the original instance.

There are many forms of Interactive Fiction, but the one thing they have in
common is that the reader is allowed some degree of interaction with the
story.  When we talk about IF in this news group, we usually are talking
about computer-based works of fiction.  A traditional book is not interactive
-- you just read it from front to back, and get the same experience every time.
Pick-a-path books, however, are interactive; this is probably the lowest form
of IF.  One goal of IF developers is to take advantage of the flexibility of
the computer to facilitate the creation of new forms of entertainment.

Adventure games are an early form of computer-based IF.  They are *subjective*
IF, that is, the player has an influence on the "plot" of the story.  The
reader can influence events via his choices about what to do next, the
ordering of his actions, etc.  In *objective* IF works, the reader has some
influence on the presentation of the story, but not the content.  Consider a
hypertext-based story, where you can ask for more information on a given
person or plot event, but you cannot influence the flow of events.  Infocomics
are an example of objective interactive fiction.

IF offers great potential, but since its appearance about a decade ago, its
growth has been plagued by two problems:  how to develop the computer
technology required to support a work of Interactive Fiction, and how to
develop stories that exploit this new genre.

Interactive fiction differs from traditional fiction in that the author gives
up much of the control of the story flow.  This is because the reader (or
player) is allowed to participate to some degree in the shaping of the plot
through his role as a character in the action.  Since the player/protagonist
will be making decisions about what he will do next, the author must allow for
multiple paths through a set of plot potentials.  The most primitive way of
doing this is through plot branching:  presenting the reader with a small set
of fixed choices, each set corresponding to a branch in a fixed set of
potential plot paths.  Unfortunately, this technique is intrinsicly limited
and has historically resulted in relatively uninteresting games.

A more interesting approach (in my opinion) is to create a rich set of plot
fragments and character behaviors which may be assembled by the computer to
allow the creation of new stories each time the program is used.  In the
finished product, the individual elements of the story can combine in new and
wonderful ways not anticipated by the author or programmer.

In this news group, we discuss the technical and artistic aspects of the
interactive fiction genre.  While we occasionally do mention "off-the-shelf"
IF products, it is typically in the context of comparing and contrasting their
structure or artistic merit.

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This file of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is maintained by David Graves,
dag@hpsemc.cup.hp.com.  Corrections and suggestions are welcome.