Recently in indie games Category

I've mentioned No Media Kings before. A blog I've followed for years that started as a small guide to self-publishing books by an ex-employee of a major publishing house. Finally, the author, Jim Munroe, embraced the DIY spirit fully and turned the blog into a journal of everything he was doing. Sound familiar?

He's even had crossover success with his IF game Everyone Dies and his graphic novel Sword of my Mouth.

The geek in me just had to link the latest post. A guide to making your own classic arcade game unit. This time using a PC set up instead of hardwiring a board.

When I was a young whippersnapper of 12 or 13 or thereabouts, I was very into the text-only adventure games of the time. Graphics were not very advanced in 1984. Me and a couple of mates got into it all through the legendary Level 9 Games. 

Nowadays these games are known as interactive fiction

I hadn't thought about them for a long time until I was checking out a blog called No Media Kings which I used to use to check out self-publishing. I saw that the site's author, Jim Munroe, had branched out into a bunch of DIY projects and had won acclaim with an IF game called Everybody Dies.

So, it seems that IF games were back in vogue and were even innovating in the world of small games studios and festivals. 

After further research I came across the impetus to write one: Inform 7

Inform 7 is a programming language and interface for creating IF games. Here's the thing, the latest version puts the code into the engine and allows you to write in plain English. The logical construction of the game is made using the rules of English grammar. It's mind blowing, it's free and comes with two excellent manuals. 

So, I'm going to write some games. However there is a large step one:

1) learn and practice Inform 7 to proficiency

2) think of game concepts

3) write an IF game

4) submit it to open competitions

So, yeah, this will be the slowest category at this blog and also the lowest priority to boot.