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You guys, on the other hand, are terrible.

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:12 pm
by pinback
Howdy. Pinback here, from "above the line". You are writing text adventures in a language that the creator himself abandoned. Maybe that was a hint? But you never got it. You thought, maybe he'd come back if you kept trying as hard as possible to fix his broken language and make it something anyone could respect.

Well, he failed you, and you in turn failed everyone else.

Latin and Esperanto are laughing at you.

So sad. So terribly, terribly sad.

Good day, from above the line.

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:19 pm
by Ice Cream Jonsey
I don't think so!

Right now, Roody Yogurt is working on the finest library extension any text game language has ever seen. And I am making Hugo function as a character role-playing game. Nikos is also updating the interpreter so that it works beautifully on Windows, Linux and OS X.

Hugo is in its best shape ever. We even got one guy to mail the manual to someone who needed it!

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:29 pm
by pinback
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I don't think so!

Right now, Roody Yogurt is working on the finest library extension any text game language has ever seen. And I am making Hugo function as a character role-playing game. Nikos is also updating the interpreter so that it works beautifully on Windows, Linux and OS X.

Hugo is in its best shape ever. We even got one guy to mail the manual to someone who needed it!
::fingerguns::

(I'm gonna need that back, btw.)

Re: You guys, on the other hand, are terrible.

Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 10:23 am
by Bainespal
pinback wrote:You are writing text adventures in a language that the creator himself abandoned. Maybe that was a hint? But you never got it. You thought, maybe he'd come back if you kept trying as hard as possible to fix his broken language and make it something anyone could respect.
But that's what makes using Hugo so adventurous and dramatic... it gives it mythic/religious overtones. Who are you to deny the Return of the Kent? ;)

Seriously though, the lack of a browser interpreter really is a bummer for me, because giving a URL is the best way to ask people who don't know anything about IF to try it. But Hugo is still the best system for my purposes. It's got great syntax. I can't implement anything with the Inform 7 method... it's hard enough to write static fiction off the top of your head, staring at a blank screen -- it's totally impossible for me to do that with IF. Hugo's syntax is like a tight, intuitive outline, resembling Inform 6 but being much more logical and elegant. I also admire ALAN's syntax, but ALAN seems to be even less accessible than Hugo. (And I couldn't figure out how to install the library when I was studying ALAN's manual several years ago, so I took up Hugo instead and found adequate help here to get on my feet, even if I'm still shaky with it.)

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 9:07 am
by Ice Cream Jonsey
Perhaps 2013 is the year we all just pay someone to implement a web browser function for Hugo?

Re: You guys, on the other hand, are terrible.

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 11:31 am
by RealNC
pinback wrote:You are writing text adventures in a language that the creator himself abandoned.
You forgot to add "creating games of a genre no one cares about these days." ;-)

Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 3:07 pm
by Roody_Yogurt
Thanks, pinback, I sometimes forget how this base must seem to above the line denizens like yourself who frequent the Don Rogers Show or Starcraft bases. Your insight is appreciated!

I hear your concerns, but I can imagine you also understand the frustrations that spring from having niches led in the wrong direction. There's probably some analogy I could make to your submarine or RTS games if I actually remembered some of the things you've said about them.

It is true that there are several currently-maintained IF languages to choose from, but there are aspects that prevent me from embracing any of them. I find Inform 7's syntax as unnatural as any programming language; TADS has always been too code-y for me, and I still don't have confidence that GUI-based systems like ADRIFT or Quest have enough configurability in every aspect that I need (plus, I find some of their clients kind of ugly).

This is why, to me, it seems more worthwhile to try to improve an older system that nearly got it. I don't mind writing for a language that only a minority of players will try, as I've always written games that only a minority of players enjoy. I figure it's still easy enough for my "fans" to seek my stuff out.

God bless you & thank you for your post.

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 10:08 am
by Bainespal
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Perhaps 2013 is the year we all just pay someone to implement a web browser function for Hugo?
If you ever do organize a collection for this, I plan to participate. I don't have a lot of free money, but I'll put something in.