Interactive Fiction for iOS

Interactive fiction was the first great computer-game craze. No graphics, no game controllers, no touchscreens — none of that existed yet. You type a command, and the game tells you what happens next.

These were the triple-A titles of the early 1980s: sophisticated, complex, involving, literate gameplay. Of course, other genres soon came along... but the text games never went away. An Internet community of IF fans picked up where Infocom and the other old companies left off. I'm one of them; I've been releasing indie IF games since 1995.

Now I've started porting my games to the iPhone and iPad. I believe that mobile platforms are the natural home of interactive fiction. Phones and tablets are designed for reading — and IF commands are tweet-sized.

All of my iOS apps are built on a common framework, which includes...

• Fluid interface designed for comfortable typing and reading.
• Pop-up palette of commonly used commands.
• Full support for VoiceOver (speech output) and dictation (speech input) on devices that offer these features.
• Virtual game extras, such as maps or in-game documents, where appropriate.
• This iOS IF framework is open source. Wanna use it for your own game?

The IF Card

If the idea of interactive fiction is new or strange to you, take a look at this quick reference card. It’s not a complete manual — it’s just a guide to what IF commands look like. Once you get used to the pattern, it’s pretty easy to express what you want to do.

(Click for PDF version of the card. More versions and translations available at the People’s Republic of Interactive Fiction. Print ’em out and pass ’em around. Card text by Andrew Plotkin; design by Lea Albaugh; licensed CC BY-SA.)

Hadean Lands

An interactive alchemical interplanetary thriller.

Learn more on the Hadean Lands web site...

The Dreamhold

The Dreamhold is my interactive fiction tutorial game. It’s designed for people who have never played IF before. It introduces the common commands and mindset of text adventures, one step at a time. There’s an extensive help system describing standard IF commands, as well as dynamic hints which pop up whenever you seem to be stuck.

Of course, you can turn off the hints and the tutorials, and play The Dreamhold as a real game. The puzzles are not extremely difficult, but they should offer some challenge to both experienced players and newcomers. (If the challenge is insufficient, there’s an “expert” mode which makes some of the puzzles harder.) There are also many optional bits to explore beyond the main storyline.

I’ve tried to create a game which rewards many species of adventurer: the inexperienced newcomer, the puzzle-hurdler, the casual tourist, the meticulous explorer, the wild experimenter, the seeker after nuances and implications.

• Winner of the XYZZY Awards for Best Puzzles and Best Use of Medium of 2004
• Includes dynamic in-game map, so you don’t have to scribble boxes on a piece of paper
• Achievements tracked through Game Center
• This game’s entry on IFDB
• Play browser version (free)

More of My Interactive Fiction

I have written many more games than these. I have not uploaded them all as iOS apps, but they are all available as free browser games on the Interactive Fiction page on my personal web site.

(You can install most of these games on your iPhone/iPad by loading them into Frotz, a free iOS IF interpreter.)

Of particular note:

• So Far: A surreal journey of landscape and symbolism.
• Spider and Web: A story about spies, deception, and the unreliable narrator.
• A Change in the Weather: My first serious IF game. A short mood piece, with puzzles.
• Bigger Than You Think: A short fanfic story. (Hyperlinked, rather than parser-based.)