TADS- Writing Interactive Fiction Games

Interactive Fiction is the modern name for Adventure Games. These were a single player text game where you typed in instructions like Go North. The computer then printed "You are in a large clearing with paths to the West and East. On the ground is a locked box.". These were very popular in the 80s, with a particular very popular range of games written by Scott Adams (Not the Dilbert creator).

The genre still exists and people are still creating new games. One such system by developer Michael J Roberts is the Tads system which lets you program IF games using a C type language and compiler. After compiling a game you can distribute the code to people with the Tads player and they can play the game. The language even has objects and the source code (in C++ is provided). There are implementations for several platforms. Get Writing!

• Link to C++ Games Code Library