Aaron A. Reed's book Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 largely consists of exercises that guide an author through creating a personal copy of Sand Dancer. Danya D. Smith authored this version in 2023 and 2024 using the most recent version of Inform 7. (10.1.2).
It has been over ten years since the first edition of Reed’s book was published in 2010. In the intervening years, Inform has continued to evolve. While much of the language's syntax remains the same, there have been changes that render some source text obsolete. The evolution and deprecation of extensions popular at the time of publication create additional hurdles for readers working through the book while attempting to use the most current version of Inform.
To view published errata for Reed's book, see Updates and Errata.
To find up-to-date extensions that are compatible with the latest version of Inform:
- Consult the Public Library in the application
- Visit the Friends of I7 Extensions repository
To find extensions that are deprecated and may need updates to work with the latest version of Inform:
- Visit the Friends of I7 Archive repository
This repository includes a notes directory that includes my personal notes
and observations. The focus of these notes is to catalogue hyperlinks and a few
highlighted passages for future reference.
- Chapter 01 - Understanding Interactive Fiction
- Chapter 02 - Introducing the Inform Application
- Chapter 03 - Creating a Story World
- Chapter 04 - Describing the Story World
- Chapter 05 - Making Things Happen
- Chapter 06 - Understanding the Player
- Chapter 07 - Logic and Control
- Chapter 08 - Time, Scenes, and Pacing
- Chapter 09 - Creating Characters
- Chapter 10 - Challenging Assumptions
- Chapter 11 - Finishing
- Chapter 12 - Further Pursuits
- Appendix A - A Thought Experiment
- Appendix B - Interactive Fictions Cited
Each chapter in the book advances the implementation of the plot and story elements outlined in The Concept Document.