Interactive Fiction or Use your imagination ...

    Zork 1I am the author of the QSP platform, known in certain circles, for creating textual (sic!) Games.
    Such a rare genre is poorly covered in Runet, so I really want to rectify the situation and briefly talk about interactive literature and QSP in particular.

    This is my first article for the Habrasociety, so please do not kick much :)

    Introduction


    Nowadays, “popcorn” movies and no less primitive video games, when the graphic component almost completely supplants the template plot, rarely does a person think about trying something else, something that will allow him to spend time with interest. Some who have not yet forgotten what books are, return to them, and some discover the world of interactive literature, in which everyone can try himself as the main character, and as the creator of his own world. Just use your imagination ...



    So what exactly is “interactive literature” or, in the English version, “Interactive Fiction”? In the broadest sense of the term, this is any kind of fiction, characterized by a non-linear development of the plot, according to the actions of the reader (in the computer version - the user). Of the interactive literature (IL) in Russia, the famous game books are Dmitry Braslavsky, who took the Western series “Fighting Fantasy” as the basis of his books. But in this article it will be considered the computer version of the interactive literature, most of which are the so-called text games, or "text quests", which are widely used. The history of the development of text games began at a time when computers, without which life is now unthinkable, acquired keyboards and displays, and subsequently a mouse. Generally recognized that the first computer-based text game was Adventure, or Adventure, written in 1976 by two Stanford geeks Will Crowther and Don Woods. The game was only textual, controlled by the simplest text commands of the form “noun verb” and consisted of wandering through the labyrinth of caves in search of treasures and magic artifacts. This game played a huge role in the development of a whole genre of computer games. In the summer of 1979, several students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created the company Infocom, which published over 30 games of this genre in its ten years of history. It was this company that coined the term "Interactive Fiction" and served as the basis for imitation of all subsequent developers of computer text games. At the beginning of the article, the cover from the first Infocom game, Zork I, is used.
    Further development of computer capabilities could not but affect the genre of interactive literature - graphics, musical accompaniment and a multi-window interface appear in games, but the main driving force of the genre was and remains an artistic text and, as a rule, a non-linear plot. An additional advantage of games of this genre are their low requirements for system resources and cross-platform, that is, you can play them on the most antediluvian computers, and on handhelds or cell phones.

    In the process of development of computer interactive literature, it turned out that text games were divided into games with text input, using the so-called "parser", and games that use menu control. Due to the fact that people have different thinking, it’s more convenient for someone to control input using the menu system, and for someone it’s better to use a parser, so these two ways get along quite comfortably.

    Interactive Literature in Russia


    It is worth considering separately the development of IL in Russia. It so happened that text games gained popularity first in America, and then in Europe, mainly due to the fact that the text was in English. A simple English grammar greatly simplified the analysis of the entered phrases by the program. But in Russia, for the Russian language, this was a difficult task, so games spreading through the menu, sometimes also using a simplified parser (entering names, names, numbers) have spread.

    In the early to mid-90s in Russia, a home computer based on the Zilog processor Z80 - ZX Spectrum (mostly “compatible” with it), which uses an ordinary home TV as an output device and allows you to download programs and games, became available to a wide consumer. using a cassette recorder. A lot of games written for Spectrum went to Russia, and along with them text games, which were also liked by the players because of the combination of fiction inherent in these games and the player’s ability to influence the ongoing development of the plot. So in Russia began to emerge its direction of computer IL. In the late 90s, with the development of the Internet, a platform appeared in Russian for creating text-based games with menu control, called OrcZero, which gave impetus to the further development of both platforms and games.

    Platforms allow game authors to concentrate on writing the game itself, bypassing the creation of a game interface and standard libraries, that is, things that can be unified. Games of this genre, developed from scratch, without the use of platforms, as a rule, have many shortcomings. Well-established platforms offer a certain interface standard, also providing possible portability between different operating systems and hardware. Typically, a platform includes a “game engine” for playing games, development tools, and documentation. An important component is the community of authors and players, thanks to which beginners can get help in various forums and chat rooms. A little later than the release of OrcZero, another “menu” platform appears, which has more features and convenience, dubbed Universal RipSoft Quest (URQ). The peak of URQ popularity falls on 2001-2004, during which time about one and a half hundred games for this platform were created (unfortunately, most games are of poor quality).

    Quest Soft Player


    QSP LogoAt the end of 2001, another menu was launched that manages through a menu called Quest Soft Player (QSP). It differed from URQ in more thoughtfulness of the “engine” and language syntax, having received quite broad support from game authors.
    There were dozens of QSP fan sites, and the number of games was quite large, but still less than for URQ. At one time, the “war” between the platforms became sacred; this was reflected not only on sites and forums, but even in games.
    To put an end, in 2004 QSP was completely redesigned, gained cross-platform and received many improvements, after some time seriously displacing URQ. In addition to independent games, QSP is used in the online project "Heroes of War and Money" (more than 1.2 million players), as a platform for in-game quests.

    In this article, we will take a closer look at Quest Soft Player, choosing which you will get all the advantages of “platform” games, namely ease of development, rich opportunities for both beginning authors and more “advanced” ones, extensive supporting documentation, cross-platform and a large community authors and players. There are many different games written for QSP.

    This player is free and available for download on the official website ( http://qsp.su), there you will also find a catalog with the best games for this platform. For Windows users, it is advisable to download the so-called “Player Set”, which includes a player installer and some good toys. For those who use Linux, there is also a version, after downloading which it is enough to simply unzip the archive - no installation is required. If you wish, you can build QSP “manually” - the source code is available under the GPL v2 license. There are versions for Windows Mobile and PSP.

    Launching games on QSP is very simple: after downloading the game archive from the site, unpack it into any folder, after which in the player select the menu item Quest → Download game and specify the game file from the archive. The player interface is intuitive and will not create much difficulty for you.

    Among the development tools, we note 2 tools - the QGen editor and the TXT2GAM utility. QGen is designed specifically for writing QSP games. TXT2GAM is a console utility that allows you to develop games in any text editor.

    And now a few screenshots:

    The game “You are a millionaire!”:

    QSP game

    The game “World Consciousness. Level 13 ”:

    QSP game

    QGen Game Development Environment:

    Qgen

    Interactive literature contests are regularly held in Russia, often with financial rewards. So, in 2008, the annual QSP-Compo contest was organized, which had the largest prize pool in the history of Russian IL.

    Currently, computer-based interactive literature is actively developing, since there are enough opportunities to realize your creativity; more and more quality and interesting games are appearing. The fact is that one person can fully create an outstanding product, and thousands of fans will be able to evaluate the result. And in this, text games are in close contact with the genre of fiction. Everyone can try themselves in these games not only as the main character, but also as the creator of their own world, their own Universe, and no graphics can replace what our own imagination can give us.

    Any help on your part is welcome, including development assistance.
    With all questions and wishes, you are welcome to the forum ( http://qsp.borda.ru ).

    Useful links:

    qsp.su - QSP official website
    qsp.borda.ru - QSP forum
    gamer.ru/games/1519-qsp - QSP blog
    ifiction.ru - Well-known forum dedicated to text games

    Byte, 2009. E-mail: nporep AT mail DOT ru

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