Amnesia as Interactive Fiction

[Alpha23]

Hello everyone!
I don't know if this is the right forum so just move it to the proper one if needed.

I love interactive fiction (a.k.a. text adventures). It's just amazing how well you can build atmosphere when done right. Perfect example is "Anchorhead" (downloadable for free) - through random text messages (regarding the weather for instance), the surrounding appears alive and dynamic.
I've just edited the english.lang so that all the diary entries and flashback texts are readable and in chronological order and suddenly this idea came to my mind: What if Amnesia would be given an interactive fiction pendant? I thought about some issues like the scares, hiding spots and overall gameplay and came to the conclusion that it is pretty much possible to at least create something very similar. I know it sounds strange but play Anchorhead and you'll know what I mean. It's possible to create pathnodes for enemies, program their behaviour and so on.
Now I'm totally excited to know if it was possible to use the ingame texts and maybe sounds when programming such an interactive novel that corresponds to the main game? I know that all material is copyrighted of course - that's why I ask. This question goes directly to the developers. If you are unsure, I could program a part of the demo for you to try out.
Also, if it is really possible, I'm searching for people to help me program this because it will be a huge project. I think I'd need at least two more people that are either skilled with Inform 7 or willing to learn some basics to contribute. I must say that I'm a beginner as well but I've tried out some things and they worked quite well (although English isn't my native language).
Curiously awaiting your answers!
Greetings, Timo

[Akumasama]

I haven't had any real experience in graphical novel (except ME2 if you wish)...
However, I can really see this working out.

That said, I'd like to help, but I'm not very good at programming... :/
So I'm afraid I can't help you on that.

[Alpha23]

Hm, you don't actually need to be very good at programming because Inform7 works on natural English language. Easy example:

Code: (Select All)

Hallway is a room.
A table is in the Hallway. It is stationary.
A vase is in the Hallway. It is on the table.
The cellar key is a key. It is inside the vase.

That's the normal "programming language" of Inform 7. If you feel you could deal with this, I'd be happy to work with you.

[Gameoids]

Hello everyone!
I don't know if this is the right forum so just move it to the proper one if needed.

I love interactive fiction (a.k.a. text adventures). It's just amazing how well you can build atmosphere when done right. Perfect example is "Anchorhead" (downloadable for free) - through random text messages (regarding the weather for instance), the surrounding appears alive and dynamic.
I've just edited the english.lang so that all the diary entries and flashback texts are readable and in chronological order and suddenly this idea came to my mind: What if Amnesia would be given an interactive fiction pendant? I thought about some issues like the scares, hiding spots and overall gameplay and came to the conclusion that it is pretty much possible to at least create something very similar. I know it sounds strange but play Anchorhead and you'll know what I mean. It's possible to create pathnodes for enemies, program their behaviour and so on.
Now I'm totally excited to know if it was possible to use the ingame texts and maybe sounds when programming such an interactive novel that corresponds to the main game? I know that all material is copyrighted of course - that's why I ask. This question goes directly to the developers. If you are unsure, I could program a part of the demo for you to try out.
Also, if it is really possible, I'm searching for people to help me program this because it will be a huge project. I think I'd need at least two more people that are either skilled with Inform 7 or willing to learn some basics to contribute. I must say that I'm a beginner as well but I've tried out some things and they worked quite well (although English isn't my native language).
Curiously awaiting your answers!
Greetings, Timo

Excellent idea, Alpha 23! I personally think Amnesia would be perfect for interactive fiction, especially the encounter(s) with the water lurker, as quite advanced vocabulary will be need to accomplish many of the tasks in the game such as these (jumping over crates, timing, puzzles, etc.). I've used Inform 7 for quite some time now, and would be very glad you help you with your project, if you plan to go forward with it. I'd prefer to help with the coding aspect, but can help with 'storytelling', if needed, since English is my native language and am fully capable of doing both. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via pm, etc.

(P.S, I've played Anchorhead, too. Amazing game, and Lovecraftian interactive fiction at it's finest, though The Lurking Horror was good, too.)

EDIT (after reading Alpha23's new post...): Yeah, it's pretty straightforward, but it has to organized very carefully, as things can get messy, fast.

[Alpha23]

Thanks for your answer Gameoids! That's excellent news - you're one of those persons I can really use in this project! Regarding the programming aspect: As you're a native English speaker, you can really help in describing the scenery! That's the one thing I have the most problems with.
Now we seem to be three contributors already!
Maybe we can move this to PM and post any successions here later?

Everybody is very welcome to contribute to this!

[Alpha23]

For everybody who wants to contribute, in super_secret there's the "chapter01_design_doc.doc" which includes maps (!) and some practical developer's hints we could use when programming.

I've taken a look at the very first area where you wake up and I noticed something that is important to tensen the atmosphere: All areas that haven't been visited should not be named and need a special message when entering. That means, when you wake up you don't know what's behind the first door until you've opened it. Even if there is no door, the area behind it won't be mentioned, just that there is some room/area north/east/west/south of where you just are. When entering the area in the beginning there should always be some message like "Carefully you pass through the big arch, your heart pounding." This is vital to build atmosphere.
I see now that keeping track of the room names could be a problem:
I've coded the first area and I already have 17 rooms (a room with two doors at the same wall needs to be divided into two parts as far as I know - correct me if I'm wrong)... However I've used different printed names so we could also name the rooms after their location (e.g. ROOM_C1A1_Hall1)

The following hints are just some thoughts I had on the overall design but aren't important for the basic structure (i.e. map design, doors, descriptions):
- I don't think we need all the object interaction from the game (grabbing books, chairs and so on) if not necessarily needed. That means that a helmet from an armor won't be taken unless there's something to shatter nearby. Some objects are not really necessary like brooms or rubble.
- for the tinderboxes we'll need a counting system, but that's not too difficult.
- more important and more difficult is the implementation of varialbes like light, sanity and health.

[Akumasama]

I'm willing to learn some of this "Inform 7", but I'm not exactly sure what you need it for... (Not to sound rude or anything )
Are you planning on doing everything in the engine Amnesia is built on or...?

[davva]

tl:dr thread, will read it later

[Alpha23]

I'm willing to learn some of this "Inform 7", but I'm not exactly sure what you need it for... (Not to sound rude or anything )
Are you planning on doing everything in the engine Amnesia is built on or...?

Why don't you first play any interactive novel so you know what I'm talking about? I think you haven't understood what this topic is about after all.

---

tl : dr thread, will read it later

Well... thanks for letting us know...

[Akumasama]

Well, is Inform 7 some kind of scripting or rather something that the player reads?