A small anthology of pieces by the makers of Inform
 
Examples of Interactive Fiction
It would be impossible in this small space to give a full or even a representative picture of what people have done with IF in the last thirty years, but there are some superb Web resources: for instance, Baf's Guide to the Interactive Fiction Archive offers an annotated bibliography.
Just as a taste of the medium, then, here is a short selection of works by the makers of Inform. All are free. Each download is a Blorb file.
 
Welcome booklet. Click on the PDF logo (left) to browse or download a guide-book on how to play IF, written by Emily Short.
 
Will Crowther and Don Woods
Adventure (1976). Okay, Crowther and Woods did not make Inform: but they did pioneer the whole genre. This is a modern playing edition of the very first work of IF in the modern sense: the original Adventure game, set in the Colossal Cave.
 
Graham Nelson
Curses (1993). Looking through an attic for a tourist map of Paris turns into a shaggy-dog story of unexpected diversions: magic realism with added daisies and a vexing aunt.
 
Jigsaw (1995). Sixteen interlinked re-enactments as a mosaic history of the twentieth century, plus some animals to draw in a sketchbook for reasons which will not become clear for a very long time.
 
 
Andrew Plotkin
Spider and Web (1998). A vacation in our lovely country! See the ethnic charms of the countryside, the historic grandeur of the capital city. Taste our traditional cuisine; smell the flowers of the Old Tree. And all without leaving your own armchair!
 
Shade (2000). A single location, crowded in with claustrophobia and ambiguities.
 
Dreamhold (2004). An award-winning introductory game intended for those entirely new to the medium, and filled with hints.
 
Emily Short
Galatea (2000). A conversation with a work of art. "47. Galatea. White Thasos marble. Non-commissioned work by the late Pygmalion of Cyprus. (The artist has since committed suicide.) Originally not an animate. The waking of this piece from its natural state remains unexplained."
 
Savoir-Faire (2002). The beautiful life is always damned, they say. As for you, you've overexpended yourself: fifteen years of prominence, champagne, carriage rides in the Tuileries, having your name whispered behind manicured hands, getting elegant ladies out of elegant fixes - and you're in debt. Bound by oath and honor to a pack of scoundrels.