Starborn: the Vorple edition
Almost one year ago to the date I released Starborn, a short keyword-based scifi story made with Inform 7. Now I’m proud to present an Undum-based version, enhanced with Vorple, of course.
The content is essentially the same. Instead of typing the keywords you click on hyperlinks that are highlighted in the text and shown in a separate list next to the story. A clickable, dynamic map of locations is displayed on the opposite side. There’s background music, but sound support is still a bit shaky in some browsers. Internet Explorer 7 or earlier will not work.
It uses the yet-unpublished version 1.2 of Vorple and demonstrates the use of the button interface in the map and in the keyword list, and tooltips that are displayed as brief instructions and as labels for the map. Under the hood it uses disposable links and other similar features. It’s also using the IF Recorder plugin, probably the first time for an Undum story.
Most interesting. Any plans to release a downloadable, offline version?
Undum is made for online-only and doesn’t have an easy way to package the story into a neat offline version. You’re free to download the source from the link above (it’s in the “undum” folder) and try to run it offline with a browser, with the usual caveats of running JavaScript offline, that is, some browsers don’t want you to do it. Firefox should work best.
Actually there *is* a way distribute it offline. I’ve got “Cavity of Time”, “The Matter of the Monster” and “The Play” offline that way. It’s a pity that it isn’t more widely known among Undum authors that it’s possible, and they think they can’t distribute an offline version (which I always download) even if they want to.
I’m not entirely sure how it might differ from your source code, but here’s Plotkin’s offline version. It might help.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=612RN136
If it turns out that an offline version would be, pretty much, the contents of your Undum folder, could you please make a .zip of it? Downloading every soliraty file and placing it in appropriate folders really is far more trouble than it’s worth.
The package can be downloaded from https://github.com/juhana/starborn/zipball/master. There’s also a “zip” link on the project’s main page.
Thank you very much. :)
Juhana, just getting around to playing this now. This is *so* slick. I feel like IF is finally entering the 21st century. Really excited seeing this keep moving forward. :)
Very nice. I couldn’t hear any music, though– I’m in Chrome on Linux.
Yeah, sound support is still lacking in many browsers. It’ll be fixed in later releases.