View source for Interactive fiction

{{Short description|Software genre}}
{{see also|Interactive narrative|Interactive narration|Interactive storytelling|Electronic literature}}
{{redirect|Text-based video game|the video game graphics|Text-based game}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

'''Interactive fiction''' ('''IF''') is [[software]] simulating environments in which players use text [[Command (computing)|commands]] to control [[Player character|characters]] and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as [[literary]] [[narratives]], either in the form of [[Interactive narrative]]s or [[Interactive narration]]s. These works can also be understood as a form of [[video game]],<ref>Montfort, Nick & Urbano, Paulo (Tr.). ''[http://nickm.com/if/fourth_era.html A quarta Era da Ficção Interactiva] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517083457/http://www.nickm.com/if/fourth_era.html |date=17 May 2008 }}''. Nada, Volume 8. October 2006.</ref> either in the form of an [[adventure game]] or [[role-playing video game|role-playing game]]. In common usage, the term refers to '''text adventures''', a type of [[adventure game]] where the entire interface can be "[[Text mode|text-only]]",<ref name="fundamentals">{{Cite book |last= Rollings |first= Andrew |author2= Ernest Adams |title= Fundamentals of Game Design |publisher= Prentice Hall |year= 2006 |location=  |url= http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_gamedev_1/54/14053/3597646.cw/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090217232801/http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_gamedev_1/54/14053/3597646.cw/index.html |archive-date= 17 February 2009 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics (still images, animations or video) still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on [[puzzle]]s.

Due to their text-only nature, they sidestepped the problem of writing for widely divergent graphics architectures. This feature meant that interactive fiction games were easily ported across all the popular platforms at the time, including [[CP/M]] (not known for gaming or strong graphics capabilities). The number of interactive fiction works is increasing steadily as new ones are produced by an online community, using freely available development systems {{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}.

The term can also be used to refer to literary works that are not read in a linear fashion, known as [[gamebooks]], where the reader is instead given choices at different points in the text; these decisions determine the flow and outcome of the story. The most famous example of this form of printed fiction is the ''[[Choose Your Own Adventure]]'' book series, and the collaborative <!-- correct spelling has 2 d's -->"{{Not a typo|[[addventure]]}}"<!-- correct spelling has 2 d's --> format has also been described as a form of interactive fiction.<ref>Soultanis, Greg. Mullin, Eileen, ed. ''[http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/interactive-fiction/magazines/XYZZYnews/XYZZY4.PDF XYZZY News - The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts]''. Issue #4. July/August 1995. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040928125218/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/interactive-fiction/magazines/XYZZYnews/XYZZY4.PDF |date=28 September 2004 }}</ref> The term "interactive fiction" is sometimes used also to refer to [[visual novel]]s, a type of [[interactive narrative]] software popular in Japan.

==Medium==
[[File:Zork I screenshot video game Gargoyle interpreter on Ubuntu Linux.png|thumb|256px|''[[Zork I]]'' is one of the first interactive fiction games, as well as being one of the first commercially sold.  It is one of the most famous interactive fiction games. Here it is portrayed running on Gargoyle, a modern [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]].]]
Text adventures are one of the oldest types of [[video game|computer game]]s and form a subset of the [[adventure game|adventure]] genre. The player uses text input to control the game, and the game state is relayed to the player via text output. Interactive fiction usually relies on [[reading (activity)|reading]] from a screen and on [[typing]] input, although text-to-speech synthesizers allow blind and visually impaired users to play interactive fiction titles as [[audio game]]s.<ref name="fundamentals" />

Input is usually provided by the player in the form of simple [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]s such as "get key" or "go east", which are interpreted by a [[text parser]]. Parsers may vary in sophistication; the first text adventure parsers could only handle two-word sentences in the form of verb-noun pairs. Later parsers, such as those built on ZIL ([[Zork Implementation Language]]), could understand complete sentences.<ref name="DeMaria">DeMaria, Rusel and Wilson, Johnny L.  (2002) ''High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games'' McGraw-Hill/Osborne, Berkeley, Calif., p. 52, {{ISBN|0-07-222428-2}}</ref> Later parsers could handle increasing levels of complexity parsing sentences such as "open the red box with the green key then go north". This level of complexity is the standard for works of interactive fiction today.

Despite their lack of graphics, text adventures include a physical dimension where players move between rooms. Many text adventure games boasted their total number of rooms to indicate how much gameplay they offered.<ref name="fundamentals"/> These games are unique in that they may create an ''illogical space'', where going north from area A takes you to area B, but going south from area B did not take you back to area A. This can create mazes that do not behave as players expect, and thus players must maintain their own map. These illogical spaces are much more rare in today's era of 3D gaming,<ref name="fundamentals"/> and the Interactive Fiction community in general decries the use of mazes entirely, claiming that mazes have become arbitrary 'puzzles for the sake of puzzles' and that they can, in the hands of inexperienced designers, become immensely frustrating for players to navigate.

Interactive fiction shares much in common with [[Multi-user dungeon|Multi-User Dungeons]] ('MUDs'). MUDs, which became popular in the mid-1980s, rely on a textual exchange and accept similar commands from players as do works of IF; however, since interactive fiction is single player, and MUDs, by definition, have multiple players, they differ enormously in gameplay styles. MUDs often focus gameplay on activities that involve communities of players, simulated political systems, in-game trading, and other gameplay mechanics that are not possible in a single player environment.

===Writing style===
Interactive fiction features two distinct modes of writing: the player input and the game output. As described above, player input is expected to be in simple command form ([[Sentence (linguistics)#Classification|imperative sentences]]).<ref>{{cite magazine|last= |first= |title=The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Text Adventure|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=15 |publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=March 1996|page=41}}</ref> A typical command may be:<blockquote>{{mono|> PULL Lever}}</blockquote>

The responses from the game are usually written from a [[Second-person narrative|second-person]] [[point of view (literature)|point of view]], in [[present tense]]. This is because, unlike in most works of fiction, the main character is closely associated with the player, and the events are seen to be happening as the player plays. While older text adventures often identified the protagonist with the player directly, newer games tend to have specific, well-defined protagonists with separate identities from the player. The classic essay "Crimes Against Mimesis"<ref name=crimes>{{cite web| url = http://www.geocities.com/aetus_kane/writing/cam.html| title = Crimes Against Mimesis| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = April 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050619081931/http://www.geocities.com/aetus_kane/writing/cam.html| archive-date = 19 June 2005}} This is a reformatted version of a set of articles originally posted to Usenet:{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/a11e304d16463816?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 1| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 11 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164022/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/a11e304d16463816?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/6ac868aff97a3afb?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 2| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 18 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164025/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/6ac868aff97a3afb?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/66f04d5ba816f0fa?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 3| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 25 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164018/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/66f04d5ba816f0fa?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/f21986cae9320282?dmode=source| title = Crimes Against Mimesis, Part 4| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Giner-Sorolla| first = Roger| date = 29 April 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111102164032/http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/msg/f21986cae9320282?dmode=source| archive-date = 2 November 2011| df = dmy-all}}</ref> discusses, among other IF issues, the nature of "You" in interactive fiction. A typical response might look something like this, the response to "look in tea chest" at the start of ''[[Curses (video game)|Curses]]'':

<blockquote>{{mono|"That was the first place you tried, hours and hours ago now, and there's nothing there but that boring old book. You pick it up anyway, bored as you are."}}<ref name="cursesplay">[[Graham Nelson|Nelson, Graham]] ''[[Curses (video game)|Curses]]'', 1993.</ref></blockquote> <!-- Taken from Curses, in response to "look in teachest" from the first prompt -->

Many text adventures, particularly those designed for humour (such as ''[[Zork]]'', ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', and ''[[Leather Goddesses of Phobos]]''), address the player with an informal tone, sometimes including sarcastic remarks (see the transcript from ''Curses'', above, for an example). The late Douglas Adams, in designing the IF version of his 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', created a unique solution to the final puzzle of the game: the game requires the one solitary item that the player ''didn't'' choose at the outset of play.

Some IF works dispense with second-person narrative entirely, opting for a first-person perspective ('I') or even placing the player in the position of an observer, rather than a direct participant. In some 'experimental' IF, the concept of self-identification is eliminated, and the player instead takes the role of an inanimate object, a force of nature, or an abstract concept; experimental IF usually pushes the limits of the concept and challenges many assumptions about the medium.

==History==
===1960s and 70s===

====Natural language processing====
Though neither program was developed as a narrative work, the software programs [[ELIZA]] (1964–1966) and [[SHRDLU]] (1968–1970) can formally be considered early examples of interactive fiction, as both programs used [[natural language processing]] to take input from their user and respond in a virtual and conversational manner. ELIZA simulated a psychotherapist that appeared to provide human-like responses to the user's input, while SHRDLU employed an artificial intelligence that could move virtual objects around an environment and respond to questions asked about the environment's shape. The development of effective natural language processing would become an essential part of interactive fiction development.<ref>{{cite book | last = Montfort | first = Nick | year = 2003 | title = Twisty Little Passages: An Approach To Interactive Fiction | publisher = Cambridge: The MIT Press | isbn = 0-262-13436-5| pages = 84–85}}</ref>

====''Adventure''====
Around 1975, [[Will Crowther]], a programmer and an amateur caver, wrote the first text adventure game, ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure|Adventure]]'' (originally called ''ADVENT'' because a filename could only be six characters long in the [[operating system]] he was using, and later named ''Colossal Cave Adventure'').<ref name="jerz">{{cite web | author = Jerz, Dennis G. | date = 17 February 2004 | url = http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/canon/Adventure.htm | title = Colossal Cave Adventure (c. 1975) | publisher = Dennis G. Jerz, [[Seton Hill University]] | access-date = 20 October 2006 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070906223152/http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/canon/Adventure.htm | archive-date = 6 September 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Having just gone through a divorce, he was looking for a way to connect with his two young children. Over the course of a few weekends, he wrote a text based cave exploration game that featured a sort of guide/narrator who spoke in full sentences and who understood simple two word commands that came close to natural English. Adventure was programmed in [[Fortran]] for the [[PDP-10]]. Crowther's original version was an accurate [[simulation]] of part of the real life [[Mammoth Cave National Park|Mammoth Cave]], but also included fantasy elements (such as axe-wielding dwarves and a magic bridge).

Stanford University graduate student [[Don Woods (programmer)|Don Woods]] discovered ''Adventure'' while working at the [[Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], and in 1977 obtained and expanded Crowther's source code (with Crowther's permission). Woods's changes were reminiscent of the writings of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], and included a troll, elves, and a volcano, which some claim is based on [[Mount Doom]], but Woods says was not.<ref>"Even the description of the volcano, which some writers have claimed was modelled after Mount Doom, was written with no particular vision in mind." {{cite web| url = http://www.avventuretestuali.com/interviste/woods-eng| title = Interactive Fiction? I prefer Adventure| access-date = 22 May 2007| date = June 2001| work = L'avventura è l'avventura|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120204191752/http://www.avventuretestuali.com/interviste/woods-eng| archive-date = 4 February 2012| df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/adams/intro.html |title=Jerz's Introduction (Storytelling and Computer Games; UWEC Panel, May 2001) |publisher=Jerz.setonhill.edu |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230202618/http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/adams/intro.html |archive-date=30 December 2010  }}</ref>

In early 1977, Adventure spread across [[ARPAnet]], and has survived on the [[Internet]] to this day. The game has since been ported to many other [[operating system]]s, and was included with the floppy-disk distribution of Microsoft's [[MS-DOS]] 1.0 OS. ''Adventure'' is a cornerstone of the online IF community;{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} there currently exist dozens of different independently programmed versions, with additional elements, such as new rooms or puzzles, and various scoring systems.

The popularity of ''Adventure'' led to the wide success of interactive fiction during the late 1970s, when home computers had little, if any, graphics capability. Many elements of the original game have survived into the present, such as the command '[[xyzzy (magic word)|xyzzy]]', which is now included as an [[Easter egg (media)|Easter Egg]] in modern games, such as ''[[Microsoft Minesweeper]]''.

''Adventure'' was also directly responsible for the founding of Sierra Online (later [[Sierra Entertainment]]); [[Ken Williams (game developer)|Ken]] and [[Roberta Williams]] played the game and decided to design one of their own,<ref name="jerz"/> but with graphics.

====Commercial era====
[[Adventure International]] was founded by [[Scott Adams (game designer)|Scott Adams]] (not to be confused with the creator of [[Dilbert]]). In 1978, Adams wrote ''[[Adventureland (video game)|Adventureland]]'', which was loosely patterned after the (original) ''Colossal Cave Adventure''. He took out a small ad in a computer magazine in order to promote and sell ''Adventureland'', thus creating the first commercial adventure game. In 1979 he founded Adventure International, the first commercial publisher of interactive fiction. That same year, ''[[Dog Star Adventure]]'' was published in [[source code]] form in ''[[SoftSide]]'', spawning legions of similar games in [[BASIC]].

The largest company producing works of interactive fiction was [[Infocom]],<ref name="dm4-46">{{cite web | author = Graham Nelson | date = July 2001 | url = http://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s46.html | title = A short history of interactive fiction | work = The Inform Designer's Manual | access-date = 1 November 2006 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070827050426/http://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s46.html | archive-date = 27 August 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> which created the ''[[Zork]]'' series and many other titles, among them ''[[Trinity (video game)|Trinity]]'', ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' and ''[[A Mind Forever Voyaging]]''.

In June 1977, [[Marc Blank]], Bruce K. Daniels, [[Tim Anderson (Zork)|Tim Anderson]], and [[Dave Lebling]] began writing the mainframe version of ''Zork'' (also known as ''Dungeon''), at the [[MIT Laboratory for Computer Science]]. The game was programmed in a computer language called [[MDL programming language|MDL]], a variant of [[LISP programming language|LISP]].

The term Implementer was the self-given name of the creators of the text adventure series Zork. It is for this reason that game designers and programmers can be referred to as an [[Implementer (video games)|implementer]], often shortened to "Imp", rather than a writer.

In early 1979, the game was completed. Ten members of the ''MIT Dynamics Modelling Group'' went on to join [[Infocom]] when it was incorporated later that year.

In order to make its games as portable as possible, Infocom developed the [[Z-machine (interpreter)|Z-machine]], a custom [[virtual machine]] that could be implemented on a large number of platforms, and took standardized "story files" as input.

In a non-technical sense, Infocom was responsible for developing the interactive style that would be emulated by many later interpreters. The Infocom [[parser]] was widely regarded as the best of its era. It accepted complex, complete sentence commands like "put the blue book on the writing desk" at a time when most of its competitors parsers were restricted to simple two word verb-noun combinations such as "put book". The parser was actively upgraded with new features like undo and error correction, and later games would 'understand' multiple sentence input: 'pick up the gem and put it in my bag. take the newspaper clipping out of my bag then burn it with the book of matches'.

Several companies offered optional commercial [[feelie]]s (physical props associated with a game). The tradition of 'feelies' (and the term itself) is believed to have originated with ''[[Deadline (1982 video game)|Deadline]]'' (1982), the third Infocom title after ''Zork I'' and ''II''.<ref>{{cite web | author = Allen Varney | date = 9 December 2006 | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_62/365-Feelies | work = The Escapist, Issue #64 | title = Feelies | access-date = 10 July 2009 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012153126/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_62/365-Feelies | archive-date = 12 October 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite newsgroup | title = FAQ 2/3: (2.3) How did Infocom make those neat packages? | author = Stephen van Egmond | date = 17 April 2004 | newsgroup = rec.games.int-fiction | url = http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/interactive-fiction/part2/ | access-date = 7 October 2009 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090918154157/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/interactive-fiction/part2/ | archive-date = 18 September 2009 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> When writing this game, it was not possible to include all of the information in the limited (80KB) disk space, so Infocom created the first feelies for this game; extra items that gave more information than could be included within the digital game itself. These included police interviews, the coroner's findings, letters, crime scene evidence and photos of the murder scene.

These materials were very difficult for others to copy or otherwise reproduce, and many included information that was essential to completing the game. Seeing the potential benefits of both aiding game-play immersion and providing a measure of creative copy-protection, in addition to acting as a deterrent to software piracy, Infocom and later other companies began creating feelies for numerous titles. In 1987, Infocom released a special version of the first three ''Zork'' titles together with plot-specific coins and other trinkets.<ref>{{cite web|author=Peter Scheyen |year=1987 |url=http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/NZT/Tslspr87.html#ztrilogy |title=Genuine Zorkmid coin minted for the Zork Trilogy |access-date=10 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616010715/http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/NZT/Tslspr87.html |archive-date=16 June 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author = Robin Lionheart | year = 2009 | url = http://quendor.robinlionheart.com/zorkmid/ | title = The Zorkmid Project | access-date = 10 July 2009 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090411143847/http://quendor.robinlionheart.com/zorkmid/ | archive-date = 11 April 2009 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> This concept would be expanded as time went on, such that later game feelies would contain passwords, coded instructions, page numbers, or other information that would be required to successfully complete the game.

===1980s===

====United States====
Interactive fiction became a standard product for many software companies. By 1982 ''[[Softline (magazine)|Softline]]'' wrote that "the demands of the market are weighted heavily toward hi-res graphics" in games like Sierra's ''[[The Wizard and the Princess]]'' and its imitators. Such [[graphic adventure]]s became the dominant form of the genre on computers with graphics, like the Apple II.<ref name="maher20120828">{{cite web | url=http://www.filfre.net/2012/08/saga/ | title=SAGA | work=The Digital Antiquarian | date=28 August 2012 | access-date=10 July 2014 | author=Maher, Jimmy |url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711194415/http://www.filfre.net/2012/08/saga/ | archive-date=11 July 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> By 1982 [[Adventure International]] began releasing versions of its games with graphics.<ref name="maher20120828" /> The company went bankrupt in 1985. [[Synapse Software]] and [[Acornsoft]] were also closed in 1985, leaving Infocom as the leading company producing text-only adventure games on the Apple II with sophisticated parsers and writing, and still advertising its lack of graphics as a virtue.<ref name="maher20120828" /> The company was bought by [[Activision]] in 1986 after the failure of ''[[Cornerstone (software)|Cornerstone]]'', Infocom's database software program, and stopped producing text adventures a few years later. Soon after, Telaium/Trillium also closed.

====Outside the United States====
Probably the first commercial work of interactive fiction produced outside the U.S. was the [[dungeon crawl]] game of ''[[Acheton]]'', produced in Cambridge, England, and first commercially released by [[Acornsoft]] (later expanded and reissued by [[Topologika]]). Other leading companies in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] were [[Magnetic Scrolls]] and [[Level 9 Computing]]. Also worthy of mention are [[Delta 4]], [[Krome Studios Melbourne|Melbourne House]], and the [[Homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] company [[Zenobi]].

In the early 1980s [[Edu-Ware]] also produced interactive fiction for the [[Apple II]] as designated by the "if" graphic that was displayed on startup. Their titles included the [[The Prisoner (video game)|''Prisoner'']] and ''Empire'' series (''Empire I: World Builders'', ''Empire II: Interstellar Sharks'', ''Empire III: Armageddon'').

In 1981, [[CE Software]] published ''[[SwordThrust]]'' as a commercial successor to the [[Eamon (video game)|''Eamon'']] gaming system for the Apple II. SwordThrust and Eamon were simple two-word parser games with many [[Role-playing game|role-playing]] elements not available in other interactive fiction.<ref name="Montfort">{{cite book|last=Montfort|first=Nick|title=Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction|orig-date=2004|year=2005|publisher=The MIT Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-262-13436-1|page=196|chapter=The Independents|quote=Some special-purpose interactive fiction development systems were used by the ordinary home computer owner of the 1980s. An important early one was Donald Brown's 1980 freeware system Eamon, a system for creating text-based role-playing games... Eamon was used to create more than 240 games.|ref=Montfort}}</ref> While SwordThrust published seven different titles, it was vastly overshadowed by the non-commercial Eamon system which allowed private authors to publish their own titles in the series. By March 1984, there were 48 titles published for the Eamon system (and over [[List of Eamon Adventures|270 titles]] in total as of March 2013).

In Italy, interactive fiction games were mainly published and distributed through various magazines in included tapes. The largest number of games were published in the two magazines Viking and Explorer,<ref name="fm-18">{{cite web | author =  | url = http://ready64.it/articoli/leggi/idart/55/le-collane-avventurose-in-italia-parte-i-arscom-e-le-altre-realt%c3%a0 | title = Le collane avventurose in Italia (Adventure game series in Italy) | language = Italian | work = Ready64 | publisher = Roberto Nicoletti | access-date = 6 March 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100314040535/http://ready64.it/articoli/leggi/idart/55/le-collane-avventurose-in-italia-parte-i-arscom-e-le-altre-realt%C3%A0 | archive-date = 14 March 2010 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> with versions for the main 8-bit home computers ([[ZX Spectrum]], [[Commodore 64]], and [[MSX]]). The software house producing those games was Brainstorm Enterprise, and the most prolific IF author was [[Bonaventura Di Bello]],<ref name="fm-19">{{cite web | author =  | url = http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Bonaventura_di_Bello | title = Bonaventura Di Bello | work = IFWiki | publisher = David Cornelson | access-date = 6 March 2008 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080312001923/http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Bonaventura_di_Bello | archive-date = 12 March 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> who produced 70 games in the Italian language. The wave of interactive fiction in Italy lasted for a couple of years thanks to the various magazines promoting the genre, then faded and remains still today a topic of interest for a small group of fans and less known developers, celebrated on Web sites and in related newsgroups.

In Spain, interactive fiction was considered a minority genre, and was not very successful. The first Spanish interactive fiction commercially released was ''Yenght'' in 1983, by [[Dinamic Software]], for the ZX Spectrum. Later on, in 1987, the same company produced an interactive fiction about ''Don Quijote''. After several other attempts, the company [[Aventuras AD]], emerged from Dinamic, became the main interactive fiction publisher in Spain, including titles like a Spanish adaptation of ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', an adaptation of the Spanish comic ''El Jabato'', and mainly the ''Ci-U-Than'' trilogy, composed by ''La diosa de Cozumel'' (1990), ''Los templos sagrados'' (1991) and ''Chichen Itzá'' (1992). During this period, the Club de Aventuras AD (CAAD), the main Spanish speaking community around interactive fiction in the world, was founded, and after the end of Aventuras AD in 1992, the CAAD continued on its own, first with their own magazine, and then with the advent of Internet, with the launch of an active internet community that still produces interactive non commercial fiction nowadays.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.caad.es/ |title=Club de Aventuras AD |publisher=Caad.es |date=13 November 2010 |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508122859/http://www.caad.es/ |archive-date=8 May 2011  }}</ref>

===During the 1990s===
[[Legend Entertainment]] was founded by [[Bob Bates]] and [[Mike Verdu]] in 1989. It started out from the ashes of Infocom. The text adventures produced by Legend Entertainment used (high-resolution) graphics as well as sound. Some of their titles include ''[[Eric the Unready]]'', the ''[[Spellcasting (series)|Spellcasting]]'' series and ''[[Gateway (video game)|Gateway]]'' (based on [[Frederik Pohl]]'s novels).

The last text adventure created by Legend Entertainment was ''[[Gateway (video game)|Gateway II]]'' (1992), while the last game ever created by Legend was ''[[Unreal II: The Awakening]]'' (2003) – the well-known [[first-person shooter]] action game using the [[Unreal Engine]] for both impressive graphics and realistic physics. In 2004, Legend Entertainment was acquired by [[Atari]], who published ''Unreal II'' and released for both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft's Xbox.

Many other companies such as Level 9 Computing, Magnetic Scrolls, Delta 4 and Zenobi had closed by 1992.

In 1991 and 1992, [[Activision]] released ''[[The Lost Treasures of Infocom]]'' in two volumes, a collection containing most of Infocom's games, followed in 1996 by ''[[Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom]]''.

===Modern era===
After the decline of the commercial interactive fiction market in the 1990s, an online community eventually formed around the medium. In 1987, the [[Usenet]] newsgroup {{mono|rec.arts.int-fiction}} was created, and was soon followed by {{mono|rec.games.int-fiction}}. By custom, the topic of {{mono|rec.arts.int-fiction}} is interactive fiction authorship and programming, while {{mono|rec.games.int-fiction}} encompasses topics related to playing interactive fiction games, such as hint requests and game reviews. As of late 2011, discussions between writers have mostly moved from {{mono|rec.arts.int-fiction}} to the Interactive Fiction Community Forum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intfiction.org/forum/|title=intfiction.org • Index page|website=www.intfiction.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225172346/http://www.intfiction.org/forum/|archive-date=25 December 2011}}</ref>

One of the most important early developments was the reverse-engineering of Infocom's [[Z-machine|Z-Code]] format and [[Z-Machine]] [[virtual machine]] in 1987 by a group of enthusiasts called the [[InfoTaskForce]] and the subsequent development of an [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] for Z-Code story files. As a result, it became possible to play Infocom's work on modern computers.

For years, amateurs with the IF community produced interactive fiction works of relatively limited scope using the [[Adventure Game Toolkit]] and similar tools.

The breakthrough that allowed the interactive fiction community to truly prosper, however, was the creation and distribution of two sophisticated development systems. In 1987, Michael J. Roberts released [[TADS]], a programming language designed to produce works of interactive fiction. In 1993, [[Graham Nelson]] released [[Inform]], a [[programming language]] and set of libraries which [[compiler|compiled]] to a Z-Code story file. Each of these systems allowed anyone with sufficient time and dedication to create a game, and caused a growth boom in the online interactive fiction community.

Despite the lack of commercial support, the availability of high quality tools allowed enthusiasts of the genre to develop new high quality games. Competitions such as the annual [[Interactive Fiction Competition]] for short works, the [[Spring Thing]] for longer works, and the [[XYZZY Awards]], further helped to improve the quality and complexity of the games. Modern games go much further than the original "Adventure" style, improving upon Infocom games, which relied extensively on puzzle solving, and to a lesser extent on communication with non player characters, to include experimentation with writing and story-telling techniques.

While the majority of modern interactive fiction that is developed is distributed for free, there are some commercial endeavors. In 1998, [[Michael Berlyn]], a former Implementor at Infocom, started a new game company, Cascade Mountain Publishing, whose goals were to publish interactive fiction. Despite the Interactive Fiction community providing social and financial backing, Cascade Mountain Publishing went out of business in 2000. Buster Hudson, developer of ''The Wizard Sniffer'' (201''7),'' emphasized that parser-based puzzle can be used to control the pacing or develop a character.<ref name="ao-20171201">{{Cite web |last=Laskow |first=Sarah |date=2017-12-01 |title=Welcome to Interactive Fiction: You're a Wizard-Sniffing Pig |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/welcome-interactive-fiction-wizard-sniffing-pig-controversy-video-games |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref>

Other commercial endeavors include: Peter Nepstad's ''[[1893: A World's Fair Mystery]]'', several games by Howard Sherman published as [[Malinche Entertainment]], The General Coffee Company's ''Future Boy!,'' ''[[Cypher (video game)|Cypher]]'', a graphically enhanced cyberpunk game and various titles by ''Textfyre''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.textfyre.com/ |title=Home of the Best Interactive Fiction |publisher=Textfyre.com |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202110329/http://textfyre.com/ |archive-date=2 February 2011  }}</ref> [[Emily Short]] was commissioned to develop the game ''City of Secrets'' but the project fell through and she ended up releasing it herself.<ref name="COS-upcoming">{{cite web | author = Emily Short | date = 5 October 2003 | url = http://www.mindspring.com/~emshort/CSUpcoming2.htm | title = City of Secrets | access-date = 1 November 2006 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070109050336/http://www.mindspring.com/~emshort/CSUpcoming2.htm | archive-date = 9 January 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

==Notable works==
<!-- Note that this is notable works for "text adventure"-style interactive fiction.  Works better covered by interactive novel, interactive storytelling, or visual novel would be better noted in those articles -->
* ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure]]'', by [[Will Crowther]] and [[Don Woods (programmer)|Don Woods]].<ref name="jerz"/>
* ''[[Adventureland (video game)|Adventureland]]'', by [[Scott Adams (game designer)|Scott Adams]], is considered one of the defining works of interactive fiction.
* The ''[[Zork]]'' series by [[Infocom]] (1979 onwards) was the first text adventure to see widespread commercial release.<ref>[http://www.thedoteaters.com/p4_stage1.php Article at The Dot Eaters]. 2006. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514051428/http://www.thedoteaters.com/p4_stage1.php |date=14 May 2013 }}</ref>
* ''[[Softporn Adventure]]'', by Chuck Benton, a popular adult game that inspired the [[Leisure Suit Larry (series)|''Leisure Suit Larry'']] video game series.
* ''[[The Hobbit (1982 video game)|The Hobbit]]'', by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of [[Beam Software]] (1982) was an early reinterpretation of an [[The Hobbit|existing novel]] into interactive fiction, with several independent non-player characters.
* ''[[Planetfall]]'', by [[Steve Meretzky]] of Infocom (1983), featured Floyd the robot, which [[Allen Varney]] claimed to be the first game character who evoked a strong emotional commitment from players.<ref name="escapist-7-12">{{cite web | author = Allen Varney | date = 23 August 2005 | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_7/46-READ-GAME | title = Read Game | work = The Escapist, Issue #7: Classical Studies | access-date = 1 November 2006 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070818163644/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_7/46-READ-GAME | archive-date = 18 August 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
* ''[[Suspended (video game)|Suspended]]'' by [[Michael Berlyn]] was an [[Infocom]] game with a large vocabulary and unique character personalities.
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', by [[Douglas Adams]] and Steve Meretzky of Infocom (1984), involved the author of the original work in the reinterpretation.
* ''[[A Mind Forever Voyaging]]'', by Steve Meretzky of Infocom (1985), a story-heavy, puzzle-light game often touted as Infocom's first serious work of science fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.spagmag.org/archives/backissues/spag5.html |title=ISSUE #5|publisher=SPAG |date=19 April 1995 |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125070625/http://www.sparkynet.com/spag/backissues/spag5.html |archive-date=25 January 2011  }}</ref>
* ''[[Silicon Dreams]]'', by [[Level 9 Computing]] (1986), a trilogy of interactive science fiction games.
* ''[[Leather Goddesses of Phobos]]'' by [[Steve Meretzky]], a risqué sci-fi parody from [[Infocom]].
* ''[[Amnesia (1986 video game)|Amnesia]]'' (1987), by [[Hugo Award]] and [[Nebula Award]] winning science fiction and [[fantasy author]] [[Thomas M. Disch]], a text-only adventure published by [[Electronic Arts]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.spagmag.org/archives/backissues/spag9.html |title=ISSUE #9 |publisher=SPAG |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127140046/http://www.sparkynet.com/spag/backissues/spag9.html |archive-date=27 January 2011}}</ref>
*''[[Stellar Agent]]'' (1991), a text-based spy adventure game.
* ''[[Curses (video game)|Curses]]'', by [[Graham Nelson]] (1993), the first game written in the [[Inform]] programming language. Considered one of the first "modern" games to meet the high standards set by Infocom's best titles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.1c.html |title=XYZZYnews Issue #1 Interview: Graham Nelson |publisher=Xyzzynews.com |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105113057/http://www.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.1c.html |archive-date=5 January 2013  }}</ref>
* ''[[Dunnet (video game)|DUNNET]]'', by [[Ron Schnell]] (1992 [[eLisp]] port from the 1983 [[MacLisp]] original), surreal text adventure that has shipped with [[GNU Emacs]] since 1994, and thus comes with [[Mac OS X]] and most [[List of Linux distributions|Linux distributions]]; often mistaken for an [[Easter egg (interaction design)|easter egg]].
* ''[[Anchorhead (game)|Anchorhead]]'', by [[Michael S. Gentry]] (1998) is a highly rated horror story inspired by [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wurb.com/if/game/17 |title=Anchorhead |publisher=Wurb.com |date=30 June 2000 |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127191643/http://www.wurb.com/if/game/17 |archive-date=27 January 2011  }}</ref>
* ''[[Photopia]]'', by [[Adam Cadre]] (1998), one of the first almost entirely puzzle-free games.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/bibliography/manifestos.htm |title=Interactive Fiction Bibliography - Manifestos and Taxonomies |publisher=Jerz.setonhill.edu |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303081539/http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/bibliography/manifestos.htm |archive-date=3 March 2011  }}</ref> It won the annual [[Interactive Fiction Competition]] in 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifcomp.org/comp08/history.html |title=History of the 14th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition |publisher=Ifcomp.org |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607074555/http://www.ifcomp.org/comp08/history.html |archive-date=7 June 2011  }}</ref>
* ''[[Spider and Web]]'', by [[Andrew Plotkin]] (1998), an award-winning<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.xyzzynews.com/98winners.html |title=XYZZY Awards: 1998 Winners |publisher=Xyzzynews.com |date=6 February 1999 |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202224036/http://www.xyzzynews.com/98winners.html |archive-date=2 February 2007  }}</ref> espionage story with many twists and turns.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wurb.com/if/game/207 |title=Spider and Web |publisher=Wurb.com |date=30 June 2000 |access-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109234844/http://www.wurb.com/if/game/207 |archive-date=9 January 2011  }}</ref>
* ''[[Varicella (video game)|Varicella]]'' by Adam Cadre (1999). It won four [[XYZZY Awards]] in 1999 including the XYZZY Award for Best Game, and had a scholarly essay written about it.<ref name="montfort">{{cite web| url = http://nickm.com/if/Varicella.pdf| title = Face It, Tiger, You Just Hit the Jackpot: Reading and Playing Cadre's Varicella| access-date = 17 December 2006| date = July 2003| last = Montfort| first = Nick| author2 = Stuart Moulthrop| author-link = Nick Montfort| work = fineArt Forum Vol. 17 No. 8|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080619185019/http://nickm.com/if/Varicella.pdf| archive-date = 19 June 2008| df = dmy-all}}</ref>
* ''[[Galatea (video game)|Galatea]]'', by [[Emily Short]] (2000). Galatea is focused entirely on interaction with the animated statue of the same name. Galatea has one of the most complex interaction systems for a [[non-player character]] in an interactive fiction game. [[Adam Cadre]] called Galatea "the best NPC ever".<ref name="avventuretestuali">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.avventuretestuali.com/interviste/cadre-eng
 |title       = Photopia is a short story, Varicella is a world
 |access-date  = 17 December 2006
 |date        = January 2002
 |url-status=live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070118093926/http://www.avventuretestuali.com/interviste/cadre-eng
 |archive-date = 18 January 2007
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>
* ''[[Slouching Towards Bedlam]]'', by Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (2003). Set in a [[steampunk]] setting, the game integrates meta-game functionality (saving, restoring, restarting) into the game world itself. The game won four [[XYZZY Awards]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.ifcomp.org/comp03/results.html
 |title       = Results of the 9th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
 |url-status=live
 |archive-url  = https://archive.today/20130113054355/http://www.ifcomp.org/comp03/results.html
 |archive-date = 13 January 2013
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>
* ''[[The Dreamhold]]'', by Andrew Plotkin (2004). Designed for those new to IF, it provides an extensive help section and tutorials. Although the puzzles are not too difficult, it can be a challenge for both novice and experienced players.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pr-if.org/play/ |title=People's Republic of Interactive Fiction |access-date=4 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112115227/http://pr-if.org/play/ |archive-date=12 January 2011  }}</ref>
* ''[[Façade (interactive story)|Façade]]'' by Michael Mateas, Andrew Stern and John Grieve (2005). An interactive drama using [[natural language processing]].
* ''[[Lost Pig]]'' by Admiral Jota (2007). A comedic interactive fiction about an orc finding a pig that escaped from his farm. It won best game, best writing, best individual non-player character, and best individual player character in the 2007 [[XYZZY Awards]].
* ''[[80 Days (2014 video game)|80 Days]]'' by [[inkle (video game company)|inkle]] (2014). An interactive adventure based on the novel by [[Jules Verne]], it was nominated by [[Time (magazine)|''TIME'']]  as their Game of the Year for 2014.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/collection-post/3582118/top-10-video-games-2014/|title=These Are the Top 10 Video Games of 2014|first=Matt|last=Peckham|magazine=Time|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123114857/http://time.com/collection-post/3582118/top-10-video-games-2014/|archive-date=23 November 2017}}</ref>
* ''[[9:05]]'' by [[Adam Cadre]]. It is commonly seen as an easy gateway for people to get involved with interactive fiction.<ref name="jayisgames">{{cite web |title=9:05 |author=Bibby, Jay |date=11 June 2008 |website=[[Jay Is Games]] |url=https://jayisgames.com/review/905.php |access-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107191348/http://jayisgames.com/review/905.php |archive-date=7 January 2017  }}</ref>
* [[17776]] by [[Jon Bois]]. It is a "serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative."
* ''[[Black Mirror: Bandersnatch]]'', by [[Charlie Brooker]] (2018). An interactive film in the science fiction [[anthology series]] ''[[Black Mirror]]''.

The games that won both the [[Interactive Fiction Competition]] and the [[XYZZY Awards]] are ''[[All Roads]]'' (2001), ''[[Slouching Towards Bedlam]]'' (2003), ''[[Vespers (video game)|Vespers]]'' (2005), ''[[Lost Pig]]'' (2007), ''[[Violet (video game)|Violet]]'' (2008), ''Aotearoa'' (2010), ''Coloratura'' (2013), and ''[[ The Wizard Sniffer]]'' (2017).

==Software==
===Development systems===
The original Interactive fiction Colossal Cave Adventure was programmed in [[Fortran]], originally developed by [[IBM]]. Adventure's parsers could only handle two-word sentences in the form of verb-noun pairs.

[[Infocom]]'s games of 1979–88, such as [[Zork]], were written using a [[LISP]]-like programming language called ZIL (Zork Implementation Language or Zork Interactive Language; it was referred to as both) that compiled into a [[byte code]] able to run on a standardized [[virtual machine]] called the [[Z-machine]]. As the games were text based and used variants of the same Z-machine interpreter, the interpreter only had to be ported to a [[computer]] once, rather than once each game. Each game file included a sophisticated [[parser]] which allowed the user to type complex instructions to the game. Unlike earlier works of interactive fiction which only understood commands of the form 'verb noun', Infocom's parser could understand a wider variety of sentences. For instance one might type "open the large door, then go west", or "go to the hall". With the Z-machine, Infocom was able to release most of their games for most popular [[home computer]]s of the time simultaneously, including [[Apple II]], [[Atari 8-bit computers]], [[IBM PC compatible]]s, [[Amstrad CPC]]/[[Amstrad PCW|PCW]] (one disc worked on both machines), [[Commodore 64]], [[Plus/4]], [[Commodore 128]], [[Kaypro]] [[CP/M]], [[TI-99/4A]], [[Macintosh]], [[Atari ST]], [[Amiga]], and [[TRS-80]].

During the 1990s Interactive fiction was mainly written with C-like languages, such as [[TADS]] 2 and [[Inform]] 6. A number of systems for writing interactive fiction now exist. The most popular remain [[Inform]], [[TADS]], or [[ADRIFT]], but they diverged in their approach to IF-writing during the 2000s, giving today's IF writers an objective choice. By 2006 [[IFComp]], most games were written for Inform, with a strong minority of games for TADS and ADRIFT, followed by a small number of games for other systems.<ref name="ifcomp">{{cite web| url = http://www.ifcomp.org/comp06/games.php| title = Games of the 12th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition| access-date = 17 December 2006| year = 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070103031237/http://www.ifcomp.org/comp06/games.php| archive-date = 3 January 2007| df = dmy-all}}</ref>

While familiarity with a programming language leads many new authors to attempt to produce their own complete IF application, most established IF authors recommend use of a specialised IF language, arguing that such systems allow authors to avoid the technicalities of producing a full featured parser, while allowing broad community support. The choice of [[authoring system]] usually depends on the author's desired balance of ease of use versus power, and the portability of the final product.<ref name=brasslantern>{{cite web| url = http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/chooselang.html| title = Choosing a Text Adventure Language| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Granade| first = Stephen|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061205043134/http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/chooselang.html| archive-date = 5 December 2006| df = dmy-all}}</ref>

Other development systems include:
* David Malmberg's [[Adventure Game Toolkit]] (AGT)
* [[Incentive Software]]'s [[Graphic Adventure Creator]] (GAC)
*[[Inkle (company)|Inkle]]'s [[Inkle (company)#Inklewriter|inklewriter]]
* [[Professional Adventure Writer]]
* [[Gilsoft]]'s [[The Quill Adventure System|The Quill]]
* [[Twine (software)|Twine]]

===Interpreters and virtual machines===
[[Interpreter (computing)|Interpreters]] are the software used to play the works of interactive fiction created with a development system. Since they need to interact with the player, the "story files" created by development systems are programs in their own right. Rather than running directly on any one computer, they are programs run by Interpreters, or virtual machines, which are designed specially for IF. They may be part of the development system, or can be compiled together with the work of fiction as a standalone [[executable file]].

The Z-machine was designed by the founders of [[Infocom]], in 1979. They were influenced by the then-new idea of a [[P-machine|virtual Pascal computer]], but replaced P with Z for Zork, the celebrated adventure game of 1977–79. The Z-machine evolved during the 1980s but over 30 years later, it remains in use essentially unchanged. Glulx was designed by Andrew Plotkin in the late 1990s as a new-generation IF virtual machine. It overcomes the technical constraint on the Z-machine by being a 32-bit rather than 16-bit processor. [[Frotz]] is a modern Z-machine interpreter originally written in [[C (programming language)]] by Stefan Jokisch in 1995 for [[MS-DOS]]. Over time it was ported to other platforms, such as Unix, RISC OS, Mac OS and most recently iOS. Modern Glulx interpreters are based on "Glulxe", by Andrew Plotkin, and "Git", by Iain Merrick. Other interpreters include Zoom for Mac OS X, or for Unix or Linux, maintained by Andrew Hunter, and Spatterlight for Mac OS X, maintained by Tor Andersson.

===Distribution===
In addition to commercial distribution venues and individual websites, many works of free interactive fiction are distributed through community websites. These include the Interactive Fiction Database (IFDb), The Interactive Fiction Reviews Organization (IFRO), a game catalog and recommendation engine, and the Interactive Fiction Archive.

Works may be distributed for playing with in a separate interpreter. In which case they are often made available in the [[Blorb]] [[package format]] that many interpreters support. A filename ending .zblorb is a story file intended for a Z-machine in a Blorb wrapper, while a filename ending .gblorb is a story file intended for a Glulx in a Blorb wrapper. It is not common but IF files are sometimes also seen without a Blorb wrapping, though this usually means cover art, help files, and so forth are missing, like a book with the covers torn off. Z-machine story files usually have names ending .z5 or .z8, the number being a version number, and Glulx story files usually end .ulx.

Alternatively, works may be distributed for playing in a [[web browser]]. For example, the 'Parchment' project is for web browser-based IF Interpreter, for both Z-machine and Glulx files.

Some software such as [[Twine (software)|Twine]] publishes directly to [[HTML]], the standard language used to create [[web pages]], reducing the requirement for an Interpreter or virtual machine.

==See also==
* [[Hypertext fiction]]
* [[Electronic literature]]
* [[Visual novel]], interactive fiction with graphics.
* {{Not a typo|[[Addventure]]}}<!-- Spelling as 'Addventure' is correct -->
* [[Gamebook]]
* [[Graphical adventure games|Graphic adventures]], adventure games with roots in interactive fiction.
* [[Multi-User Dungeon]] (MUD), which may be considered as a kind of multiplayer or collaborative interactive fiction.
* [[Role-playing game]]s, which are occasionally described as another form of interactive fiction.
* [[Interactive storytelling]]
* [[Get Lamp]], a documentary about interactive fiction

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|first=Nick|last=Montfort | title=Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction | year=2005 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-63318-5}}
* Keller, Daniel. "Reading and playing: what makes interactive fiction unique"  p.&nbsp;276-298. in Williams, J. P., & Smith, J. H. (2007). ''The players' realm: studies on the culture of video games and gaming.'' Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2832-8}}
* {{Cite book|first=Aaron|last=Reed | title=Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 | year=2010| publisher=[[Delmar Cengage Learning]] | isbn=978-1-4354-5506-1}}
* Seegert, Alf. (2009), "'Doing there' vs. 'being there': performing presence in interactive fiction", ''[https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/jgvw/2009/00000001/00000001/art00002 Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds]'' 1: 1, pp.&nbsp;23–37, {{doi|10.1386/jgvw.1.1.23/1}}
* Robinson Wheeler, J, & Kevin, Jackson-Mead (2014), "IF Theory Reader", JRW Digital Media.

==External links==
* [http://brasslantern.org/community/history/timeline-c.html A Brief History of Interactive Fiction], a timeline of events in interactive fiction history at the Brass Lantern website.
* [http://ifarchive.ifreviews.org/indexes/if-archive.html The Interactive Fiction Archive], a large archive of free-to-download and play interactive fiction (random mirror).
* [http://ifdb.tads.org/ Interactive Fiction Database] (IFDB), a community site where one can find personalized recommendations for IF games to play.
* [http://www.andybrain.com/archive/interactive_fiction.htm Interactive Fiction: More Than Retro Fun], a beginner's introduction and setup guide to Interactive Fiction games and interpreters
* [http://www.ifwiki.org/ The Interactive Fiction Wiki], a MediaWiki wiki specific to Interactive Fiction.
* [http://www.spagmag.org/ SPAG], the quarterly e-zine of the Society for the Promotion of Adventure Gaming
* [https://iftechfoundation.org/ The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation], ensure the ongoing maintenance, improvement, and preservation of the tools and services crucial to the creation and distribution of interactive fiction

{{VideoGameGenre}}
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[[Category:Adventure games]]
[[Category:Fiction forms]]
[[Category:Interactive fiction| ]]
[[Category:Interactive narrative]]
[[Category:Storytelling]]
[[Category:Genres of electronic literature]]