I'm rather pleased with the new manuals. I see Inform now as a gauche young adult, having got past the stage of growing out of his shoes every few months. Graham Nelson adultgauchegrow Change image and share on social
Then in my early teens, when the home computer bubble was blowing, I had one of the first, an Acorn Atom, and used to write primitive adventures on that. Graham Nelson acornadventureatom Change image and share on social
By the new year of 1994, it had grown up into Inform 4 and could produce games twice as large. Graham Nelson gamegrowinform Change image and share on social
Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better! Graham Nelson alphabeteventuallyfind share on social
I try to make puzzles range all the way from easy to hard, and to leave many open at once. Graham Nelson easyhardleave Change image and share on social
I don't really believe in 'directions' in art; the rope twists as you follow it, that's all. Graham Nelson artdirectionfollow Change image and share on social
For a fortnight nobody at all emailed me, or posted a follow-up. Doesn't anyone care, I thought? It turned out my newsreader was broken, and hadn't posted at all. Graham Nelson breakcareemailed Change image and share on social
What I would pay much more attention to are the few points where the player can inadvertently make a career decision. Most players end up back-tracking, though some actually enjoy this. Graham Nelson attentionbackcareer Change image and share on social
The most frequent complaint is that it's hard. True. it's a hard game to win Also, many people ask me how to use the secret debugging commands, apparently under the impression that I'll tell them. Graham Nelson apparentlycommandcomplaint Change image and share on social
