The ALAN Adventure Language is a programming system for writing and playing text adventure games, interactive fiction, text-based simulations for teaching or other similar types of interactive software. It aims to make writing interactive fiction as easy as possible and requires an author to have only basic programming skills.
Alan consists of a special purpose, application-oriented programming language and a set of tools to support working in that language to create games. The tools include a compiler, various flavours of runners/interpreters, a completely integrated development environment (IDE), a map generator and more.
The Alan computer language tries to retain a natural language look, so doesn’t use typical programming constructs such as brackets or other complicated visual punctuation. It aims to make it simple to do common things, but retain the option of creating complicated things with complex constructs. Compared to programming in a typical programming language, the Alan system handles most of the mundane tasks and supplies sensible settings so that you can concentrate on the plot, the puzzles, the objects and the map. This makes Alan a true high-level computer language.
Features of the language include:
- Easy to learn.
- Constructs that are natural to an author of Interactive Fiction reflecting the various concepts encountered when creating an adventure plot.
- Takes a descriptive view of the concepts of adventure authoring.
- Strictly typed, compiled, object-oriented language with single inheritance.
- No explicit type declarations, except for instances of classes; instead, types are automatically inferred from expressions such as integers, strings or instances of a particular class.
Website: www.alanif.se
Support: Documentation
Developer: Thomas Nilsson
License: Artistic License 2.0
ALAN is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Return to Write Interactive Fiction Home Page
| Explore Linux | |
|---|---|
 | Best Free and Open Source Software - A huge collection of recommended free and open source software covering every major category. |
 | In-depth Linux Software Reviews - Detailed assessments of Linux software covering features, usability and overall quality. |
 | The Big List of Active Linux Distros - An extensive collection of actively developed Linux distributions. |
 | Open Source Alternatives - Alternatives to software and services from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Autodesk, Oracle and others. |
 | Essential Linux System Tools - Indispensable utilities for monitoring, maintaining and managing Linux systems. |
 | Linux Productivity Tools - Useful utilities for improving productivity and streamlining everyday tasks. |
 | Alternatives to Popular CLI Tools - Modern alternatives to familiar command-line utilities supplied with Linux systems. |
 | Awesome Free Linux Game Tools - Tools, utilities and companion software that improve gaming on Linux. |
 | Machine Learning on Linux - Machine learning and deep learning software, self-hosted applications and practical tools. |
 | Saving Money with Linux - Practical ways to reduce electricity consumption and lower computing costs with Linux. |
 | Linux Candy - Fun, entertaining and sometimes delightfully quirky software from the lighter side of Linux. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.