The new release of the Hugo Compiler and Engine has been uploaded to the
incoming directory at ftp.gmd.de, and will soon be moved to /if-archive/
programming/hugo.
Hugo is an interactive-fiction design system with the following features
of note:
1. Precompiled library capability. More than a couple of threads during
the past few months have speculated on the great value of having the ability
to use precompiled libraries to speed up compilation time (hence game
development time as well). After quite a few sleepless nights, Hugo
finally offers this. In fact, not only is Hugo essentially the fastest
compiler going in terms of basic compilation speed--this one was one the
focuses during its development--it is capable of cranking through the
sizable COLOSSAL.HUG source (the Hugo port of Adventure) in nine seconds
on a fast 486 using a precompiled library.
2. Easy-to-learn, straightforward syntax. Hugo has its syntactical origins
in C, BASIC, and Inform, but an effort has been made to keep programming as
free of punctuation and confusing formatting as much as possible. As a
result, design, implementation, and debugging are that much less daunting.
3. Many improvements to features since v1.2, as well as new features.
Improvements include improved engine parsing, faster expression evaluation,
and more flexibility in setting and evaluating object properties. New
features include dynamic run-time dictionary creation, multiple-turn undo,
and (practically) unlimited game file size due to the recent (i.e. several
sleepless nights last week) implementation of indexed addressing.
4. Improved reference materials. The accompanying Hugo Programming Manual
covers in detail all of Hugo's features. The extensively annotated tutorial
game contains examples of almost everything Hugo can do.
5. A cool name.
Currently, Hugo is available as a PC executable. It has been tested on at
least a couple of PC-emulators as well, each time without any noticeable
problems. The source code to both the compiler and the engine is readily
available, and porting to other systems/platforms is highly encouraged.
I'll be uploading a beta-test version of a game called "Spur" to the
Interactive Fiction Archive at ftp.gmd.de. Once I've gotten back a round
of testing and bug reports, I'll be uploading a release version of the game
as well as the source code as a further reference work for programming
in Hugo.
Try Hugo. Check it out--let me know what you think. Send questions,
comments, bug reports, complaints, criticisms, etc. to me, Kent Tessman, at
<as400477@orion.yorku.ca>.