What is a .I7 file?
An .I7 file is a special kind of text file that is used to create interactive stories, which are a bit like video games or choose-your-own-adventure books where you type commands to interact with the story. This file is written in a programming language called Inform 7, or I7 for short. The cool thing about I7 is that it lets you write stories that can be played on a computer, where the story reacts to what the player types.
To make these interactive stories, you need a program called Inform 7. Inform 7 is like a special writing tool that understands the I7 language. It helps you write your story, and then it can turn your story into a game that other people can play. The stories you write in I7 look like regular text, but they include special instructions that tell the game how to behave.
You can open and edit .I7 files with Inform 7 itself, but you can also use other programs like Microsoft Visual Studio Code or any basic text editor (like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac). These programs let you see and change the text in the .I7 file.
Once you've written your story in an .I7 file, you use Inform 7 to turn it into a game file, usually with extensions like .GBLORB or .ZBLORB. These game files can then be shared with others, so they can play your story.
To create an .I7 file, you can start with any text editor. Just write your story using the I7 language rules. When you're done, you save the file with the ".i7" at the end of its name. If your text editor doesn't let you save it directly as an .i7 file, you can save it as a .txt file and then change the name to end in .i7 yourself.
It's important to know that .I7 files are part of the newer Inform 7 system. Before Inform 7, people used a different system that saved files with a .INF extension. But now, .I7 (or sometimes .NI) files are the standard for writing these interactive stories.
So, in simple terms, an .I7 file is your storybook and rulebook for creating an interactive adventure, and Inform 7 is the magic tool that brings your story to life for others to play.
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