Chapter 11: Out Of World Actions and Effects
11.1. Start-Up Features

When the story file starts up, it normally prints a short introductory passage of text (the "overture") and then a heading describing itself, together with some version numbering (the "banner"). It is traditional that the banner must appear eventually (and one of the few requirements of the Inform licence is that the author acknowledge Inform somewhere, for which the banner is sufficient) but some designs call for a multi-turn prologue before the banner finally appears, and marks the start of play in earnest. Bikini Atoll demonstrates this.

If a story file represents the latest in a sequence of story files representing chapters in some larger narrative, it will need some way to pick up where its predecessor left off. This can be done with the aid of external files (in the Glulx format, at least). Alien Invasion Part 23 shows how.


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* Example  Bikini Atoll
Delaying the banner for later.

WI
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* Example  Alien Invasion Part 23
Keeping a preference file that could be loaded by any game in a series.

WI


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