Editing Interactive fiction (section)

===Development systems===
The original Interactive fiction Colossal Cave Adventure was programmed in [[Fortran]], originally developed by [[IBM]]. Adventure's parsers could only handle two-word sentences in the form of verb-noun pairs.

[[Infocom]]'s games of 1979–88, such as [[Zork]], were written using a [[LISP]]-like programming language called ZIL (Zork Implementation Language or Zork Interactive Language; it was referred to as both) that compiled into a [[byte code]] able to run on a standardized [[virtual machine]] called the [[Z-machine]]. As the games were text based and used variants of the same Z-machine interpreter, the interpreter only had to be ported to a [[computer]] once, rather than once each game. Each game file included a sophisticated [[parser]] which allowed the user to type complex instructions to the game. Unlike earlier works of interactive fiction which only understood commands of the form 'verb noun', Infocom's parser could understand a wider variety of sentences. For instance one might type "open the large door, then go west", or "go to the hall". With the Z-machine, Infocom was able to release most of their games for most popular [[home computer]]s of the time simultaneously, including [[Apple II]], [[Atari 8-bit computers]], [[IBM PC compatible]]s, [[Amstrad CPC]]/[[Amstrad PCW|PCW]] (one disc worked on both machines), [[Commodore 64]], [[Commodore Plus/4]], [[Commodore 128]], [[Kaypro]] [[CP/M]], [[TI-99/4A]], [[Macintosh]], [[Atari ST]], [[Amiga]], and [[TRS-80]].

During the 1990s Interactive fiction was mainly written with C-like languages, such as [[TADS]] 2 and [[Inform]] 6. A number of systems for writing interactive fiction now exist. The most popular remain [[Inform]], [[TADS]], or [[ADRIFT]], but they diverged in their approach to IF-writing during the 2000s, giving today's IF writers an objective choice. By 2006 [[IFComp]], most games were written for Inform, with a strong minority of games for TADS and ADRIFT, followed by a small number of games for other systems.<ref name="ifcomp">{{cite web| url = http://www.ifcomp.org/comp06/games.php| title = Games of the 12th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition| access-date = 17 December 2006| year = 2006|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070103031237/http://www.ifcomp.org/comp06/games.php| archive-date = 3 January 2007| df = dmy-all}}</ref>

While familiarity with a programming language leads many new authors to attempt to produce their own complete IF application, most established IF authors recommend use of a specialised IF language, arguing that such systems allow authors to avoid the technicalities of producing a full featured parser, while allowing broad community support. The choice of [[authoring system]] usually depends on the author's desired balance of ease of use versus power, and the portability of the final product.<ref name=brasslantern>{{cite web| url = http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/chooselang.html| title = Choosing a Text Adventure Language| access-date = 17 December 2006| last = Granade| first = Stephen|url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061205043134/http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/chooselang.html| archive-date = 5 December 2006| df = dmy-all}}</ref>

Other development systems include:
* David Malmberg's [[Adventure Game Toolkit]] (AGT)
* [[Incentive Software]]'s [[Graphic Adventure Creator]] (GAC)
*[[Inkle (company)|Inkle]]'s [[Inkle (company)#Inklewriter|inklewriter]]
* [[Professional Adventure Writer]]
* [[Gilsoft]]'s [[The Quill Adventure System|The Quill]]
* [[Twine (software)|Twine]]