Great game production software
Given the popularity in the 1980s of the interactive fiction genre, when Infocom adventures like Zork and Planetfall ruled the roost, it's not surprising that an enterprising company jumped into the market with a product that allowed fans to create their own text adventures in the style of their preferred product. The result was the Computer Novel Construction Set, a surprisingly clever and in-depth bit of software which makes it fairly straightforward for anyone without any programming knowledge to knock out their own epic adventure. Navigating the interface is pretty intuitive stuff, with a set of menus for each element of your story, including characters, rooms, objects, descriptions etc, which can be navigated easily and which make keeping on top of your story a breeze. There's also a meaty tutorial to walk you through everything as well as a sample game which shows what can be produced by the software. This really is the perfect introduction to the joys of creating home-grown interactive fiction and if you're ever played one and are now curious to come up with your own, but can't be bothered with learning a complex modern-day IF system, then you can't go far wrong with this. The interface is simple enough so that you'll be up and running in no time at all and as long as you have a good handle on where you want your story to go, what characters you want to meet and what puzzles need to be solved, then the programme will make sure it all slots together nicely and makes sense. Definitely recommended for when you're in a creative mood!
