On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of Mauritius, Dilo Disiq is releasing the first version of the Mauritian Time Machine.
The M.T.M. shows the evolution of Mauritius through time. You have to pick your birth date and it will show the evolution of the country as you grew up. It is currently in very early stages of creation; most of the features are not present and the content is lacking as well. The future versions will allow you to view the timeline and see what happened as you actually grew up. It will contain more sources, more elaboration and it will include photos as well.
Basics
Let us now talk on how you can actually replicate it. The current version was made on Twine and the story format being used is Snowman 1.2.4. You can generate the HTML using the online software and you just have to upload it to a host like Neocities (for free). Before starting, it is good to have a plan though (perhaps on paper). You need to have a start page and link a passage to it. You can then add more passages and even link them to one another.
Passages and Hyperlinks
Passages are linked by their title like [[this]]. As for hyperlinks, you can use the following coding:
<a href="http://www.dilodisiq.com/"; target="_blank">Dilo Disiq</a>
Changing the colors and other styles
If you need to format the interactive fiction game, you need to include the necessary coding in the stylesheet. For instance, the one of M.T.M. is:
body {
background-color: white;
color: black;
font-family: Helvetica;
font-size: 125%;
}
Data
As for the source of the data, I relied on the BBC's profile of Mauritius. It is not the best choice, as it is very basic and it is not a local news source, but the data is organized chronologically and it is very easy to understand.
Learn more
Other links from which I learnt to make the interactive fiction are below. I have uploaded the source HTML file which you can upload on Twine to see how it was made.
That's pretty much all I have to share. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do comment. If you enjoyed the experience, please share and keep checking the page for any updates. Happy Independence Day!
Links
1. The Mauritian Time Machine
2. HTML source files of the M.T.M
3. Mauritius profile - Timeline [BBC]
4. How To Create Links [Guide]
5. External links in Harlowe [Guide]
6. A Total Beginner’s Guide to Twine 2.1 [Guide]
7. Twine [Tool]
8. Neocities [Tool]
Comments
Post a Comment