(file: readme.txt)



Information about the Alan Adventure Language Tutorial
------------------------------------------------------
(Copyright 1998 Stephen Griffiths)





Purpose of this Tutorial
------------------------
The Alan programming language comes with a complete manual
which contains all you need to know to use Alan.  This tutorial
is intended as an introduction to Alan for people who are new to
the language.  It takes the reader step-by-step through the creation
of a small adventure game.  Copies of the Alan programming code
referred to in each lesson are included with the tutorial.





Tutorial Files
--------------
The complete tutorial is made up of the following files

tutor.htm - the tutorial document in HTML format
	    (if you can't read HTML, email me for a plain text version)

readme.txt - this file (summary info about Alan and this tutorial)

intro.ala - sample Alan source code to test Alan system installed

lesson1.ala
lesson2.ala
lesson3.ala
lesson4.ala - sample Alan source code files used
lesson5.ala - as examples in the tutorial.
lesson6.ala
lesson7.ala

library1.ala - sample Alan source code for commonly
library2.ala - used commands and functions.




Information Sources for the Alan Adventure Language
---------------------------------------------------
Alan Web Site
The Alan web site at http://www.pp.softlab.se/thomas.nilsson/alan/
has Alan compilers and interpreters, an online version of the manual,
example Alan games and a Frequently Asked Questions section with
explanations and tips not included in the manual.

I.F. Archive
The Interactive Fiction Archive at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive has
most of the programs and information available at the Alan web site
plus the 'Etudes' examples and 'Standard' library example. The Alan
programming information and programs are in the
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/alan/ sub-directory.

I.F. Newsgroups
rec.arts.int-fiction - discusses i.f. authoring systems and issues
related to writing i.f. You can post messages here about using Alan
to write games, advertise for beta-testers, etc
rec.games.int-fiction - discusses playing i.f. games, hints for
solving specific games etc.

Alan user support
Thomas Nilsson is the author of Alan. You can email him if you find
bugs in the Alan system or have problems using Alan that you can't
solve reading the manual or posting to the r.a.i-f newsgroup. His
email address is thoni@softlab.lejonet.se

Feedback on this tutorial
-------------------------
I would appreciate feedback on this tutorial. If you have any comments
or criticisms to make or find errors in this tutorial you can email
me at stephen.griffiths@xtra.co.nz