The Howdy Glossary

Adventure Definition Language (ADL) is a domain-specific language developed in the early 1980s by Infocom, a company known for pioneering text-based adventure games like Zork and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. ADL was crafted to simplify the development of interactive fiction games, allowing writers and game designers to create elaborate branching narratives, intricate puzzles, dynamic characters, and immersive worlds without needing advanced programming skills. This tool empowered creators to concentrate on storytelling and game design, advancing the narrative potential of video games significantly.

ADL excelled in areas that were crucial for interactive fiction: constructing complex branching narratives based on player choices, integrating challenging puzzles seamlessly into gameplay, and creating dynamic character interactions within immersive environments. By abstracting technical complexities away from creators, ADL fostered a focus on narrative design over low-level coding concerns. Its creation marked an era where story-driven experiences became paramount in video game development at Infocom, facilitating richer and more engaging narratives within their titles.

Despite its specialized nature making it unique compared to general-purpose programming languages like Inform and TADS used for interactive fiction game development, ADL offered distinct competitive advantages. It provided a streamlined experience tailored specifically for crafting detailed storylines with ease. General-purpose languages did not offer ADL's level of specialization or abstraction targeted explicitly at narrative-focused designs. Consequently, ADL enabled Infocom's developers to push boundaries in interactive storytelling within video games by prioritizing narrative intricacy over technical detail management.