Here’s a little experiment I whipped up last week:
babel.ifarchive.org/screenshot/
(Select an IFID, then select “screen.html” in that directory. E.g. babel.ifarchive.org/screenshot/Z … creen.html )
These are static files. I made them by running a script over the archive’s Z-code and Glulx directories. A lot of games are missing (including all the games in other archive directories!) because the script isn’t finished and this is just a demo. Also, the current version of the script only understands one status window and one story window.
The script itself is here: github.com/erkyrath/plotex/blob … fomatic.py . It must be used with an IF interpreter compiled with the RemGlk library. (I’ve built Glulxe and Fizmo in this way, for the demo.)
A lot of the games look like a title screen followed by “hit any key to continue”. The script can be made to “hit a key” (or any other input necessary for game setup) but this requires per-game configuration. I’ve only done this for one game: babel.ifarchive.org/screenshot/G … -94DF923D/
I would like to make these screenshots accessible through IFDB, but I don’t yet know how that will work. I’ve contacted MJR, but he hasn’t replied yet. (It’s a US holiday weekend; I expect that only reprobates like myself spend Thanksgiving hacking code.)
The final version of this tool, if there is one, might not live at the babel.ifarchive.org/screenshot/ address. It might wind up under IFDB, in which case the current demo directory will go away. Plans to be announced.
Hat tip to Jason Scott’s JSMESS screenshot blaster, and this month’s IF Theory Chat, which gave me the idea.