Hey there. I’ve done a lot of looking around, and I’ve found a solution that works halfway - I’m now asking around to see if I can find something better.
I do a lot of my IF gaming on my iPod, loving the portability (I just finished Jigsaw in it, and man, being forced to sit at the computer for that giant would have been frustrating, but I digress). At the moment that means Inform/Infocom, web-based games and PDFs/texts like Trapped in Time or Encryptment (if you remember that one).
I use FileApp as a file manager. FileApp also opens HTML files, so it allows me to play web-based games. It even opens external files within reason (i.e., .ogg files are out, but I wouldn’t expect otherwise), so I can play Twine games with music/images as long as they’re provided (I can also get the music/images if I turn on my WiFi, but I haven’t got net everywhere).
However, some Twine games like Remembered (and similar games of that era and that author) don’t display properly and are unplayable in FileApp. Also, I haven’t got a “BACK” button to go back a passage or two, and the interface has a problem: the status bar and footer bar aren’t fixed and keep popping in and out as I’m trying to select passages, often obscuring text or being in the way.
Still, it works. Even plays Undum games, to my amazement.
Now, I’ve also tried Mercury, which is the only browser I’ve found that can open external files. That is: when I select the HTM(L) file in FileAppl and choose “Open With”, it’s the only of the six browsers I’ve installed (I’ve been experimenting) that comes up as a possible program to open the file with.
It eliminates the biggest problem of FileApp: the status bars. It makes for a much better playing experience. Big drawback: I can’t get it to read the external files, and I’ve messed around the files a lot. The folder where the files should theoretically be stored in Mercury is not touchable by the user. Still no BACK button either.
Curiously, some games will work on FileApp and not on Mercury, and vice-versa. Games like “Remembered” won’t work either way. “Undum” games won’t work in Mercury - probably because of the external files issue.
I’m trying to find the optimal way to play web-based games on my iPod offline. So here’s my question:
What free browsers do you know for the iOS that can open external files? I can experiment from there. Also, to clarify, I mean opening offline HTML files. Currently I know that Mercury does, and that Safari, Chrome, Opera Mini, Puffin Free and Dolphin don’t.
On a side note, what with iFrotz and all, whatever other gripes I may have with Apple, I find iOS and its portable devices to be the answer to my portable-IF prayer, and am only hoping for a iOS TADS interpreter at some point. And that iFrotz’s bugs get ironed out, but the maintainer of the app seems very active.