if I make a TADS game, I can upload it to the ifdb.tads.org, but why can’t i upload to itch.io or textadventures.co.uk?
Why would anyone ever create a TADS game if you can’t upload a self-contained playable game to other sites?
I think it is horrible anyone could be suckered into using this tool to create a game and then realizing how screwed they are when they can only publish it on one gaming site. Is there any momentum to fix this?
How are you publishing your game? Meaning what format are they in? Does TADS let you create a .gblorb or a .zblorb?
Textadventures.co.uk accepts
itch.io will accept a zip file, but the game won’t play online unless the game is packaged as an html in the top folder of the zip called index.html. Players should be able to download your zip and run it themselves in a supported interpreter.
Unfortunately, TADS hasn’t been maintained in a while, so it requires an interpreter that will play it and I don’t think it will create a web-playable html, which is what many players and sites prefer now.
TADS game file format is .t3, not .gblorb.
You could zip up the game file with a TADS interpreter and put that on Itch. It’s not one-click-to-play, so it’s not ideal, but people will be able to download it and get it working.
On the high end, Bob Bates wrote “Thaumistry” using TADS 3, and put it onto Steam using a customized TADS interpreter. I don’t remember exactly how it was put together, though.
I’m not sure how much of this is currently valid, but it may be worth a look if you haven’t seen it already:
tads.org/t3doc/doc/sysman/web.htm
tads.org/t3doc/doc/sysman/webdeploy.htm
TADS 3 complies to .exe, doesn’t it?
Do you know what an “interpreter” is?