• ZAPF, a new Z-machine assembler

    From Happy MAC XL@21:1/5 to vaporware on Tue Jun 6 19:28:48 2017
    On Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 3:46:57 PM UTC+1, vaporware wrote:
    Introducing ZAPF: the Z-machine Assembler Program of the Future.

    ZAPF is a new assembler with old roots. It supports a modern syntax
    similar to Inform's, but by default it provides a fully retro
    experience, using the same opcode names and syntax described in
    Infocom's famous ZIP manual. You'll feel just like an Implementor in
    the dark--I mean *exciting* days before ZILCH was invented.

    Unlike other Z-machine assemblers, ZAPF gives you plenty of assistance without forcing your program into a strict mold. It's an ideal tool
    for low level work, whether you're coding by hand or writing a
    compiler: you control what goes into RAM and ROM, and where.

    Want to conserve space in the save file by putting read-only arrays in
    ROM? Interleave data with code? Make a file that contains no valid instructions and will choke any interpreter? Rock on! Now you can do
    it without giving up such features as named variables and constants,
    include files, and automatic dictionary sorting.

    I've just uploaded version 0.1 of ZAPF to the IF Archive. In the
    meantime, check out the manual and some sample code:

    http://hansprestige.com/zapf/zapf_manual.html http://hansprestige.com/zapf/beer.zap

    vw

    This might be what i'm after...

    For an IF i'm planning I have a number of quite complex non-player characters, when I say complex what I mean is that the player will be able to have fairly long conversations with them.

    I'm thinking of having separate *.zil Object files for the characters; will this cause any problems when it comes to compiling to *.z5 (or whatever the output format is) ?

    Thanks

    Adam

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