What is the ChoiceScript IDE?
The ChoiceScript IDE began long ago as a very simple online ‘snippet tester’ for ChoiceScript. You could instantly run copy-pasted ChoiceScript snippets from the CoG forums without having to download, unzip, and set up your ChoiceScript environment.
Over the years, that initial concept evolved into something much bigger, and that is the ChoiceScript IDE (CSIDE). The ChoiceScript IDE, unlike its predecessor, is a complete development environment for the ChoiceScript language. It contains everything you need to fully develop your own ChoiceScript games, from start to finish, all in one neat and cohesive package.
It includes a code editor for writing and scripting, a built-in copy of ChoiceScript (and both of its automated tests), for testing and running your game side-by-side with your code. It will log errors and highlight (and focus) on the problematic lines, spell-check your work and even handle your indentation for you (alongside much, much more!).
Notable Features
| Feature | ChoiceScript IDE |
|---|---|
| Builtin Copy of ChoiceScript | |
| ChoiceScript Console | |
| Automatic Updates | |
| Side by Side Coding & Testing | |
| Automatic Issue Tracking | |
| Support for Project Import, Export and Compilation | |
| Builtin Spellcheck and User Dictionary | |
| Custom File Extensions (and other lock-in like behaviour) |
Why the ChoiceScript IDE?
We’ll assume that, if you’re here, you’re familiar with ChoiceScript and (or) planning to use the language to develop a piece of interactive fiction. So let us answer this question with another, why ChoiceScript? It’s not the most powerful language, it’s not remarkably feature-rich, nor is it renowned for its performance or popularity. What ChoiceScript is though, is fun. Fun, easy to learn and well suited to what it does best. The ChoiceScript IDE plays to these strengths, and tries to bring out the very best in language. The aim is to make writing those pieces of interactive fiction in ChoiceScript, as easy, as fun and as pain free, as it could ever possibly be. CSIDE takes out as much of the repetition and complexity as it can without infringing on the fun factor and flexiblity of the language, or the freedom and creativity of its users.
Legal
The Choicescript IDE, or CSIDE (seaside), is a development environment designed to help writers of interactive novels using the Choicescript scripting language, from Choice of Games LLC.
The Choicescript IDE is a third party product developed independently by CJW (of the COG forums), and is maintained and supported by volunteers known as ‘The CSIDE Team’. IN NO WAY is the ChoiceScript IDE officially endorsed by (or representative of) Choice of Games LLC. ChoiceScript is (c) Dan Fabulich. The ChoiceScript IDE is (c) Carey Williams (CJW).