As a lighter aside, here’s one more way to get into interactive fiction. The game-genre that has been going strong for 30+ years. JayIsGames, my favorite casual gameplay site, is holding an interactive fiction competition. The goal was to create an “escape” themed interactive fiction game. The quality of the entries is excellent, and most definitely worth a look.
I’ve mentioned interactive fiction a few times before. So you may call me a fan of the genre. I love their relaxed pace and reliance on nothing more but the written word. I hate their, sometimes, frustrating puzzles or lack of vocabulary. If you use Gargoyle to play the games, you’ll almost feel like reading a book. Which is especially relaxing.
All of the games in the competition are programmed with Inform (I think that was a requirement). Inform allows you to program a game in an almost natural language. It’s an easy way for any one to get into programming games.