rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) (08/11/87)
Hi. I'm trying to write myself an Infocom-type text-adventure game. Why? So I can solve all the puzzles :-) Seriously, I think it would be an interesting way to write a story (and I've written a lot of "hack" stuff on the side), and since I've never seen a text-adventure-construction set, I'm trying to write my own. First, I'm writing this in Pascal 1.3. (Groan, moans from the net). I know, it's slow. But, it has built-in string handling routines which is good for me, since I'm dealing with lots of computers in my life, and don't have the time to concentrate on learning machine-specific 65C02 machine/ assembly code. I've developed a parser, and a way to change to rooms, etc. I got this far when I tried to develop a 6502 version, but this version is already disk-based (what I needed) and the 6502 was all internal-code (can you say OUT OF MEMORY ERROR?). I'm stumped on...how to implement puzzles/predicaments/etc. Just when I figured out how to make changes in GET/DROP/INVENTORY permament upon exiting a room (store objects that can be "gotten" in a linked list, then delete from that when GETed. When DROPed, delete from a INVlist and insert into "getlist". When room is exited, save to disk, overwriting the original "getfile"). I haven't figured out how to implement a puzzle, or "states" that the world (story) must exist in before the user can proceed with the game. Are there any books out there that you of the Net know of that deal with parsing/adventure-type games? They don't have to be Apple II-specific, just knowledgeable (no books on "how to play" please, just "how to program"). And is it just me or does programming one of these seem to parallel writing a programming language (compiler)? Thanks, Roger Espinosa (I know my name appears twice in this file) ihlpg!rre (312) 416-7448 -- Roger R. Espinosa Live from the Rabbit Ranch ihnp4!ihlpg!rre