jdb9608%ritcv@cs.rit.edu (12/11/89)
Hi! I'm thinking about writing an adventure system. It would be multi-user, text oriented, and (a la MONSTER) the users would write the thing themselves. As a prototype name I'm using MULTIWORLD. There are many questions to hash out before I decide if I really want to write it. I'm asking one of those questions here. The system needs a flexable language. One of the things that I didn't like about MONSTER was the narrow scope of what could be created. You could not, for instance, invent a new object that actually effected anything else in the "world". That narrowness is good guidence for the average user, and I'll make something in MULTIWORLD that will similarly help non-programmers, but I found many programmers who played it and wanted more. That's why MULTIWORLD needs a language. Since many different users will be writing various segments of the code, and not all of the code will be world-readable (that would spoil the surprises), it's important that the language be object-oriented. That will, I think, minimize interdependence and interlocking of code. In the long run, I'd even want remote installations to be able to exchange particularly good new objects or rooms or verbs with a minimum of extra support code needing to be carried along. Everything that these unknown users/programmers write must be as independent and robust as possible. So, from what I've heard about object-oriented languages, that's the way I need to go. One language that impressed me was ADVSYS. It was designed for writing adventures, and is hybrid object-oriented. I've never programmed in it, and have no desire to do so. In fact, I have never made a large program in any object-oriented language. That's why I'm posting. I want advice. Has anybody out there programmed with ADVSYS? How about programmed an adventure with any object-oriented language? I'm wondering what language I should implement in MULTIWORLD, and I'm considering ADVSYS. Is ADVSYS missing any important features? Is it good to program in? I've seen adventures written in ADVSYS, but haven't seen their source code. Will the programmer-at-large not be able to program as well in the unfamiliar LISP style, or will the strange style help him/her to get into the object-oriented mode of thought? Should I do some other style instead (since I'm writing it myself, I could have it be any style)? If MULTIWORLD was on your system, what would you want the language to be like? -- J. David Beutel 11011011 jdb9608@ritcv.rit.edu "I am, therefore I am." J. David Beutel 11011011 jdb9608@ritcv.rit.edu "I am, therefore I am."