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Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 19:02:39 -0700
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[email protected]
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Spiritwrak README file
======================
Welcome to "SpiritWrak", my first attempt at writing an Inform
"interactive-fiction" game. People familiar with the
Infocom style games and universe (notably the
"Zork" and "Enchanter" game series) will probably feel
right at home with my tribute to the Zork universe.
I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed
writing it (no, that is not a threat).
I'd put more descriptive info here, except that I
can't really think of anything appropriate to say,
without possibly spoiling things. Best to just
play the game, and see what you think.
Changes
-------
(6/96) Release 3 cleans up various nagging bugs, and adds
some _very_ minor enhancements. Overall, no major changes
from release 2.
(4/96) Release 2 addresses several bugs noted by various
individuals who gave the first release a look. To
all, my thanks. Two completely new puzzles were
added (both relatively easy and unscored), while
some of the more 'half-baked' puzzles were removed,
or changed. If, for some reason, you want the
first release instead, email me. Small bugs and
typos may still be lurking in this release,
although hopefully fewer than before :).
(3/96) Release 1 was the first release of SpiritWrak,
which means that there are probably subtle bugs
or typos still thriving in the dark recesses of this game.
I've tried to catch as many as possible, and I've playtested
it from start to finish, so hopefully it should be more
stable than unstable. All who play this release can consider
themselves playtesters, to some degree. Any bugs (or
comments) can be sent to me via email at
[email protected].
Alternatively, I regularly read the usenet newsgroups
rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction, so
posting there will probably get my attention as well.
For notes on how to actually play this game, see the
technical notes section below.
Legalities
----------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
To contact the author (Dan Yu), send email to
[email protected].
Certain ideas and characters in SpiritWrak have been borrowed
'in concept' from the original Zork and Enchanter games. In
context, it should be assumed that there is not necessarily a
connection between the original ideas and those expressed in
SpiritWrak. In other words, it should not be considered
necessary to play "Zork" prior to playing "SpiritWrak",
although it certainly won't hurt.
The various Zork and Enchanter games were written by
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Steve Meretzky, Brian Moriarty,
[and others].
Activision currently holds various rights to the original
series of commercial "Zork" and "Enchanter" games.
All original rights, copyrights, etc. are considered
property of their originators and creators.
All products, names and services are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies,
unless otherwise noted.
Technical Notes
---------------
If you didn't already know, you'll need a Z-code
interpreter to load and run this game. Several interpreters
are available for a wide variety of platforms, many can be
found for ftp downloading at ftp.gmd.de under
/if-archive/infocom/interpreters. I myself used the
following interpreters under the following platforms:
-- Mark Howell's ZIP Z-code interpreter, version 2.0,
under UnixWare 1.x (USL SVR4 UNIX, essentially).
-- Andrew Plotkin's XZip v1.4, under Openwindows 3.4 on
Solaris x86 2.4 (another SVR4 variant).
-- Ron Murray's Windows Info*m (v1.1?) under
Microsoft Windows 3.1.
All on an 'el-cheapo' 486-66 PC.
This game was built as a regular (albeit large)
"version 5" game, so I'm hoping that most interpreters
shouldn't have a problem loading and running the game.
However, if some do, please note that:
This game was build using Graham Nelson's Inform Z-code
compiler, version 5.5, with library 5/12.
The Z-machine memory settings (as shown at compile
time by Inform) are:
Input 23290 lines (43242 statements, 834692 chars) from 16 files
Version 5 (Advanced) story file
817 objects (maximum 849) 1112 dictionary entries (maximum 1500)
37 attributes (maximum 48) 33 properties (maximum 62)
23 adjectives (maximum 240) 106 verbs (maximum 200)
116 actions (maximum 200) 64 abbreviations (maximum 64)
140 globals (maximum 240) 1700 variable space (maximum 4000)
8145 symbols (maximum 8150) 995 routines (maximum 1000)
25 classes (maximum 25) 10 fake actions (unlimited)
262121 characters of text (compressed to 160924 bytes, rate 0.613)
In general, some of these settings are fairly high, and may cause
problems with Z-code interpreters that can't cope with such
settings. Some of the memory requirements may be due to
inefficient coding on my part, and in future releases, this
may be rectified.
(For those familiar with Inform games, etc):
Again, this game is somewhat in beta stage, so it may be a
little rough around the edges. I've left in the "places" and
"objects" commands at this time (I can't honestly say how
these would be all that useful, but who knows). Otherwise,
the following list of "verbs" exists:
(5/12 Inform meta actions: save, restore, etc plus help)
(5/12 Inform 'group 2' actions)
Inv, Take, Drop, Remove, Put, Insert, Enter, Exit, Go,
Look, Examine, Unlock, Lock, Switch (on/off), Open, Close,
Disrobe, Wear, Eat, Search.
(5/12 Inform 'group 3' actions)
Pull, Push, Turn, Throw, Consult, Look (under), Listen,
Taste, Drink, Touch, Smell, Wait, Sing, Jump, Attack,
Swing, Blow, Rub, Set, Wave, Burn, Dig, Cut, Tie, Fill,
Swim, Climb, Buy, Squeeze, Pray, Think, Sleep, Wake,
Kiss, Answer, Ask, Yes, No, Sorry
plus the following additions:
Join, Mix, Fold, Shake, Laugh, Yawn, Sneeze, Yell,
Diagnose, Spells, Learn, Cast
Inform regulars will note that I really haven't added all
that much to the default library grammar.
-- Daniel Yu, ADAX Inc. (
[email protected])
