Elder Gods Shrine
------------------------------
presents
Adventurist's Guide Through Textual Adventures
Part I
Written by Vladimir Krstulja aka Chthon
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Table of Contents:
+ Intro
+ What is a Textual Adventure
+ How to Play Textual Adventures
+ How to Adventure Well
+ The Problem of Mazes
+ Final Word
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Intro
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Hello adventurers! The Elder Gods Shrine came out with another beautiful
text file on textual adventures. This time, this excellent piece of sick
minds craftwork, is not for the coders but players. To be precise, for newbies
who never played a textual adventure before!
But this file can also greatly help all the experienced adventurers to
review their adventuring methods, as well as programmers to see what should
the players expect.
What is a Textual Adventure
-----------------------------------
More referenced as Interactive Fiction (IF), a Textual Adventure is a computer
game, played through text commands and descriptions. The player gets his
status and enviroment described on screen, and, given a promtp, tells the
computer what to do. Why do these games exist even today, with Quake, Doom and
another pile of 3D full realistic games? First, textual adventures are very
old, and are usually played by fanatics who began with these games on
Spectrums, Commodores and other excuses for a computer. On the other hand,
textual adventures provide more realism if the player has enough imagination.
In Doom, or Quake, for example, players get realistic enviroment, sounds,
high adrenaline, etc..., yes, but need lots of computer equipment for that.
But textual adventures do not need piles of different computer cards for sound,
graphics; fast processors; much memory...Quite opposite: textual adventures
need only a computer, disc or floppy drive, monitor (monochrome is quite enough)
and the keyboard! And, of course, a player to play! ;)
But what are the advantages of such games? First, no need for expensive
equipment. Second, all the equipment it uses actually is the player's brain.
The brain is one huge graphic/sound/smell/touch/emotion card! I believe smell,
touch and emotion cards are not yet invented, are they? Reading descriptions
on the screen, player derives a picture in his head, of his surroundings in the
game, including vision, sounds, smells, emotions, touch!
A bit of psychology: When playing 3D games, even full realistic, players cannot
develop the sense for temperature, emotions, smells, nor full sense for sounds.
He cannot actually FEEL the wind blowing in there. Why? Because his eyes focus
on the monitor, brain focuses on his fingers to react - therefore the brain is
too busy to imagine REAL feelings, and player sees physical image on the screen
not his mental, derived by descriptions.
Textual adventures provide all of this mentioned.
But of course, a textual adventure HAS to be good, to provide such pleasure!
You won't feel anything if the computer says "Ok. You dropped the glass. It is
broken".
But you will, if he describes "As you drop the glass, it falls down to the
ground, and shatters in milions of pieces." - you will automaticly imagine
the sound of broken glass, and "see" the glass actually falling down! I don't
need to prove this. You just did imagine all of this just by reading this small
example. See?
How to Play Textual Adventures
--------------------------------------
First, of course, you need a textual adventure. My advise is to go to
ftp.gmd.de/if-archive. You will find there lots of textual adventures of
all kinds and genres. If this site exists no more while you read this, then
just try to find words TEXTUAL ADVENTURE on Yahoo!, or whichever search system
there is. Somebody sure will have some info about this games. Afterall, where
did you get this file from?
There are many different methods of playing textual adventures. Actually, these
methods depend on a game itself. Some textual adventures (commercial ones, for
example) offer you to input a whole English sentence, like
GET THE SWORD AND KILL THE BLOODY MONSTER
Of course, you don't HAVE to type the whole sentence. GET SWORD AND KILL
MONSTER should do the job. The point is, these games ALLOW you to input full
sentences. I, for example, love to input full sentences. To cut the confusion,
you can also write GET SWORD, and in the next turn type KILL MONSTER.
Did I just mention turns? Yes. Textual adventures are not played realtime.
(Except MUDs, but that is another story now...)
The time passes only if you input an understandable sentence and press >enter<.
Here is an example:
..you are stunned and frightened. The stone block above you will fall
at any second now! You should escape fast!
>run est
I don't understand the word 'est'.
>run east
As you hurriedly run to the east, the stone block falls down and shatters.
You are...
As you can see the time did not pass when player entered RUN EST. This is very
suitable to avoid unnecessary deaths and frustrations if you mistype. I haven't
yet found a game that doesn't support this.
Of course, not all of the textual adventure games support full sentences.
Non-commercial IF games are usually of this type. Many games understand only
verb-noun sentences, with no articles and adjectives...It all depends on
the programmer and his skills. All the adventures that I wrote or tried to
write, understood full sentence. I think, and that is my personal oppinion,
that the game is complete and gives much more pleasure if the player can
input the whole sentence. But due to programmer's laziness or lack of skills
many games understand only verb-noun sentence.
Beside this, textual adventures can have small, or large vocabulary. Most of
the games include only few verbs and a little more nouns. I have to admit that
I have found a great number of textual adventures with rather large vocabulary.
Hereby I wish to greet the game SKULLDUGGERY by David Jewett (can be found on
ftp.gmd.de /if-archive/games/pc/), for excellent sentence parser and rather
large vocabulary, let alone the ANSI graphics included! The story is great
also! Of course, my drug THE GUILD OF THIEVES, by Magnetic Scrolls, was
something I would die for! (too bad it can't be found in stores today, but who
knows...perhaps there is a pack left forsaken on a shelf in a library or
computer shop).
Good games are those that understand the EXAMINE verb. It usually allows the
player to closely examine an object, giving more realism.
Just to mention, there is no textual adventure without the LOOK verb! It is
the mostly used and mostly familiar verb among the IF players. It gives the
description of the room player is in, as well as sounds, smells...
Ok. But how do you interact? As said above, you interact through your
sentences. Your sentences can be described as commands which you give to
computer. If the computer recognises your command, it will render your move and
show the results on the screen. Well, this was some weird-terminology speech.
;). But that is what computer actually does. Whenever you type LOOK, the game
will give you room description you are in. Of course, a 'room' in textual
adventures is not only a room in a building. 'Room' is reffered to your
current location described by LOOK command. Even this is a 'room':
>look
On the Sandy Beach
You are a sandy beach. The river here flows quietly, and the green forest
around calms you down. The birds chirp in their usual afternoon symphony,
and a light breeze makes you feel like in a dream. However, this wonderfull
idyll is broken by an old path that runs northwards, deeper into the forest.
There is something unusual with the path, like it doesn't belong to this
almost heaven-like surroundings. Perhaps this strange moaning you can hear
from the north gives you the creeps about that path. The river continues from
east to the west, along which some footsteps can be seen.
Now, you can see this wonderful location by the river is also a 'room'. The
descriptions usually tell where can you go. From this description, you can see
that you are able to go north, east and west. Typing those directions will lead
you that way. Almost all textual adventures understand 'n' instead 'north' and
's', 'w', 'e' instead 'south', 'west', 'east', respectively.
Some games tell the exits beneath the description, sometimes not defining where
do they lead. Like this:
On a T Junction
You are on a T junction. There is also a store here.
The exits are north, south, east, west.
This description does not tell WHERE the directions lead, although it can
be derived from the given exits and knowing previous locations. Actually
in this description paths lead east, south, and west, and the store is to the
north.
Except just moving around, you can also do some other various things, depending
on the verbs the game understands. All the games understand the verbs like
LOOK, GET, DROP, I or INVENTORY, N, S, E, W. This are kind of general verbs
that each game must understand. I think no explanation is needed here, but for
those who need some, here it is.
Look gives description of the room. But LOOK AT will usually give the
description of an object, ie. LOOK AT PAINTING. Some games also understand
LOOK IN, LOOK UNDER, LOOK BELOW. This is optional. You can check if the game
understands a verb, simply by typing it. If you get a message like
'I don't understand that verb', it means the game doesn't understand that
verb.
But you must be careful. For example, in the game The Guild of Thieves, if you
try to move an object that cannot be moved in the game (was not ment to be
moved) you will get the message 'It refuses to be moved'. Now, this doesn't
mean that the object actually refuses, but the game is not programmed to move
that object. Due to estetics, the game doesn't say 'You can't move it', but
explains that in a humourous fashion. Imagine a table refusing to be moved! ;)
Verb I or INVENTORY will describe you what do you currently carry.
These are some common verbs each game has. Most of the games have some DOC or
TXT file along, which describes what verbs does the game understand. Also,
typing HELP or ? or INFO in the game, will give you some help.
How to Adventure Well
-----------------------------
There is no general criteria on who is a good adventurist. Each game has its
own traps and tricks. But, there still are some minor guidelines every newbie
adventurist should follow.
Explore what you can, before you enter in a quest or problem solving. Don't
go in the cellar or dungeon if you haven't yet fully explored the first or
second floor. There might be a candle hiding somewhere. If you sense a room
that might be tough or dangerouns, don't go before you have explored everything
else: there might be a weapon hidden!
Examine everything you can. If you see a painting, examine it. In the game
The Guild of Thieves I examined a painting to find its contents crucial for
my further progress! Actually, I wouldn't have been able to end the game if I
didn't examine this painting.
What should you examine always? Paintings (there may be something behind them
or on them), chests (there may be something in them), rugs (there might be
something beneath them)...bushes, boxes, crates, wardrobes, desks (especially
desks), tables, cupboards...everything that is able to hide or contain
something! When you have examined all this, and still you haven't found any
answers to a problem, start examining other goodies, searching for hidden
features, small notes or writings, examine even a scratch on a furniture: it
may give you some answers!
Write down your game's progress! Whatever is written somewhere, whatever is
broken or something, write it down: you will forget it later! In the game
The Guild of Thieves I was supposed to remember which playing card was
missing from the desk, so I could use this information at the very end of the
game!
Draw maps! Find out your best method to draw a map and use it!
Watch out for CURVING or WINDING tunnels! (Thanx to Steve Herring who reminded
me to this feature in his game THE CRYPT). You can enter a tunnel from the
south, but return to them from east, if the tunnel is connecting two described
rooms -> your passing through the tunnel is not described, although some
games explicitly tell you that you have entered a tunnel from south and,
through that tunnel, entered another room from the west!
+------+
___ | |
The tunnel (not described) / __ | | Room 2 (described)
/ / +------+
| |
+----+
| | Room 1 (descibed)
+----+
All in all, use your logic and your brains! All the problems and quests have to
be logical. Even if the problem sounds difficult it can be very easy. But
watch out for misleading theories. In the game the Guild of Thieves, there
was a bear in a cage, and a valuable chalice with the bear in the cage (I
was supposed to take that chalice). There was also a pack of honey, guarded
by nasty bees! Believe me: I spent a whole MONTH(!) deriving a tactic how to
fool the bees and give honey to the bear, taking the chalice while he is busy
with his food. All tries failed, until I figured out that bears loved fish too!
I cought a fish in the moat (using self made fishing pole, made by billiard
cue and some thread, and a dead maggot), then I put some rat poison (!) in the
fish and gave the fish to the bear who accidently died, so I took the chalice.
(I also tried to poison some rats with the rat poison, but I failed! ;) )
Oh, yes, observe the word trickery! In the game the Guild of Thieves, you will
find two cubes that are not IDENTICAL but ABOUT the same size! This WAS
crucial! Such differences can be found by EXAMINing objects or even by
carefully reading the room descriptions.
The Problem of Mazes
----------------------------
(Thanx to Steve Herring who reminded me to this feature, in his game THE
CRYPT)
Mazes are a feature for itself, found in almost all textual adventure games.
I think the mazes began to be used much since the game of Zork, but I could
be wrong. We all know what are mazes in real life, but mazes in textual
adventures are rooms with the same or similar descriptions, bound together,
forming a maze. In some mazes you will reach the walls, but some will keep
repeating the boring same description, like
You are in the maze of narrow passages, all alike.
As you move, you keep getting the same description on the screen. Eventually
you get lost and don't know wether you are moving or not. Well, drop something
and then try to move. If you get this object in the room description, then
you haven't moved! This way you can trace your way by dropping things, if you
have them enough. Otherwise you will have to drop a single object and go
back for it, if you find a passage. Mapping your progress, and CAREFUL moving
will provide a good maze map, as long as you move carefully and slow. Well,
you don't want to go east by accident, instead of west!
A maze of twisty little passages is almost unmapable. But, see what you can
do about it combining the methods described above.
Final Word
------------------
At the end, there is nothing much to be said. Part I of the Adventurer's
Guide Through Textual Adventures offers quite some information, for the
newbie adventurists. My advise is play as many adventures as you can. Learn
as many tricks as you can. Part II will be for more experienced adventurers,
and part III for full experienced adventurists, including me! ;) I wander how
will I manage to write a guide for myself writing the stuff even I didn't
know? ;))
The Lands of Torment PBeM
+.oO -------------------------------------------------------------- Oo. +
|
[email protected] Chthon |
| the GameMaster of |
|
http://jagor.srce.hr/~vkrstul the Lands of Torment |
| PBeM game |
| |
| .!! Eight years of Interactive Fiction gaming experience !!. |
+.oO -------------------------------------------------------------- Oo. +
