testers wanted
Mr Pants
I've just had my first go at writing some IF, and I would very much
appreciate any comments or criticisms that any of you might have about it.
The game is part of a digital arts festival that's taking place at the end
of October in Cardiff.
The plan is that the game is projected up onto the side of a church, and
people play it by sending SMS text messages from their mobile phones to the
number on screen.
It's quite a small game, so shouldn't take the more seasoned amongst you too
long to complete - that is I hope it doesn't. There are clues to all the
puzzles, but I'm so familiar with them I'm not sure if they are too hard -
or too easy.
The game is set in the centre of Cardiff, all round the area of the
projection, but I don't think you'll need any knowledge of the area to play
the game.
I've written it in Inform, so I can send any of you a z-machine file, or the
game is online at www.coolpants.co.uk/txt.html - using the Java z-machine
zplet.
Um - that's all I can think of saying. Thanks for any comments....
Chris
Rikard Peterson
"Mr Pants" wrote in
news:4351698d$0$49813$ed2e...@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net:
> The plan is that the game is projected up onto the side of a
> church, and people play it by sending SMS text messages from their
> mobile phones to the number on screen.
Cool idea. I wonder how well such a concept could work, though. I hope
you plan to report back here after the event!
Rikard
Haarfagre
When examining the projection, you describe it in negative terms, as a
waste of peoples money and time.. when the actual projection will be
your game I don't think you should make degenerate comments about your
own work ;)
Also I'd like more descriptive text to objects and actions, but I think
what you already got is well written. There where many sensible things
I wanted chris to tell me about that he couldn't.. I belive I managed
to finish this game (deja-vu?) and it was fairly easy as you say yet
quite entertaining ! Could be longer.
Mr Pants
news:1129413463.5...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>There where many sensible things
>I wanted chris to tell me about that he couldn't.. I belive I managed
>to finish this game (deja-vu?) and it was fairly easy as you say yet
>quite entertaining ! Could be longer.
Haarfagre,
Thanks very much for taking the time to play it. I should have mentioned
that there is no end, and it keeps looping around. You have indeed completed
it when it says you feel a sense of deja-vu. My original plan was to have
the screen go blank for several minutes, but I could not devise a system
that would work with all z-machine interpreters.
Anyhow , could I ask what other things you were asking the programmer (me)
about? He's only got four or five answers at the moment, all he wants is
beer, and to talk about his work. Just like me :) I'd love to widen his
horizons a bit,
Thanks again,
Chris
Mr Pants
"Rikard Peterson" <trumg...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96F0ED35315DDtr...@127.0.0.1...
>Cool idea. I wonder how well such a concept could work, though. I hope
>you plan to report back here after the event!
Thanks for saying so. I've no idea how well it's going to work. The
technical side is all done, but I've no idea whether the kids will be
interested in sending messages to the side of a church, and whether they
will have anything to do with the whole idea of IF. Fingers crossed...
I will of course report back with my findings.
Chris
Haarfagre
key, pub, statue..
I don't know the level of experience your audience will have with I-F,
and with that in mind maybe you could make some things even simpler for
them, ie. "talk to chris" does not work, I have to write "chris, hello"
before being told that the only way to communicate with chris is the
"ask chris about xxx" command.
When standing "Outside Church" and typing "enter church" I get "You
can't see any such things." I'd give a more appropriate message here.
When completing the game, it loops to the start yes, but the door
upstairs remain open, is this intentional ? And why should you tell the
player that his score is 0 in the statusline when there is no score in
the game.
Good luck with this projection and have a fine art festival!
Mr Pants
>Things I asked about you may want to reply to are: chris, projection,
>key, pub, statue..
Great - I'll add these
>I don't know the level of experience your audience will have with I-F,
>and with that in mind maybe you could make some things even simpler for
>them, ie. "talk to chris" does not work, I have to write "chris, hello"
>before being told that the only way to communicate with chris is the
>"ask chris about xxx" command.
And I'm expecting an 'unsophisticated' audience, so I'll certainly put this
in.
>When standing "Outside Church" and typing "enter church" I get "You
>can't see any such things." I'd give a more appropriate message here.
Will do.
>When completing the game, it loops to the start yes, but the door
>upstairs remain open, is this intentional ? And why should you tell the
>player that his score is 0 in the statusline when there is no score in
>the game.
That's a bug. I reset a load of things - put everything back where it should
be, and de-tune the guitar but forgot to lock the door!
Also, in the projection, the statusline just shows the number you have to
text to, it doesn't tell you the room you are in or display your score, so
that problem will go away.
>Good luck with this projection and have a fine art festival!
Thanks very much. If you find yourself down Cardiff way for the show, you
can expect a drink off me. I'll be in the pub propping up the bar...
www.mayyouliveininterestingtimes.com
samwyse
>"Haarfagre" <agre...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1129468886....@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
>>When completing the game, it loops to the start yes, but the door
>>upstairs remain open, is this intentional ? And why should you tell the
>>player that his score is 0 in the statusline when there is no score in
>>the game.
>
>
>That's a bug. I reset a load of things - put everything back where it should
>be, and de-tune the guitar but forgot to lock the door!
>
How about using the '@restart' opcode? It will restore everything back
to its original settings. Try this:
print "You feel a sense of deja vue...";
@restart;
This will cause the introductory material to be re-displayed, which
might be a good way to confirm that the game is indeed looping;
otherwise there are ways to suppress that material. (In the latter
case, you may wish to provide an ABOUT verb to display it.
Given the circumstances, you may also want to disable the QUIT, SAVE,
and RESTORE options. Do this before any of your includes:
Define FESTIVAL_MESSAGE "I'm sorry, but you aren't allowed to do
that.";
#Ifdef FESTIVAL_MESSAGE;
Replace QuitSub;
[ QuitSub;
print_ret FESTIVAL_MESSAGE;
]
Replace SaveSub;
[ SaveSub;
print_ret FESTIVAL_MESSAGE;
]Replace RestoreSub;
[ RestoreSub;
print_ret FESTIVAL_MESSAGE;
]
#Endif;
Removing or commenting out the definition of FESTIVAL_MESSAGE will then
give you a version suitable for ordinary play.
P.S. The above code is untested and may contain subtle errors, or (more
likely) obvious ones.
Haarfagre
Thanks very much. If you find yourself down Cardiff way for the show,
you can expect a drink off me. I'll be in the pub propping up the
bar...
Thanks Chris! Art and the zen of beer drinking :-)
Mr Pants
"samwyse" <sam...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129548330.4...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Mr Pants wrote:
>How about using the '@restart' opcode? It will restore everything back
>to its original settings. Try this:
>
>print "You feel a sense of deja vue...";
>@restart;
I didn't know about @restart. I shall use that. Thanks.
>Given the circumstances, you may also want to disable the QUIT, SAVE,
>and RESTORE options. Do this before any of your includes:
I'd already got rid of these - although not in the elegant way you suggest.
I just commented them out of the header file. I think I'm going to use your
method instead, as in my way, all you get is "that's not a verb I recognise"
when you type any of those words.
Chris
Lenore
Mr Pants
"Lenore" <doomed...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1129686072.9...@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>Cardiff, Wales or Cardiff, CA? Just curious ...
Do you know what, I never new there was a Cardiff in America. Not until just
now. It looks very nice and very different to the Cardiff where I live,
which is in Wales, and where the festival is.
Perhaps that's why they keep it quiet...
Chris