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Now it is time to enter
some more locations for the "dragoria" game:
Reload your game using 'Open Adventure' if necessary...
Select the Location Editor and type in the following
locations ensuring you click the 'Accept' button after
each one
Location 2.
You are on a difficult and time consuming path, brushing
through dense undergrowth and tangled creepers.
Brief description: FOREST PATH.
Exits: east to 3 ; west to 1
Location 3.
You are at a small, dimly lit clearing. In the centre
stands a small wooden hut. The ground here is quite soft.
Brief description: DIMLY LIT CLEARING.
Exits: west to 2 ; in to 4
Location 4
You are inside a dilapidated ancient hut. The place is
uninhabited and a musty, obnoxious smell permeates the
atmosphere.
Brief Description: RAMSHACKLE HUT.
Exits: out to 3
Check each entry carefully and then click on the 'Back'
button to exit the Locations.
Select "Test Adventure" to start your game in
the TAB Player.
You should now see the first location, make sure the
connections, east and west are showing. Enter 'e' or
'east' or 'go east' and you should end up in location 2,
the forest path. Try out the exit directions to make sure
the connections are working right through to Location 4
and back to Location 1.
When you are satisfied all is as it should be then QUIT
the player by typing 'quit' or closing the Player dialog
window to get back to the Editor.
We will now enter some objects into our game. Objects can
be static or dynamic. (You can also have 'hidden' objects
- but more on that later)
Click the 'Objects' button to reveal the Object Editor
and carefully enter all the objects in the game as
follows:-
Object 1:
Description = an egg sandwich.
Message = The egg sandwich looks quite appetizing.
Noun = /sandwich/
Start Room = 5
Weight = 1
Size = 1
DO NOT FORGET TO 'ACCEPT' THE ENTRY or it will not be
inserted into the database.
Now enter and accept the following Objects:
Object 2.
Description = a small silver key.
Message = The silver key is very old. I wonder what it
unlocks!
Noun = /key/
Start Room = 0 (will not initially exist in game)
Weight = 1
Size = 1
Object 3.
Description = a spade.
Message = The spade is a useful digging implement.
Noun = /spade/
Start Room = 0
Weight = 4
Size = 4.
Object 4.
Description = a sharp knife.
Message = The knife is a handy weapon and is slightly
bloodstained.
Noun = /knife/
Start Room = 6
Weight = 2
Size = 2
Object 5.
Description = a canvas rucksack.
Message = The rucksack is a canvas bag with two arm
straps. It is quite roomy.
Noun = /rucksack/sack/bag/
Start Room = 502 (special location for player WORN
objects)
Weight = 4
Size=3
Check it as Wearable
Check it as a Container.
Object 6.
Description = a wooden chest.
Message = The chest is very large and has a small keyhole
in front.
Noun = /chest/
Start Room = 4
Weight = 11
Size = 10
Check it as a Container
Notice we have constructed two container objects, a
rucksack (which can also be worn) and a wooden chest
(which will prove too heavy to carry because it exceeds
the player strength rating of 7 entered earlier...)
Now there is a special rule with container objects. The
rule is that an object container must use the
corresponding location number as its "inside".
This means that you cannot use those locations for normal
room descriptions in the game. Our containers, Objects 5
and 6 will therefore use Locations 5 and 6 respectively
as their 'contents location'. Locations 5 and 6 are
unused locations in this mini-game so that is OK.
When you're happy with your entered objects click the
'Back' Button to exit to the Main window again.
Just before carrying on, go to the Location Editor and in
the large object examine message editbox for Locations 5
and 6 type in "Inside of rucksack" and
"Inside of chest". This will merely serve as a
reminder that these locations are the 'insides' of the
corresponding 'container objects'.
Get to the Editor Main Window again.
Select 'Vocabulary'
You will see the Lists of Verbs, Nouns, Object Nouns,
Character Nouns, Prepositions and Deletions. You will
notice that the Object Noun list contains the noun names
of your objects, if it does not then you may have
forgotten to click on the 'Accept' button, so you will
have to go back to the Object Editor and re-enter any
missing object details.
When playing the game the player may use different words
to describe the object he/she sees, like 'box' for
'chest', or 'sack' for 'rucksack'. So that is why we
sometimes must enter some synonyms along with the keyword
nouns...
So in the Object Noun Listbox DOUBLECLICK on '/chest/',
and it will appear in the Edit Vocabulary Field below.
Amend the entry to read '/chest/box/' and click 'Accept'
to update the list.
At this stage we may as well enter some Deletions words.
You have an 'egg sandwich' but the object Noun is only
called '/sandwich/'
To cover the possibility of the player referring to an
object in this way we must inform TAB to disregard the
adjective 'egg' and indeed any adjectives associated with
any of the objects in the game.
So you can enter the word 'egg' into the deletions list,
and that means that when you play the game, you can input
things like 'give the egg sandwich to ????' and it will
work ok, but if 'egg' was not in the deletions list it
would say 'That's not possible!'
Doubleclick some blank entries in the Deletion listbox
and add/accept the following words to the list:
egg
wooden
canvas
small
silver
sharp
Go 'Back' to the Main Editor.
Now it is time to design a couple of NPC's. (non-player
characters)
Click on 'Characters'
Ensure you are looking at Character number 1.
The first edit box is the 'Character Announcement Text'
so enter in that box:
Joseph the farmer is here.
In the larger Character 'examine textbox enter:
Joseph the farmer is a local yokel, and is a very strong,
hefty looking man.
In the Character Noun box enter:
/farmer/joseph/
The Start Location for Character 1 should be set to 3
In the 'Name' editbox enter:
"Joseph the farmer" (without the quotes)
This textbox is specially for any alternative name text
that will be used by the Character movement messages. For
instance when a character enters or leaves a room or when
it follows the player. By default the 'name' text can be
set to 'The <noun>' where <noun> is the
current noun KEYWORD for the Character. By changing this
to "Joseph the farmer" it will ensure that TAB
prints system messages like "Joseph the farmer goes
east." instead of "The farmer goes east."
Click the 'male' Character Gender radiobutton to
establish the sex of the Character.
We will make a walk pattern that farmer will follow; so
click the 'Walk' radiobutton and type it in the walk
pattern editbox VERY carefully. It should read as
follows:
walk=4,3,p,2,1,2,p,3
(Note carefully the commas)
The 'p' in the above entry will cause the character to
pause/wait a turn at its current location.
This walk pattern means at the start of the game the
farmer will be in location 3. He will move in to location
4, will go out to location 3, pause a move, move west to
location 2, west again to location 1, and then move east
to location 2, pause a move, and finally move east to
location 3 which was his starting room in the first
place!
On the next turn the character will set off on the entire
pattern again and will continue his travels ad infinitum.
Notice how a pattern was devised so that the character
arrived back at location 3. (Character Start Room) When
designing a walk pattern you must take into account the
logical and valid directions which exist between
locations... The responsibility rests with the author to
implement a sensible pattern because TAB does not check
to see if you are typing the right location numbers.
'Accept' the Character 1 data and move to edit Character
2.
Announcement text = A cat sits close by.
Message = The cat is a scraggy moggy, but looks quite
friendly.
Noun = /cat/
Start Room = 2
Name Text = "The cat" (without quote marks)
Click the 'random' radiobutton. (The cat will move
randomly)
Click the 'it' radiobutton. (The cat is a creature and
not a male or female human)
'Accept' the character 2 data.
Exit Characters and Test Adventure again.
Check that the farmer and cat show up and move around.
Examine them. Try entering 'follow farmer' or 'follow
cat' when they're around. Type 'inventory', 'inv' or 'i'
to check you are wearing the rucksack. You should be able
to remove, drop, get and wear it and also look in it...
See if you can take the sandwich out of the rucksack and
put the sandwich into the rucksack ok. Check that the
wooden chest is visible in the old hut in the clearing.
The knife should be in the chest. Later we will cover
locking/unlocking the chest and constructing a few
puzzles and problems for the player.
If all is satisfactory, exit the TAB Player and save your
updated "dragoria" adventure.
In the next part I will discuss the importance of the
Response, Script 1 and Script 2 Editors which have so far
not been mentioned.
GO TO PART
FIVE
Copyright catventure © 2006 , All
Rights Reserved.
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