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RAINBOW ADVENTURE
Let’s Go on a Simple Rainbow Adventure
We’re going to do things a little differently this month, but there is
a good reason for it. The listing which appears at the end of this
program is called RAINBOW ADVENTURE and, as such, it has no real
relationship to the comments I will make here.
In other words, it is a complete program all to itself. Just load it
and RUN it and you’ll (I hope) have a fairly simple, but enjoyable,
adventure.
What I am going to talk about this month is writing an adventure.
And, next month, we will be giving you an outline of an adventure
generator that will help you write your own adventures. It is a sort
of help for those who will be entering the RAINBOW'S Adventure
Contest.
Save this listing. We'll show you next month how we plugged in the
variables. By comparing the RAINBOW ADVENTURE this month with next
month’s generator, it will be pretty easy to see how to plug in your
own variables. And, it should give you an idea as to one possible way
to structure an adventure.
The most difficult part of writing an adventure is getting started.
This article will cover some simple tips which might help you get your
feet wet in this fascinating type of programming.
First of all, make your first adventure a simple one. Don’t try to
design another CALIXTO ISLAND or you will surely be disappointed.
Just have a few rooms, objects and verbs in your first attempt at an
adventure.
Your next step should be to write down the entire adventure (or most
of it) on paper. By now you probably own one of the various word
processor programs available commercially for the 80C. Or, you may
have developed your own. Whichever is the case, sit down at the
computer and start typing out the adventure in story format (a regular
typewriter will do, too). This should help you organize your thoughts
as to what you want your adventure to look like.
Once you have developed the story, start a list of key items to be
included in the adventure. Key items are the most important part of
the adventure which you want to be sure take place when the adventurer
is playing.
For example, what must happen before entrance is available to certain
rooms? What objects will appear -- or what will they do -- when the
adventurer moves, drops, opens, shakes or otherwise manipulates them?
What are the conditions that will cause the adventure to end or the
adventurer to be killed? What things must be accomplished before the
adventurer can "win" the game?
Having the adventure in story format and the key items identified will
make the next steps a lot easier.
Let's start "laying out" the adventure by getting a large sheet of
paper and drawing a lot of little boxes on it. These boxes will
represent the "rooms" in your adventure. Draw each box big enough so
that you can write the following things inside:
1. A room number for identification purposes.
2. The description of the room.
3. The objects which appear when you first enter the room.
4. Any other notes to remind you what is to happen in each of the
rooms.
Make a list of the rooms you have included in the adventure and number
each room consecutively, starting with number one. Also, make a list
of objects noted above and add to the list additional objects which
will not appear automatically in any one room, but will appear as the
adventure develops. Number these objects consecutively, also starting
with number one.
You will then need to decide which verbs you will have available in
your adventure. Jot all of the verbs down that you think you might
need. Don’t worry if you miss some verbs, since there is always
plenty of opportunity to add new ones as you develop your adventure.
In order to increase the vocabulary of verbs, make a list of verbs
similar to those already selected and identify them with their
equivalent verbs. For example, "take" could be made to produce the
same effect as "get." Other examples and their equivalent verbs might
be look/examine, lift/pick, drop/leave, put/place, end/quit, and so
forth.
With all rooms identified, you then need to determine how they are
connected to each other. Since you have drawn the rooms (boxes, that
is) on a piece of paper, this should be simple. Make the top of each
box "north," the bottom "south," the left side "west" and the right
side "east."
Now, draw lines between rooms in such a way so that you can readily
tell in which direction you must travel in order to enter the next
room. If you decide to include "up" and "down," as additional
directions the adventurer can travel, draw boxes using colored pencils
to help you identify such directions (for example, blue boxes for "up"
and red ones for "down").
You will probably want to have some rooms which cannot be accessed
until something happens first, in which case additional exits would
then be made known to the adventurer. Draw dotted lines between these
rooms to indicate the exits that will appear later on as the adventure
progresses.
One aspect that is usually welcomed by many adventurers are the hints
given when "help" is entered as a command. If you want to include
this type feature in your adventure, make a list of the various
responses to the "help" command. Each of the responses should be
identified by room number so that an appropriate response can be
recalled according to the room location.
At this point, it would be easy to start programming the adventure.
Rather than starting from scratch, wouldn't it be nice to get hold of
a standard type program for adventures? Well, ADVMAKER is just such a
program and, as I mentioned earlier, it will appear -- with
appropriate instructions -- in the August issue of the RAINBOW.
Meanwhile, enjoy RAINBOW ADVENTURE and plan your own opus for fun or
the big contest!
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