English Amiga Board - View Single Post - What's so special about those old "static" adventure games ?

NewDeli · 21 March 2009, 19:51

mmm, may be...
but here is a detailed illustration of my choosing of the parser option, taken from Level 9 Memorial site (not trying to influence your vote) :

"Level 9 used their own interpretation language, A-code, which was more memory efficient even than plain Z80 assembler. It was developed around 1979, long before the first L9 game appeared.

The A-code data files were usually incorporated into the executable file for specific machines, together with the interpreter part. Still, even those
executables were significantly shorter than pure assembly code files would
have been! This efficiency was partially due to advanced text compression routines that reduced the memory need for texts to about 50% of their true length. Infocom's text compression, in comparison, only reduced text strings to about 67% of their real length (abbreviation alphabets notwithstanding).

A strength of the A-code system -- and at the same time one of its greatest weaknesses -- is a system of script variables, of which there are a fixed number: generally more in higher A-code versions.

For the later three-part games, Knight Orc, Scapeghost, and the Ingrid
series, the script variable system was extended by an NPC movement and action system which was internally called KAOS. The framework of this new system was originally developed by John Jones-Steele who had gained first experiences at Melbourne House.

KAOS is able to make NPCs appear "intelligent": they move independently of the player's commands, pick up things, utilise weapons, etc., following so-called "racetracks," which could be quite complex (as Knight Orc demonstrates impressively). The name "KAOS" is a mangled acronym of Knight Orc Adventure System."

21 March 2009, 19:51	#6
NewDeli Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Paris / FRANCE Age: 50 Posts: 1,248	mmm, may be... but here is a detailed illustration of my choosing of the parser option, taken from Level 9 Memorial site (not trying to influence your vote) : "Level 9 used their own interpretation language, A-code, which was more memory efficient even than plain Z80 assembler. It was developed around 1979, long before the first L9 game appeared. The A-code data files were usually incorporated into the executable file for specific machines, together with the interpreter part. Still, even those executables were significantly shorter than pure assembly code files would have been! This efficiency was partially due to advanced text compression routines that reduced the memory need for texts to about 50% of their true length. Infocom's text compression, in comparison, only reduced text strings to about 67% of their real length (abbreviation alphabets notwithstanding). A strength of the A-code system -- and at the same time one of its greatest weaknesses -- is a system of script variables, of which there are a fixed number: generally more in higher A-code versions. For the later three-part games, Knight Orc, Scapeghost, and the Ingrid series, the script variable system was extended by an NPC movement and action system which was internally called KAOS. The framework of this new system was originally developed by John Jones-Steele who had gained first experiences at Melbourne House. KAOS is able to make NPCs appear "intelligent": they move independently of the player's commands, pick up things, utilise weapons, etc., following so-called "racetracks," which could be quite complex (as Knight Orc demonstrates impressively). The name "KAOS" is a mangled acronym of Knight Orc Adventure System."