Build Text adventure

[Retro1234]

I need to make a text adventure for a project. It's not genre I have ever really played with, a little at school long ago but not much.

I don't want to spend too long on this.

If anyone has any suggestions or maybe knows of some old BASIC listings for a game that would be really helpful.

[CodyJarrett]

It's a significant genre with many classic games such as Zork, Sorcerer and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

I don't think that you can do it quickly because you have to write a good book or story as well as building a game engine that can parse natural language. Infocom used a virtual machine/interpreter called Z-machine which meant that they could use a common engine for each game and concentrate on the story.

It might be worth either building an engine or else using a modern interpreter to write a text adventure story.

That said, here are some old 8-bit oriented Usborne books with listings, such as Write Your Own Adventure Programs For Your Microcomputer and The Mystery of Silver Mountain.

[Korodny]

What's the target platform? How good does the game have to be?

I'm sure there's some old QuickBASIC source code out there for a typical two-word-parser effort with shitty descriptions and not so entertaining puzzles. FreeBASIC can compile QuickBASIC code.

The other end of the spectrum would be modern languages invented for text adventure development: Inform, TADS, ADRIFT... Much more powerful, so a lot steeper learning curve.

[Coagulus]

Random, but you could use Professional Adventure Writer or the Graphic Adventure Creator on the Spectrum. These were designed for making that sort of thing.

And then run in a Speccy emulator. Would run ok on an emulator even on unexpanded Amiga as I used to play Speccy text adventures on mine.

(much nicer with a better keyboard!)

[Retro1234]

Thank you all for your answers they are all really helpful.

I have to do it in this learning language thing its like OOP but not that hard..

I only really have a month.

2 options and both will have a shit story line because that just isn't my kind of thing.

1. Just basic if left display blah etc.
2. wright a little engine my ideas
Rooms maybe 9 are in a grid
all rooms have 4 doors N, E, S, W etc
multi array store what of the 4 doors can be open
further string array stores responses - you can't go that way blah blah

just throw in some minor plot - you found key, open chest blah blah
I'd like to pinch the plot because I can be arsed to write a story.

[Dan]

If you want to do it in amos pro, on the amiga, you can use this book/pdf: gitlab.com -ultimate-amos-1994-holborn.pdf (look at page 341+)

Or maybe this: Archive org - Write your own adventure programs

And of course there is this: [ Show youtube player ]

[coldacid]

If just a simple text adventure is what you want, look at using Inform to develop and compile it. It has a handy standard library, if I recall correctly, that will aid in producing a game file targeting Infocom's Z-Machine standards. Frotz, a well known Z-Machine player program, is available on Amiga and many other platforms.

[Retro1234]

I have to do it in this OOP language it's not really Amiga related but is retro related.

one of the Usborne books books has quite a good example but too many rooms really.

Looking for tips etc into the dynamics.

[alkis21]

I strongly recommend ADMS. It's a very powerful and easy to use scripting language, with very helpful documentation.

I used it to create a large part of my text adventure game in the 90s, before deciding to upgrade it as a PC graphic game later on:

[IMG][/IMG]

[Retro1234]

I have to use this particular language but as your someone with experience creating such games maybe you could give me some advice on create such a game?

[Dan]

Of which language are you talking about ?

Btw. OOP means Object Oriented Programming

[mark_k]

There's also ADL (Adventure Definition Language). I remember playing with that shortly after I got my first Amiga, was quite impressed at one of the sample games included.

[Retro1234]

That looks interesting.

[Retro1234]

What is a text adventure with spells etc

[alkis21]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

I have to use this particular language but as your someone with experience creating such games maybe you could give me some advice on create such a game?

I understand, but since you requested some listing examples then I still recommend ADMS as it comes with a sample game and if you study it it will make you understand how to work with an inventory, directions, descriptions etc.

As for advice, since you're not very familiar with the genre I'd recommend playing a couple of games before considering creating one. Not classic text adventures, as most of those were insanely difficult. Look for modern ones with no dead ends.

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by alkis21

I understand, but since you requested some listing examples then I still recommend ADMS as it comes with a sample game and if you study it it will make you understand how to work with an inventory, directions, descriptions etc.

As for advice, since you're not very familiar with the genre I'd recommend playing a couple of games before considering creating one. Not classic text adventures, as most of those were insanely difficult. Look for modern ones with no dead ends.

Thank you sir, can you recommend any?

[freehand]

"I have to do it in this OOP language "

Which is ?

[alkis21]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

Thank you sir, can you recommend any?

Stefan Vogt's games will do nicely for what you need.

[Retro1234]

this has made me realize I have zero imagination.

Originally Posted by alkis21

Stefan Vogt's games will do nicely for what you need.

Thanks for your help

[freehand]

Is the language you are using a secret lol.