If others (but where are they?) like me are bad in English, I open this topic for help.
I have a model I'd like to dress, but what's the best way to do it?:
> dress model
You put a shirt on it.
> dress model
You put a sock on it.
or
>put shirt
You put a shirt on it.
>put sock
You put a sock on it.
Or other verbs. I have a preference for the first one.
You can use either form. In fact, I'd suggest that you support both and your players will thank you for it.
The first form is an abbreviation of DRESS MODEL WITH SHIRT/SOCK. In this case, the direct object is MODEL and the indirect object is SHIRT or SOCK, but you are implying which is the indirect object.
The second form is an abbreviation of PUT SHIRT/SOCK ON MODEL. In this case, the direct object is SHIRT or SOCK and the indirect object is MODEL, but you are implying which is the indirect object.
It also helps if you consult a thesaurus. This will tell you all the synonyms for DRESS and PUT. A lot of these will be inappropriate, but you can pick the ones that are most commonly used in your situation. This is probably a bit hard when English is not your native language. For example, for DRESS, I'd suggest having a synonym like CLOTHE. Less common synonyms include COVER, DON and DRAPE. For PUT, I'd suggest a synonym of PLACE.
As i recall correctly 8-bit text adventure games mostly did not allowed player such a luxury of multiple options. Low memory and the story was more important anyway. It was players responsibility to figure it out by trying to guess the word. I reffer to the zx-speccy made games in basic. The fun is also in the way to find the correct word. How many days i had to bite and punch the pillow until i got it right hehe. What a fun. I even had nightmares.. ehm i mean dreams with a solution to the problem yeah. Today's kids will never know how it feels to have no manual, no internet and no one to ask for the solution. Only you and the darn game and maybe an exorcist to beat the devil out of it and shine some light phew.
Well you can always make it simple like this "use socks", "use shirt" or "use shirt on model" and it will dress it. That was a common solution then. I would like it *winks* mark my words with a simple smile of innocence.
Looking for the right word is exactly what I don't like. But everyone has their own way of playing.
I made game solutions in SAGA format for CASA, and played only with the decompiled and printed code. No need for a computer! This is another way of playing, that the game designers must not have imagined. And I really like it.
Guess-the-verb is a sure way to lose your players very quickly. Even though you may be targetting an 8-bit computer, that doesn't mean you have to write your game in the same style as a cruddy schoolboy adventure from the 1980s. We are trying to attract a younger generation to the joys of text adventures, not put them off for life. The youth of today are impatient. If they don't get instant gratification, they'll go looking elsewhere.
Text adventures are supposed to be a form of artificial intelligence that uses natural language processing to give the impression that the game is smart. It's up to you to prove it. Don't spoil it for the rest of us, either as players or as authors looking for more players for our games.
Most importantly, games should be fun. Guess-the-verb, instant death and random mazes are not fun.
If you have something climbable, you should be able to climb it. The game I'm working on now has several climbable objects (tree, vine, walls) and you can certainly climb them when it makes sense to do so. However, you can also go up or down it you're a lazy typist.
If the phone rings, it indicates an incoming call and the natural response is to answer it. But if you want to make an outgoing call you can use verbs like DIAL (if you need to dial a number on an old rotary phone), ENTER (if you need to enter the number on a push-button phone or smart phone) or RING or CALL (if you need to ring someone by name). It's up to you, but try to cover as many bases as possible if you don't want your players to give up in frustration. This is 2020, after all, not 1980.
CLIMB ROPE seems to have caused some confusion. In English, if you say CLIMB ROPE, the direction is implied. If you're at the bottom, you climb up. If you're at the top, you climb down. If you want to cater for all possible inputs, you can allow for:
CLIMB ROPE works from both ends of the rope. The others only work from one end of the rope.
If i would examine the rope and a message shows "The rope is attached to a nearby stone and leads down into ground." Then i would assume "climb down" or "climb down the rope". But if the rope present in room actually makes the exit "down" available and i see it then i just type "down". "climb rope" is confusing isn't it? You can climb up or climb down the rope but that should be somehow pointing out in the description of rope or room that this action is indeed possible. Hang on (a rope joke lol). Maybe you could use it like this "climb rope down". But then it would be much more work in the code to say to player "which way up or down?" when they type "climb rope" and two ways are open.
Or you can still use my favorite command "use rope" and it is done. Don't throw stones at me Garry pls :D.
I stay in a two-word parser use only.
climb rope" is confusing isn't it?
Yes, it is. And Garry's answer isn't very clear on that subject.
"Climb down" sounds good to me.
Or you can still use my favorite command "use rope" and it is done.
I disable the use of the verb "Use".
This is fine if you choose to use only a few verbs: EXAMINE, TAKE, USE, DROP etc.; but it seems to me to be a very bad idea if you choose to use verbs adapted to the situation; it leads to confusion.
YES
:D Ok, that was a bit of a joke answer sorry. You know like when someone asks you "do you want pizza with pepperoni or 4 types of cheese?" and you answer "yes". Well the games i played at times going faaar in the past that i no longer remember (and it makes me happy) were all about a one use only. I give an example. You have rope. You get to some room where the rope needs to be tied in order to climb down. Use rope -> you tie the rope blabla. Get rope would untie the rope logically. If the rope had more uses it simply means you go somewhere else and use rope and if it is the correct place you get the response. At that time in history the parser was not an advanced AI machine but just a few lines of code to make the game tick and there were no need for special words like tie, untie, hang self, beat the crap out of the bandit with rope in hand and then tie rope the horse to the pole. I played games made in TADS3 after i let these old "use and use on" games behind me. And boy.. i needed a manual because finding out commands was a bit more puzzle solving than actual puzzle solving?! I remember one very good game about an island where the hero stranded. And when i started to play it the game introduced commands to let me know how to play and ask the npc questions. It was fun and i enjoyed it. But after the first half game i got stuck on a place where no matter what i tried nothing worked. And no walkthrough to this game available. This is the game : https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=9s66qxkt22kq5wv9
The game in question is Blighted Isle by Eric Eve. There's a good summary at ifwiki. Some of the commands are rather esoteric. There's a map and scoring table at David Welbourn's site (plover.net), but no walkthrough. You might be able to glean something from the scoring table.
Yes, you understood the question.
In Michel Tournier's French novel "Les Météores", there are two twin brothers, Jean and Paul, whose mother calls them as if they were one person: Jean-Paul. One of the twins is going to die, and his brother will bear his brother's name by the compound first name.
If you have a slightly less common example.
