Games::ScottAdams::Tutorial - The Scott Adams Adventure Compiler Tutorial
This document walks you through the process of creating a small but complete and playable game with six rooms, seven items including a single treasure, and a couple of puzzles. It makes no attempt to be complete: you need the reference manual for that. But by the time you've worked your way through this tutorial you should be familiar with rooms, items, actions and occurrences, and you'll be ready to start writing your own games.
This is the minimal playable game, consisting of rooms only - and only two of them.
This stage is built entirely using the
%room
and
%exit
directives.
Chamber---------Dungeon
%room chamber
square chamber
%exit e dungeon
%room dungeon
gloomy dungeon
%exit w chamber
This stage introduces the first items: one portable (the coin) and one not (the sign).
This stage uses the directives from the previous stage, plus
%item
and
%getdrop.
Chamber---------Dungeon
[sign] |
|
|
Cell
[*coin*]
%room chamber
square chamber
%exit e dungeon
%item sign
Sign says: leave treasure here, then say SCORE
%room dungeon
gloomy dungeon
%exit w chamber
%exit s cell
%room cell
dungeon cell
%exit n dungeon
%item coin
*Gold coin*
%getdrop coin
Here we introduce the first explicitly-coded actions - the previous stages' movement between locations and ability to pick up and drop items are ``intrinsics'' provided by the interpreter.
The new action provides the first puzzle: the player needs to unlock the cell door entering the cell to obtain the coin. The key is necessary in order to open the door.
This stage uses the directives from the previous stage, plus
%nowhere,
%at,
%action
and
%result.
Chamber---------Dungeon
[sign, key] [door]
=
|
Cell
[*coin*]
%action score
%result
score
%action inventory
%result
inventory
%room chamber
square chamber
%exit e dungeon
%item sign
Sign says: leave treasure here, then say SCORE
%room dungeon
gloomy dungeon
%exit w chamber
%item door
Locked door
%item key
Brass key
%getdrop key
%at chamber
%item door2
Open door leads south
%nowhere
%action open door
here door
!accessible key
%result
msg It's locked.
%action open door
here door
%result
swap door door2
msg OK
%action go door
here door2
%result
moveto cell
%room cell
dungeon cell
%exit n dungeon
%item coin
*Gold coin*
%getdrop coin
This stage introduces automatic actions, which occur without the player needing to do anything. In effect, they happen to him rather than being done by him.
It also uses inline documentation in the form of an action comment (though why you'd want to do this is beyond me) and specifies the start and treasury rooms explicitly.
This stage uses the directives from the previous stage, plus
%occur,
%comment,
%start
and
%treasury.
Throne Room Crypt
[sign] [vampire, key]
| |
| |
Chamber---------Dungeon
[cross] [door]
=
|
Cell
[*coin*]
%start dungeon
%treasury throne
%action score
%result
score
%action inventory
%result
inventory
%room throne
gorgeously decorated throne room
%exit s chamber
%item sign
Sign says: leave treasure here, then say SCORE
%room chamber
square chamber
%exit e dungeon
%exit n throne
%item cross
Wooden cross
%getdrop cross
%room dungeon
gloomy dungeon
%exit w chamber
%exit n crypt
%item door
Locked door
%item key
Brass key
%getdrop key
%at crypt
%item door2
Open door leads south
%nowhere
%action open door
here door
!accessible key
%result
msg It's locked.
%action open door
here door
%result
swap door door2
msg OK
%action go door
here door2
%result
moveto cell
%room cell
dungeon cell
%exit n dungeon
%item coin
*Gold coin*
%getdrop coin
%room crypt
damp, dismal crypt
%exit s dungeon
%item vampire
Vampire
%occur
here vampire
!carried cross
%result
msg Vampire bites me! I'm dead!
game_over
%comment vampire attacks unless cross is carried
%occur
here vampire
carried cross
%result
msg Vampire cowers away from the cross!
This stage adds a light source (and darkness), a random occurrence and aliases for both verbs and nouns.
This stage uses the directives from the previous stage, plus
%lightsource,
%occur with an argument,
%nalias
and
%valias.
Throne Room Crypt
[sign, lamp] [vampire, key]
| |
| |
Cave Mouth------Chamber---------Dungeon
[cross] [door]
=
|
Cell
[*coin*]
%start cave
%treasury throne
%action score
%result
score
%action inventory
%result
inventory
%room cave
cave mouth
%exit e chamber
%room throne
gorgeously decorated throne room
%exit s chamber
%item sign
Sign says: leave treasure here, then say SCORE
%item lamp
old-fashioned brass lamp
%getdrop lamp
%lightsource lamp
%room chamber
square chamber
%exit e dungeon
%exit n throne
%exit w cave
%occur
at chamber
%result
clear_dark
look
%item cross
Wooden cross
%getdrop cross
%room dungeon
gloomy dungeon
%exit w chamber
%exit n crypt
%occur
at dungeon
%result
set_dark
look
%occur 25
at dungeon
%result
msg I smell something rotting to the north.
%item door
Locked door
%item key
Brass key
%getdrop key
%at crypt
%item door2
Open door leads south
%nowhere
%action open door
here door
!accessible key
%result
msg It's locked.
%action open door
here door
%result
swap door door2
msg OK
%action go door
here door2
%result
moveto cell
%room cell
dungeon cell
%exit n dungeon
%item coin
*Gold coin*
%getdrop coin
%room crypt
damp, dismal crypt
%exit s dungeon
%item vampire
Vampire
%occur
here vampire
!carried cross
%result
msg Vampire bites me! I'm dead!
game_over
%comment vampire attacks unless cross is carried
%occur
here vampire
carried cross
%result
msg Vampire cowers away from the cross!
%valias take get
%valias leave drop
%nalias lantern lamp
The reference manual,
Games::ScottAdams::Manual.
Bugs in the tutorial, that is, not bugs in the program ...
The following directives are not yet discussed:
%ident,
%version,
%wordlen,
%maxload,
%lighttime
and
%include.
There is not yet any discussion of flags, counters and location stores.
Some discussion of what makes a good game design may be appropriate.
Mike Taylor <mike@miketaylor.org.uk>
First version Thursday 29th November 2001.