Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: jacobw@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Solomon Weinstein)
Subject: Re: Tricky adventure stuff, was Re: Bubblyhotrock (was Sense of Wonder)
Message-ID: <1992Nov17.043859.1494@Princeton.EDU>
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References: <74337@apple.apple.COM> <1992Nov16.141439.1777@starbase.trincoll.edu> <92321.154254MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 04:38:59 GMT
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In article <92321.154254MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> Mark 'Mark' Sachs <MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>>Also, it is necessary to allow for all other objects that could be
>>brought
>>>to this location.  For example, if I had a 80+ foot rope, I might try ...
>
>Might I just interject that this is probably one of the hardest things
>to take into account in an adventure game, IMHO.
>
>For example. If you give the player a ladder, say, you're just asking for
>trouble.

Tell me about it. In my soon-to-be-released game "Save Princeton"
there's a pair of earplugs. After I had coded most of the game, I
realized I had to go back and put an "if-then" clause in EVERY SINGLE
event involving sound so that it wouldn't tell you, "The jock says hi to
you" when you had plugs in your ears. Ugh. Still, now that it's all
done, I feel it was well worth it. 

I also originally had a can of glue, but I decided I just didn't feel
like programming in the ability to glue everything to everything else,
so I modified the puzzle and got rid of the glue.

This, I think, is one of the reasons why so many more people start
adventure games than finish them. It's really easy to put off all the
grunge work until the end, and then you're faced with the task of coding
in the four billion things you mentioned in descriptions to add flavor.
Ugh, again.


