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From: peugh@wam.umd.edu (Haig Herkenflirtz (sp ?))
Subject: Petri-Nets for On-Line Hints
Message-ID: <1992Dec11.143206.28572@wam.umd.edu>
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References: <gf9rZh200awW5JdkYD@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 14:32:06 GMT
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In article <gf9rZh200awW5JdkYD@andrew.cmu.edu>  writes:
<Several people have commented that the problem with Infocom's on-line
<hints is that questions pertaining to things that haven't yet come up in
<a game are displayed and this provides information that the player does
<not necessarily want.  If the game checked where the player had been and
<what the player had done prior to invoking hints, it would be possible
<to give the player a list of hints to choose from that included only
<those things that had already been encountered.  For example, if the
<game included hints involving the basement but the player had not yet
<been in the basement, that category of hints would not be in the list of
<hints that the player could choose from.  Each hint or class of hints
<would have certain conditions that would have to be true for them to be
<in the list.  The list of hints to choose from would grow as the game
<progressed.
<  
<                                                                        
<               -Scott Ligon     

I, (also a first poster to this news group) came up with much the same
idea as Scott did, only with a little more detail, and ease of programming.

My suggestion, is to use petri-nets to represent the hints.  Thus if you
have not seen an important room, a transition could not fire, and the
game can do many things, such as refuse a hint, tell the player to look
somewhere else, or so on.

The thing is, petri-nets, from what I've heard only take about a week to
code, and also would be very useful for such storage.  Take for example,
giving a hint to what the player should do next.

    The player is in a specific location, and asks for a hint.
    Something blocks the transistion from firing.
    The game system looks at the places before the transition.
    Follows the place with no token.
    And so on, until a fire-able transition is met
    Take special description from that transition, and give it to the player.

So the upshot of all this is, in a game like Zork Zero,
The game would refuse to give you hints on the East Wing, if you have not
even seen the East Wing.  Or It would not give you any hints regarding the
Homing Pigeon if you have not been to the post office.

This also is an effective way to stop people from getting tired, reading all
the hints, and solving the game.  (As I used to do)

			--David Peugh
