Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!library.ucla.edu!csulb.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!netcomsv!mport!admin!modes
From: modes@admin.mport.com (Wes Modes)
Subject: Realistic or Over-detailed
Message-ID: <CMIv01.Mx7@admin.mport.com>
Organization: Microport Inc.
References: <1994Mar10.180652.1@skaro.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 22:40:48 GMT
Lines: 76

richard@skaro.demon.co.uk (Richard Develyn) writes:

) Hello all,
)
) I have a question about basic approach in IFs with respect to the amount 
) of object which are made available. Let me illustrate with the following 
) example in which 3 approaches can be taken:
)
) a) Minimalist approach:
) b) Tantalising approach:
) c) Completist approach
)
) Comments ?
)
) Richard Develyn from Hastings, Sussex, England

Well, I think it is quite possible to take a middle road
between a Minimalist approach and a Tantalizing approach. 
Consider the following transcript:

                          . . . . . .
> LOOK

Victorian Kitchen
You are in a large victorian kitchen. To the east, an
aga-style cooker in an inglenook holds a couple of large
iron saucepans full of sweet smelling broth. The oven door
of the cooker is closed, but you can also smell fresh baked
bread. Several other pots and pans hang from hooks on the
ceiling as do bundles of fresh herbs and even, to one
corner, a pheasant which has been left to bleed dry. A
large oak table in the middle of the room holds a
bread-board, rolling pin and large pot of flour at one end,
while at the other are a blood stained carving board.

Of the many items in this room, a long bread knife captures
you attention.  It looks like you may be able to open the
oven door.  There is a pot holder on the cutting board.

The dining room lies beyond a wide doorway.  A closed door
leads to the back service porch.

> TAKE ROLLING PIN

You can leave that here.

> TAKE KNIFE AND OPEN THE OVEN WITH THE POT HOLDER

Bread Knife: Taken.
Pot Holder: Taken.

You open the oven with the pot holder.  A gust a steam
rises to the ceiling.  Sitting in the hot oven is a
fresh-baked loaf of dark bread.
                          . . . . . .

Here the formula is 

	ROOM DESCRIPTION
	OBVIOUS OBJECTS
	OBVIOUS EXITS

This sets the mood with a description, shows you the
objects that may be manipulated, and tells you how you can
leave the room.  It does it without any tacky lists,
without forcing you to scour the description for clues, and
without forcing you to attempt manipulation of everything
in the room (or resorting to "all").

Also note that the programmer has used a class of objects
that may be referred to, but not taken (e.g., rolling pin,
pots, pans, cutting board).

Wes Modes
modes@mport.com
Santa Cruz, California
