Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!nntp.gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!warwick!nott-cs!lut.ac.uk!elrnh2
From: Richard Hunt
Subject: Re: Darkness in int-fiction: Anyone done it *well*?
Originator: elrnh2@hpl.lut.ac.uk
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Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 18:29:48 GMT
Reply-To: R.N.Hunt-93@student.lut.ac.uk (RN Hunt)
References: <2rrivh$o7o@news.u.washington.edu> <1994May25.232605.2561@eku.acs.eku.edu> <2s1nfe$dtk@rowan.coventry.ac.uk>
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In article <2s1nfe$dtk@rowan.coventry.ac.uk> lr@rowan.coventry.ac.uk (LUKE ROBERTS) writes:
>So far we've been discussing darkness in caves and inside buildings. What
>about darkness outside - i.e. having day and night ? Has anyone seen this
>done well in any text-adventure ? 
>
>One problem if you have days and nights is timing them... perhaps a day
>is 24 turns long, say. Or maybe different actions should take different
>lengths of time.... searching a large room should take a longer time than
>picking up the brick.
>
>Any ideas ?

I started writing an adventure (in GFA Basic on the ST) until I shelved it for 
a while until I had a decent plot. What I did plan for it and started to 
implement was just this. Every action had a time in minutes associated with, 
as did each exit from a location. This would update the world's time and lead 
to a different location description depending whether it was pitch black / 
partially illuminated (by lamp or dawn/dusk) or full daylight. The darker it 
was the less there would be in the description and certain objects wouldn't be 
seen. I'm thinking of resurrecting this adventure and the approach but with 
TADS or something like that. Is it possible to do what I've described with 
TADS?
