Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt Introduction CAW is both an adventure game and adventure writer and was written using MicroSoft's QuickBasic 4.5. Adventures can be made up as you play by customising each location you come to (e.g. exits, what happens, description). CAW is based on the concept of triggers, a trigger being a command or phrase which will cause something to happen, e.g. a door to open, an object to be got, an object to be removed. Although this might not seem to be very comprehensive it can be used to create quite versatile adventures easily and relatively quickly. Game commands If you are interested on only playing adventures and not writing them then you need only know the following basic commands. n/north go north s/south go south e/east go east w/west go west u/up go up d/down go down inv/inventory lists objects carried help lists verbs used in adventure commands lists all CAW commands available score current score (% explored) cls clears screen clear toggles clearing of screen on/off bye exits CAW dir caw show adventures in directory dir sav show savings in directory chdir (directory) change directory keep (filename) save position to disc resume (filename) load position from disc ram save save position to memory ram restore recall position from memory load (filename) load adventure pmap prints squared paper for mapping psheet prints lined paper Editing commands As game commands but with the following additions: edit enter edit mode and add password edit (password) enter edit mode using password normal return to game mode !go (location number) jump to location !edit edit location !n !s !e !w !u !d create exit for direction !wipe wipe location/exit !bring (object) conjures up object into inventory !remove (object) removes object from inventory !remove (all) removes everything (type as seen) save (filename) saves adventure to disc Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt edit/normal This toggles between edit/game mode, edit mode allows all other editing commands to be used while game mode restricts commands to those relevant to playing the adventure. If there is no editing password present then edit should be used and then the password entered when requested, otherwise edit (password) should be used. There are no extra parts to normal. When in edit mode ending the game through holding or lack of an object is not possible, only when it is caused through a trigger. !go When editing it is useful to be able to jump directly to a location instead of 'walking' there. To go to the location simply type !go (location number), the location number is displayed above the location description in edit mode. !n !s !e !w !u !d Depending on what direction the exit you want to create is you use one of the above, e.g. !s. After you have entered this the computer will then ask you for two pieces of information. The first is simply for the location number it is to lead to and the second is for the exit type. The exit type can be hidden/visible and/or accessible after a certain trigger[s] (more on triggers later). The following is a summary of the codes used: ! Exit type ! Visible ! Hidden ! !-------------------------------------------------! ! Normal ! 0 ! 5 ! ! After trigger 1 ! 1 ! 6 ! ! After trigger 2 ! 2 ! 7 ! ! After trigger 1 and 2 ! 3 ! 8 ! ! After trigger 1 or 2 ! 4 ! 9 ! CAW can store a maximum of 200 locations, depending on the size of the location descriptions. !wipe Wipes either an exit or location, simply follow the questions and prompts to do so. !bring When testing the adventure it is useful to be able to have an object to test the trigger[s] with (see next sheet). To conjure up an object in your inventory type !bring (object). !remove The opposite of !bring being used to remove unwanted baggage, to do so type !remove (object). Useful for testing triggers again which require that object to be picked up. Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt !edit The most important of the editing commands as it is the one which actually defines what is going to happen at that location. It is described by entering two strings, the description and the trigger string. e.g. You are in a dark cave, water drips slowly down the walls giving a sullen atmosphere. Exits lead north and south. (chest:scroll::)get chest:examine scroll`The scroll shows a map of the island, by a river is an X(:) This location is set in a cave, the text entered in the description is automatically formatted to fit onto the screen without words being cut in half. The end of a line may be forced by inserting a \ into the text. All text is and can be treated in this way. The first two words are the objects which are present, in our example these are a chest and a scroll. If no objects are required then nothing is put although the actual 'sentance' punctuation, i.e. (:::):(:), is. Note that the objects correspond to their triggers. If the object isn't the same then CAW checks the player's inventory. If no object matches that in the trigger then no action is taken. The next two blank spaces are for additional text which is printed up on the screen if the corresponding trigger is set, this and everything else will be explained in more detail later. It is now that the actual triggers come, in this case get chest and examine scroll. The first word is always taken to be a verb and is just there to identify whether the user is trying to do the right thing with the object (the remaining words). However if the verb is get then that object will be added to the player's inventory. Also note that after examine scroll is an ` (the apostrophe top left of the keyboard, or use |), this causes the following text to be printed up immediately after the trigger is set and only then. If the text is just a # then this will end the game. The last brackets contain the 'game over' details, if there are any. The first part is the object part, if the player has this and the death object is prefixed with a # or the player hasn't that object and there is no prefix then the game is over. The final part of the bracket is the text which is printed up when this happens. So in this location the player can get the chest which and can also examine the scroll. When this happens the following text will appear on the screen (once only), the scroll will not however be removed. When an action occurs CAW notes this 'setting the trigger'. Entering !edit (when in edit mode) will reset the triggers for that location. Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt Things now start getting more advanced. In this version of CAW (and ST Versions 3.6 upwards) there is also a very useful 'secret' trigger addition. Prefixing the trigger with & (this must be the very first prefix) will cause that action to be carried out automatically (and secretly) on arrival at the location. Also, prefixing a trigger with ^ results in the object being picked up regardless of what that trigger is. Similarly adding & to the beginning of an object name (it becomes part of the name) causes the object to be picked up immediately when possible (see below) and makes it invisible to the adventurer (except in edit mode). The only other prefix that can be used with this is # (e.g. &#Object), this causes it to be picked up automatically after the other trigger. All of these features mark a significant improvement on previous versions as it is now possible to have 'remote' triggers, i.e. an action at one location can result in the adventurer being 'tagged' with an invisible object to cause another event elsewhere. Note that automatic triggers will not work if they have text after them through the use of an apostrophe. It is important to know how CAW deals with the automatic events so that you can use them properly and effectively. Any automatic events - ie. those prefixed with & are only effective outside of the editing mode. Also, an object prefixed with & will be got each time the adventurer is at a location if it does not exist in their inventory. If you only want it to be got once in the game and you will be disposing of it later then you should use an automatic trigger to get it. All the prefixes and directions for editing a location are listed in COMMANDS. Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt To summarise, the trigger string can be briefly described as: (Object 1:Object 2:Description 1:Description 2)Trigger 1: Trigger 2(End game Object:End game Message) Prefixes should be in the order &^#@ or &^@#. The use of these are described below. Objects These relate directly to the triggers, e.g. for get spanner to work in trigger 1 then spanner would have to be object 1. Any other sort of trigger can operate on an object in the adventurer's inventory. Prefixes can also be added, @ hides the object so that it won't show on the You can see ..., # will only allow the object to be seen after the other trigger has been activated. Any combination of the prefixes can be used. Adding & to the beginning of the name will make it be picked up automatically on entering a location. This can only be used on it's own or with # (hence &#) which results in it being got after the other trigger is set. CAW can handle 200 movable objects (i.e. they can be got) and up to 200 locations (depending on memory), do not include any more or error messages will come up when the limit is passed. Descriptions These are printed up on the screen if their corresponding trigger is activated, i.e. description 1 with trigger 1 and description 2 with trigger 2. These are added directly onto the end of the location description and so put a \ at the beginning to force a new line if that is what you want instead. Alternatively a # can be used as a prefix which will cause the description to be the new location description, trigger 2 taking the priority if both triggers have this effect. Triggers The first word of these is always taken as the verb(s) and the latter part the noun (name of the object) unless a \ (which will take the place of a space), with or using is used to seperate the two. If two \s are used then the noun will be that inbetween. The noun must be the name of the corresponding object or an object which is in the player's inventory. If the first word is get then the object will be removed and added to the player's inventory. Triggers should not clash with the CAW commands. Prefixes can also be added to these as well, & carries out the trigger on arrival secretly, # will remove the object after the trigger has been activated and @ will only allow the trigger to take place after the other trigger has been done. An apostrophe can also be added to display instant text after the trigger. This cannot be used on automatic triggers. If the text is just # then the game will end. e.g. get knife get the\knife attack guard with knife Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt End of game bracket The object part of this decides whether the game ends or not; if it is prefixed with a # then the player dies if he has that object, if it isn't prefixed then the player dies if he doesn't have it. The message is then printed up and CAW prints up the score, number of moves taken and then asks whether the player wants another game. Window and Graphic This is >only< on the >ST< versions 3.6 and above and is mentioned here for the sake of compatibility. The ST version has 6 window (text area) types, 5 of which can be selected by the user - the other is the starting window. This is selected by putting the relevant number straight after the last bracket, these are: 0 - Full Screen 3 - Left half 1 - Top half of screen 4 - Right half 2 - Bottom half The windows were included specifically so that graphics could be included, there need be no graphics - simply leave out the filename, I also suggest using window type 0. The graphics are in the form of a compressed (STOS) screen. This filename (minus the .MBK) comes immediately after the window type which must be specified, e.g.: 1house - Top window (1) with screen HOUSE.MBK 223 - Bottom window (2) with screen 23.MBK Although you will only usually draw the part seen, if you are feeling really artistic you could draw all the screen which could then be viewed by the adventurer by typing LOOK. If there is no set graphic screen at the next location the picture will stay displayed. Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt Hints and Tips An object does not have to be visible, it could be permanently invisible to allow commands such as say hello to take place - hello would be in the object part of the trigger string prefixed with a @. A similar technique can be used with the end game object, this could be an object which isn't to be found in the adventure thus causing instant death. The game over part does not have to be for when the player dies - it is a useful way of ending an adventure when it is completed. Try to use up any spare triggers with commands like examine, discovering things which needn't necessarily be necessary is enjoyable in itself - especially if what has been discovered is humourous. Take up as much space for your description as you can, sometimes this isn't possible if a trigger alters this but the bigger the description the more powerful the image it conjures up. In your adventure scatter bits of information which can be discovered by the player as a detective would so helping build the storyline. Mistakes when keying in the strings are extremely annoying, especially if what you have just typed in is very long. Checking as you go along and having a final check at the end is very good advice. Try to introduce an air of originality into your adventure in the sense of descriptions of doors etc.. Doors could be talking, wooden, iron, intelligent, stupid, have spyholes, locks, the list goes on! On the subject of doors, exits can be easily made to be one-way or go back to a different location - extremely handy for constructing mazes. Don't make this too complicated though as it could prove too frustrating and almost impossible. Hiding exits and other objects is also a good idea, for example having to open some curtains to find a door. You could also include other ways of getting to locations such as pulling a lever. Puzzles are compulsary! An adventure without puzzles is like a film without a plot. Arrange your puzzles so that they start off fairly easy and get harder thus encouraging the player to carry on. A lot of puzzles needn't necessarily mean a huge adventure, in fact a huge adventure with relatively few puzzles can become boring very quickly. Creative Adventure Writer (PC Version 1.2) by Richard Hunt Bigger puzzles can be constructed if you use the new prefixes (& and ^). An object could be automatically picked up (e.g. &trip1) which could then make an automatic trigger possible to bring characters to a location. For example you could have a genie which helps you at certain locations after you've rubbed it's lamp or pull a trigger in one location to effectively do some action elsewhere. This can be easily done as follows: (@lever:::)^pull lever'It breaks off:(:) (::A bridge spans the gorge:)&#use lever:(:) When the lever is pulled the object trip1 secretly put in the player's inventory. The player then goes back to the previously uncrossable gorge to find a bridge (an exit was created with the automatic trigger) as the trigger can now take place. Think your puzzles out carefully beforehand, it's no good not being able to complete a puzzle because to do just that you need an object which is only available after you've overcome it! A puzzle also needn't be a simple get key to unlock door job, it might involve getting the hammer, to break the glass, to get the whistle, to call the dog, to get a bone, to give to the wolf, to get the key and then to unlock the door!!! It is not necessary to give a password for editing by just pressing return, useful if you forget things easily. When you do come to include your password make it one that is unusual yet is one you can remember instantly. You can create adventures without ever editing in CAW by wordprocessing it in pure ASCII (pressing return at the end of each entire line). The file format is as follows: (number of locations) (description location 1) (blank line) (trigger string location 1) (blank line) etc. (password) This creates an unprotected CAW file and can be used to convert any pre ST version 3.6 files. Although they will load in the text will not fit correctly - to correct this just add back in the spaces between any joined words and remove any unwanted \. The latter is particularly important as in the old versions of CAW (the other 26!) the text was formatted on entering. A useful source for an adventure is a book, even if the story isn't in the area/time period you want to write in then names of objects and people can easily be changed. However it is much more satisfying to do your own idea as you can actually build your own small world, it also allows you to distribute your adventure more freely. Test your adventure out before you give it to a friend or whoever to play. On the same note, it's no good writing an adventure if there's no one else to play it ... Happy Adventuring