/*
** Gndmenu.t contains the menu items that are displayed any time the player
** types HELP or HINT
**
** Copyright (c) 1999, Stephen Granade. All rights reserved.
*/
#pragma C+
modify menuItem
fgcolor = 'olive'
bgcolor = 'black'
;
modify submenuItem
bgcolor = 'silver'
fgcolor = '#003000'
;
top_menu: menuItem
bgcolor = 'silver'
fgcolor = '#003000'
title = "Common Ground"
myContents = [instruct_menu, fine_print_menu]
;
/*
* The instructions & other info
*/
instruct_menu: submenuItem
title = "Instructions and Information"
myContents = [musings, first_time, moving, dealing_with_objects,
save_and_restore, special_commands, suggestions,
faq, credits]
;
musings: longTopicItem
title = "About Common Ground"
myContents = {
"\tYou may have played some of my other pieces of IF, such as
Losing Your Grip or Arrival. And if so, you may
have certain notions of what Common Ground is going to
be like.
\b\tIf that's true in your case, forgive me if I take some
delight in surprising you.
\b\tFor one thing, you cannot get Common Ground in
a state where you won't be able to finish it. I've become
known for writing unforgiving puzzles which can close off
your progress unexpectedly. Common Ground won't do
that to you.
\b\tFor another, it's extremely short. It is, in fact,
shorter than Arrival, which was written to be winnable
in under two hours.
\b\tAnd that's really all I feel I can tell you without
giving things away. I'd love to hear from you, whether you
like the game or not. I'd especially love to hear from you
if you found a bug. You can e-mail me at
sgranade@phy.duke.edu for a while longer yet.
\bStephen
Durham, North Carolina
29 December, 1999";
}
;
first_time: longTopicItem
title = "For Newcomers to Text Adventures"
myContents = {
"\tAn adventure game lies somewhere between a story and a puzzle.
You play the main character, and the story unfolds around you
as you perform actions. You do this by giving yourself commands
at the >
prompt, commands such as";
"\b
SIT\n WALK EAST\n TALK TO DEB\n PUT THE TOAST IN THE TOASTER"; "\bIn response, the game will tell you what happens next. "; "\b\tBasic commands consist of either a verb by itself (such as LOOK to see where you are) or a verb followed by nouns (such as OPEN THE BOX). Think of the sentences you type as things you are telling yourself to do."; "\b\tAs the story progresses, you will be faced with puzzles which must be solved. These puzzles keep you from progressing too quickly through the story. To solve the puzzles, think about what you would do in such a situation. Clues will be given in the form of the descriptions of things (which you may see by typing EXAMINE [object] or simply X [object]) and of actions which occur. "; "\b\tIf you would like more information about what sorts of commands the game understands, please see the other help topics in the menu containing this topic. "; } ; moving: longTopicItem title = "Moving Around" myContents = { "\tAn adventure game typically has a layout of locations (called
roomswhether or not they're indoors). You move between them by specifying compass directions:"; "\b
GO SOUTH"; "\b\tThe directions can be abbreviated as SOUTH, for example, or even just S. You can move north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. In addition, on occasion you can move IN or OUT, as well as UP or DOWN. "; } ; dealing_with_objects: longTopicItem title = "Dealing With Objects" myContents = { "\tMuch of what you will be doing in an adventure is dealing with objects. Many of them are portable, and may be picked up using the TAKE command. If you get tired of toting something around you can DROP it. To find out what you're carrying, you may type INVENTORY (or simply I). "; "\b\tOther items are not portable, but may be tampered with. Still other items are only mentioned for decoration; if you ever try to do something to an item and are told,
That's not important,then you don't have to do anything with that item. "; "\b\tSometimes you will want to deal with many items at once. If that occurs, you can use ALL, as in DROP ALL, which will drop everything you're carrying. You may also refer to several items in one command: "; "\b
DROP EVERYTHING BUT THE BOOK\n PUT THE SLINKY, THE YO-YO, AND THE BOUNCY BALL IN THE TOY CHEST"; "\b\tSometimes, if you don't specify what object you want to perform a command on, the game can guess what you mean. Whenever it does this, it will let you know by printing its assumptions in parentheses after your command."; "\b
TIE THE YELLOW RIBBON\n (around the old oak tree)\n You tie the ribbon around the tree."; "\b\tIf the game cannot guess what you mean, it will ask you a question such as,
What do you want to tie that to?You may either type in what object you want to perform the action on, or type a new command. "; "\b\tSometimes you refer to an object by a name which fits more than one object. In that case, the game will ask you which one you mean. "; "\b
GET THE WICKED WITCH\n Which wicked witch do you mean, the Wicked Witch of the East or the Wicked Witch of the West?"; "\bYou may either say which object you mean or type a new command. "; "\b\tThe pronoun
itrefers to the last object you have manipulated, while
himand
herrefer to the last man or woman you have dealt with. "; "\b\tThis is only a small sampling of what is possible in a game such as Common Ground. Don't be afraid to experiment. "; } ; save_and_restore: longTopicItem title = "Saving and Restoring" myContents = { "\tEven such a short game as Common Ground may be longer than you can play in one sitting. Or you may want to try something that may be dangerous and you don't want to have to replay large parts of the game. In either case, you can make a snapshot of your game in progress by using the SAVE command. When you do, you will be prompted for a filename for the saved game. To get back to a previously saved position, use the RESTORE command and, when prompted, give the filename you called your saved game. "; "\b\tIf you would like to start over, you can with the RESTART command. You may give up entirely with the QUIT command. "; } ; special_commands: longTopicItem title = "Special Commands" myContents = { commandsVerb.describeMe; } ; suggestions: longTopicItem title = "Commenting on the Game" myContents = { "\tAfter you've finished the game, you may want to make comments on things the game did well or poorly. Alternatively, you may have found bugs or misspellings which mar the game. In either case, I would love to hear from you. You may e-mail me at"; "\b
sgranade@phy.duke.edu"; "\b\tOut of the kindness of your heart, please do not advertise any bugs you find on any of the Usenet newsgroups dedicated to interactive fiction."; } ; credits: longTopicItem title = "Credits" myContents = { creditsVerb.describeMe; } ; faq: submenuItem title = "Frequently Asked Questions" myContents = [whats_flowerdy, true_life] ; whats_flowerdy: longTopicItem title = "You didn't mean
flowerdy,did you?" myContents = { "Yes. It's a good ol' Southernism meaning
flowery. The flowerdy bag has flowers printed on it. "; } ; true_life: longTopicItem title = "Is
Common Groundbased on a true story?" myContents = "Not really. Some parts were inspired by things which happened to friends of mine, but Jeanie, Frank, and Deb aren't based on real people. " ; /* * The fine print */ fine_print_menu: submenuItem title = "Fine Print" myContents = [legalese, version_info, author_info] ; legalese: longTopicItem title = "Legal Issues" myContents = { "Copyright Information \b\tThis game, Common Ground, is copyright © 1999 by Stephen Granade. \bLicensing Information \b\tI place the following terms and conditions on copying and distributing Common Ground: You may copy and distribute Common Ground in whatever format you choose, as long as it (and especially its copyright information) is not altered. You may not distribute this game for a fee which is greater than the cost of distribution. Distribution of this game constitutes acceptance of this license. \bA Legal Dodge \b\tBecause this game is offered free of charge, there is no warranty attached to it. Whatever happens to your computer while playing Common Ground is your problem to deal with. "; } ; version_info: longTopicItem title = "Version Information" myContents = { "This is the second version of Common Ground, compiled on 17 Jan 2000. This version fixes a number of small bugs. "; "The first version of Common Ground was compiled on 29 Dec 1999."; } ; author_info: longTopicItem title = "About the Author" myContents = { "\tStephen Granade is currently finishing up a degree in physics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In his spare time he maintains a web site dedicated to interactive fiction at http://interactfiction.about.com. He has also been known to run the annual IF Competition."; "\b\tThis is the fifth full game he will admit to writing. If you like Common Ground, why not try Arrival or Losing Your Grip? If you don't like Common Ground, try the other games anyway—they're quite different from this one. All are available from the GMD archive at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/tads."; } ;