More attributes

[XenonLab-Studio]

There are many possible reasons for expanding the ‘object’ structure.

When I introduced the objects, they only had three attributes. Later, I added a fourth attribute. This is more or less the absolute minimum. To put more details into the adventure, I need more attributes.

1. The command looks around offers a global description of the player's position, including a list of objects, people and other objects present. Many adventures require the player to examine these objects, or to reveal some clues needed to make progress in the game, or simply to improve the atmosphere of the game. I want to add the details of an attribute that contains a detailed description of each object, plus an attribute contents that is used with objects that contain other objects.

2. When the player follows a passage, the answer is invariably "OK" followed by a description of the new position. This is a bit boring; it would be much nicer to give your personalized message to each passage. I will add a textGo attribute to preserve this message.

3. Some steps have a "turn"; they do not go where the player expects them to go. For example, a forest road could hide a trap. While the passage seems to be directed from position A to position B, in reality the end point is position C, ie the bottom of a pit. The most common "twists" are "blocked" passages: a closed net, a broken bridge, a narrow slot. Suppose that our entry into the cave is blocked by the guard. Any attempt to enter the cave will fail; instead the player will remain in his original position, ie the field. I can simply change the destination of the passage in the field (or NULL), but this would result in an unwanted response to commands such as going to the cave and watching caves: "You do not see any cave here." I need separate attributes for the real and the apparent end point of a passage. I will introduce an attribute prospect to represent the latter; the attribute destination, introduced earlier, still maintains the actual end point. In most cases, the two will be the same, so I will have object.awk that generates an appropriate default value; the perspective must be specified only in object.txt when it differs from the destination.

4. In many adventures, the player, as well as other people in the game, are limited to the weight of the objects they can carry. Give each object a weight; the combined weight of all objects in a person's inventory should not exceed that person's capacity. Give an object a very high weight to make it immobile (a tree, a house, a mountain).

5. RPG-style adventure games will need a whole range of attributes for persons (both player and non-player), for example health. Objects with zero health are either dead, or they are not a person at all.

I define seven new attributes in object.txt.

All this will make the project more complete, giving a much deeper and more flexible narrative and explorative depth.