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Text File | 1992-05-04 | 27.0 KB | 773 lines

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ================================================================== ==±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±== ==±±±±####±±±±###±±±±±###±±###±±±###±####±±±±±±±±±±± ±±== ==±±±##°°##±±°°###±±±###±±°##±±±°°##°°##±±±±±±±±±±±± Amiga ±±== ==±±##±±°°##±±°#########±±°##±±±±°##±°##±±±±±±±±±±±± Multi- ±±== ==±°##±±±°##±±°#########±±°##±±±±°##±°##±±±±±±±±±±±± User ±±== ==±°########±±°##°###°##±±°##±±±±°##±°##±±±±±±±±±±±± games ±±== ==±°##°°°°##±±°##°°°±°##±±°°##±±±##±±°##±±±±±#±±±±±± Language ±±== ==±°###±±###±±####±±±####±±°#######±±#########±±±±±± ±±== ==±°°°±±°°°±±°°°°±±±°°°°±±±°°°°°°°±±°°°°°°°°°±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±== ==±============================================================±== ==±= Updates From Version 0.865 -> 0.880 =±== ==±============================================================±== ==±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±== ================================================================== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Version 0.880 Detailed Update Notes & Examples ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX ===== [1] Update Brief [1.1] Update Information [1.2] Update List & Notes [2] Title.Txt [2.1] Title.Txt/RankScale= [2.2] Title.Txt/TimeScale= [3] Language [3.1] Language/Conditions [3.2] Language/Actions [3.3] Language/Other Changes [3.4] Language/Examples [4] Next version... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = B r i e f i n g = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Version 0.880 updates in Brief ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [1] Update Brief Version 0.8.80 of AMan has seen some fiddly changes. Not a great deal happened in this version; most of it is the result of some severe play testing of an adventure called 'Valley'. The only bug I am currently aware occured under KickStart 2.0, and was a guru 81000005 (Corrupted memory list). This I am tracing as fast as my bony fingers will type! The next couple of versions will see some MAJOR jiggling to suit my adventure, and to increase the multi-user interactive power! [1.1] Update Information * Daemons can now call themselves. * AMUL now understands adjectives. * Combat bugs fixed. * AMan support for external utilities now initialised... * Bug where screen titles sometimes got obliterated (WB 2.0 only) fixed. * Players can now have a pre-rank and post-rank description. * New action 'syntax' to let YOU reset NOUN1 and NOUN2, reduce code size! * Lang.Txt can now contain sub routines using the DO action. * 'Interact' action allows you to interact more freely. * FailParse/AbortParse/FinishParse bug fixed. * Treatas improved. * More speed increases! * Adjectives 100%. * It is now possible to invoke a 'remote' daemon. * AutoExits installed. * Cured the weird line-wrap problem in the invent command. * Fixed some player-movement problems. * "Follow" facilities implemented. * The "@me has arrived" and "@me has left" for players can be changed! * Random VALUES implemented! * Internal parameter editor for users! * verb <noun list> now supported, eg: get noun1,noun2,noun3,noun4,noun5! * User-definable screen length, screen width and redo-character! * Rank & Time scaling (scales value of certain objects). * Actions RESPOND and ERROR introduced to reduce Lang.Txt/Travel.Txt size. * Bug in the SYNTAX command fixed. * "-> treatas" bug fixed. * New object fixed flag, 'SMELL'. * Scenery objects with a description (eg "It is raining") are now shown when a player views a HIDEAWAY room's description. * Blind players can now see their inventory. * Blind players can no-longer see their own inventory. * New Verb flag !! DREAM! Indicates players can execute this whilst asleep. * Players can no-longer execute ALL commands whilst asleep. * NEW INTERNAL USER-PARAMETER ADJUSTMENT COMMANDS! TYPE /? FOR LIST! * Daemon bugs in AMan now cured... Multiple-daemons finally work! * New variables: MYSCORE, MYSCTG and MYSTR. * ANOTHER SysMsg -- Description of a Death room in the Exits list. * Compiler now sets Scenery objects' weight as ( Top Rank Strength + 1 ) * New conditions: Full <stat> <player> and Time <number> * New variables: lastroom, lastdir, lastverb. * Condition: FIRE <object> - TRUE if the object has the new 'fire' flag. * Recompiled using the Lattice 'C' -O optimisation option, faster and smaller code! * The SHOWFIRE feature (object flag 'fire') has been 100% installed. * If you want to open a PROPER shared serial port, AMUL now lets you. * If a player dies in a DEATH room with no DMOVE flag, objects go to the players LAST room. [1.2] Update List & Notes Conditions: Condition Description ============================================================= noun1 <noun> TRUE if noun1 = <noun> noun2 <noun> TRUE if noun2 = <noun> autoexits TRUE if autoexits enabled debug TRUE if debug mode enabled attrib <stat> <numb> -> stat <stat> <player> <number> full <stat> <player> TRUE if players STAT is at maximum time <numb> Evalutes number of seconds till reset inc <object> Increments objects state - FALSE if can't dec <object> Decrements objects state - FLASE if can't lit <object> Test if the object is LIT fire <object> Tests for the new 'fire' flag on an object Actions: Action Description ============================================================= syntax <n1> <n2> sets noun1 & noun2 setpre x <text> Sets a players pre-rank description setpost x <text> Sets a players post-rank description setarr x <text> Message displayed when player "arrives". setdep x <text> Message displayed when player leaves. do <verb> Do subroutine. Continue unless FAILPARSE executed. interact <player> Flags player as currently undergoing interaction from you. Stop ACTION and ANNOUNCEs getting to him from you. senddaemon <player> <daemon> <time> Sends the daemon to AMan to be processed by another user. Set time to 0 if you simply want to make the remote user execute a command! AutoExits On|Off Enable/disable autoexits. Respond <message> Same as REPLY but also does an ENDPARSE. Error <message> Same as RESPOND but includes a FAILPARSE. combat ** fixed ** burn <object> Sets the LIT flag of an object douse <object> Extinguishes the object Object FIXED Flags: Flag Description ============================================================= WEAPON Is now a STATE flag. FIRE Says "The <noun> is on fire." when LIT. also, the LIT flag is ported between states. Use this flag for, say, lighting openable objects such as doors! SMELL Indicates blind players ONLY see this. Slot labels: (As of now called Variables) Label Description ============================================================= ~<number> Random number between 0 and <number> `<number> Random number between num*.5 and num*1.5 eg `100 could be 50 to 150. myscore Players score mysctg Points scored this game mystr Players strength lastroom Last room player was in lastdir Last travel verb player used (direction) lastverb Last verb the player used System Messages: Number Usage & Example ============================================================= $71 When a Death room is listed by Exits eg Certain death! Escape Codes: Code Description ============================================================= @fm The player following me @mf The player I am following The following files will require attention: File Reason(s) ============================================================= Title.Txt Add RankScale= and TimeScale= entries. Lang.Txt You can now remove those HORRIBLE chunks of code where you have a dozen syntax=verb noun=x noun=y where you are processing the commands for each are a single line... You can now check for noun1 and noun2, so code can change dramatically! You can now change the syntax of the users input. This means you can scrap those long portions of code where you repeat the same process for 'verb noun player' as you do for 'verb player noun'. You can now have 'subroutines'. Size can be DRASTICALLY reduced by replacing lots of <condition> reply <text> followed by & endparse with RESPOND and/or ERROR. See below. Replace ATTRIB with STAT command. Objects.Txt Your "adj=" statements now have a purpose in life! The AMUL parser will now understand these, though they are optional. Bug Fixes, Changes and Cures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o Daemons can now call themselves. Verbs can also reparse themselves using a command, such as: - treatas exampleverb o Under KickStart 2.0 AMUL would regularily lose the screen title when displaying objects. This has been cured. o AMUL now understands adjectives!!!! If the player types: > get match or > get safety match He will pick up the nearest match with adj=safety. If there are several matches around, and the player specifies <adj> <noun> he will get the one specified; ie it will ONLY match "safety match" with itself, so "unlit match" wouldn't work. o Players can now have pre- and post- -rank descriptions, eg: "Fritter the witch" with 'despicable' as pre-rank description becomes: "Fritter the despicable witch is here." and "Robert the Lord" with post-description 'of Nottingham' as post-description is: "Robert the Lord of Nottingham". Players can have BOTH a pre- and post- description. o Players arrival & departure strings can now be changed dynamically, changing the way they appear to move around in the game. For instance, a drunken player would stagger off rather than just leave. So: reply "The world spins round!" setdep "Staggering wildly, @me has just left." setarr "With some difficulty, @me has just arrived." When player 'Fritter' leaves a room: Staggering wildly, Fritter has just left. o When displaying your inventory, if your inventory was more than a line long, the word wrap didn't work until the 10th character on the second line. This has been cured, and the inventory is now displayed far more quickly. o The following: ---Cut--- * north Large room. You have just entered the large room. Bill the novice is here, carrying book. * Bill the novice has just arrived. ---End--- would happen when two players moved from room to room at the same time. Players are now marked as 'in transit' and don't appear on the description until they have actually finished arriving. 8-) o Prefixing a value in Lang.Txt, Mobiles.Txt or Travel.Txt with a tilde (~) or backtick (`) will result in the value being randomised at run time, each time it is used. ~<number> means A VALUE BETWEEN 0 AND NUMBER. `<number> means A VALUE BASED ON NUMBER. Effectively, `<number> is ( ~<number> ) + <number>/2. So, `100 is (~100)+50. o Two new options in Title.Txt: RankScale=X TimeScale=Y eg RankScale=40 TimeScale=60 Scaling affects the value of an object depending on how long since last reset and how high the players rank. RankScale is the DEDUCTION IN VALUE of objects for TOP RANK players, with the value INCREASING for each subsequent lower rank. TimeScale is a little more complex. It is based on the amount of gametime used. For the last 10% of the game objects are worth their full value to Rank 1 players. The value specified here is the INITIAL scaling factor. For example. Using the above TimeScale value (60), to a Rank 1 player in the first minute of the game, an object with Value=100 would be worth ( 100 - 60 % ) = 40 points. After 50 minutes it would be worth ( 100 - 30 % ) = 70 points. After 100 minutes the object would be worth its full value (100 points). Here is an example of Rank and Time scaling effects... GameTime = 110, Ranks = 5, RankScale = 40, TimeScale = 100 Rank Scale Time Scale Rank Deduct % Time Deduct % -------+------- --------+--------- 0 | 0% 0 | 100% 1 | 8% 25 | 75% 2 | 16% 50 | 50% 3 | 24% 75 | 25% 4 | 32% 100 | 0% 5 | 40% 110 | 0% o Knock a fifth out of lang.txt! Two new commands, RESPOND and ERROR replace the need for code such as: if infl me blind reply "You can't see a thing!" & endparse Instead you would now use: if infl me blind respond "You can't see a thing!" Respond and Error work in EXACTLY the same way as REPLY or MESSAGE but they both execute an ENDPARSE and Error executes an additional FAILPARSE. Make sure you make use of these, as they can MASSIVELY reduce compile times, parser speed and disk usage! o A bug where "-> treatas <verb>" would not process has been cured. What happened was that the 'endparse' part of ->, &> or else> would be processed before the new verb was reached. However, you should not NEED to tell AMUL to execute an EndParse following a treatas command, since the parseing restarts at a different point after its execution! o Some work has been done on blind players. (a) They can no-longer see room descriptions. (b) They can now see their own inventories. (c) New objects flag 'SMELL' provided to allow blind players to know ROUGHLY where they are. ONLY a blind player can see a SMELL object, and they should usually be made into a scenery object. o In a HideAway room, SCENERY objects are now displayed (eg rain or some form of weather). o There is a new VERB flag "DREAM". Any verbs not marked with this flag cannot be executed by a player who is asleep. It is recommended that you make verbs WHO, QUIT, SCORE, SAVE and WAKE "DREAM" verbs. Any others should be left to the system, the response being: "You can't do anything until you wake up!" o Attrib has been replaced with STAT, the following changes would be required: attrib score <50 to: stat score me <50 o The compiler now AUTOMATICALLY sets the weight of a Scenery object to the maximum strength of a top-rank player + 1. This means you could have an entry such as: verb=move syntax=verb noun noun1 bookcase treatas open noun1 slab treatas open stat str me <^noun respond "Its too heavy for you to move." else respond "Nothing special happens, sigh." "<^noun" means LESS THAN THE WEIGHT OF THE NOUN, so the stat str me <^noun means: If the player's strength is less than the weight of the object... o To run AMUL with Paragon BBS Software or other such systems, you will need a shared 'getty' serial device. This works in the same way as World Empire in that it simply takes the settings from the 'parent' program. To do it from AMUL, use the -S option, as per usual, but the format is SLIGHTLY different: amul -s 0 <device name> <unit> Unfortunately with Paragon the first character entered by the user is lost... When I figure that one out, I'll cure it 8-). o When a player walks into a DEATH room which has no DMOVE flag, AMUL would originally drop the players objects into the Death room. It now returns the objects to the room the player LEFT from. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = D e t a i l = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] Language [3.1] Conditions Condition: noun1 <noun> noun2 <noun> TRUE if noun1/noun2 is set to <noun>. Use this when you want to trap a single noun part way through a complex syntax statement where the resulting code is only a single line, thus: verb=light syntax=verb noun=brand noun - checknear noun2 - checknear noun1 if noun2 is wand then skip 2 if ! flamable noun2 then reply "You can't use the @n2 to light it!" & endparse < etc > is FAR less messy than the old AMUL's would have required! [3.2] Actions Action: syntax <noun1> <noun2> Sets the values for noun1 and noun2. Please note... You MUST specify a valid noun. Either NONE, NOUN1, NOUN2 or an actual noun name. PLAYER, TEXT or VERB cannot be specified. Using NOUN1 or NOUN2 will also transfer the correct word type. eg: verb=shoot syntax=verb player noun if noun2 is crossbow then syntax noun1 none & skip 100 ; Skips to next block... -> reply "You can't use THAT to shoot at someone, imbercile!" syntax=verb player ! carrying crossbow then ..... The parser DOES process the "verb player" section IF you specify crossbow are your weapon. Action: setpre <player> <text> Sets the players pre-rank description. This allows you to call players silly things. eg: setpre me "dragonfly-slaying" (player becomes '@me the dragonfly-slaying @nr') The pre-rank description can be display with the escape code "@d1" Action: setpost <player> <text> Sets the players post-rank description. This allows you to call players silly thinkgs. eg: setpost me "without a clue" (player becomes '@me the @mr without a clue') The pre-rank description can be display with the escape code "@d2" Action: setarr <player> <text> Sets the string sent to OTHERS when the player arrives in a room. eg: setarr player "@me has just arrived, reeking of garlic!" Action: setdep <player> <text> Sets the string sent to OTHERS when the player leaves a room. eg: setdep me "With an obvious limp, @me has just left." Action: respond <text> Sends the message to the player and then executes an ENDPARSE. eg: if infl me blind respond "You can't see a thing." replaces: if infl me blind reply "You can't see a thing." & endparse NOTE: If you had something like: if infl me blind reply "You can't see a thing." else reply "OK, you flick the light switch." & action others "You hear a 'CLIK!' as someone flicks a light switch!" &> state lights 0 You should use RESPOND (or ERROR) here and remove the conditions infront of the rest of the lines. This will improve response of the game online. Action: error <text> Sends the message to the player and then executes an FAILPARSE. eg: if !nearto player error "I can't see @n1 here!" replaces: if !nearto player reply "I can't see @n1 here!" & failparse NOTE: See the notes for RESPOND. [3.3] Other Changes Bug Fixes and Cures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #1 A minor bug has been cured... Richard's fabled '.combat' daemon was a no-goer. [That'll teach you to doccument things you haven't tested, Mr Pike!]. The reason was simple to cure - but neither of us spotted it till I tried some of Richards stuff... The daemon was: verb=.combat syntax=verb any - combat - start .combat 5 This did NOT work, for the simple reason that you couldn't call a verb/daemon from itself. Until the end of the verb was reached, the verb wasn't actually added to the compile table. The simple cure was to add a check for the verb held in the work-space. This HAS cured it. So you CAN now do the above. As for the combat routines; well they still need a bitta fixing. [3.4] Examples [3.4.1] Using pre- and post- rank descriptions. verb=set_name syntax=verb player text toprank setpre player text & endparse myrank <3 reply $38 ; only rank 3 or above can do it. & endparse setpre player text [3.4.2] Streamlining a game with RESPOND and ERROR. Two more commands have been added in the struggle to reduce size, compile time and processing time of games as they get bigger and bigger! The most common sequence of commands in AMUL games seems to be relating to telling players about their mistakes, stupidity or otherwise reporting back. The bulk of games actually do very little, but since 'text' is the only way the player can sense his environment it is essential that there is plenty, but not too much, of it. THE most common sequence is generally: <condition> reply <text> & endparse or <condition> reply <text> & failparse. It should be noted here that FAILPARSE SHOULD be used by budding games developers. When mobiles and object-classes are installed they will tell the game when to stop trying to do recursive parses, for example: > PUT ALL IN BAG Although you can't actually do this yet, what the game WILL do is search for all the objects which match the top element of 'put's ?CHAE string and attempt to execute > PUT <noun> IN BAG So if the player was carrying "BRICK, BAT, BALL" it would try PUT BRICK IN BAG, PUT BAT IN BAG, PUT BALL IN BAG. If the bag is closed, you don't want to tell the player three times: > put all in bag brick: The bag is closed, you'll have to open it first! bat: The bag is closed, you'll have to open it first! ball: The bag is closed, you'll have to open it first! Messy, huh? So... Your code might look something like, using the OLD commands... (This example assumes objects are open in state 0) ----Start---- verb=put syntax=verb noun noun checknear noun2 checknear noun1 ! container noun2 reply "You can't put anything in the @n2!" & failparse ! canfit noun1 in noun2 then reply "There isn't enough room in the @n2." & endparse ! opens noun2 skip 2 ! state noun2 0 reply "The @n2 is closed, you'll have to open it first!" & failparse reply "The @n1 fits nicely into the @n2." put noun1 into noun2 -----End----- Note. When there is not enough room an ENDPARSE is used. The next object may be smaller and thus may fit inside <noun2>. In the other two occasions it is obvious that there is no point to try a second object. However, using the new ERROR and RESPOND commands the code would be reduced to: ----Start---- verb=put syntax=verb noun noun checknear noun2 checknear noun1 ! container noun2 error "You can't put anything in the @n2!" ! canfit noun1 in noun2 then respond "There isn't enough room in the @n2." ! opens noun2 skip 2 ! state noun2 0 error "The @n2 is closed, you'll have to open it first!" reply "The @n1 fits nicely into the @n2." put noun1 into noun2 -----End----- Neat, huh? [3.4.3] Using full... Goal: To award a user with 1 point of stamina after every 5 seconds of sleep. Explanation: After a fight, either one player will be dead, or there will be two living players on reduced stamina. These two will be prone to attack from other players (and later on mobiles). There needs to be some way for players to recover their stamina. The natural thing to do is to sleep. If you decide to implement this into your own games, you may wish to vary the ratio depending on the style of game. In this example we use a 1 stam/5 second ratio. Don't use a daemon which operates every second or so; this will consume massive quantities of processor time! 8-( ----Start---- verb=.recsleep syntax=verb any ! infl me sleep endparse ; ABORT ! ABORT ! ABORT ! ! full stam me add 1 stam me ; Add one stamina point ! full stam me start .recsleep 5 & endparse reply "You are too alert to sleep any more!" reply "Your stamina is now @st." cure me sleep action others "@me has woken up." respond "You are now awake." verb=sleep syntax=verb player=me syntax none none ; Reprocess this line syntax=verb none infl me sleep respond "You already ARE asleep!" active .recsleep cancel .recsleep inflict me sleep start .recsleep 5 light action others "@me has just fallen asleep." reply "You are now asleep." -----End----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Next Version... [4.1] Conditions The following conditions will, hopefully, be added by version 0.9 #1 lastplayer Checks the last player mentioned #2 equates Allow you to perform simple maths/logic. [4.2] Actions The following actions will, hopefully, be added by version 0.9 #1 getfrom #2 putin The following actions are planned for the future: #1 A means of 'where'ing a player. #2 Ability to list another players inventory. #3 "Snoop" feature. This will allow one player to see the inputs of another. Useful for debugging, since you can monitor what players do. It also allows top-ranked players (Wizards) to take a hand in inducting novices, since they can tell what the novice is TRYING to do. [4.3] General features and alterations. #1 MORE speed (PLEASE) #2 Smaller output (data files) #3 Seperate Daemon parser, to allow indi daemons. #4 Mobiles (soon - I hope) #5 "All" as a noun... #6 Object classes... (That should be fun, hey Rich?) #7 Parser will be able to cope with > Plant the plant in the plant pot. #8 Containers will be fully operative. [4.4] Finalle... There are ALL sorts of changes heading AMUL's way in the near future... I am currently talking, indirectly, with the 4D BBS author(s?) (thanks Kulvinder), and am hoping to make AMUL 4D compatible... From what I gather Jon is too busy playing Gem Stones to fix the bugs in 2.10a7... One of the main changes coming to AMUL will be two new escape codes: @xx and @xy. These two codes are used in multi-user interaction. @xx by default gives the players name, @xy will give "@me the @mr". But these are ONLY to players who can see your player! The table of outputs is something like: (* indicates if YOUR player is top rank) A c t i o n when @xx @xy -------------------------------------------------------------------- Can See Me @me @me the @mr SameRoom, Can't see me Someone nearby Someone * " " " " " " " " " " " Someone very powerful Someone very powerful DiffRoom, Can't see me Someone Someone A n n o u n c e when @xx @xy -------------------------------------------------------------------- Can See me @me @me the @mr SameRoom, Can't see me A @gn voice nearby A @gn voice nearby * " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " Nearby, someone very powerful Diffroom, Can't see me In the distance an @gn voice (<-ditto) With these features at your command, you should REALLY be able to tidy up those multi-user bits, and get a REAL game up and running! These will be the bulk of the differences between 0.89 and 0.9, the NEXT release version! Right... Enough waffle... GET ADVENTURING! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------