Fatal Distractions!/fataldistractions.bin/appndxa/masters/mast-doc.pt3

Text File | 1993-06-13 | 94KB | 2,380 lines

        PICTURE [Picture of Small Building]
        PIX [Sky pix] [Tree pix]
        END_ROOM

   By adding the [Sky pix] and [Tree pix] labels to the PIX line for the
   room, we will cause the SKY and the TREE to be displayed as pictures
   whenever the player is in this room -- if the player gives the proper
   VIEW command.


   META-COMMANDS AND PICTURES

   Most pictures or animations will be seen when the player gives a command
   to VIEW something. However, there will be times in the game when the
   game designer will want to initiate the display a picture or animation.
   For example, when the player wins the game (or loses) you may want to
   display as special picture to mark the occasion.  These occasions will
   be handled by using meta-commands to display the pictures or animations.

   The game designer initiates these picture displays by using the
   ShowPicture or IfYShowPicture meta-command tokens.  The following are
   two examples of how pictures might be shown by using meta-commands:

        #COMMENT ------- random "cameo" appearances in cave

        COMMAND ANY
        Chance 3
        AtLocationGT [hall of mists]
        AtLocationLT [cylindrical chamber] ;most of cave area
        FlagOFF [Dwarf here]
        PrintMessage [IRS men appear]
        WaitForReturn ; Show picture when player hits RETURN
        ShowPicture [Picture of IRS men]
        PrintMessage [IRS men disappear]
        END_MESSAGE

        MESSAGE [IRS men appear]
        Seven men, wearing gray business suits and carrying briefcases,
        suddenly appear out of the shadows and surround you.  They identify
        themselves as representatives of the Internal Revenue Service!
        With absolutely no show of emotion, they report: "We understand
        that you have been accumulating some un-declared income.  We wish
        to warn you that we are watching you closely as you play this game,
        and all of this income must be properly and totally accounted for
        on your next tax return.  If it isn't, you will go to jail or
        worse!"
        END_MESSAGE

        MESSAGE [IRS men disappear]
        They then disappear in a >POOF< of red, white and blue smoke.
        END_MESSAGE


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        COMMAND ANY
        Chance 3
        AtLocationGT [hall of mists]
        AtLocationLT [cylindrical chamber] ;most of cave area
        FlagOFF [Dwarf here]
        PrintMessage [Mining Robot appears]
        IfYShowPicture [Picture of Mining Robot] ; Asks if player wants to
        ; see picture -- and display it only if player responds with a YES
        PrintMessage [Mining Robot disappears]
        END_MESSAGE

        MESSAGE [Mining Robot appears]
        From somewhere nearby, there suddenly comes a sound of something
        mechanical in motion.  As you turn toward it, an incredible figure
        rolls into the light of your lamp.  It stands about five feet high
        on a wheeled metal pedestal, and has a globular light-filled head,
             accordion-pleated metal arms, and a cylindrical body the size
        of an oil drum with a plastic panel on the front. It rolls past
        without taking any notice of you, all the while waving its arms,
        flashing a light behind its front panel and bellowing "WARNING!
        WARNING! DANGER!" at the top of its not inconsiderable voice.
        END_MESSAGE

        MESSAGE [Mining Robot disappears]
        It rolls on out of sight, and moments later there is an immense
        flash of light and a tremendous blast of sparks and smoke.  When
        the air clears, you find that no trace remains of the strange
        apparition.
        END_MESSAGE

   Remember -- these pictures or animations will be displayed until a key
   is pressed and then the display will return to the normal AGT text-based
   screen -- ready for the next game command from the player.

   IMPORTANT NOTE:  Both of the meta-command picture examples above assume
   that the picture being referenced is one of the up-to-250 pictures or
   animations defined in the PICTURE list -- i.e., [Picture of IRS men] and
   [Picture of Mining Robot] were both defined by something similar to:

        PICTURES
        [Intro Picture] INTRO
        [First Jungle Scene] JUNGLE1
          ...
        [Picture of IRS men] IRSGUYS
        [Picture of Mining Robot] M-ROBOT
          . . .
        [Victory Picture] VICTORY
        END_PICTURES

   If [Picture of IRS men] and [Picture of Mining Robot] were defines as
   some of the up-to-30 ROOM_PIX, you would have to use different meta-
   command tokens. Specifically, rather than ...

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        ShowPicture [Picture of IRS men]
   and
        IfYShowPicture [Picture of Mining Robot]

   you would have to use:

        ShowROOM_PIX [Picture of IRS men]

   and

        IfYShowROOM_PIX [Picture of Mining Robot]

   Obviously, if the proper picture/animation can not be found on the disk
   and/or the player's screen is not capable of displaying the resolution
   of the picture or animation, then these meta-command tokens will have no
   effect.

   Another meta-command token that you will find useful is:

        Room_PixHere [Tree pix]

   which will check if the [Tree pix] picture may be viewed in the current
   room.






























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   PART 7:  OPTIONAL MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS


   The Master's Edition allows you to play music or have other sound
   effects (like a telephone ringing) in the background of your AGT
   Adventure game.  In the background means that once you start the sound
   effect or music playing, you can continue on with the rest of your game
   and the sound or music keeps playing without any additional effort on
   your part until the song or sound is finished.  You can use this to
   provide special sound effects in your games or just to add a cute
   indication that your program is still doing something -- even when it is
   reacting to or waiting for the player's various commands.  You can turn
   songs on and off using meta-commands and change the music to fit the
   mood of the current game situation -- e.g., eerie, spooky music for
   exploring a haunted house, or calliope music for an adventure set at a
   circus.

   The Master's Edition can use (1) music files from Neil Rubenking's
   PianoMan program version 4.0, or (2) music and sound effects that are in
   the form required by BASIC's PLAY statements or (3) you can create your
   own sound effects using a Turbo Pascal source program (provided as part
   of the Master's Edition "package").  All of AGT's sound effect or music
   files must have a .MUC file extension.  You can have up to 50 .MUC files
   for each AGT game.

   In addition, Version 1.5 of the Master's Edition can use SoundBlaster
   and Adlib compatible sound/music files.  Just how, will be described a
   little later in the manual.


   SOUND CONVERSION UTILITIES

   To help convert to AGT-useable sound/music files, several conversion
   programs are provided as part of The Master's Edition package.
   CNVT_MUZ.EXE will convert any PianoMan 4.0 (.MUZ) file into an AGT .MUC
   file.  CONVT_PLY.EXE will convert any BASIC PLAY music strings (in ASCII
   or text) into an AGT .MUC file. See a couple of the .PLY files for
   examples of the format CNVT_PLY is expecting.

   To create sound effects like water dripping or telephones ringing, you
   should use the AGTSOUND.EXE program.  The Turbo Pascal source code to
   this program (AGTSOUND.PAS) is also provided so you can create
   customized sounds.

   Each of these conversion/creation programs produces a .MUC file that AGT
   can play/sound in the background.

   These MUC. files use the IBM PC's built-in speaker.  No special sound
   board is required.

   Blatant Plug:  Neil's PianoMan is an excellent shareware product and is
   available from many bulletin boards on in the IBM Software forum on

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   Compuserve.  It allows you to play your computer's keyboard like a piano
   keyboard and record and edit music entered in real time or from sheet
   music. There are also many files of songs already entered that you can
   use.  One sample archive for instance contains over 50 sample songs.
   PianoMan is described in more detail in the section entitled RECOMMENDED
   SHAREWARE UTILITIES.


   ADLIB AND SOUNDBLASTER SUPPORT

   With version 1.5 of the Master's Edition, we have added the capability
   to use AdLib or SoundBlaster (or compatible) sound cards -- if one is
   available on the computer where the game is being played.  Using these
   sound cards, your game can now have sounds ranging from a full symphony
   to speech.  In addition to its own music/sound format .MUC files, the
   Master's Edition can now play .CMF, .MID, or .VOC files.


   USING SOUND AND MUSIC

   The song/sound files are indicated in your AGT source files by something
   similar to the following:

        SOUNDS
        [Intro Music] INTRO   <-- actual disk file must be named INTRO.MUC
        [Jungle Drums] TOM-TOMS  <-- actual file must be named TOM-TOMS.MUC
        [Death Dirge] DEATH  <-- actual file must be named DEATH.MUC
          . . .
        [Victory March] VICTORY  <-- actual file must be named VICTORY.MUC
        END_SOUNDS

   There can be up to 50 song/sound files in each AGT game.

   Playing these songs and sound effects must be controlled via
   meta-commands. The following examples demonstrate how these
   meta-commands should be used:

        PlaySong [Jungle Drums]    <--     This plays the song/sound file
                                           TOM-TOMS.MUC once.  The standard
                                           mode is to play the song until
                                           it is finished and then to stop.

        RepeatSong [Jungle Drums]  <--     This plays the song/sound file
                                           TOM-TOMS.MUC repeatedly.  When
                                           the song is finished it would
                                           automatically be started again.

        EndRepeatSong              <--     This causes the current
                                           song/sound to stop when it is
                                           finished, i.e., the repeating
                                           feature would be turned off.


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        PlayRandom {num1} {num2}   <--     This plays a random song/sound
                                           file between num1 and num2 once.
                                           The song/sound will be played
                                           until it is finished and then it
                                           will stop.

        StopSong                   <--     This causes the current
                                           song/sound to stop immediately.
                                           Once the StopSong command has
                                           been given, the song can not be
                                           resumed without giving a new
                                           PlaySong or RepeatSong
                                           meta-command.  If you wish to
                                           change songs/sounds before the
                                           current sound/song is finished,
                                           you must first use a StopSong
                                           token before starting the new
                                           sound/song with either a
                                           StartSong or RepeatSong token.

        SuspendSong                <--     This causes the current
                                           song/sound to stop immediately
                                           -- but it can be resumed at the
                                           current spot at a later time.

        ResumeSong                 <--     This resumes playing a song that
                                           had been suspended by a
                                           SuspendSong meta-command at the
                                           spot where it had been
                                           suspended.

        SongPlaying                <--     This is a conditional
                                           meta-command and will return a
                                           TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                           whether there is a song playing
                                           at the current moment.

   There is a utility provided called AGT_PLAY.EXE which allows you to try
   out your music and sound effects before you incorporate them into the
   actual AGT game.  AGT_PLAY can be used to test/play .MUC, .CMF, .MID,
   and .VOC music/sound files.  Try it to get a feel for what is possible.


   IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SOUND AND MUSIC

   There are a couple of potential limitations about using .MUC sound that
   you need to understand.  NOTE: The following limitations/discussion
   do/does not apply to Adlib or SoundBlaster sound cards.

   First, sounds and/or songs within AGT are played in the background.  The
   way in which this is done is to check and potentially change the sound
   parameters every time the computer's internal clock "ticks" -- roughly

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   18 times a second. The fact that AGT can only adjust the sound every
   1/18th of a second means that some sounds can not be played successfully
   -- specifically, it is impossible to play sounds that change very
   quickly or have tones that last a very short time.  An obvious example
   of this problem is music that has multiple voices where each voice gets
   a very short period of time for its note before switching to the next
   voice.  Good examples of this are some of the songs from PIANOMAN that
   are written for four voice harmony.  These songs are almost impossible
   for AGT to play successfully.  Other sounds that AGT will have problems
   with are sound effects which are made up of a number tones of very short
   duration -- such as some whistles, sirens, and like sounds.  The best
   way to test whether a sound/song can be used in AGT is to play it using
   PLAY_MUC.  If you try to play it with PLAY_MUC and it works, then it
   will work in AGT.  Conversely, if it does not work (i.e., you get no
   sound at all or it doesn't sound right), then it won't work correctly in
   AGT.

   The second limitation will only apply to some computers, principally
   older machines with "slow" hard disks.  Again, the clock "tick rate" of
   once every 1/18th of a second may not allow you to make all of the
   sound/song changes that a sound file may require when you are also
   reading the descriptions off the disk at the same time.  Some computers
   will complete a disk read (or write) and not interrupt the disk access
   just because of a clock tick every 1/18th of a second.  If your disk is
   one of these, the sounds may be distorted by slow downs while the disk
   is being accessed.  The best solution to this problem is to put your
   game (and all its associated files) on a ram disk.  If you don't have a
   ram disk, you may wish to turn the SOUND OFF.

   The last limitation with AGT's sound/music capabilities is that the
   number of separate notes is limited to about 5000.  The best way to
   check if a particular song or sound has less than 5000 notes is to use
   the program PLAY_MUC and check the size of the file.  IF PLAY_MUC shows
   the song/sound files is 5000 bytes or less, then you should not have any
   problems in getting it to work properly within an AGT game.


















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   PART 8:  OTHER NEW FEATURES UNIQUE TO MASTER'S EDITION


   CUSTOMIZEABLE "DEFAULT" MESSAGES

   At long last, you can "die" in some other fashion than disappearing in a
   cloud of orange smoke.  All (well -- almost all) of the messages in the
   Master's Edition can be customized by the game designer.

   The Master's Edition of AGT gets its standard "default" messages by
   reading a file of such standard messages.  These files will have a .STD
   extension.  When the Master's Edition MCOMPILE program is started it
   will first look for a .STD file for the specific game being played,
   i.e., GAMENAME.STD.  If that file is not found on the current directory,
   MCOMPILE will look for the "default" .STD file which is AGT.STD.  If
   AGT.STD is also not on the current directory, MRUN will quit with an
   error message.

   The Master's Edition package has two .STD file for you to play with:
   AGT.STD and IRUN.STD.  AGT.STD is the "standard" set of AGT messages
   that use to be "hard-coded" into the MRUN program.  IRUN.STD is a set of
   messages that change the player's perspective to the "first-person" from
   the normal perspective of "third-person," i.e., all of the messages are
   changed to use "I" rather than "You" -- such as, "I shoot the gun at the
   bandit."  IRUN.STD is the set of messages that Pat Farley developed for
   CRIME TO THE 9TH POWER, the first place winning game in the 1990 AGT
   adventure game writing contest.

   There must be exactly 185 standard messages numbered STANDARD 1 to
   STANDARD 185 in a .STD file (either GAMENAME.STD, AGT.STD or IRUN.STD).
   You may edit these messages as you see fit.  However, you must keep them
   in the same order and you must keep their meaning consistent with the
   current meaning.  For example, below is STANDARD 38 which is the
   standard message that will be printed whenever the player tries to WEAR
   something that weights over 100 pounds:

        STANDARD 38
        It's too heavy!  You aren't strong enough to carry or wear the
        $noun$!
        END_STANDARD

   You can feel free to change this message in any way you wish -- but,
   however you change STANDARD 38 -- it will still be printed if and only
   if the player tries to WEAR a noun weighing over 100 pounds.

   There are several "string variables" that may be used freely in messages
   -- specifically:

        $verb$ is the current VERB
        $noun$ is the current NOUN
        $prep$ is the current PREPOSITION
        $object$ is the current OBJECT

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        $adjective$ is the current NOUN's adjective
        $n_pro$ is the NOUN's pronoun, i.e., "it" "they" "he" or "she"
        $o_pro$ is the OBJECT's pronoun, i.e., "it" "they" "he" or "she"
        $n_indir$ is the NOUN's indirect pronoun - "it" "them" "him" or
        "her"
        $o_indir$ is the OBJECT's indirect pronoun: "it" "them" "him" or
        "her"
        $n_is$ is either "is" or "are" based upon NOUN being singular or
        plural
        $o_is$ is either "is" or "are" based upon OBJECT being singular or
        plural
        $c_name$ is the NAME of the HOSTILE creature that is attacking the
        player

   Any of the above string variables can be capitalized by making the
   appropriate letters between the $'s upper case.  For example $Noun$ will
   capitalize the first letter of the NOUN's name, or $OBJECT$ will display
   the OBJECT's name in all caps.


   CUSTOMIZEABLE USER INTERFACE

   The Master's Edition of AGT allows the user to customize the manner in
   which the game's general interface is defined and to specify the game's
   overall "look-and-feel."  The user may define color schemes, status line
   options, command input method, size and "layout" of the screen, etc.
   Once the player has a set of "look-and-feel" options he or she likes,
   these options may be saved as the standard defaults for this game and
   any other AGT game the user plays.

   The "look-and-feel" options are accessed by hitting the ESC key during
   the game.

   If you create an user interface that you like, it may be saved by
   selecting the item on the options menu.  This creates a file with the
   extension GAMENAME.OPT which has your options for this game.
   Thereafter, whenever you start the game, the fiel GAMENAME.OPT file will
   be read and your saved "look-and-feel" options will automatically be
   used.


   "FREEZING" THE USER INTERFACE

   If you have saved a particular set of "look-and-feel" options (in a file
   named GAMENAME,OPT) for a game, you can "freeze" those options, so that
   whoever is playing the game can not change the "look-and-feel."  This is
   done by putting the word FREEZE on a separate line in the game's .AGT
   before the game is compiled.  As an example, the game HOLMES forces the
   player to always use a MENU-DRIVEN option for the game.




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   ADAPTING YOUR GAME FOR THE "MENU-DRIVEN" PLAYER INPUT

   One of the options available in the Master's Edition is a unique
   "menu-driven" player input that allows the player to enter game commands
   by selecting words from a menu.  This option is particularly helpful for
   players who are often frustrated by their inability to figure out an
   adventure game's vocabulary -- since the menu always displays a list of
   "feasible" (though not always "smart" or even appropriate) commands from
   which the player may make a selection.

   However, the "menus" do show some intelligence -- if the player selects
   the verb DROP from the menu, then he/she will be shown a menu of nouns
   that can be selected to be dropped.  This list will be composed only of
   nouns that the player is currently carrying or wearing, i.e., logical
   candidates for being DROPped.  This level of inherent intelligence is
   not extended to all verbs, however.  For example, if the player selects
   the verb EAT, the nouns shown will be all of the nouns and creatures
   visible at the location plus special "related" or "room" specific or
   "ubiquitous" nouns (to be discussed a little later).  In other words,
   the noun list will not be limited to nouns that have been defined as
   EDIBLE and happen to be visible at the current location.  I firmly
   believe the "menu-driven" input should not limit either the player's or
   the game designer's ability to have such game commands as EAT THE TRASH
   CAN or PUSH THE STRING WITH MY NOSE.

   The "menu-driven" input option may be accessed by hitting the ESC key
   during the game and toggling the MENU option to ON.

   The Master's Edition of AGT gets its standard "menu-driven" verb list by
   reading a file with the list of verbs to be displayed in the menu.  This
   file will have a .VOC extension.  When the Master's Edition MRUN program
   is started it will first look for a .VOC file for the specific game
   being played, i.e., GAMENAME.VOC.  If that file is not found on the
   current directory, MRUN will look for the "default" .VOC file which is
   AGT.VOC.  If AGT.VOC is also not on the current directory, MRUN will
   quit with an error message.

   The Master's Edition package has two .VOC files for you to play with:
   AGT.VOC and SQUYNCH.VOC.  AGT.VOC is the "standard" set of AGT verbs for
   potential use by the "menu-driven" player input.  SQUYNCH.VOC is a set
   of verbs that were selected specifically for the game SQUYNCH.  By
   looking at the differences between these two files, you can get an idea
   of how and why you might want to "customize" your verb menu.

   When setting up our own .VOC file please follow these guidelines:

        1.   The verb menu will be displayed in the exact order as the
             verbs in the vocabulary file, i.e., the .VOC file.

        2.   It is important that some verbs be included in a particular
             order.  For example, the directions should be shown before
             other verbs beginning with the same letter, e.g., SOUTH should

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             be the first S-verb, so that hitting a single letter on the
             keyboard will jump to the most frequently used verbs
             (commands).

        3.   There should be a number in the first column of each verb
             entry in the .VOC file.  The number should be a 1 if the verb
             does not need a noun, e.g., SOUTH, HELP.  The number should be
             a 2 if the verb always needs a noun, e.g., GET.  The number
             should be a 3 if the verb is a compound verb such as PUT IN
             that always needs both a noun and an object, e.g., PUT noun IN
             object.  If the number is a 3, then the verb MUST consist of
             two words, e.g., PUT IN, or an error message will be
             generated.  Any number other than 1, 2, or 3 will also
             generate an error message.

   IMPORTANT WARNING:  Your verb list is limited to a maximum of 200 verbs.
   Also, each verb (compound or otherwise) must be limited to 15 characters
   or less.

   For example, the AGT.VOC starts off with the following entries:

        ! AGAIN should be the first A-verb
        1 Again
        2 Attack
        3 Attack With
        3 Ask about
        1 Brief
        3 Block with
        2 Break
        3 Break with
        2 Close
        1 Climb
        2 Climb up
        2 Climb down

   This would cause the following actions:

        ! AGAIN should be the first A-verb <- A comment line -- ignored
        1 Again <- Will be selected when an A is hit on the keyboard
        2 Attack <- ATTACK noun -- i.e., ATTACK ORC
        3 Attack With <- ATTACK noun WITH object
        3 Ask about <- ASK noun ABOUT object -- i.e., ASK ORC ABOUT GOLD
        1 Brief <- Will be selected when an B is hit on the keyboard
        3 Block with <- BLOCK noun WITH object
        2 Break <- BREAK noun - i.e., BREAK EGG
        3 Break with <- BREAK noun WITH object -- i.e., BREAK DOOR WITH AXE
        2 Close <- CLOSE noun -- i.e., CLOSE DOOR
        1 Climb <- CLIMB -- i.e., no noun
        2 Climb up <- CLIMB UP noun -- i.e., CLIMB UP TREE
        2 Climb down <- CLIMB DOWN noun -- i.e., CLIMB DOWN TREE



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   The biggest challenge the game designer will have in converting a
   Classic Edition AGT game to work with the new menu-driven player input
   will be making sure that the nouns that should be displayed in a
   particular location or situation will (in fact) be displayed.  The
   menu-driven input option shows only a subset of all of the potential
   nouns -- and your challenge as a game designer is to make sure that the
   nouns you want get selected for these subsets.

   To help you understand how to accomplish this feat, let's review just
   how this list of nouns to be displayed is determined.  This list is
   formed from:

        1.   All "visible" nouns and creatures

        2.   All "related" names

        3.   All "ubiquitous" nouns

        4.   All "room specific" nouns

   More details follow on each of these:

        1.   All nouns and creatures that are "visible" at the current
             location, i.e., all creatures present in the room plus all
             nouns that are either being carried or worn, in the room, or
             inside another noun (which is inside the room) that is open.

        2.   All nouns or names that are "related" to one of the visible
             nouns, i.e., "related" to nouns covered by (1) above.  As an
             example, see the magic carpet in SQUYNCH that has a "label"
             attached to it.  You want the player to be able to READ THE
             LABEL whenever the magic carpet is present.  By making LABEL a
             "related name" for the magic carpet, the word LABEL will
             appear whenever the word CARPET would also appear on a noun
             list.  Another example from SQUYNCH is the need to have the
             word NOSE to appear on the noun lists whenever the player has
             the CLOTHPIN.  This allows the player to use the menu-driven
             player input to enter a command like PIN NOSE WITH CLOTHPIN or
             PUT CLOTHPIN ON NOSE.  This objective is accomplished by
             having NOSE as a "related name" of the noun CLOTHPIN.

             As an example, below is the NOUN definition for the CLOTHPIN:

             NOUN  [247 WOODEN CLOTHPIN]
             CLOTHPIN
             WOODEN
             There is a wooden clothpin here.
             LOCATION [27 Royal Laundry Room]
             WEIGHT 5
             POSITION on clothline
             NOUN_SYNONYMS PIN
             RELATED_NAME NOSE

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             END_NOUN

             NOUN_DESCR [247 WOODEN CLOTHPIN]
             The wooden clothpin is about 3 inches long.
             END_NOUN_DESCR

        3.   All nouns that have been defined by the game designer as
             "ubiquitous" for the particular game.  Examples of possible
             ubiquitous nouns include such things/names as "ME", "GROUND,"
             or "SKY."  These nouns will appear on EVERY noun list the
             menu-driven player input generates.  There can be at most 100
             of these global nouns in a game.  Below is an example of how
             these nouns would be specified in the .AGT file:

             GLOBAL_NOUNS
             Me
             Ground   <-- Maximum of 100 of these!
             END_GLOBAL_NOUNS

             IMPORTANT NOTE:  You should use the GLOBAL NOUNS to do the
             same thing for nouns that "Dummy Verbs" does for verbs.  In
             other words, a GLOBAL NOUN will be recognized by the parser as
             a valid noun without having been defined as a separate NOUN
             (and using up one of your very precious 200 NOUN definitions).
             However, because they are not one of the "standard" NOUN
             definitions, you MUST handle all references to your GLOBAL
             NOUNS via metacommands!!  For example, let's say that GROUND
             is defined as a GLOBAL NOUN (and is not a separate NOUN
             definition).  You must have metacommands to handle such player
             inputs as GET GROUND, EXAMINE GROUND, etc.  The standard
             "built-in" routines for AGT can only deal with things that are
             defined as either NOUNs or CREATUREs -- and obviously, GROUND
             does not apply in this case.

        4.   All nouns that have been defined by the game designer as "room
             specific" for the current room.  Examples of possible "room
             specific" nouns might include such things as "TREES", "WATER,"
             or "SNOW," i.e., things that can be expected to be found in
             multiple locations through out the game and which are unlikely
             to have specific NOUN definitions in each of these locations.
             For example, you may want the player to GET WATER at multiple
             locations within the game such as at wells, streams, lakes,
             etc.  By using a "room specific" noun of WATER for each of
             these locations, you can assure that WATER will always appear
             on any noun list the menu-driven input generates at any of
             these locations.  Within the Master's Edition, you are allowed
             up to 30 "room specific" nouns (or flags).  This is 30 in
             total -- not 30 per room.

             Here is an example of how these flags/nouns should be
             specified in the game's .AGT file:


                                     144




             REM  ----  Flag Noun Numbers

             FLAG_NOUNS
             [Castle] Castle
             [Cave] Cave
             [Cove] Cove
             [Water] Water
             [Moat] Moat
             [Bridge] Bridge
             [Stairs] Stairs   <-- Maximum of 30 of these!
             END_FLAG_NOUNS

             Once these flags/nouns have been defined they can be specified
             for a room in the game as the following examples shows:

             ROOM [18 Drawbridge]
             Drawbridge
             NORTH [20 Moat]
             SOUTH [20 Moat]
             EAST [15 Waiting Room]
             WEST [Front of Castle]
             FLAGS [Castle] [Water] [Bridge]
             END_ROOM

             ROOM_DESCR [18 Drawbridge]
             You are now on the drawbridge in front of Squeeb's castle
             which lies to the east.  There is another exit to the west.
             END_ROOM_DESCR

             The Drawbridge location has the flags/nouns for WATER, CASTLE,
             and BRIDGE.  These nouns will be displayed on any noun list
             that the menu-driven input generates while at this location.

             You can test the status and/or change the status of these
             flags using the following meta-commands:

             RoomFlagON num       <-- Tests if RoomFlag num is ON
             RoomFlagOFF num      <-- Tests if RoomFlag num is OFF
             TurnRoomFlagON num   <-- Will turn RoomFlag num ON
             TurnRoomFlagOFF num  <-- Will turn RoomFlag num OFF
             ToggleRoomFlag num   <-- Will toggle or switch RoomFlag num

             Here are a few examples of how the WATER room flag might be
             used to deal properly with the commands GET WATER and EXAMINE
             WATER:

             COMMAND GET WATER
             Present [231 WOODEN PAIL]
             RoomFlagOFF [Water] ; there isn't any water here
             PrintMessage [No water here!]
             DoneWithTurn
             END_COMMAND

                                     145




             MESSAGE [No water here!]
             There isn't any water here.  Perhaps, you meant to MAKE WATER!
             END_MESSAGE

             COMMAND GET WATER
             Present [231 WOODEN PAIL]
             RoomFlagON [Water] ; there is water here
             ReDirectTo FILL PAIL
             DoneWithTurn
             END_COMMAND

             COMMAND EXAMINE WATER
             RoomFlagON [Water]
             PrintMessage [Water description]
             DoneWithTurn
             END_COMMAND

             MESSAGE [Water description]
             The water looks dark, murky and polluted!  It also stinks
             something awful!
             END_MESSAGE

             Room flags can also be used without having any nouns added to
             the noun list generated by the menu-driven input option.
             Examples of situations where you might want to be able to test
             or set flags for a location include: (1) a flag to indicate
             the location is "outside", (2) a flag to indicate that this
             location is one where a particular CREATURE might appear at
             random, and (3) a flag to indicate that the player must be
             wearing a "space-suit" or he/she will die from lack of oxygen.

             The way to accomplish this is to not add the flag to the
             FLAG_NOUNS list.  For example, to create a flag for a room
             being "outside," we could add the following definition:

             #DEFINE [Outside]  8

             Then to specify that the "Drawbridge" location was "outside",
             we would just add it to the room's FLAG list:

             ROOM [18 Drawbridge]
             Drawbridge
             NORTH [20 Moat]
             SOUTH [20 Moat]
             EAST [15 Waiting Room]
             WEST [Front of Castle]
             FLAGS [Castle] [Water] [Bridge] [Outside]
             END_ROOM

             Because [Outside] is not in the FLAG_NOUNS list, the word
             OUTSIDE will not appear on the noun list that the menu-driven
             input option generates.

                                     146




   INITIAL DESCRIPTIONS FOR ROOMS, NOUNS AND CREATURES


   NOUN INITIAL DESCRIPTIONS

   Let's begin with an example of using "initial" descriptions for nouns.

   Often you will want to have a noun's short description change after you
   move it or take it.  For example, we might want to have the initial
   short description of a chrome key "attached" to objects in the key's
   initial location as follows:

        You are on a large ledge only a couple of meters below the top of
        the spire.  There is a large nest just out of your reach.
           Dangling from the nest on a red string is a chrome key.

   Once you move the key, you would want its short description to be "free"
   of the nest -- for example:

        There is a chrome key on a string here.

   You can do this by specifying the noun's INITIAL value to be the number
   of a message.  This message will be printed as the noun's short
   description until such time as the noun is moved by getting it, wearing
   it, or placing it.  After the noun is moved from its initial location,
   the noun's "normal" short description will be used.

   For example, here is how the chrome key might be specified:

        ROOM [Top of the spire]
        Top of the spire
        DOWN [Half-way up the Spire]
        END_ROOM

        ROOM_DESCR [Top of the spire]
        You are on a large ledge only a couple of meters below the top of
        the spire.  There is a large nest just out of your reach.
        END_ROOM_DESCR

        NOUN [Chrome key]
        key
        Chrome
        There is a chrome key on a string here.
        WEIGHT 1
        SIZE 1
        POINTS 2
        WEARABLE ; can be worn
        LOCATION [Top of the spire]
        INITIAL [Initial Chrome key description]
        END_NOUN



                                     147




        NOUN_DESCR [Chrome key]
        The key is made of chrome and is on a string.  It looks like it
        might come in handy.
        END_NOUN_DESCR

        MESSAGE [Initial Chrome key description]
        Dangling from the nest on a red string is a chrome key.
        END_MESSAGE

   You have the option of specifying "short-cut" initial messages just like
   you can with "short-cut" messages within a meta-command.  For example,
   we could have defined the initial message as follows:

        NOUN [Chrome key]
        key
        Chrome
        There is a chrome key on a string here.
        WEIGHT 1
        SIZE 1
        POINTS 2
        WEARABLE ; can be worn
        LOCATION [Top of the spire]
        INITIAL "Dangling from the nest on a red string is a chrome key."
        END_NOUN

   If we went a longer (i.e., multi-line) initial message we can do that as
   well. For example, we could define a multi-line initial message as
   follows:

        NOUN [Chrome key]
        key
        Chrome
        There is a chrome key on a string here.
        WEIGHT 1
        SIZE 1
        POINTS 2
        WEARABLE ; can be worn
        LOCATION [Top of the spire]
        INITIAL
        Dangling from the nest on a red string is a chrome key.  It looks
        like it could be easily plucked from the nest -- if you wanted it
        for some reason.  But heaven only knows why you would want a key
        like this one.
        END_INITIAL
        END_NOUN


   CREATURE INITIAL DESCRIPTIONS

   We can do the same sort of things with initial descriptions for
   CREATUREs. For example, let's add a bald eagle to the above scenario
   that swoops out of the sky the first time it is described -- but is

                                     148




   sitting on the nest quite peacefully after the first description -- as
   follows:

        CREATURE [Bald Eagle]
        Eagle
        Bald
        A bald eagle is perched peacefully on top of the nest.
        LOCATION [Top of the spire]
        FRIENDLY
        INITIAL
        Suddenly, you hear a screech from high above you.  A big bird
        swoops down at you.  It is a giant bald eagle and it dive bombs at
        your head -- making several passes that very nearly knock you off
        your precarious perch.

        The eagle finally lands on the nest and seems to calm down.
        END_INITIAL
        END_CREATURE

   The first time you are in the same room with the bald eagle the INITIAL
   description will be printed.  Thereafter, the normal short description
   will be given -- e.g., "A bald eagle is perched peacefully on top of the
   nest."


   ROOM INITIAL DESCRIPTIONS

   We can do the same sort of things with initial descriptions for ROOMs.
   For example, let's add some descriptive prose to describe your very
   first climb up to the ledge below the nest -- as follows:

        ROOM [Top of the spire]
        Top of the spire
        DOWN [Half-way up the Spire]
        INITIAL
          You put you knee between a crack in the spire to wedge yourself
        safely while you swing your foot up to the ledge.  Your foot lands
        on top of some loose stones and you grab at the ledge with your
        hands.  You just catch the ledge with your finger tips.  Finally,
        you manage to pull yourself up and you collapse exhausted on the
        ledge.  After resting awhile, you regain enough of your strength
        and aplomb to look around you.

          You are on a large ledge only a couple of meters below the top of
        the spire.  There is a large nest just out of your reach.
        END_INITIAL
        END_ROOM

        ROOM_DESCR [Top of the spire]
        You are on a large ledge only a couple of meters below the top of
        the spire.  There is a large nest just out of your reach.
        END_ROOM_DESCR

                                     149




   The first time you enter the room, the INITIAL description will be used
   to describe the room.  On subsequent visits to the room or whenever you
   give the command LOOK, the normal description will be given. e.g., ...

        You are on a large ledge only a couple of meters below the top of
        the spire.  There is a large nest just out of your reach.


   CHANGING DESCRIPTIONS

   Version 1.5 adds one other way to change the descriptions for NOUNS,
   CREATURES and ROOMS.  This is by using the new ChangeDescr meta-command
   token.  For example, to change the description of the CREATURE [Ogre] to
   the description contained in the MESSAGE [Angry Ogre], you would use the
   following meta-command:

        ChangeDescr [Ogre] [Angry Ogre]

   This capability will be particularly useful when you want to change
   descriptions for ROOMs to give the appearance of more rooms without
   really having more rooms.  For example, your game might have an
   earthquake that changes all of the rooms' descriptions to reflect the
   damage, but does not change the basic map of the game.  This could be
   done by a series of meta-commands similar to the following:

        ChangeDescr [Town Square] [Town Square -- after quake]

   Another example, you might want to have a NOUN which is window in a room
   that starts as being boarded-up, but after the player uses a crowbar on
   it, its description should change to "covered with loose boards."  This
   could be done with:

        ChangeDescr [window] [window --with loose boards]


   "AUTOEXEC" META-COMMANDS FOR ROOMS

   Version 1.5 of the Master's Edition adds the ability to execute a set of
   meta-commands immediately upon entering a room.  This is know as an
   "AutoExec" capability.  As an example, the game HOLMES (included with
   Version 1.5) uses this capability to select one of eighteen cases for
   the player to try to solve.  This is done, by have the starting room for
   the game a room that has an AUTOEXEC for the verb SELECTCASE (which must
   be defined as a verb).  The meta-commands for the verb SELECTCASE then
   prompts the player to select a case (from 1 to 18), check to see that a
   proper case was selected (i.e., number 1 to 18), and then changes the
   various ROOM DESCRIPTIONS to correspond to the case selected.  The logic
   to accomplish this is shown below:

        STARTING_ROOM [Select Case Room]



                                     150




        ROOM [Select Case Room]
        221B Baker Street
        ! Do SELECTCASE command to get Case number and change various
        ROOM_DESCR's
        AUTOEXEC SELECTCASE
        END_ROOM

        ROOM_DESCR [Select Case Room]
        You need to select one of the following cases to solve.

            1 - The Adventure of the Dead Inventor
            2 - The Adventure of the Missing Cuckoo
            3 - The Case of Murder in the Park
            4 - The Adventure of the Vanishing Lady
            5 - The Case of the Vicious Viper
            6 - The Adventure of the Missing Knife
            7 - The Adventure of the Mysterious Message
            8 - The Case of the Missing Rolls Royce
            9 - The Adventure of the Golden Coins
           10 - The Case of the Code Crossword
           11 - The Case of the Crashed Cab
           12 - The Silenced Maintenance Man
           13 - The Case of the Jilted Jockey
           14 - The Case of the Northern Cross
           15 - The Case of the Dead Letter Murders
           16 - The Adventure of West Landings Ghost
           17 - The Case of the Vanishing Silver
           18 - The Case of the Last Alibi
        END_ROOM_DESCR

        COMMAND SELECTCASE
        PrintMessage "Enter the number of the case you wish to solve"
        GetVariable [Case]
        SetVariableTo [Money] 25
        SetVariableTo [Number of Passes] 2
        SetVariableTo [Starting Time] 1302
        SetTimeToVariable [Starting Time]
        END_COMMAND

        MESSAGE [Please enter a number from 1 to 18 only!]
        Please enter a number from 1 to 18 only!
        END_MESSAGE

        COMMAND SELECTCASE
        ! Check for Valid Case number
        VariableLT [Case] 1
        GoToRoom [Select Case Room]
        PrintMessage [Please enter a number from 1 to 18 only!]
        ReDirectTo SELECTCASE
        DoneWithTurn
        END_COMMAND


                                     151




        COMMAND SELECTCASE
        ! Check for Valid Case number
        VariableGT [Case] 18
        GoToRoom [Select Case Room]
        PrintMessage [Please enter a number from 1 to 18 only!]
        ReDirectTo SELECTCASE
        DoneWithTurn
        END_COMMAND

        COMMAND SELECTCASE
        ! Change all of the ROOM_DESCR's to the those for the Case 1
        VariableEquals [Case] 1
        ChangeDescr [Starting Room] [Case1 Starting Room]
        ChangeDescr [Loire Gallery] [Case1 Loire Gallery]
        ChangeDescr [Scotland Yard] [Case1 Scotland Yard]
        ChangeDescr [Seymore Park] [Case1 Seymore Park]
        ...

        ChangeDescr [Stock Exchange] [Case1 Stock Exchange]
        ChangeDescr [Cab Company] [Case1 Cab Company]
        ChangeDescr [Newspaper] [Case1 Newspaper]
        ChangeDescr [Pub] [Case1 Pub]
        ChangeDescr [Shipping Company] [Case1 Shipping Company]
        GoToRoom [Starting Room]
        DoneWithTurn
        END_COMMAND

        COMMAND SELECTCASE
        ! Change all of the ROOM_DESCR's to the those for the Case 2
        VariableEquals [Case] 2
        ChangeDescr [Starting Room] [Case2 Starting Room]
        ChangeDescr [Loire Gallery] [Case2 Loire Gallery]
        ChangeDescr [Scotland Yard] [Case2 Scotland Yard]
        ChangeDescr [Seymore Park] [Case2 Seymore Park]
        ...

        ChangeDescr [Stock Exchange] [Case2 Stock Exchange]
        ChangeDescr [Cab Company] [Case2 Cab Company]
        ChangeDescr [Newspaper] [Case2 Newspaper]
        ChangeDescr [Pub] [Case2 Pub]
        ChangeDescr [Shipping Company] [Case2 Shipping Company]
        GoToRoom [Starting Room]
        DoneWithTurn
        END_COMMAND

   These sets of ChangeDescr commands would be repeated for all 18 cases.







                                     152




   SETTING COLORS WITHIN MESSAGES AND DESCRIPTIONS

   The Master's Edition allows you to change colors of words within your
   messages and descriptions and to mix and match colors to suit your
   needs.  You can even cause some words to blink -- if you want.

   The way this is done is to insert "control characters" within your text
   wherever you wish to change colors from the "normal" text colors.  These
   "control characters" are formed while using your text editor or word
   processor by simultaneously holding down the ALT key and a number key on
   the numeric key pad.

   The ALT-number combinations and their associated colors are as follows:

        Black     = ALT 0
        Blue      = ALT 1
        Green     = ALT 2
        Cyan      = ALT 3
        Red       = ALT 4
        Magenta   = ALT 5
        Brown     = ALT 6
        "Normal"  = ALT 7
        Blinking  = ALT 8

   These ALT-numeric key combination each create a special character in the
   text. For example, the ALT-1 key combination creates a "happy face"
   character which will cause the words that follow it to be printed on a
   color monitor in blue. This blue color will remain in effect until
   either (1) you change color again using another special character within
   the message or description, or (2) the game's "turn" is done and AGT
   asks the player to enter another command -- which ever comes first.
   Each new turn of the game will cause AGT to revert to the game's
   "normal" text color.

   When AGT's MRUN program encounters these special control characters
   within a message or description, it will change the color accordingly
   and in place of the special character it will print a space -- so your
   spacing within your text will remain the same.  For example, in the
   following message, we will change the color of the text to blue at the
   word "blue" by using our "happy face" character:

        MESSAGE [Example of color changes]
        The message should be blue now.
        END_MESSAGE

   Where the happy face is will be a space in the final printed message,
   but all of the text after that will be shown on the screen in blue.

   If you wish to make only the word "blue" blue and revert to the "normal"
   text color for the word "now," you would do this by inserting an ALT-7
   color control character (a small "dot" character) between the words
   "blue" and "now" -- as shown below:

                                     153




        MESSAGE [Example of color changes]
        The message should be blue∙now.
        END_MESSAGE


   "ILLEGAL" DIRECTION MESSAGES

   There is now a way to print "customized" messages when you attempt to go
   in "illegal" directions.  This is done by printing a message whenever
   the room number for a given direction is greater than a 1000.
   Specifically, if you give a room number of 1005 for going EAST from the
   current location, you will get message number five printed whenever you
   try to go EAST from the current location.

   For example, let's say that you are on top of a cliff and your want to
   give the message "You will fall to your death if you go $verb$." if you
   go NORTH or NORTHEAST and the message "You take a few steps and decide
   that it would be safer to return to where you were." if you go NORTHWEST
   or WEST.  You could do this by putting the following in the first part
   of your game's source file:

        #DEFINE [You'll fall and die message] 1001
        #DEFINE [You decide to retreat to safety message] 1002

        MESSAGE [First message in game file]
        You will fall to your death if you go $verb$.
        END_MESSAGE

        MESSAGE [Second message in game file]
        You take a few steps and decide that it would be safer to return to
        where you were.
        END_MESSAGE

   You would get these messages to work by using the following in the ROOM
   definition:

        ROOM [Top of Cliff]
        Top of Cliff
        NORTH [You'll fall and die message]
        NORTHEAST [You'll fall and die message]
        NORTHWEST [You decide to retreat to safety message]
        WEST [You decide to retreat to safety message]
        SOUTH [Path leading down the cliff]
        END_ROOM

        ROOM_DESCR [Top of Cliff]
        You are on the top of a high cliff.  The path you climbed up to
        reach   your current location is to the south.
        END_ROOM_DESCR




                                     154




   CUSTOM FONTS

   If the game is being played on an EGA or VGA monitor, it is possible to
   use "customizeable" fonts with the normal text-based output.
   Specifically, the default font will be contained in a file called
   GAMENAME.FNT.  This font will be loaded automatically at the beginning
   of the game.  If the game is being played on a monochrome or CGA monitor
   (or if the GAMENAME.FNT font file can not be found on the current
   directory) the game will continue to use its "standard" font.

   During the game, you may change fonts using the LoadFont meta-command.
   For example:

        LoadFont [Old English]

   will change the default font to "Old English."  If the game is being
   played on a monochrome or CGA monitor (or if the font file can not be
   found on the current directory) the LoadFont meta-command will have no
   effect and the game will continue to use its current font.

   In order to use different fonts, you must define the font files you plan
   to use in the game source code as follows:

        FONTS
        [Old English] OLDENG
        [Digital] DIGITAL
        [Runic] RUNIC
        [Standard Font] STANDARD
        END_FONTS

   Where the words follow the bracket definitions are the *.FNT file names
   to be found on the current directory, e.g., OLDENG.FNT contains the "Old
   English" font.

   A collection of about 30 fonts can be found in the FONTSTUF.ZIP file.
   FONTSTUF.ZIP also contains a font editor FONTEDIT.EXE that will enable
   you to design your own custom fonts or edit the 30 or so fonts provided.

   By the way, the font loaded by AGT's MRUN or by FONTEDIT will remain as
   the active display font for your computer after this program is
   finished.  To restore the font that is the "default" for your monitor,
   you will need to give the DOS command MODE CO80.


   NOTIFY COMMAND

   You can use the command NOTIFY to have the game give you a specific
   message whenever your score changes.  This is often useful when
   debugging a game.




                                     155




   USER SPECIFIED "STRINGS"

   The Master's Edition adds the capability to have up to 25 user defined
   strings that may be initialized in the AGT game source file(s) or input
   during the game by the player.  These strings maybe up to 15 characters
   in length.

   To initialize them in the source files for the game, do something like
   the following:

        STRINGS
        [Name] John
        [Sex] Male
        [Eyes] Blue
        [Hair] Brown
        [City1] San
        [City2] Francisco
        [State] California
        END_STRING

   Notice that each string must be only one word, that is why "San" had to
   be a sperate string from "Francisco."

   Then to print these strings out in messages, you would something like
   the following:

        MESSAGE [Vital Statistics]
        Hi, my name is $Str[Name]$ and I am a red-blooded $str[Sex]$ living
        in $Str[City1]$ $Str[City2]$, $Str[State]$.

        I have $str[Eyes]$ eyes and $str[Hair]$ hair.
        END_MESSAGE

   Just like $NOUN$, $noun$ or $Noun$, the user defined strings would be
   capitalized based on how $STR1$, $str1$ or $Str1$ is capitalized.
   You may only use the GetString metacommand token to get the values for
   these strings from the Player's keyboard input as follows:

        #DEFINE [Player] 1
        #DEFINE [Age] 4

        COMMAND ANY
        FlagOFF [Game started]
        TurnFlagON [Game started]
        PrintMessage "What is your first name?"
        GetString [Player]
        PrintMessage "What is your age?"
        GetVariable [Age]
        VariableGT [Age] 30
        PrintMessage "#Var[Age]#!!! .... my or my ... that is really old!"
        END_COMMAND


                                     156




          ...

        COMMAND ANY
        Chance 5
        PrintMessage [Strange Voice]
        END_COMMAND

        MESSAGE [Strange Voice]
        You hear a strange voices calling "$Str[Player]$... $Str[Player]$."
        END_MESSAGE


   ENHANCED QUESTION AND ANSWER CAPABILITIES

   Version 1.5 greatly expands the Master's Edition's capability for
   dealing with questions and answers.  Now you can have up to 100 sets of
   questions and associated answers.  Further, you can have answers that
   can include "logical" relations of AND and OR.  For example, the
   following series of questions and answers represent the solution to case
   5 in the game HOLMES:

        QUESTION [Case5 Who ?] Who killed Harry Wilcox?
        ANSWER [Case5 Who ?] Robert OR Simms OR Assistant

        QUESTION [Case5 How ?] How was he killed?
        ANSWER [Case5 How ?] Fork

        QUESTION [Case5 Why ?] What was the motive?
        ANSWER [Case5 Why ?] Revenge OR Pregnant OR Sister OR Pregnancy

   For example, if the answer the player gives to the "Why ?" question
   includes any of the words "revenge" or "pregnant" or "sister" and/or
   "pregnancy" -- the answer would be determined to be correct.

   You can also use "AND" relations as shown by the following example:

        QUESTION [Explorers ?] Which explorers found the Columbia River?
        ANSWER [Explorers ?] Lewis AND Clark

   The player must give an answer that has both of the words "Lewis" and
   "Clark" for AGT to determine the answer as correct.  The words may be in
   any order and may be part of a much longer answer.


   BUILT-IN TIME CAPABILITIES

   The Master's Edition has built-in time capabilities that can be set,
   tested and displayed.

   To set the starting time for your adventure, put something like the
   following in your game's AGT source file:


                                     157




        STARTING_TIME 1247

        DELTA_TIME 15

   This would cause your game to start at 12:47 PM (12:47 AM would have a
   STARTING_TIME of 47) and to be incremented by a random number of minutes
   (from 0 to 15) after each turn of the game.

   The current time may be printed out in messages by using $TIME$ (e.g.,
   12:47 PM) or $time$ (e.g., 12:47 pm).

   There are several metacommand tokens that be used with time:

        TimeGT {num1}    -- This is a conditional meta-command and will
                            return a TRUE or FALSE depending upon whether
                            the current time is greater than num1.

        TimeLT {num1}    -- This is a conditional meta-command and will
                            return a TRUE or FALSE depending upon whether
                            the current time is less than num1.

        SetVariableToTime {num1} --   This sets variable num1 to the
                                      current time.

        SetTimeToVariable {num1} --   This sets the current time to
                                      variable num1.

        SetTime {num1}   -- This sets the current time to num1.

        SetDeltaTime {num1} --   This sets the current value of DELTA_TIME
                                 to num1.

        AddToTime {num1} -- This adds num1 to the current time.  Note: For
                            1 hour and 10 minutes, you would have num1 set
                            to 110 -- not 70.


   OPTIONS FOR DISPLAYING SCORE AND STATUS LINE

   The Master's Edition allows the game designer to select options for how
   the game will display the SCORE and display the STATUS LINE.

   Specifically, to set the SCORE option to 2, put the following line in
   your game's source file:

        SCORE_OPTION 2

   The available options are:

        0 -- The "Default" -- shows everything in the SCORE display.

        1 -- Don't show the maximum number of rooms.

                                     158




        2 -- Don't show the maximum possible score.

        3 -- Don't show either the maximum rooms or possible score.

   There is no need to have a "SCORE_OPTION 0" line, since AGT will
   automatically use the default if not SCORE_OPTION is encountered in the
   game's source file(s).

   To set the STATUS LINE option to 2, put the following line in the game's
   source files:

        STATUS_OPTION 2

   The available option are:

        0 -- The "Default" -- shows "standard" STATUS LINE display
             consisting of current "Room Name", "Score", and "Move."

        1 -- Same as "Default" except "Time" rather than "Move" -- i.e., a
             STATUS LINE display consisting of current "Room Name",
             "Score", and "Time."

        2 -- Same as "Default" except "Score" is omitted -- i.e., a STATUS
             LINE display consisting current "Room Name" and "Move."

        3 -- A STATUS LINE display consisting only of current "Room Name"
             and "Time."

   There is no need to have a "STATUS_OPTION 0" line, since AGT will
   automatically use the default if no STATUS_OPTION is encountered in the
   game's source file(s).


   OTHER NEW META-COMMAND TOKENS

   New Conditional Tokens:

        NOUNIsMan {none}        --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Man

        NOUNIsWoman {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Woman

        NOUNIsThing {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Thing


                                     159




        OBJECTIsMan {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Man

        OBJECTIsWoman {none}    --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Woman

        OBJECTIsThing {none}    --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Thing

        DirectionOK {none}       --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current direction leading to another
                                      valid location.  Will return FALSE if
                                      current verb is not a direction.

        DirectionIS {num1}       --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current direction being num1 (i.e.,
                                      num1 = 1 for north, etc.)  Will
                                      return FALSE if current verb is not a
                                      direction.

        BetweenRooms {n1} (n2}   --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current location being between (and
                                      including) rooms n1 and n2.

        HasVisitedRoom {num1}    --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      whether player has visited room num1.

        EnteredOBJECT {none}     --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      whether current command has a valid
                                      OBJECT.

   New Action Tokens:

        ToggleMovable {num1}     --   Toggles "movable status" for NOUN
                                      num1.

        ChangePoints {itm} {pts} --   Changes point value of item (ROOM,
                                      NOUN or CREATURE) to pts points.

        DestroyOBJECT {none}     --   Destroys OBJECT (if any)

        GetVariable {num1}       --   Gets variable num1 (1 to 25) from
                                      player's keyboard input.

        SetVariableToTime {num1} --   Sets variable num1 to the current
                                      time.

                                     160




        SetTimeToVariable {num1} --   Sets the current time to variable
                                      num1.

        AddToTime {num1} -- This adds num1 to the current time.  Note: For
                            1 hour and 10 minutes, you would have num1 set
                            to 110 -- not 70.


   SUMMARY OF ALL NEW MASTER'S EDITION META-COMMAND TOKENS

   New Conditional Tokens:

        NOUNIsMan {none}        --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Man

        NOUNIsWoman {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Woman

        NOUNIsThing {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the NOUN is a
                                      creature and a Thing

        OBJECTIsMan {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Man

        OBJECTIsWoman {none}    --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Woman

        OBJECTIsThing {none}    --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the OBJECT is
                                      a creature and a Thing

        SongPlaying {none}      --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether there is a
                                      song playing or not at the current
                                      moment.

        SoundIsON {none}         --   This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the player has
                                      the sound option ON.

                                     161




        DirectionOK {none}       --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current direction leading to another
                                      valid location.  Will return FALSE if
                                      current verb is not a direction.

        DirectionIS {num1}       --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current direction being num1 (i.e.,
                                      num1 = 1 for north, etc.  Will return
                                      FALSE if current verb is not a
                                      direction.

        BetweenRooms {n1} (n2}   --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      current location being between (and
                                      including) rooms n1 and n2.

        HasVisitedRoom {num1}    --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      whether player has visited room num1.

        EnteredOBJECT {none}     --   Returns TRUE or FALSE depending upon
                                      whether current command has a valid
                                      OBJECT.

        TimeGT {num1}           --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the current
                                      time is greater than num1.

        TimeLT {num1}           --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending upon whether the current
                                      time is less than num1.

        Room_PixHere {num1}     --    This is a conditional meta-command
                                      and will return a TRUE or FALSE
                                      depending on whether the num1
                                      ROOM_PIX picture may be viewed in the
                                      current room.

   New Action Tokens:

        LoadFont {num1}          --   Loads and uses font num1 (from FONT
                                      list)

        ShowPicture {num1}       --   Shows "global" picture num1 (from 1
                                      to 250)

        IfYShowPicture {num1}    --   Shows "global" picture num1 (from 1
                                      to 250) if Player answers YES to
                                      query about showing the picture.

        ShowROOM_PIX {num1}      --   Shows "ROOM_PIX" picture num1 (from 1
                                      to 30)

                                     162




        IfYShowROOM_PIX {num1}   --   Shows "ROOM_PIX" picture num1 (from 1
                                      to 30) if Player answers YES to query
                                      about showing the picture.

        PlaySong {num1}          --   Plays the song/sound file num1 once.
                                      The standard mode is to play the song
                                      until it is finished and then to
                                      stop.

        RepeatSong {num1}        --   Plays the song/sound file num1
                                      repeatedly.  When the song is
                                      finished it would automatically be
                                      started again.

        PlayRandom {num1} {num2} --   Plays a random song/sound file
                                      between num1 and num2 once.  The
                                      song/sound will be played until it is
                                      finished and then it will stop.

        EndRepeatSong {none}     --   Causes the current song/sound to stop
                                      when it is finished, i.e., the
                                      repeating feature would be turns off.

        StopSong {none}          --   Causes the current song/sound to stop
                                         immediately.  Once the StopSong
                                      command has been given, the song can
                                      not be resumed without giving a new
                                      PlaySong or RepeatSong token.

        SuspendSong {none}       --   Causes the current song/sound to stop
                                      immediately -- but it can be resumed
                                      at the current spot at a later time.

        ResumeSong {none}        --   Resumes playing a song that had been
                                      suspended by a SuspendSong token at
                                      the spot where it was suspended.

        ToggleMovable {num1}     --   Toggles "movable status" for NOUN
                                      num1.

        ChangePoints {itm} {pts} --   Changes point value of item (ROOM,
                                      NOUN or CREATURE) to pts points.

        DestroyOBJECT {none}     --   Destroys OBJECT (if any)

        GetString {num1}         --   Gets string num1 (1 to 25) from
                                      player's  keyboard input.  String
                                      length will be truncated to 15
                                      characters if necessary.

        GetVariable {num1}       --   Gets variable num1 (1 to 25) from
                                      player's keyboard input.

                                     163




        SetVariableToTime {num1} --   Sets variable num1 to the current
                                      time.

        SetTimeToVariable {num1} --   Sets the current time to variable
                                      num1.

        SetTime {num1}           --   Sets the current time to num1.

        SetDeltaTime {num1}      --   Sets the current value of DELTA_TIME
                                      to num1.

        AddToTime {num1}           -- This adds num1 to the current time.
                                      Note: For 1 hour and 10 minutes, you
                                      would have num1 set to 110 -- not 70.

        DoSubroutine {num1}      --   Causes the meta-commands in
                                      Subroutine num1 to be executed

        Return                   --   Causes an immediate exit from the
                                      currently executing Subroutine (if
                                      any), i.e., meta-command processing
                                      would resume immediately after the
                                      DoSubroutine token that called the
                                      Subroutine in the first place.  Each
                                      Subroutine must have at least one
                                      "Return"!



























                                     164




   APPENDIX A:  AGT ERROR MESSAGES


   ERRORS DURING GAME COMPILATION

   Error: "VERB is not a valid verb" -- VERB is not a standard AGT verb,
   nor has it been defined (so far) as a synonym for another verb.  This
   error is in the *.AGT file.

   Error: ">>> Ignored: ASCII text" -- ASCII text encountered during
   reading of  *.AGT file.  Text does not correspond to anything normally
   expected in  this file.  Probably, just a comment by the game designer.

   Error: "Too many commands -- Processing halted" -- AGT only allows 900
   meta-commands.  The current meta-command being read from the  *.AGT file
   would have been number 901.  This is a game designer error.

   Error: "FOR COMMAND VERB NOUN OBJECT -- ILLEGAL VERB" -- This
   meta-command has a VERB which the parser does not recognize as a
   standard AGT verb, a custom verb or a synonym for a valid verb.  This is
   a game designer error.

   Error: "FOR COMMAND VERB NOUN OBJECT -- ILLEGAL NOUN or OBJECT" -- This
   meta-command has a NOUN or OBJECT which the parser does not recognize as
   a standard AGT noun or a synonym for a valid noun.  This is a game
   designer error.

   Error: "FOR COMMAND VERB NOUN OBJECT -- ILLEGAL TOKEN" -- This meta-com-
   mand has something in it that the program does not recognize as a token.
   Probably, a game designer comment or a spelling mistake.


   ERRORS DURING RESTORING GAME

   Error: "File not found, can't restore FileName" -- FileName is not on
   disk.


   ERRORS DURING GAME PLAY

   Error: "I don't understand VERB as a verb." -- Try another VERB.
   Probably a spelling mistake.

   Error: "I don't understand NOUN as a noun." -- Try another word to
   identify this noun.  May be a noun that does not really play a
   significant part in the game, i.e., something described in general in
   the room description, but not a separate object in the room.  May also
   be a spelling mistake.

   Error: "I don't understand PREP as a preposition." -- Try another
   preposition.  May be a spelling mistake.


                                     165




   Error: "I don't understand OBJECT as the object of a preposition." --
   Try another word to identify this noun.  May be a noun that does not
   really play a significant part in the game, i.e., something described in
   general in the room description, but not a separate object in the room.
   May also be a spelling mistake.

   Error: "Which NOUN do you mean, the ADJ1 NOUN or the ADJ2 NOUN?" -- Two
   or more nouns with the same name are present in the current room.
   Specify the one you mean by some phrase that includes the appropriate
   NOUN's adjective.

   Error :"I don't understand WORD as either a verb or a noun".  Try
   another word to convey what you mean.  May be a spelling mistake.

   Error: "You need a preposition and an object whenever you try to VERB a
   NOUN."  Some verbs require prepositions and objects in order to work
   properly.  For example, PLACE BOOK ON THE TABLE is fine, but PLACE BOOK
   by itself will generate this error.

   Error: "Too many words in command".  AGT allows for a maximum of 12
   words in each part of a compound command (i.e., between AND's and
   THEN's).  Re-phrase your command to be more succinct.


   TURBO PASCAL RUN-TIME ERRORS

   In addition to the above errors which are generated by AGT, it is
   possible to get errors from Turbo Pascal -- the language in which AGT is
   written.  Specifically, you might get the following two run-time errors
   from Turbo:

        101  "Disk Write Error" -- You would get this error when there is
             no more room on your disk, i.e., it is full.  This situation
             might occur when (1) you are compiling a game and there is not
             enough room for the various files being created by the
             MCOMPILE program (i.e., *.D$$, *.DA1, etc) or (2) you trying
             to save a game and there is not enough room on the disk for
             the data being saved.

        201  "Out of Range Error" -- You would get this error if your game
             source code has a value that is out of range -- like a
             "illegal" negative number or a label that is too long.

        203  "Heap Overflow Error" -- You would get this error if your
             computer does not have enough internal memory.  AGT requires a
             computer with at least 512K of available memory -- after
             counting for all of the memory resident or TSR programs.






                                     166




   APPENDIX B:  RECOMMENDED SHAREWARE UTILITIES


   PIANOMAN 4.0

   PIANOMAN lets you play the keyboard of an IBM-PC (or close compatible)
   like an electronic piano.  The keys sound a tone as long as you hold
   them down, and stop when you release them.  You can record and edit
   music, insert and delete notes, adjust pitch and length, make global
   changes, and save/retrieve files.

   To register PIANOMAN, send $25 to:

        Support Group Inc.
        P.O. Box 130
        McHenry, MD  21541

   You may also register using MasterCard or VISA by calling 800/USA-GROUP
   or 301/889-7893.


   MELODY MASTER

   Melody Master lets you create, save, edit, and play music on a PC.  The
   easy-to-use graphic interface contains a staff on which basic music
   notation is placed and includes on-screen help.  You can configure
   tempos, and note-lengths and modify the program's colors.  Melody Master
   will also help you to insert music in your own programs whether you
   program in C, Pascal, BASIC or in DOS batch files.  You don't have to
   know how to write music - Melody Master includes a large collection of
   ready-to-play melodies!  Supports Hercules, CGA, EGA and VGA. ASP
   member.

   Registration Information:
   -------------------------

        Regular             -  $19
        Commercial License  -  $49

   Send registrations to:

        Shareable Software International
        PO Box 59102
        Schaumburg, IL  60159

        800-622-2793 (orders only)
        708-397-1221 (voice)
        708-397-0381 (fax)
        215-623-6203 (BBS, Join Conference 77)
        CompuServe:  76226,2652
        Internet:    [e-mail]


                                     167




   GRAPHIC WORKSHOP

   Graphic workshop is a simple, menu driven environment which will let you
   perform the following operations on graphic files:

        -    View them.
        -    Convert between any two formats (with a few restrictions).
        -    Print them to any LaserJet Plus compatible or PostScript laser
             and many dot matrix printers.  Graphic Workshop can print
             color pictures to color PostScript and inkjet printers.
        -    Dither the color ones to black and white.
        -    Reverse them.
        -    Rotate and flip them.
        -    Scale them.
        -    Reduce the number of colors in them and do color dithering.
        -    Sharpen, soften and otherwise wreak special effects on them.
        -    Crop them down to smaller files
        -    Scan in completely new files, assuming that you have a
             supported scanner.
        -    Adjust the brightness and color balance of the color ones.

   Versions of Graphics Workshop are available for both DOS and WINDOWS.
   Using Graphic Workshop, you can have your image files in the formats
   that your software recognizes, all without keeping track of numerous
   funky utilities. In addition, using the halftoning and dithering
   facilities of Graphic Workshop, you can convert full color digitized
   photographs for use as superb black and white clip art, suitable for
   inclusion in your documents.

   You can register Graphic Workshop by send $40.00 to:

        Alchemy Mindworks Inc.
        P.O. Box 500
        Beeton, Ontario
        L0G 1A0
        Canada


   IMPROCES

   IMPROCES is the DOS-only "jack of all trades" for PC graphics.  It has
   many features: Image contrast enhancement, Histograms, Sharpening by
   convolution, Custom filters, Full control of the VGA palette, Clipboard,
   Five stroke Fonts in five sizes and the ability to import bit-map fonts,
   FAT BIT editor, many drawing tools, flips, mirror, Color Cycling, Plasma
   and terrain fractals, UNDO, XMS/EMS support, edit up to five images at
   one time, etc...  IMPROCES can use a wide variety of SVGA video cards in
   resolutions up to 1024x768x256. The IMPROCES package is incredibly fast
   and powerful, but it is also incredibly easy to use.

   You may register IMPROCES with your Master Card or VISA.  There are
   three ways to do this:

                                     168




   Ted Gruber Software:
   VOICE: [phone]       Monday - Friday, 10am - 5pm PST

   Software Excitement!:
   VOICE: [phone]       24 hours a day.

   IMPORTANT: Be sure to *SPECIFY* that you want to order the *REGISTERED*
   version of IMPROCES.  Software Excitement! is a shareware distributor
   and an authorized distributor of the shareware version of IMPROCES, so
   if you don't specify the registered version, they might send you a copy
   of the unregistered version!

   COMPUSERVE: Type GO SE to visit the Software Excitement! on-line store.

   Specify floppy disk format, 5 1/4" 360K or 3 1/2" 1.44 meg.  Your card
   will be charged $25 ($35 outside of North America) and IMPROCES will be
   shipped as soon as possible.

   If you are using a check or money order, mail your registration to
   directly to the author of IMPROCES at: ($25, $35 outside of North
   America)

        John Wagner
        6161 El Cajon Blvd, Suite B-246
        San Diego, CA 92115

   California residents, please add the appropriate sales tax.  Outside of
   the United States and Canada, registration is $35.  Please ensure that
   your check is in U.S. dollars, _DRAWN_ on a U.S. Bank.


   PAINT SHOP PRO

   PAINT SHOP PRO is a wonderful graphics utility that runs under WINDOWS.
   It does everything that GRAPHICS WORKSHOP and IMPROCES do (see above).
   PAINT SHOP PRO is available for $49 from:

        JASC, Inc.
        17743 Evener Way
        Eden Prairie, MN  55346
        [phone]












                                     169




   APPENDIX C:  ANNUAL AGT CONTEST


   Each year, Softworks sponsors an annual contest for the best computer
   text adventure game developed using the Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT).

   The Annual Adventure Game Toolkit game writing contest offers a grand
   prize of $100 for the best game submitted.  Additional prizes may be
   added if the judges decide that more than one entry is outstanding.
   game writers, including the contest winner(s), will also retain all
   rights to their games.

   "The main purpose of this contest is to encourage people to share the
   games they've written using the Adventure Game Toolkit," said Mark
   Welch, one of two co-authors of the program.  "A lot of people start to
   write a game, and spend quite a few hours on it, but stop before they
   really finished the game, or before it's really playable," said Welch.
   "We are hoping that the contest will inspire people to create
   full-featured, playable games that can be enjoyed by other adventure
   game fans."


   PREVIOUS CONTESTS

   Softworks has sponsored three prior adventure game writing contests.
   The winner of the first contest was "Alice" written by Douglas Asherman
   of Oakland, California.  Alice put the player in the role of Alice in
   Wonderland, meeting many of the same characters described in Lewis
   Carroll's 19th-century book while also adding some humorous 20th-century
   perspective.

   The 1988 contest winner was "A Dudley Dilemma" by Lane Barrow, a Ph.D
   candidate at Harvard.  In this game, the player assumes the role of a
   Harvard student in his/her quest for knowledge, adventure and a diploma.
   Along the way, the player experiences a student sit-in and meets
   panhandlers, MIT students and other bizarre characters roaming Harvard
   Square.

   "Son of Stagefright" by Mike McCauley was the 1989 winner.  In this
   game, you play the role of an actor (or actress) trying to get out of an
   old, abandoned theater.  This is an adventure game in three "Acts",
   where each Act has a different theme and a different challenge.  The
   game is fun(ny), frightening and very clever.

   "Crime to the Ninth Power" by Patrick Farley was the 1990 contest
   winner.  In this game, the player helps Cliff Diver, a San Francisco
   private investigator escape from the deadly milieu of the Zamboni crime
   family's secret headquarters.  Cliff Diver is cut from the same cloth as
   such famous PI's as Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's
   Philip Marlowe.



                                     170




   In 1991, the contest had two games that tied for 1st place: "CosmosServe
   -- An Adventure Game for the BBS-Enslaved" by Judith Pintar, and "The
   Multi-Dimensional Thief" by Joel Finch.  In "CosmoServe," your world and
   your adventure are set inside a BBS (complete with sound effects for
   logging on, switching the computer ON and OFF, etc.)  It is a very, very
   original, innovative and unusual game!  In "The Multi-Dimensional
   Thief," you are a thief.  Naturally, you aspire to join the largest and
   most prestigious of organized thieving bodies, the Multi-Dimensional
   Thieves' Guild.  All you have to do is pass a simple test -- escape from
   a specially prepared set of rooms which have been "borrowed" from other
   universes and filled with strange items -- including the infamous
   "portable hole."  This game is filled with wonderful puzzles and will
   remind you of Infocom's finest.


   CONTEST DETAILS

   To be eligible for the contest, entries must be designed using the
   Adventure Game Toolkit, and must not have been publicly released before
   January 1st of the contest year.  Contest entries must be postmarked by
   December 31st of the contest year and received by Softworks no later
   than January 15 of the following year.  For example, the 1993 contest
   will consider games written between January 1, 1993 and December 31,
   1993 and received by Softworks no later than January 15, 1994.

   Judging begins approximately February 1st and the winner is announced in
   the spring following the contest year.  The judges consider each game's
   originality, cleverness, fiendishness, humor, raw cunning and
   professionalism in arriving at their decision about the contest's
   winner.

   Entries must be submitted on disks for the IBM PC (or compatible
   computer), or for the Apple Macintosh, the Amiga or for the Atari ST
   computer.  AGT source code for the game must be provided, but will not
   be publicly disclosed without the consent of the author.  In addition to
   the AGT source code, each entry must be accompanied by a game "walk-
   thru" or solution to be used by the contest judges.  A map of the game
   would also be very helpful, but is not required.

   No purchase or fee is required to enter.  Game authors need not be
   registered users of AGT to enter the contest.  Game writers, including
   the contest winner(s), will also retain all rights to their games --
   including the right to copyright and sell their games -- if they wish.
   However, it is "customary" for the contest game authors to allow their
   games' source code to be distributed (to registered AGT user only) -- if
   their games are judged as one of the "Best of the Contest."







                                     171




   APPENDIX D:  ABOUT THE AUTHOR


   David Malmberg has been active in the world of personal computer since
   1977.  He is the author or co-author of seven published software
   products.  His most recent software product is P-ROBOTS, which is also
   available from Softworks.

   His most successful products were the Turtle Graphics series published
   by HESware.  These two programs have sold over 80,000 copies world-wide,
   were translated into Spanish, and won two Consumer Electronic Software
   Showcase awards as some of the best software of 1983.  These programs
   are widely used in schools to teach computer literacy to children and
   other computer novices.

   Dave has also published numerous articles and programs in various
   computer magazines.  He has been a Contributing Editor of both
   COMPUTE!'s HOME & EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING and MICRO magazines.  He was one
   of the principal authors of COMPUTE!'s FIRST BOOK OF VIC, the best
   selling computer book of 1983.  He has written regular columns on
   educational uses of computers and on LOGO for COMMODORE and POWER/PLAY
   magazines.



   June 1993



























                                     172