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ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT MACROS 1.0 Copyrighted 1988 by: David Malmberg 43064 Via Moraga Mission San Jose, California 94539 All rights reserved by David Malmberg. AGTMACRO may be freely distributed on BBS's or on SIG and user group disks as long as no fees greater than $8.00 (to cover the cost of duplication, postage, etc.) are charged for the program and as long as this notice and the following documentation is also included with the program. INTRODUCTION ============ AGTMACRO is a specialized Keyboard Macro Processor similar to SUPERKEY or PROKEY for IBM or compatible computers. In case you are unfamiliar with Keyboard Macro Processors, a brief description is appropriate. A Macro Processor allows the user to define a series of key stokes and assign them to a particular key (or combination of keys) -- so that whenever that particular key is pressed, the sequence of key stokes assigned to it will be "played back" as if they had been entered from the keyboard one at a time. Macros like these allow the user to easily customize software packages (e.g., make your favorite word processor work like WordStar or vice versa), redefine keyboards (e.g., create a Dvorak layout), create boiler plate passages, and serve many other useful purposes. AGTMACRO is a special purpose Keyboard Macro Processor in that it is designed to create templates for frequently used data structures for the Adventure Game Toolkit or AGT. Specifically, when AGTMACRO is loaded into memory it stays resident and causes the combination of the <Alt> key with the number keys 1 through 7 to create the templates for the following common AGT data structures: <Alt>1 -- Rooms <Alt>2 -- Nouns <Alt>3 -- Creatures <Alt>4 -- Other common items in the .DAT file, like INTRO <Alt>5 -- Various DESCRiptions, like SPECIAL, PUSH_DESCR, etc <Alt>6 -- Meta-commands <Alt>7 -- Messages An AGT game developer would normally use AGTMACRO from within his/her favorite text editor or word processor while creating the various data files that collectively make up an AGT adventure game. When the user is all done using AGTMACRO to help create the AGT data structures, it is possible to "unload" AGTMACRO from memory by hitting the combination of the <Alt> key and the 0 key. ROOM TEMPLATES ============== The specific ROOM templates created by hitting the <Alt>1 key combination are as follows: ROOM <n> <Room Name> NORTH <n> SOUTH <n> EAST <n> WEST <n> NORTHEAST <n> NORTHWEST <n> SOUTHEAST <n> SOUTHWEST <n> UP <n> DOWN <n> ENTER <n> EXIT <n> SPECIAL <n> KEY <n> LIGHT 1 POINTS <n> LOCKED_DOOR GAME_END GAME_WIN ROOM_SYNONYMS END_ROOM ROOM_DESCR <n> END_ROOM_DESCR HELP <n> END_HELP_DESCR The user would hit the <Alt>1 combination to generate this template, then just delete the lines that are not desired, and substitute the values appropriate for the ROOM being defined. For example, here is an example of a ROOM that could easily be created from the template: ROOM 32 Top of Cliff NORTH 33 SOUTH 34 WEST 35 END_ROOM ROOM_DESCR 32 You are standing near the edge on the top of a tall cliff. To the east is a sheer drop of several thousand feet. To the north, south and west are paths that lead down the side of the mountain. END_ROOM_DESCR HELP 32 Be careful, don't get too near the edge! END_HELP_DESCR Notice that most of the templates' lines are deleted. It is easier to delete these than to type in all of the other stuff that is needed. Plus, by using the templates, you can always be assured that your formats are correct for the various AGT data structures. NOUN TEMPLATES ============== The specific NOUN templates created by hitting the <Alt>2 key combination are as follows: NOUN <n> <Name> <Adjective> <One-line Description> SIZE <n> WEIGHT <n> UNMOVABLE LOCATION <n> READABLE CLOSABLE CLOSED LOCKABLE LOCKED KEY <n> EDIBLE DRINKABLE POISONOUS ON PUSHABLE PULLABLE PLAYABLE TURNABLE IS_LIGHT POINTS <n> GAME_WIN CAN_SHOOT NUM_SHOTS <n> WEARABLE POSITION PLURAL NOUN_SYNONYMS END_NOUN NOUN_DESCR <n> END_NOUN_DESCR TEXT <n> END_TEXT Most of the characteristics listed above for the NOUN are NOT the normal default settings. For example, the NOUN template has UNMOVABLE, CLOSABLE and IS_LIGHT while the normal defaults for a NOUN are MOVABLE, UNCLOSABLE and NOT IS_LIGHT. To select the default option, just delete the line in the template that has the non-default option. For example, to make the NOUN MOVABLE and SINGULAR, just delete the lines that say UNMOVABLE and PLURAL. As an illustration, below is a NOUN that could be easily created from the above templates: NOUN 232 Book Small There is a small book here. SIZE 3 WEIGHT 1 LOCATION 32 READABLE NOUN_SYNONYMS COVER WRITING TITLE END_NOUN NOUN_DESCR 232 The small book is quite thin and has a hard cover. There is writing on the book's cover. END_NOUN_DESCR TEXT 232 The title of the book is "The Wisdom of Ronald Reagan." The pages are all blank. END_TEXT Once again, notice that most of the lines of the templates were deleted to actually create the specific NOUN. CREATURE TEMPLATES ================== The CREATURE templates created by hitting the <Alt>3 key combination are as follows: CREATURE <n> <Name> <Adjective> <One-line description> LOCATION <n> HOSTILE WEAPON <n> THRESHOLD <n> TIME_THRESH <n> POINTS <n> GROUPMEMBER THING MAN WOMAN CREATURE_SYNONYMS END_CREATURE CREATURE_DESCR <n> END_CREATURE_DESCR Like the case with the NOUN template, to select the default value for a CREATURE just delete the line having the non-default value in the template. For example, to select the default of a FRIENDLY creature just delete the line that says HOSTILE. The only exception is for GENDER, where you should delete the two values you don't want and leave the value you do want. For example, for a FEMALE creature you would delete THING and MAN, but leave FEMALE on the line. OTHER TEMPLATES =============== The <Alt>4 key combination creates the following miscellaneous items for the .DAT file: INTRODUCTION END_INTRO STARTING_ROOM <n> TREASURE_ROOM <n> VERB END_VERB MAXIMUM_SCORE <n> Obviously, the user would delete lines that are not needed. DESCR TEMPLATES =============== The <Alt>5 key combination creates the following miscellaneous descriptions templates for the .DAT file: SPECIAL <n> END_SPECIAL PLAY_DESCR <n> END_PLAY_DESCR PULL_DESCR <n> END_PULL_DESCR TURN_DESCR <n> END_TURN_DESCR PUSH_DESCR <n> END_PUSH_DESCR META-COMMAND TEMPLATE ===================== The <Alt>6 key combination creates the following meta-command for the .CMD file: COMMAND ... DoneWithTurn END_COMMAND MESSAGE TEMPLATE ================ The <Alt>7 key combination creates the following MESSAGE template for the .MSG file: MESSAGE <n> END_MESSAGE UNLOADING AGTMACRO ================== When the user is all done using AGTMACRO to help create the AGT data structures, it is possible to "unload" AGTMACRO from memory by hitting the combination of the <Alt> key and the 0 key. LIMITATIONS =========== AGTMACRO is a very well-behaved TSR program. To the best of my knowledge, the only program that it will not work with is SIDEKICK, but AGTMACRO is smart enough to detect the presence of SIDEKICK and will not allow itself to even get loaded into memory when SIDEKICK is already loaded. So, if you are a SIDEKICK user, you will have to unload it before being able to load and use AGTMACRO. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT =============== AGTMACRO was written in Turbo Pascal 4.0 using the Turbo Professional 4.0 Toolkit from TurboPower Software. This package is truly outstanding and made writing AGTMACRO ridiculously easy! I can not recommend Turbo Professional 4.0 too highly. It is great! If you are a Turbo Pascal programmer, you can not afford to be without this package! Get it!