The Best of Select: Games 9/CD_1.iso/dosgames/crusade/agtblurb.txt

Text File | 1994-05-19 | 44KB | 994 lines

INTRODUCTION TO THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT


This write-up (1) gives an overview of the Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT), a
"shareware" adventure game development system, (2) presents a complete
"walkthru" of a small game that was created using AGT, but without any
programming by the game developer, (3) introduces AGT's unique metalanguage
especially designed to give the game developer total control and flexibility
in creating adventure games comparable to those from Infocom, (4) describes
the other "goodies" you get when you register your copy of the "Classic"
Edition of AGT and describes the new "Master's Edition" of the AGT, and (5)
tells how to register/order the AGT development system (either the "Classic"
Edition or the "Master's" Edition).


1 -- OVERVIEW OF THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT

The ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT (AGT) is designed to allow a game designer/writer to
create and play his/her own high-quality text adventure games.  Once created,
these adventure games can be shared with and enjoyed by others -- even if they
do not have a copy of the Adventure Game Toolkit themselves.  Using AGT the
game developer can create two distinct levels of adventure games:

    STANDARD LEVEL games that require no programming experience (honestly!!),
    only a fertile imagination.  These Standard Level games only require that
    the game designer/writer generates the game using a word processor or text
    editor to describe the various locations, objects and results of actions
    that collectively make up the game.

    PROFESSIONAL LEVEL games that also make use of AGT's special adventure game
    metalanguage to create games as complex and rich as the game designer's
    imagination and prose style will allow.  These games should be technically
    comparable with the published text adventure games from firms like
    Infocom.

FEATURES OF THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT

AGT has a number of features that make it a very comprehensive adventure game
creation product.  Some of these key features are:

   *     "Look and feel" of Infocom adventure games with similar screen layout
         and standard vocabulary and routines.

   *     Large standard vocabulary with potential to define many more words
         unique to a specific adventure.  Typical games can have a vocabulary
         of 500 words or more.

   *     Sophisticated parser that can understand (1) complex input commands
         including pronouns (IT, HIM, HER, THEM, MY and ITS), and (2) compound
         commands separated by AND or THEN or punctuation symbols, and (3)
         commands addressed to characters within the game.  Here are a few
         examples of commands AGT can handle with ease:

              GET THE FLASH LIGHT AND THEN SWITCH IT ON
              PUT ON THE CLOAK, THEN EXAMINE IT; READ ITS LABEL
              PLACE THE GREEN ROCK AND THE SMALL PEBBLE BEHIND THE TREE
              ENTER THE HOUSE; GET ALL; EXIT; SOUTH; SOUTH THEN DOWN
              SULU, SET A COURSE FOR ALPHA 14
              SCOTTY, BEAM DOWN A TRICORDER AND THE QWERTY MODULE
              DROP THE FOOD, THE KEY AND THE BOTTLE THEN UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH
                   THE BRASS KEY AND THEN LEAVE

   *     Function and cursor keys predefined to input frequently used commands
         and move directions.

   *     SCRIPT and UNSCRIPT commands to echo game output to printer.

   *     Versions for IBM, Macintosh, Atari ST and Amiga.  Games created on
         one of these computers can be played on all of the other computers
         without making any modifications to the game.

WHAT THE REVIEWERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT

     "Using the Adventure Game Toolkit, anyone with an ounce of
     imagination can create a text adventure game ... similar in layout
     and sophistication to those made by Infocom and other commercial
     developers."

        -- Donald B. Trivette in PC Magazine

     "The Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) acts as a compiler which allows
     for creating remarkably complex and sophisticated games in a fairly
     simple way .... AGT's parser reminds me of Infocom's."

        -- Scorpia in Computer Gaming World

     "If you have ever wondered what it is like to create your own
     adventure games, but didn't have the programming knowledge to do it,
     this product is for you .... The process is easy ... and you'll have
     hours of fun doing it."

        -- Resul DeMaria in Public Domain Software & Shareware

     "The Adventure Game Toolkit from Softworks ... provides all the
     tools you need to build your own text based adventure games .... The
     Adventure Game Toolkit is an extremely powerful development
     package."

        -- Bob Napp in Big Blue Disk

     Recently, the Adventure Game Toolkit was awarded the "Golden Chalice"
     Award by the Adventure And Strategy Club (of England).


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR AGT

IBM: The games created by the Adventure Game Toolkit requires a computer with
at least 384K of memory, MS-DOS 2.1, and at least one disk drive.  It is
possible to use any kind of monitor and AGT will automatically adjust its
output to best suit the monitor.

Macintosh and Atari ST: AGT reguires at least 512K of memory and one disk drive.

2 -- A "WALKTHRU" OF A STANDARD LEVEL GAME

Using AGT, it is possible to create games that do not require any programming
knowledge or experience (honestly!).  The game designer just "fills in the
blanks" as he/she describes the locations, objects and characters that
collectively make up the game using his/her word processor or text editor.  As
an example, the following lengthy scenario is from a Standard Level game that
is developed in the AGT printed manual in a detailed, step-by-step tutorial.
This game was developed without any programming skill.  This game can be
found in the file SAMPLE on the disk.


  It is the year 2093.  You, a foolish explorer, decided to wander the
radiation-filled areas near what used to be the nation's capital: Washington,
D.C.  You've found the adventure you sought, though few of your exploits
turned out as you'd expected.
  In your six-month travels, you've been attacked by packs of wild dogs and a
few wilder humans.  Your supplies were stolen weeks ago, and you've been
existing by eating the few surviving vegetables in long-abandoned gardens,
despite the risks of eating food grown in this area.  When you finally tried
to leave this restricted region, you were shot at by patrols who detected too
much radiation in your body.
  In your ever-more-desperate search for either a safe temporary home or a way
out of the danger-zone, you've begun exploring the hills where other wanderers
have said there are caves and tunnels.  Somewhere here, it is rumored, there
was once an underground complex where the elite few hid during the atomic
cataclysm.  No trace has ever been found of those hidden politicians and
millionaires, though the mysterious roars of explosions were heard two years
after the Last War ended, suggesting that the survivors above ground might
have found and destroyed the survivors who hid below.
  After several weeks of living off the land, you discovered a deep pit,
apparently man-made, at the center of a neatly-rounded hill.  For two days,
you explored the hill, trying to find another cave or even an out-of-place
pile of dirt, to no avail.  Far away to the south are five blackened pits in
the earth, burned, ash-covered remnants of a few days of sheer hell; you've
wondered if their target might have been hills like this.
  Finally, you locate a much-used rope and tie one end around some rocks near
the pit, hoping to lower yourself into it.  As you explore the top few feet of
the cave, you drop your disposable atomic flashlight, and can hear it bounce
against the sides of the cave for several seconds before striking the bottom.
Slowly, in darkness, you lower yourself down the rope.  Wisely, you started at
noon, and the light is bright enough for you to see above you, though your
body block