Post by Denim in English vocabulary for dummies

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If i would examine the rope and a message shows "The rope is attached to a nearby stone and leads down into ground." Then i would assume "climb down" or "climb down the rope". But if the rope present in room actually makes the exit "down" available and i see it then i just type "down". "climb rope" is confusing isn't it? You can climb up or climb down the rope but that should be somehow pointing out in the description of rope or room that this action is indeed possible. Hang on (a rope joke lol). Maybe you could use it like this "climb rope down". But then it would be much more work in the code to say to player "which way up or down?" when they type "climb rope" and two ways are open.

Or you can still use my favorite command "use rope" and it is done. Don't throw stones at me Garry pls :D.

auraes4 years ago

I stay in a two-word parser use only.

climb rope" is confusing isn't it?

Yes, it is. And Garry's answer isn't very clear on that subject.
"Climb down" sounds good to me.

Or you can still use my favorite command "use rope" and it is done.

I disable the use of the verb "Use".
This is fine if you choose to use only a few verbs: EXAMINE, TAKE, USE, DROP etc.; but it seems to me to be a very bad idea if you choose to use verbs adapted to the situation; it leads to confusion.

Garry Francis4 years ago

Does USE ROPE mean TIE ROPE, UNTIE ROPE, CLIMB ROPE, TIE KNOT, GET ROPE, DROP ROPE, TIE ROPE AROUND CHEST, TIE BAD GUY WITH ROPE et al?

Denim4 years ago

YES

:D Ok, that was a bit of a joke answer sorry. You know like when someone asks you "do you want pizza with pepperoni or 4 types of cheese?" and you answer "yes". Well the games i played at times going faaar in the past that i no longer remember (and it makes me happy) were all about a one use only. I give an example. You have rope. You get to some room where the rope needs to be tied in order to climb down. Use rope -> you tie the rope blabla. Get rope would untie the rope logically. If the rope had more uses it simply means you go somewhere else and use rope and if it is the correct place you get the response. At that time in history the parser was not an advanced AI machine but just a few lines of code to make the game tick and there were no need for special words like tie, untie, hang self, beat the crap out of the bandit with rope in hand and then tie rope the horse to the pole. I played games made in TADS3 after i let these old "use and use on" games behind me. And boy.. i needed a manual because finding out commands was a bit more puzzle solving than actual puzzle solving?! I remember one very good game about an island where the hero stranded. And when i started to play it the game introduced commands to let me know how to play and ask the npc questions. It was fun and i enjoyed it. But after the first half game i got stuck on a place where no matter what i tried nothing worked. And no walkthrough to this game available. This is the game : https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=9s66qxkt22kq5wv9

Garry Francis4 years ago

The game in question is Blighted Isle by Eric Eve. There's a good summary at ifwiki. Some of the commands are rather esoteric. There's a map and scoring table at David Welbourn's site (plover.net), but no walkthrough. You might be able to glean something from the scoring table.

itch.io

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