Text-Based Adventure I was working on last year, figured I'd look over it and ask for some opinions on it

[Mattlap]

Hey everyone, I'm Matt. I had this semi-complete text-based adventure game sitting in my Turing folder on my computer and I thought I'd take a look at it.
I've went through it and I'd like some opinions on the code its self and the game.
Thanks.

[Aange10]

Opinions on game = You'd have to write something very enticing to make me play a text adventure.

Opinions on code = Would be much smoother to put the text in a text file and read it. Bulletproofing the get commands wouldn't hurt either.

The program could easily look like

Turing:

proc readFile readFile, store stuff end readFile proc getPassage (passage : int) get passage # passage end getPassage var answer : int := 1 loop % Main program getPassage (answer) get answer end loop

[Mattlap]

Alright well I'm kind of a super noob when it comes to programming so would you mind explaining what all of that means? =S

[Aange10]

Sure, no problem. That's just psuedo code, meaning it's not actually functioning code. It's just there to give you a basic idea.


But basically what I was saying is that you could get every 'passage' of text from a text file. From there you could lable the passages. After you've done that, all you'd have to do was loop through 2 lines of code to run your game

1) Display the passage with the number the user's answer gave you
2) Get a new answer

[jr5000pwp]

Or you could do something like this:

Turing:

type choices:      record           message : string           choice1 : choices           choice2 : choices           choice3 : choices           choice4 : choices      end record var currentChoices : choices choice : int loop      put currentChoices.message      get choice      if choice = 1 then           currentChoices:=currentChoices.choice1      elsif choice = 2 then           currentChoices:=currentChoices.choice2      elsif choice = 3 then           currentChoices:=currentChoices.choice3      elsif choice = 4 then           currentChoices:=currentChoices.choice4      end if end loop

You would have to populate them in reverse order, which could be done using a text file, but will probably be easiest done manually in an initializing method, which can be put into another file and pulled in using an include statement to make your main code look neat.

I would have suggested classes, because those allow for custom events for different choices, but turing's class system is so bad that it's not worth it trying to figure it out. (atleast for me)

[Aange10]

The only problem with that data structure, Jr5000, is 1) It's pretty complex for the problem. It's also hard to read all the data in it, given how its dynamically nested. But the biggest problem, would be that there isn't an easy way to go backwards.

With a procedure to correlate a number to a message, you could skip around as you like. You'd also be able to easily tell which number goes to which message.

[Mattlap]

So, Aange10, what would I have to do to use that in my program. Like what is readFile and getPassage? What do they do? That kind of thing. Again exuse the ignorance

[Aange10]

Do you know what procedures are?

[jr5000pwp]

I hadn't thought of backtracking, that would require a List of all the previous states, or recursion, which could get messy. The reading could be done, although it may end up reading in like your solution. Regardless, your solution is more practical and easy.

[Aange10]

Mirhagk wrote:

Just remember Occam's razor.

All other things being equal, the simplest solution is best.

Though I am sure there is a more elegant solution than my suggestion too.

[jr5000pwp]

True, I'm sure you can create a more intricate game if you choose an OOP solution, but it wouldn't be very pretty at all the way that turing implements classes. And that is not the kind of solution that Mattlap is requesting.

BTW, what did you intend with "get passage # passage". Is that meant to represent retrieving the passage from an array of passages?

[Aange10]

Pretty much.

[Aange10]

I made an example, try looking at this.

Also, idk why, but Turing's escape keys don't seem to be working for me. Everywhere you see \t there should be a tab, and everywhere you see \n there should be a new line.

[Raknarg]

this might be a bit late... but
@jr5000pwp
I think what you're looking for are linked lists, it would be basically the same thing but more organized.

[Mattlap]

So, Raknarg, what are those rofl

edit: Do you remember me? You help me on both this and another project last year
My profile pic used to be a lemur sitting cross-legged with its tounge out and then a communist lemur lol