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Hello Garry! I frankly apologize for not putting new text-adventure to the Literacy Jam. I was (and still am) working on the other projects which I have for Amiga. Things are almost done, I'm busy with them. The progress is a truth, and I will enter next Literacy Jam for sure. And most probably I release my new text-adventure much earlier this year.

Greetings.

May I ask why aren't you entering the Literacy Jam this year?

I'll send my entry to test, once it's in beta stage. Always happy that people make reviews. I noticed progress, so please expect something done well. :-)

Thank you, Garry for answer. Yeah, it seems that random hints produce  so many problems that I better consider changing them to context-specific hints. Development of my game is in early stage. However, the algorithm might be useful in another situations (random events that do not change the ability to complete the game, but make the game more attractive and possible to play many times).

Unfortunately AdvSys has no indexed arrays. However the list approach is very easy and the algorithm is fast. Shuffling should be possible as well.

I thought it might be useful to share some tips when writing in AdvSys. I use it to write my Jam entry. Got working locations, few hidden items and passages plus some descriptions and a set of verbs.

I wanted to write limited hints (like in Goblins 3 point-and-click game) which are random, but not repeated, displayed to the user when he/she types HINT command. Here's a list implementation.

First, I specified hint objects with description property and a link to next hint:

( OBJECT hint
    ( PROPERTY next hint-1 )
)
( hint hint-1 
    ( PROPERTY
        ldesc "Look around couple of times and maybe you will see more details.\n"
        next hint-2
    )
)

Then, I wrote the function that draws a number from 0 to number of left hints minus 1, then traverses the list, removes a hint from the list and decrements number of left hints. Next time this hint item won't be drawn:

( DEFINE ( hint-func &aux num p  c )
    ( IF ( = hints 0 )
        ( PRINT "Sorry, no more hints available.\n" )
        ( PROGN
            ( PRINT-NUMBER hints )
            ( PRINT " hints available.\n" )
            ( PRINT "Are you sure you want to use a hint? " )
            ( IF ( YES-OR-NO )
                ( PROGN
                    ( PRINT "Hint: " )
                    ( SETQ num ( RAND hint-count ) )
                    ( SETQ p hint )
                    ( SETQ c ( GETP p next ) )
                    ( WHILE ( > num 0 )
                        ( SETQ p c )
                        ( SETQ c ( GETP c next ) )
                        ( SETQ num ( - num 1 ) )
                    )
                    ( PRINT ( GETP c ldesc ) )
                    ( SETP p next ( GETP c next ) )                
                    ( SETQ hint-count ( - hint-count 1 ) )
                    ( SETQ hints ( - hints 1 ) )
                )
                ( PRINT "OK, no hint used.\n" )
            )
        )
    )
)

This approach is nice and also the cost of traversal is exactly the number of items visited (so removed ones do not count).

Best regards to all and Good Luck with your adventures.

From what I understand, the Jam goal is to create games for novice players. That's why each game must contain a tutorial - introduction with the game mechanics etc. It must only be suitable for children (no offensive content).

As of banner art-work it's a fun, cartoon-style graphics, I like it very much. It suits very well with the optional Theme (time-travel). It's a style that was used in previous edition and in my opinion it's targetted to wide audience. It just makes sure that the games must be a bit not serious and don't contain very hard puzzles.

Thank you so much for playing and rating. :-) Yes, the rules allow the polishing of the game.

I didn't prepare a walkthrough file. If you really got stuck - you need to give the ticket to someone. :-)

In original scenario there was a bit more logic puzzle here, but I shortened it to make the game available on time for late submission. The mining museum was also extended and the Priceless Vase was in different place. There was some more puzzles, and also items in Basement and in the Car Park. I will introduce them for sure, but don't know precisely when.

Yes, I noticed that my submission was accepted. Thank you for giving this late submission option! My game has many planned elements from the scenario, however was not polished. I will try to enhance the game during the Jam and after it. I try to learn something from each submission.

Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I was in a hurry to complete the game for the Jam, thus not all planned scenario elements have been implemented. I will try to introduce them during the Jam and after it.

I noticed that my game lists many elements in the rooms (like furnitures, plants, vegetables etc.) but they are not interactive, there is no response to them. Again it was because of shortage of time, but also because scenario doesn't cover them - they are just a decoration to descriptions.

The tutorial is almost not present - another flaw.

I will fix these flaws at first place. 

As of pluses I noticed that my work-flow is much better and future text-adventures should be more enjoyable and playable.  It's a matter of organisation.

Thank you again for playing and placing your rating.

Hello. I hope you enjoy my game! This is a slightly last-minute project, not much polished and with basic tutorial, lacks few things. But I put much heart into it. :-)

I have sent URL to my game page to the Jam Organisers' address supplied with the letters (TextAdventureLiteracyJam@gmail.com) so that I can make late submission of my entry.

I am writing my adventure game in ADL. There are already 7 locations (out of planned 11) with a bunch of items.  I'm sticking with the scenario that helps a lot. There are only few days left, but I hope I will submit my entry. I have also some important projects on computer-science studies. Good luck to everyone.

Hello.

I fixed the PUT CLOTHES ON WOOD case and also added some missing descriptions at "the Mill" and "the Bakery".

I hope you don't have any trouble playing my game on Windows based systems.

Cheers.

Very nice adventure. It was a bit tricky for me at few points, but I think it's suitable for beginners. Interesting puzzles.

Plus for the achievements. It should make the people return to the game to gain more of them.

Thank you for much fun!

Thank you for playing my adventure!

I simplified the scoring and you gather 100 points for each of the three goal items.

Unfortunately there are no ADL interpreters for Mac or Linux. You can still however play it in DOSBox using this archive: 

https://ifarchive.org/if-archive/programming/adl/adl.zip

The game is also playable on Amiga or Amiga emulator using this archive:

Aminet - misc/fish/fish-0091.lha

Thank you very much for reply. Got my game placed in the Jam. :) Good luck to all!

Just one more question: I'm writing a game in ADL and the objects are handled automatically in room descriptions. This means that apart two sentences there is also one/two additional for object descriptions.

I understand it's absolutely permitted the presence of such additional messages. Once the items are picked up, these lines of course disappear from room description.

Thanks! :)

Thank you for answer. Yes, in my tutorial I explain how to use INVENTORY and OPEN DOOR once he takes a key and compass directions  for movement once he opens the door.

I don't tell about DROP KEY. Once he completes the tutorial I write about HELP and HINTS commands.

Hi, as I never made a tutorial for a game I would like to ask whether I have done a proper tutorial:

The player is given information about VERB NOUN scheme, then he's placed in a room with key and the door. Then he is given hints about commands "get key" and "look". Once he take a key he's awarded with "Good work" message and he is then instructed to open door etc.

He may always check the other options, like try to open the door at first place.

Once he complete the tutorial the game goes into normal mode with standard descriptions.

Thank you for advice.

I plan to use ADL or AdvSys as they are my favourite text-adventure systems.

Hi, I'm Robert. This would be my second Jam overall. Previously I submitted my text-adventure to Parser Comp from previous year.

I am interested in text-adventures for many years. Started with Adventure Definition Language, AdvSys, Haktar and Engine Nine Adventure Creator.

There is also a Parser Comp this year, and I'm not yet sure where I will submit.

I will try to submit an interesting and likeable adventure for novice players.

Cheers. :)

Thank you for your comment. AdvSys is really not a problem here! :-) This system is amazingly flexible and allows to create beautiful games. I made some useful classes. I will add AdvSys source code to the uploaded files.

Of course there are a lot of other adventure systems! As for "Yesternight" I stick with AdvSys. I also like Adventure Definition Language (ADL).

The game is short and also can be used as a tutorial - like the mentioned  "The Cave of Magic" from the Adventuron. My game contains 4 puzzles and 5 locations. As I mentioned, this will be extended after ParserComp.

Hello. The game is very short, contains few puzzles, few responses and the descriptions are not rich.

But it's not the AdvSys interpreter or parser fault. It's my fault as a novice writer. It is a prologue to the game instead of the game itself.

I'm planning to extend this text-adventure game after the ParserComp. As a normal text-adventure.

The descriptions will be extended, there will be many improvements in some areas including non-standard responses.

The plot will be extended. The medicine book found in the library is an item that has no use in this prologue.

AdvSys allows to add articles to the adventure vocabulary ("a", "an", "the"), but I didn't use it.

I'm a computer-science student and I passed English language exam, but seem to not use it well in practice.

Thank you for deeper insight into my game and many useful hints! This will help me improve.

Thank you for this information. I didn't know that Gargoyle is capable of interpreting AdvSys games. I will add this into the game information.

Yes, I know it's very short.  It's my debut. :-) Thank you for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it overall.

Thank you very much for rating my game!

I uploaded updated version - the Play.bat script pauses when the game is complete and I added some adjectives for items.

I will get my game finished on time. :) I'm writing it in AdvSys, completed the basic classes and now writing the storyline while easily adding items and locations using great object-oriented class/method system. I learnt AdvSys much time ago, but never written a bigger game. Now I'm having a chance. The plot was ready a while ago and now the story is divided into Prologue and 3 Chapters. At least 1 chapter will be ready for a submission. I'm testing it myself but don't have big issues, thus don't need to create a discussion thread. I hope the players will have great time playing my entry, and also I could play other entries in the ParserComp! So good luck to all. :)

Nice, fast action packed game similiar to River Raid. Great music and sound effects. High playability.