Ok, this topic is supposed to be short, but it will be long just the same, I know it.

I've been spending a lot of time talking with Foxfulness, Captain Spam, and AJ2F (thanks a billion for the project idea). Together, we are working on a text based adventure engine that has the capability of accepting files with "worlds" in them. These worlds are a combination of locations and objects that the user can manipulate through his/her travels.

For those of you who don't know what a text based adventure game is, it's basically just a player that moves around from place to place and picks up objects and pushes buttons and stuff like that. It's entirely word based, so there are no pictures whatsoever.

Anyhow, the engine is nearly complete, and I want to test it out to see if it can withstand some really cool input. I want to make an official word text based adventure game that will basically have stuff that has to do with the JJ2 community. Problem #1 is that I don't know enough about the community to make one. Problem #2 is that I can't come up with any puzzles or whatnot. I DID make a world maker program in visual basic that will aid me in making the world. However, this program can also be used by other people, so if you want to try to borrow the program to make it yourself, by all means ask for it and you can do so . If you DO decide to try and tackle making a jazz2 world, then you'll probably need help using the editor, because it is entirely undocumented. Any help in coming up with ideas for puzzles or some useful JCF trivia would be very helpful.

I was thinking about adding different people from the JCF in the world as well. Mind you, I can't have interactive conversations with people in the game very easily. If you want to be in the game, just ask. It will take me a while to make, I'm sure, so don't go bugging about when it will be finished.

And no, this engine doesn't support online playing or multiplayer options.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP, YOU NEED TO PM ME.

Sounds really cool. I assume it runs as an application, so is the shell any good?


*Can I be in the game

You mean the engine itself? It's written in C++, and I didn't bother using the WinAPI. Text based games are cool as text based games. No need for a GUI.

This sounds an awful lot like what Slayo was planning to do in his #jj2 rpg topic is Misc...

Nevertheless it sounds interesting. I'd like to be included, as I'm sure many would.

Although I agree with Spaztic about it sounding like Slayo's, it does still sound interesting.

~ Traft

just a suggestion, make it so it mocks hotel levels in some way. why? hotels bite big wind and everyone agrees ;p

.......i'd like to be included. :P

There also is this game named Jazz Jackrabbit2. Perhaps we should try to play that some time...

Look, the point is that I can theoretically come up with some ideas of my own and do the whole thing myself. It just wouldn't be enjoyable that way...

This game ISN'T Jazz2. It's jazz2 related.

Originally posted by Newspaz
There also is this game named Jazz Jackrabbit2. Perhaps we should try to play that some time...

LIES

Heh, sounds very interesting. If I had more information on people, and time, perhaps I would be interested in helping a little bit. ;-P

I don't have to ask to be included, I hope? =P


~velkasha

OMG OMG PLZ ADD ME OMG!

If you can find somewhere to put in a black dinosaur, I hope you will include me in the game.
Also, it is 3D right? Just asking..
Anyways, I don't mind if you make me a bad guy or a good guy, as long as you make me look like a black dinosaur (velociraptor) able to shoot fireballs from the mouth.

Originally posted by Blackraptor
Also, it is 3D right? Just asking..

"For those of you who don't know what a text based adventure game is, it's basically just a player that moves around from place to place and picks up objects and pushes buttons and stuff like that. It's entirely word based, so there are no pictures whatsoever."

Oh.

Originally posted by Blackraptor
Oh.

But I COULD add you... You could shoot fireballs, but it wouldn't be as exciting as it would be in 3D, I'm sure.

Sure. 3D or not, I'llbe in it.

Yeah... I had the idea for a programming project for myself, and was telling Feline about it... he liked it so much that he decided to do one too! :P

Anyway, as programmers it'll be interesting to compare our two text-adventure engines in terms of efficiency, how we handled the adventure, ease of use, and of course flexibility in the adventure-worlds themselves (if it allows world creators to do events/ other stuff they want to be able to do.)

His program is currently way farther than mine, I'm just starting now. Anyway, Feline is a great programmer. And a writer. So I have faith in his abilities to both program the engine and create good adventures.

(PS - give me a cameo roll in that adventure, if you can. :P )


And for all you people who aren't familiar with text adventures, such as the old Zork games and everything by Infocom - well, I feel sorry for you all. A text adventure is a game like none other. Sure graphics are nice, sure sound is nice, but the experience is different. I'm sure everyone that has played one will agree.
(Although, between all of you and me, I've never actually beaten a text adventure.)

Finally, one more thing I'd like to add. Yes text adventure programs have been done before. Yes, there are probably engines out there that are better than either Feline or I could ever hope to make ours. That's not the point. As programmers we feel the need to rise to the challenge, to create something of our own. It is this thrill that drives us.

~AJ2f

Hey, cool! If I had the time I'd really want to help out. So did you make a scripting language of some kind, or how did you design the dynamic addition of worlds? I think something like this would be really cool to make multiplayer in some sort of way. You should think about how you could make it multiplayer, and then maybe you could talk with somebody who's knowledgable is network programming. Oh yea, and how are you doing the input? Top down dongeon crawl, list of commands and objects, or something menu based?

You guys, do you know what a MUD or a MUCK is? It is a massive multiplayer text adventure. There are thousands upon thousands of them out there. And chances are, the software needed to run them is already on your computer. It is called telnet.exe. I would suggest finding a much better MUD/MUCK client online, though, 'cause telnet is as barebones as they come.

http://www.mudconnector.org

To further explain what a text adventure is, here is an example


----------------------------------------------------------
>Look

You are in a large room, furnished completely by leather furnature. The couch is leather, the foot stool is leather, even the [dog] is leather. The furniture lines the wall, which is covered by an antique looking, green wallpaper. The only light is from an open window to the [north]. A worn wooden door is to the [west], while a reception desk is to the [east]. To the [south], is a pair of finely polished double doors. The room smells much like an old attic.

Objects:
Dog

Obvious exits: [North] [West] [East] [South]

>take dog

You take the leather dog.

>go east

You walk up to the reception desk. The receptionist is busy taking a phone call, and quickly typping at the computer at the same time. She doesn't seem to notice you. Papers ...
-------------------------

Ah that would have to do, because I gotta go now. But you get the idea, right? Enter commands by typing them, like "take dog" and "go east". Everything is done in text.

By the way, I'd say this game can't be an official game at all, since it isn't an Epic production.

Text adventures can have RPG battles, too... they can even have real time RPG battles, just you'll never see any graphics, only text displaying all the data.

I'd like to be in the game, sure... but I'm sure other Jazzers would make better characters. I wouldn't mind just being an extra.

If you take my offer, I can provide you with an image of "Hare", my character. Or to save on time, you can make all the people describe their characters for you. BTW, a JJ2 MUD would be really cool

Bah, I'm not good at text games. I remember this one I played...

You are by the river. You see your sister.

> kill her

That wouldn't be nice, would it?

> shut up and kill her

You close your backpack.

> No you idiot attack her

You jump in the river. You die.

> **** you.

hehe, I saw Radium just posted something here, and I was like, "Oh no, here it comes". And I was right

Life is certainly interesting around here. lol.

Originally posted by Hare
hehe, I saw Radium just posted something here, and I was like, "Oh no, here it comes". And I was right
Life is certainly interesting around here. lol.

... What did I do now?

I don't want people to think that this project is dead already... I NEED helpers. I can't do this thing myself. Here's a sample of already made output. :P

Falling Dark

You seem to have fallen down a dark, black, hole. The last thing that you remember... was jumping into Devan's Teleporter. You are about to embark on an adventure so bold... so cunning... that it will never cease to amaze you with the awesome graphics. Let's just hope, unlike Devan's Teleporter, this game will actually be finished. There is a doorway in front of you to the North.


> south
Sorry, you can't go that direction

> north
Carrotus

As soon as you leave that ugly hole, still dazed and wondering where Devan teleported you, you look around and confusion floods your mind. You're on Carrotus! Why would Devan teleport you to the safest place on earth? Only Bjarni knows, for you can see his hotel in the distance and you watch and he nods his head up and down, his face wearing a big grin. As you look around, you notice many rabbits moving about doing their business. A few even stop to say hello to you as they pass. The sky is cloudless and the ground is covered in green grass and carrots (Stay tuned! I plan to implement a huge picture viewer for your enjoyment, pictures courteous of Wild Angel). No directions look appealing to you, and you're definitely not going back the way you came. You do, however, see a chain in front of you that's mounted on the wall.


>

Ohhh sounds good, can i join in? ^^ but noooo cuz im not good at level tileset making. I dont even know how. Bleh. JJ2 is starting to bore me cuz i have no experience -.-

I would help If I had more skills in programming, since I barely have any. Anyways, I await to see the game and the part I will hopefully play in it. (I wonder where you can include a Black dinosaur, certainly not on carrottus..

Originally posted by KILLERRABBIT(ICEDKILLER)
Ohhh sounds good, can i join in? ^^ but noooo cuz im not good at level tileset making. I dont even know how. Bleh. JJ2 is starting to bore me cuz i have no experience -.-

Good heavens!!! It has been very plainly explained that text adventures have NO GRAPHICS.

Do I have to spell it out? I bet that would help too, because spelling doesn't use graphics either.

Just a tip: Never add plot in room descriptions. If you came back to that place later in the game or something, you'd get the 'As soon as you leave the ugly hole' message. Actually that would also be triggered by a 'look', which sort of messes it up a bit.
Instead, describe the place you're in, and tag parts of the story after it if you've never been there before.

Put me in because I'm too lazy to say anything to get you to.