Testers/feedback wanted: "The Master Tape"

Playing Beta Testing Requests and Discussion
9

Here is an interaction that could have gone better:

[spoiler]

It seems as though “medicine” is always being understood as the cabinet rather than the bottle, and that “bottle” only works for taking and not for examining. Also it would be nice if the game told me what was in the cabinet when I opened it without having to search it again.

Followed by:

It seems as though you can’t examine things in open containers, and you have to take them out first? This is a bit annoying – and even if that’s how you want it to go, you shouldn’t tell me I can’t see a pill here when the problem is that I need to take the pill out to get a close look at it.[/spoiler]

It also throws me off that room descriptions only print the first time – I guess that some of the rooms don’t have descriptions, and that the game is set to what we’d call “brief” mode by default? I’d like a way to switch “verbose” mode on, so that descriptions print automatically when you enter a room, even if you’ve been there before. Also “l” for “look” gave me

which seems bugged even aside from the fact that I’d really like an abbreviation for “look,” especially without a verbose mode.

Good luck with the system! As you can gather from my comments players can be pretty demanding about a parser and standard world model; I really appreciated the logical central puzzle, and that

when I tried “open safe” it immediately prompted me to enter the combination; I’d been fearing a guess the syntax puzzle. (You should probably implement the knob as something that responds to commands, though.)

10

a Scott Adams-level parser in this day and age… amusing

11

Thanks, this is all great feedback. I’ve added description modes and command abbreviations to my to-do list. You just reminded me: in addition to hard-coding “l” to “look,” the parser should probably expand nearly any abbreviated command to its nearest match.

[spoiler]I must have putzed around in that bathroom a thousand times and never caught the “medicine” ambiguity. I guess I called it “cabinet” every single time. :blush:

You can examine things inside containers, but you have to be explicit, e.g, “look at the bottle in the cabinet.” Even “look at medicine in medicine” would work, since the parser can disambiguate the objects based on the sentence’s structure.

The “take” command can also take an indirect object, e.g, “take the bottle from the cabinet,” but “take bottle” works because the “take” command is smart enough to check open containers when the item isn’t directly in the room. The best solution, I think, is to make “look” do the same thing.[/spoiler]

Thanks again.

12

I’d say the parser could need improvements, but I’m really interested to see whether the overall architecture has what it takes to be viable. I.e. does it make sense to use a regular programming language to write IF?

In the readme it says there are “examples”, but they don’t seem to be included in GitHub repo. Did you forget to push them, or are they elsewhere? Or are the yet to be written?

13

Yep, the example wasn’t in the repo. I went ahead and pushed it. There’s not much substance to it, but it’s the one that the README references. You can also find the code for common commands in the lib/gamefic/action_ext directory.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Here are a few other updates I pushed to both the repo and the online demo:

  • Case insensitivity. Commands were already case-insensitive most of the time, but there were a couple of edge cases where they were not.
  • Command abbreviations. “L” is now a synonym for “look.” Shortened versions of any command should work when there is a unique match. For example, “ge” will expand to “get.” If there is more than one possibility – e.g., “lo” could mean either “look” or “lock” – the game tells you that the command is ambiguous.
  • Partial support for pronouns. The game should now understand what “it” references in most contexts. Example: look newspaper → take it → read it
  • Smarter look command. It knows to check nearby open containers when you try to look at an object that isn’t directly in the room with you. Also, opening a container automatically tells you its contents.
  • Description modes. I implemented the Infocom style of brief, superbrief, and verbose modes for room descriptions. Brief is the default.
14

Nice, I’ll have a look at it and try to maybe try to write something myself.

15

Is the source for The Master Tape available? I’d love to have some more example code to look at.

There’s really an awful lot to do, but I still think this is an interesting effort. Just some quick notes:

Tasks an author wants to do

  • Document how to add a new type of thing in a game. How to create wearable or edible things, for example.
  • Document how to handle constraints - you can’t do something until some condition is satisfied
  • Dynamic descriptions of things - inserting names of objects, etc. Just regular Ruby templating, I guess - but can we do things like plurals, random/stop lists, etc?
  • Typography - including markup for styles? bold, italic, underline? colors?

Engine features

  • Saving and Restoring (!)
  • Undo (!)
  • Distributing games (obfuscating code?)
  • Improved error handling (for runtime errors), just block a command , don’t let the engine die

How about a separate gamefic development thread?

16

There’s a zip of the game’s source at http://gamefic.com/the-master-tape.zip.

I’m right in the middle of a major update that addresses a few of the items you mentioned. I’ll start a development thread after I push the update to GitHub and RubyGems. With a little luck, it’ll be ready to go by tomorrow. Thanks again.

17

I just released a slew of updates that bring Gamefic all the way up to version 0.1.1.

Games can be distributed as binary files and played on the command line with Ruby.

  1. gem install gamefic
  2. Download the game file at gamefic.com/the-master-tape.gfic
  3. gamefic the-master-tape.gfic

I also started a development thread at [url]https://intfiction.org/t/gamefic-0-1-1-beta/6565/1].

18

I agree, but I’d suggest making the solution general enough to apply to any verb. “You don’t see any … here” can be a very misleading message if that item is indeed present, so in my humble opinion that reply should never be given in response to one action when another action referring to the same object would succeed.

19

Good call. I should be able to modify the way command tokens are parsed at the query level, so any object inside an open container is treated as if it’s inside the room itself. Not quite trivial, but definitely doable. I’ll work on it.

20

OK, here my playthrough, lightly annotated with asterisks. Wanted to do it before I read too much of the gamefic code, for a more authentic result. Didn’t start again when I lost, though. It still contains spoilers, so be careful everyone who hasn’t played it yet.

[spoiler]# THE MASTER TAPE

A Gamefic text adventure by Fred Snyder

Press enter to continue…

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug, newspaper

Obvious exits: east, north, south

x newspaper

A copy of the Los Angeles Times.

take newspaper

You take the newspaper.

x rug

A large, thick, and badly frayed Oriental rug.

take rug

You can’t carry the rug.

x stereo

A beautiful Marantz 2200 in a wooden cabinet.

take stereo

You can’t carry the stereo system.

exits

I don’t understand ‘exits’ as a command.

east

You go east.

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: scrap of paper, bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

x scrap

It’s a hand-written note. “Bill, Come on, man. Your birthday? You really ought
to make it something a little less predictable. Anyway, it’s taken care of.
Good luck in Sacramento. - Jimmy”

x of

I don’t know which you mean: a scrap of paper, a pile of dirty laundry

take scrap

You take the scrap of paper.

take laundry

You can’t carry the pile of dirty laundry.

x laundry

A huge pile of dirty laundry. Gross.

search laundry

You find a distinct musty odor and not much else.

x bed

Just a plain old twin bed. It doesn’t even have a headboard. The sheets look
none too fresh.

search bed

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

  • hm

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x chest

A large army chest with a lock.

The army chest is closed.

unlock chest

You don’t have the key.

open chest

It’s locked.

look

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

l

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

n

You go north.

The bathroom

Bill’s aversion to housekeeping extends to the bathroom. There’s nothing in
here you want to touch.

Visible items: cabinet

Obvious exits: south

touch

I don’t understand ‘touch’ as a command.

cabinet

I don’t understand ‘cabinet’ as a command.

x

I know the verb ‘x’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

cabinet

I don’t understand ‘cabinet’ as a command.

x caninet

You don’t see any “caninet” here.

x cabinet

A plain wooden cabinet.

The medicine cabinet is closed.

open capinet

You don’t see any “capinet” here.

open cabinet

You open the medicine cabinet.

The medicine cabinet contains a medicine bottle.

take bottle

You take a medicine bottle from the medicine cabinet.

x bottle

An unlabeled bottle without a cap.

open bottle

You can’t open the medicine bottle.

  • why not?

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

break bottle

I don’t understand ‘break’ as a command.

smash bottle

I don’t understand ‘smash’ as a command.

throw bottle

I don’t understand ‘throw’ as a command.

attack bottle

I don’t understand ‘attack’ as a command.

cuddle bottle

I don’t understand ‘cuddle’ as a command.

kiss bottle

I don’t understand ‘kiss’ as a command.

talk to bottle

I don’t understand ‘talk’ as a command.

ask bottle

I don’t understand ‘ask’ as a command.

tell bottle about irrelevant stuff

I don’t understand ‘tell’ as a command.

l

The bathroom

Bill’s aversion to housekeeping extends to the bathroom. There’s nothing in
here you want to touch.

Visible items: cabinet

Obvious exits: south

take cabinet

You can’t carry the medicine cabinet.

s

You go south.

The bedroom

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

w

You go west.

The living room

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

verbose

You are now in VERBOSE mode. Detailed descriptions will be displayed every time
you enter a room. Other options are BRIEF and SUPERBRIEF.

south

You can’t leave. You don’t have the tape yet.

n

You go north.

The kitchen

The kitchen might be the cleanest room in the apartment. If the styrofoam
containers in the living room are any indication, Bill rarely cooks.

Visible items: cupboard

Obvious exits: south

s

You go south.

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

n

You go north.

The kitchen

The kitchen might be the cleanest room in the apartment. If the styrofoam
containers in the living room are any indication, Bill rarely cooks.

Visible items: cupboard

Obvious exits: south

x cupboard

A plain wooden cupboard.

The cupboard is closed.

open cupboard

You open the cupboard.

The cupboard contains a coffee can.

take can

You take a coffee can from the cupboard.

x can

Chase and Sanborn.

The can rattles when you shake it.

open can

You open the coffee can.

The coffee can contains a key.

take key

You take a key from the coffee can.

drop it

I know the verb ‘drop’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

l

The kitchen

The kitchen might be the cleanest room in the apartment. If the styrofoam
containers in the living room are any indication, Bill rarely cooks.

Visible items: cupboard

Obvious exits: south

s

You go south.

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

x styrofoam

Based on the detritus in the living room, Bill’s diet primarily consists of
cheeseburgers and french fries.

think

I don’t understand ‘think’ as a command.

remember

I don’t understand ‘remember’ as a command.

help

This game understands the following verbs:

brief, close, commands, crack, d, down, drop, e, east, eat, exam, examine, get,
go, help, i, inventory, itemize, l, lift, lock, look, move, n, ne, north,
northeast, northwest, nw, open, pick, place, play, pop, put, quit, read,
remove, s, se, search, south, southeast, southwest, stomp, superbrief, sw,
take, turn, u, unlock, up, use, verbose, w, west, x

move styrofoam

Nothing happens.

eat styrofoam

You can’t eat that.

eat key

You can’t eat that.

itemize

I know the verb ‘itemize’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

itemize key

I know the verb ‘itemize’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

itemize styrofoam

I know the verb ‘itemize’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

  • what is this supposed to do?

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

stomp

Seeing as how you’re technically breaking and entering, you probably shouldn’t
call too much attention to yourself.

lift styrofoam

Nothing happens.

e

You go east.

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

e

You don’t see any exit “east” from here.

d

You don’t see any exit “down” from here.

u

You don’t see any exit “up” from here.

s

You don’t see any exit “south” from here.

nw

You don’t see any exit “northwest” from here.

ne

You don’t see any exit “northeast” from here.

sw

You don’t see any exit “southwest” from here.

se

You don’t see any exit “southeast” from here.

ssw

I don’t understand ‘ssw’ as a command.

open chest

It’s locked.

unlock chest with newspaper

You unlock the chest.

  • WHAT

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x chest

A large army chest with a lock.

The army chest is open.

look inside chest

The army chest contains: photograph and disc.

look chest

A large army chest with a lock.

The army chest is open.

search chest

The army chest contains: photograph and disc.

x photograph

You look at the photograph in the army chest.

A Polaroid photo of Bill Spectrum in a sombrero. A caption written in the
border says, “Bill’s b-day, Cancun, Jun 7 1961.”

x disc

You look at the lacquer disc in the army chest.

The master cut of an unreleased single by The Pete Best Combo. Interesting…
but not the reason you’re here.

take photo

You take a photograph from the army chest.

take disc

You take a lacquer disc from the army chest.

search chest

You don’t find anything.

lock chest with photo

You lock the chest.

eat photo

You can’t eat that.

eat disc

You can’t eat that.

stomp on chest

Seeing as how you’re technically breaking and entering, you probably shouldn’t
call too much attention to yourself.

l

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

x bed

Just a plain old twin bed. It doesn’t even have a headboard. The sheets look
none too fresh.

open bed

You can’t open the twin bed.

look under sheets

Gross.

  • ha ha

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x sheets

Gross.

s

You don’t see any exit “south” from here.

w

You go west.

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

put disc in stereo

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

put disc

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

i

newspaper, scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, key, photograph, disc

put newspaper in can

It doesn’t fit.

put scrap in can

It doesn’t fit.

  • I highly doubt that

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

put key in can

  • no response?

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x can

Chase and Sanborn.

i

newspaper, scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, key, photograph, disc

drop key

You drop the key.

take all

You don’t see any “all” here.

take key

You take the key.

drop all

I know the verb ‘drop’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

open stereo

You can’t open the stereo system.

x stereo

A beautiful Marantz 2200 in a wooden cabinet.

turn on stereo

It’s probably not a good idea to make too much noise during a break-in.

turn down volume of stereo

You can’t open the scrap of paper.

  • ???

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

put disc

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

disc

I don’t understand ‘disc’ as a command.

x disc

The master cut of an unreleased single by The Pete Best Combo. Interesting…
but not the reason you’re here.

lay disc in stereo

I don’t understand ‘lay’ as a command.

help

This game understands the following verbs:

brief, close, commands, crack, d, down, drop, e, east, eat, exam, examine, get,
go, help, i, inventory, itemize, l, lift, lock, look, move, n, ne, north,
northeast, northwest, nw, open, pick, place, play, pop, put, quit, read,
remove, s, se, search, south, southeast, southwest, stomp, superbrief, sw,
take, turn, u, unlock, up, use, verbose, w, west, x

use disc with stereo

It’s probably not a good idea to make too much noise during a break-in.

pop

I know the verb ‘pop’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

pop stereo

You can’t eat that.

  • uhhh

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

place disc in stereo

I know the verb ‘place’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

place

I know the verb ‘place’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

place key

I know the verb ‘place’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

place newspaper

I know the verb ‘place’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

  • what can I do with that verb?

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

i

newspaper, scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, photograph, disc, key

use key with bottle

You can’t eat that.

use bottle

You can’t eat that.

use key

You can’t eat that.

  • use equaly eat? seems strange

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

  • equals

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

s

You can’t leave. You don’t have the tape yet.

n

You go north.

The kitchen

The kitchen might be the cleanest room in the apartment. If the styrofoam
containers in the living room are any indication, Bill rarely cooks.

Visible items: cupboard

Obvious exits: south

n

You don’t see any exit “north” from here.

e

You don’t see any exit “east” from here.

w

You don’t see any exit “west” from here.

s

You go south.

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

s

You can’t leave. You don’t have the tape yet.

w

You don’t see any exit “west” from here.

e

You go east.

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

e

You don’t see any exit “east” from here.

n

You go north.

The bathroom

Bill’s aversion to housekeeping extends to the bathroom. There’s nothing in
here you want to touch.

Visible items: cabinet

Obvious exits: south

n

You don’t see any exit “north” from here.

e

You don’t see any exit “east” from here.

w

You don’t see any exit “west” from here.

x toilet

You don’t see any “toilet” here.

x shower

You don’t see any “shower” here.

x tub

You don’t see any “tub” here.

x bath

The bathroom

Bill’s aversion to housekeeping extends to the bathroom. There’s nothing in
here you want to touch.

Visible items: cabinet

Obvious exits: south

  • not a really useful bathroom is it?

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x nothing

You don’t see any “nothing” here.

l

The bathroom

Bill’s aversion to housekeeping extends to the bathroom. There’s nothing in
here you want to touch.

Visible items: cabinet

Obvious exits: south

s

You go south.

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

put newspaper on bed

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

place newspaper on bed

I know the verb ‘place’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

drop newspaper on bed

You drop the newspaper.

l

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings
in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: bed, chest, laundry, newspaper

Obvious exits: west, north

take newspaper

You take the newspaper.

read newspaper

It’s today’s paper, dated January 22, 1970. There’s an article about Bill
Spectrum:

RUMORS OF SPECTRUM/BUCCOLA CONNECTION PERSIST

As the investigation into reputed mobster Tito Buccola proceeds, police
continue to refer to Bill Spectrum, a notorious A&R representative, as a
“person of interest.” The 50-year-old mobster may have collaborated with
Spectrum in a “pay-to-play” scheme that defrauded several musicians signed to
Spectrum’s record label.

Spectrum, 30, has also been accused of using extortion tactics on several of
his clients. As of press time he was unavailable for comment.

x photo

A Polaroid photo of Bill Spectrum in a sombrero. A caption written in the
border says, “Bill’s b-day, Cancun, Jun 7 1961.”

lie in bed

I don’t understand ‘lie’ as a command.

lie down

I don’t understand ‘lie’ as a command.

enter bed

I don’t understand ‘enter’ as a command.

x disc

The master cut of an unreleased single by The Pete Best Combo. Interesting…
but not the reason you’re here.

i

scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, photograph, disc, key, newspaper

x scrap

It’s a hand-written note. “Bill, Come on, man. Your birthday? You really ought
to make it something a little less predictable. Anyway, it’s taken care of.
Good luck in Sacramento. - Jimmy”

x can

Chase and Sanborn.

smash can

I don’t understand ‘smash’ as a command.

i

scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, photograph, disc, key, newspaper

x key

A small metal key.

read bottle

I know the verb ‘read’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

x bottle

An unlabeled bottle without a cap.

open bottle

You can’t open the medicine bottle.

search bottle

The medicine bottle contains a pill.

  • that’s kinda unintuitive

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

take pill

You take a pill from the medicine bottle.

x pill

You’re no doctor, but you’re pretty sure this is a quaalude. Groovy.

save

I don’t understand ‘save’ as a command.

eat pill

Hmm… maybe later.

search bottle

You don’t find anything.

search newspaper

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

search can

You don’t find anything.

search key

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

search photo

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

search scrap

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

i

scrap of paper, medicine bottle, coffee can, photograph, disc, key, newspaper,
pill

w

You go west.

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-
law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there.
The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only
thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is
a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug

Obvious exits: east, north, south

search rug

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

look under rug

A large, thick, and badly frayed Oriental rug.

lift rug

You find a hidden floor safe.

  • guess the verb

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

x safe

The floor safe looks heavy and secure. There’s a combination knob on top of it.

The floor safe is closed.

x knob

The floor safe looks heavy and secure. There’s a combination knob on top of it.

The floor safe is closed.

open safe

Enter the combination (example: 1-2-3): 6-7-61

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

open safe

Enter the combination (example: 1-2-3): 6-7-1

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

turn knob

Enter the combination (example: 1-2-3): 1-9-6-1

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Apparently all your fiddling with the floor safe is disturbing the downstairs
neighbor.

  • it didn’t really seem like it was a loud activity from the description

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

smash safe

I don’t understand ‘smash’ as a command.

use photo with safe

You can’t eat that.

put photo on safe

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

put safe

I know the verb ‘put’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

unlock safe

I know the verb ‘unlock’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

  • that should probably work

I don’t understand ‘*’ as a command.

open safe

Enter the combination (example: 1-2-3): 7-6-1

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

open safe 9-6-1

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

Before you can do anything else, the front door bursts open. Cops rush into the
apartment and push you face-first into the ground.

It turns out the noise from the safe eventually made the neighbor suspicious
enough to call the police. You wonder if your girlfriend will manage to scrape
together bail money.[/spoiler]

I’m not sure, is me posting the playthrough here OK? I can take it down if not.

21

Weird…

I’m pretty sure 6-7-61 worked on my playthrough. EDIT: No, this is wrong, see below.

22

Playthrough:

[spoiler]Bill Spectrum talked a good game. Your girlfriend couldn’t sign the deal quickly enough, convinced that Spectrum Records was going to make her a star.

Fast-forward one year. The scheduled release of Lisa’s first album is six months late. The good news: since Spectrum failed to meet his contractual obligation, Lisa’s a free agent again. The bad news: Spectrum claims he “lost” the master recordings from her studio sessions.

Spectrum is out of town for the day, trying to weasel his way out of a federal indictment in Sacramento. You jimmy the door to his North Hollywood walk-up with your expired student ID. This might be your only chance.

THE MASTER TAPE

A Gamefic text adventure by Fred Snyder

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there. The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug, newspaper

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(open stereo)

You can’t open the stereo system.

(look in stereo)

A beautiful Marantz 2200 in a wooden cabinet.

(x stereo)

A beautiful Marantz 2200 in a wooden cabinet.

(turn on stereo)

It’s probably not a good idea to make too much noise during a break-in.

(look)

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there. The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug, newspaper

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(look under rug)

A large, thick, and badly frayed Oriental rug.

(move rug)

You find a hidden floor safe.

(open cabinet)

You don’t see any “cabinet” here.

(open safe)

(1-2-3)

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

(look)

The living room

Spectrum’s real apartment is considerably less impressive than his brother-in-law’s beach house, which he claimed to own when he invited you and Lisa there. The furniture looks second-hand. Fast-food wrappers clutter the floor. The only thing of value in the living room is the stereo system; apparently Spectrum is a sincere music lover, if not an ethical one.

Visible items: stereo, rug, newspaper, floor safe

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(look at newspaper)

A copy of the Los Angeles Times.

(read newspaper)

You pick up the newspaper.

It’s today’s paper, dated July 16, 1975. There’s an article about Bill Spectrum:

RUMORS OF SPECTRUM/BUCCOLA CONNECTION PERSIST

As the investigation into reputed mobster Tito Buccola proceeds, police continue to refer to Bill Spectrum, a notorious A&R representative, as a “person of interest.” The 50-year-old mobster may have collaborated with Spectrum in a “pay-to-play” scheme that defrauded several musicians signed to Spectrum’s record label.

Spectrum, 34, has also been accused of using extortion tactics on several of his clients. As of press time he was unavailable for comment.

(look east)

Nothing special.

(east)

You go east.

The bedroom

What a mess. Bill is overdue for a trip to the laundromat. The only furnishings in the bedroom are the bed and an old army chest.

Visible items: scrap of paper, bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

(open chest)

It’s locked.

(look at bed)

Just a plain old twin bed. It doesn’t even have a headboard. The sheets look none too fresh.

(search bed)

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

(search)

I know the verb ‘search’ but couldn’t understand the rest of your sentence.

(read scrap)

It’s a hand-written note. “Bill, Come on, man. Your birthday? You really ought to make it something a little less predictable. Anyway, it’s taken care of. Good luck in Sacramento. - Jimmy”

(look at laundry)

A huge pile of dirty laundry. Gross.

(search laundry)

You find a distinct musty odor and not much else.

(move laundry)

Nothing happens.

(west)

You go west.

The living room

Visible items: stereo, rug, floor safe

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(north)

You go north.

The kitchen

The kitchen might be the cleanest room in the apartment. If the styrofoam containers in the living room are any indication, Bill rarely cooks.

Visible items: cupboard

Obvious exits: south

(open cupboard)

You open the cupboard.

The cupboard contains a coffee can.

(look in can)

You look at the coffee can in the cupboard.

Nothing special.

(get can)

You take a coffee can from the cupboard.

(open can)

You open the coffee can.

The coffee can contains a key.

(get key)

You take a key from the coffee can.

(s)

You go south.

The living room

Visible items: stereo, rug, floor safe

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(e)

You go east.

The bedroom

Visible items: scrap of paper, bed, chest, laundry

Obvious exits: west, north

(unlock chest with key)

You unlock the chest.

(open chest)

It’s already open.

(look in chest)

The army chest contains: photograph and disc.

(look at photo)

You look at the photograph in the army chest.

A Polaroid photo of Bill Spectrum in a sombrero. A caption written in the border says, “Bill’s b-day, Cancun, Mar 14 1969.”

(look at disc)

You look at the lacquer disc in the army chest.

The master cut of an unreleased single by The Pete Best Combo. Interesting… but not the reason you’re here.

(w)

You go west.

The living room

Visible items: stereo, rug, floor safe

Obvious exits: east, north, south

(open safe)

(3-1-4)

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

(x safe)

The floor safe looks heavy and secure. There’s a combination knob on top of it.

The floor safe is closed.

(x knob)

The floor safe looks heavy and secure. There’s a combination knob on top of it.

The floor safe is closed.

(open safe)

(3-14-1969)

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Apparently all your fiddling with the floor safe is disturbing the downstairs neighbor.

(thump )

I don’t understand ‘thump’ as a command.

(yell)

I don’t understand ‘yell’ as a command.

(yell at neighbor)

I don’t understand ‘yell’ as a command.

(open safe)

(3-14-69)

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

(open safe)

(14-3-69)

You tug on the handle. It’s still locked.

Before you can do anything else, the front door bursts open. Cops rush into the apartment and push you face-first into the ground.

It turns out the noise from the safe eventually made the neighbor suspicious enough to call the police. You wonder if your girlfriend will manage to scrape together bail money.[/spoiler]

Thoughts on the engine:

[spoiler]The parser doesn’t seem to understand “in”, “under”, etc. There were a couple times where I had to rephrase what I was doing to get around this (e.g., “move rug” instead of “look under rug”).

The game told me what ways I could go, but not where I’d be going if I went there.

When I unlocked the chest, it looks like it also opened, but didn’t tell me that. Or it started out open and locked, not sure which.[/spoiler]

Thoughts on the demo game:

[spoiler]It was surely too easy to be true, but since I was told to find a tape, and I was immediately put into a room with a stereo, I wanted to pop open the cassette player and see what was in there.

I was looking at the knob on the safe to try and see what the range of allowed numbers was. That would have been helpful in trying to figure out how the birthday was encoded into the safe combo.[/spoiler]

23

Wait, I figured out what the two of you did wrong in your playthroughs:

[spoiler]You’re entering the date on the photo. But you need to enter the date and year Spectrum was born. Use the newspaper clipping with the mobster to figure out the year of Spectrum’s birth.

And I didn’t realize that the solution was randomized, which is cool.[/spoiler]

24

Totally OK with me. I appreciate the insight.

Thanks for the feedback. I’m working on updates to both the game and the engine that address some of the issues you had. I should have them online later this week. Spoilerish details:

I made some new command definitions that allow for more expressiveness. Among other things, looking under the rug is the same as moving it. Good calls on the stereo and the safe, too. I’ll add some interaction with the stereo and a description for the knob.

Bingo! :slight_smile: And thanks.

25

I’ve released version 0.2 of the Gamefic gem and published a new version of “The Master Tape” on gamefic.com. Thanks again to everyone who provided feedback.

Some updates to the library:

  • Improved tokenization of pronouns.
  • Improved detection of nearby items. Some commands wouldn’t work on items in a container, e.g., you couldn’t look at it until you picked it up. They should be more consistent now.
  • All commands should be case-insensitive by default.
  • Fixed miscellaneous bugs in translating command syntaxes to actions.
  • Support for enterable supporters and containers.
  • Command-line player should wrap text correctly (requires Ruby 1.9.3 or higher).
  • Ambiguous object references result in a more helpful message, e.g.:

[spoiler]You see a yellow box and a red box.

take box

I don’t know which you mean: the yellow box or the red box.[/spoiler]

Some stuff specific to “The Master Tape”:

[spoiler]* The stereo is more interactive. It’s just a red herring, but you can open it and determine that it’s empty.

  • The bed is an enterable supporter.
  • There is no longer a limit to how many times you can try to open the safe.
  • The safe’s knob has a description that hints at the combination.[/spoiler]
26

One thing that might be helpful for players:

If they enter a combination based on the date on the photo, maybe (after a couple of tries?) you could give them a hint like “Hey, Spectrum wasn’t born this year.”

27

Good idea. Especially since it rewards the player with a hint for being on the right track.

28

I just uploaded a new version of the game that includes bug fixes and new features from the framework.

  • Major parser improvements
  • New interface design that should be more mobile-friendly
  • Modal dialogs for custom prompts
  • Fixed a bug that required restarting the browser in rare cases

Spoilerish game changes:

[spoiler]* Looking at the newspaper suggests that you should read it.

  • If you try to open the safe using the date on the photo, you get a hint that you need to find out Spectrum’s birth year.[/spoiler]

Play online here: gamefic.com/games/play?id=1000