Level9 Authoring?

[Gio]

Probably an odd question, but does a compiler (or whatever) exist for making A-Code games? Kinda like Inform.

I should sleep more…

[DavidK (David Kinder)]

@Gio

Probably an odd question, but does a compiler (or whatever) exist for making A-Code games? Kinda like Inform.

I should sleep more…

There’s no such system. Writing a simple assembler for Level 9 A-code wouldn’t be beyond the bounds of possiblity, but I can’t imagine it getting much use.

[Gio]

@DavidK

There’s no such system. Writing a simple assembler for Level 9 A-code wouldn’t be beyond the bounds of possibility, but I can’t imagine it getting much use.

No, I suppose it wouldn’t… still would be interesting, though. Apparently Level 9 had a novel method of making NPCs.

I’ve found a disassembler for their games, but it’s an early (and abandoned) beta project. This, your interpreter, and other snippets I’ve found, might be of interest to someone. Maybe I can bribe a programmer with cookies…

[Juhana]

@Gio

No, I suppose it wouldn’t… still would be interesting, though. Apparently Level 9 had a novel method of making NPCs.

A compiler for Level 9 games would probably be on a lower level than whatever the NPC system was, so even if there were a compiler it wouldn’t automatically provide the NPC system. It would have to be built for the compiler as a higher level library, but if you’re doing that you might as well use some of the existing systems. (This is purely an educated guess but extremely likely.)

[rockersuke]

@DavidK

but I can’t imagine it getting much use.

Not here, probably, but perhaps it could catch the attention of a handful of regulars (me included) at retro-gaming comunities. The kind of people who uses PAWSto make text adventures for 8 bit computers as the ZX spectrum and the like.

Last example I know is this “Wicker Woman” game for the Speccy. Its author wrote the whole thing but had trouble making a tape image for use with Spectrum emulators, so when I helped him with that my nick was included in the credits (typing “credits” in the game)… mispelled (I love it when that happens! )

(and yes, I’m toying with Zilf for some nebulous future project I’m thinking of, but that will take time!)

[Ron_Newcomb]

@Gio

Apparently Level 9 had a novel method of making NPCs.

eh? In what way?

[Gio]

Well, to quote from the Level9_Facts.txt in the IF Archive:

@Level9_Facts.txt

b) A-Code

Level 9 used their own interpretation language, A-code, which was more memory
efficient even than plain Z80 assembler. It was developed around 1979, long
before the first L9 game appeared, as the Colossal Cave port was intended
to fit into 8 KB.

A-code underwent a couple of revisions: there are three distinct versions in
all, plus a couple of extensions which form new A-code versions of their own.

The A-code data files were usually incorporated into the executable file for
specific machines, together with the interpreter part. Still, even those
executables were significantly shorter than pure assembly code files would
have been!

This efficiency was partially due to advanced text compression routines that
reduced the memory need for texts to about 50% of their true length.
Infocom’s text compression, in comparison, only reduced text strings to about
67% of their real length (abbreviation alphabets notwithstanding: see
elsewhere for details).

A strength of the A-code system – and at the same time one of its greatest
weaknesses – is a system of script variables, of which there are a fixed
number: generally more in higher A-code versions.

For the later three-part games, Knight Orc, Scapeghost, and the Ingrid
series, the script variable system was extended by an NPC movement and action
system which was internally called KAOS. The framework of this new system was
originally developed by John Jones-Steele who had gained first experiences at
Melbourne House. KAOS was able to make NPCs appear “intelligent”: they move
independently of the player’s commands, pick up things, utilise weapons,
etc., following so-called “racetracks,” which could be quite complex (as
Knight Orc demonstrates impressively). The name “KAOS” is a mangled acronym
of “Knight Orc Adventure System.”

So that’s what I was referring to. And another reason I was interested in a possible Level 9-style system was that I was reading about Visionary, and it occurred to me in my state of near-exhaustion (I was a day or two without sleep when I posted) that it would make sense to have something similar for L9 games.