I wanted to make a large scale text adventure that played a lot like a MUD, but was entirely offline. This would mean lots of rooms and places to explore as well as subsystems like crafting etc etc.
I’m going with Python development because I wasn’t able to get exactly what I wanted from the existing IF authoring tools. (I wanted to design my own layout etc) In addition, it was really important to me that the game is able to react to what your system clock says. For example if you open the game in the middle of the night, the game environment is night time. Some people go certain places on specific days etc.
In order to get the ball rolling, I wrote up a design document and hired a developer to help me build the engine so I can start populating it. I’ll have something back in about 4 weeks. I’m psyched.
One of the biggest hurdles right now is handling the parser. I read that games from scratch usually have a really weak parser and this is kind of a death blow to the whole thing. One idea I had would be to write a design document for a python library that would do the heavy lifting of parser design so people would have an easier time making IF games from scratch if they really wanted to. I dunno.
This is my dream game that has been kicking around in my head for years and now I’m really excited that I’m actually making it happen!
When you say “parser” you probably forgot “world model” which includes all the things a PC can see, touch, sense. Then add the complexity of scope and disambiguation, containers, supporters, NPCs, and “parser” becomes something much more insane than just enabling a user to type stuff.
A review of similar discussions on Usenet/Google Groups from the 90’s would be enlightening. rec.arts.int-fiction is where this happened.
So tomorrow was the delivery date for the first build of the engine. I spoke with the contractor today who said the parser is working just fine, but needed some more time to wrap up some of the other requirements for the build. This being a personal project, I have no problems with a time extension. I can’t help but get supper giddy to see what we have to work with though.
Contractor delivered the engine. It’s super rough as you can imagine, but also super exciting. It’s like walking into an empty room that I’m going to turn into a restaurant. I still have a lot to learn. Like I’m not sure how to compile it myself at this point, and I’m going to hire my guy a second time to add some key features. (Saving/Loading/Character Stats and Creation) but It’s coming along. This is really happening.