The Force?

So, I’m creating a Star Wars text adventure for a friend. How would I go about having characters use the force? More specifically, how would I get the player to use the force (i.e. to pick up a lightsaber without actually saying “take lightsaber”)?

Uhm, what else would he say? “Use the force to get me the lightsaber”?

Guess I should be more specific. :confused:
How would I go about coding the game so that the player could use the force?

I think it might be best to use the regular verbs, but just change how the actions are reported. So the player would type “take the cake” and the story would respond “You levitate the cake and bring it to yourself.”

Alright, I tried something similar. I wanted the player to be told that he couldn’t pick up the lightsaber, while hinting at using the force. But now, the lightsaber can’t stop being taken.

Here’s what I have.

[code]When scene begins:
say “Welcome to Star Wars-Episode 5, THE TEXT ADVENTURE! Please note, this thing was coded entirely from memory and so I will take liberties with the plot…a lot. Anyway, let’s get this train wreck-a-rollin’!”

Chapter 1-Hoth

The Hoth Cave is a room. “Well, this is unfortunate, you’ve found yourself in some cave hanging by your ankles. Way to get yourself into this mess!”

The Lightsaber is an object in the Hoth Cave.
Instead of taking The Lightsaber,
say “[one of]Your lightsaber is just there on the ground, and you’re hanging by your ankles…perhaps you can pick it up some way or another?[or]You levitate the lightsaber towards you[stopping].”

The description of the Lightsaber is “Your trusty Lightsaber! It can get you out of any jam! Wait…you’re hanging by your ankles and the lightsaber is down on the ground…dammit.”

The description of the player is “You’re Luke Skywalker! You look damn good. You’d probably admire yourself if you had a mirror and wasn’t hanging by your ankles from the roof of a cave.”
[/code]

Maybe you can have Luke switching the force on or off, so the transcript will be something like

TAKE LIGHTSABER
You’re hanging by the ankles… Etc

USE THE FORCE
You focus the force on yourself. Man, tht feels good.

TAKE LIGHTSABER
The force is strong with you. You wiggle your fingers and the liightsaber levitates towards your open hand. You’ve got it!

Maybe the force shuts off automatically after a few turns? And maybe you can’t use it all the time but need to meditate or whatever it is Jedi knights do to get their juice back.

Peter’s suggestion to use the same action with different effects depending on whether Luke is currently in rapport with the Force of not seems good. Only, remember that normally players won’t try non-standard commands unless hinted at – though perhaps in this context USE THE FORCE is something players may actually be expected to try. However, if you want players to try GET SABRE a second time after they have already been told that it doesn’t work, you should probably give them pretty obvious hints about it.

How about

get saber using force

?? You would also want to allow ‘with’ as a synonym for ‘using’.

Another option is to simply use another verb, such as “summon” (with antonyms “throw” or possibly “fling”).

I think it’s kinder to the player to avoid two-object actions where possible, and particularly where context should make the player’s intention obvious. (I mean, you’d want to include that phrasing, because you want to include every phrasing that’s reasonable. But I wouldn’t expect a player to rely on it.)

I would’ve considered USE THE FORCE as a way of getting a hint from the hint system.

Or with persuasion rules for, MERCHANT, DO NOT TELL THE STORMTROOPER ABOUT THE SHIP.

(Use the After reading a command rules to snip off the DO NOT and stick it in a truth-state variable that each action can make use of. Similarly, snip off USE THE FORCE TO…)