I had my girlfriend play give my game a play test this weekend. It was only her second time every playing a text adventure, so when I found this extension I thought I just had to run her input through it to see what came up. Overall, I like the way it operates, although I have a few things crop up that I think could really be improved. What is the reason for having to use glulx? I don’t know much about the different interpreters, but what I get from the docs is that glulx is less portable. So what is really gained by switching interpreters?
Ok, on to more specific concerns:
>walk to mirror
[Most IF separates space into a series of locations, each containing a set of objects. If you can see an object, you can usually interact with it without worrying about positioning. Try a command like EXAMINE SECRET DOOR for a closer look, LOOK to get a new description of this location, or a compass direction like (for example) NORTH or N to move to a different location.]
I like the spirit of this message, but I have a few complaints. First of all, since the idea of this extension is to improve the experience of people who are not experienced text adventurers, you should do away with the acronym IF. I can just imagine her asking me, “what is with this sentence? why is the word ‘if’ in a weird place and capitalized?” The abbreviation just seems unnecessary. But it doesn’t matter too much because of my second complaint…
My second complaint is that I don’t like the wishy-washy sense of the first sentence. The player doesn’t care how “most IF” operates, the player cares how this game operates. I would say make this sentence more concrete and give the author some documentation on how to override/change the text if need be. Or just drop the first sentence and start with “If you can see an object…” Shortening this message to just the details that are needed to correct this command would be a good thing, I think. Actually it might be good to match the object so that you could start off by saying “Since you can see the mirror, …” but maybe that is too specific.
Third, her command referred to the mirror, so I think the suggested command should be EXAMINE MIRROR (it’s an object in this room). Choosing a random item makes sense if she isn’t referring to a proper item, like if the command is “walk to corner” (which she did a few times).
Fourth, there are no exits from this room, at least not at this point. So to give a suggestion of a compass direction seems wholly inappropriate here. That phrase should be suppressed if a valid exit isn’t found. (“But it told me to try going north. Why didn’t it work?”)
>atari, come
[In some stories, you can type CHARACTER, COMMAND to give someone else an order; but I couldn't understand what you said in that context.]
This is another message where I don’t like the “in some stories” part as referring to an unnecessarily vague classification of games, rather than referring to the behavior of this specific game. I think this message should be more direct and just say something like [You can try typing CHARACTER, COMMAND to give someone else an order (although they may not be inclined to obey you!). But in this case I couldn’t understand what you said in that context.]
[code]>go up the ladder
[I only understood the first part of that-- trying anyway.]
GO UP[/code]
This works without any problem message without the extension. Maybe there is something I could add to my code to get rid of the extra text but it seems like this extension shouldn’t make me have to do that, if possible.
>take journal
[Which do you mean, 1) journal page 3, 2) journal page 4 or 3) journal page 5?]
This behavior is different. Inform for some reason simply chooses journal page 3. I’m not sure why it’s different, but there are some random events that were different in this playthrough and I suppose that is because the extension randomizes some of its text. I think in the playthrough without the extension it worked out so that journal page 5 was on a supporter, journal page 4 was held by another actor and journal page 3 was “just” in the room, which may be why Inform chose it.
>atari, sit
[What do you want the small brown dog to sit?]
Grammar problems there. I assume it’s a generic message for “enter” since sit maps to enter and you’ve substituted the verb actually used. But something needs to be fixed here.
[code]>atari, sit
[nothing has better things to do.]
atari, sit on the sarcophagus
[The large stone sarcophagus has better things to do.]
[/code]
This was after I defined “Sitting is an action applying to nothing. Understand ‘sit’ as sitting.” These two should say “Atari has better things to do”, which they do without the extension.
[code](with the player experience upgrade extension)
atari, crawl
You speak.
atari, sit on the floor
You speak.
(without the extension)
atari, crawl
There is no reply.
atari, sit on the floor
There is no reply.[/code]
The response with the extension makes no sense, and is worse than the standard response. Crawl is not a defined verb in this game. And floor is not a noun in the game.
[code]>ladder
[Most IF separates space into a series of locations, each containing a set of objects. If you can see an object, you can usually interact with it without worrying about positioning. Try a command like EXAMINE PIECE OF BEEF JERKY for a closer look, LOOK to get a new description of this location, or a compass direction like (for example) DOWN or D to move to a different location.]
EXAMINE LADDERIt’s a sturdy wooden ladder, poking through a hole in the floor.
[/code]
Again, since the command inferred is examine ladder it’d be good if that was the suggestion in the hint. But I’m using this example because there is a problem with carriage returns there. Also, maybe a bit of a technicality, but “down” is not a compass direction (unless the player has a spherical compass…)
>floor
[Look for specific nouns or directions in the description you see after typing LOOK; avoid general concepts like the floor and ceiling, or relative directions like left and right.]
This message is a little bit confusing, and I think could use some clarification. For example:
[You should avoid using general concepts like the floor and ceiling, or relative directions like left and right. Try typing LOOK and then using specific nouns or directions you see in the description with a verb, for example EXAMINE something.]
[code]>look at beach
Beach (north end)
You are at the north end of a nice beach. To the west, a vast ocean stretches out before you. The stream from the forest empties into the ocean just north of you. The beach extends to the south. A rather fine rain is falling.
walk on beach
[That’s not something you can see now, or I misunderstood you.][/code]
I like how look at beach will look in the room. I’m not sure how walk on beach should be handled, although having “look at beach” work fine but then to get “(the beach) is not something you can see now” seems a bit inconsistent.
>put everything on floor
[You will need to be more specific. Try typing LOOK to get a description of your surroundings.]
This hint could be more specific, like “I’m not sure exactly what you mean. You might try a command like DROP EVERYTHING instead.”
[code]>open doogie bag
OPEN DOOR BAG
[I didn’t understand that. Try rephrasing your command another way.][/code]
The attempted correction is nice, but the doggie bag is an item that is actually present, and is a better match than “door bag” which isn’t an item at all. Although I see what happened, the first word was matched to door, and there is a door present. But doggie is still a better match to doogie than door. (Incidentally, “open doggy bag” was correctly matched to doggie bag, which made me very happy 
)
>throw stick into pit
[That's not something you can see now, or I misunderstood you.]
This message should be more specific, because the pit is visible but the stick isn’t, but my initial thought when I saw this message was that it didn’t see the pit. So something like “Either you don’t see any stick right now, or I misunderstood you” might be better.
>jump into pit
[That's not something you can enter.]
The extension has somehow overriden my “instead of jumping into the pit” rule. Making the pit enterable is not an option, because it’s a backdrop, and besides jumping into it ends the game in death so making it enterable would not be useful.
…
Well that’s all for now. For the most part I like the results, and I will have my g/f test it again later with this extension enabled to see how it works for her.
