Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!pavo.csi.cam.ac.uk!gdr11
From: gdr11@cl.cam.ac.uk (Gareth Rees)
Subject: Re: doors
Message-ID: <1993Oct26.183934.24499@infodev.cam.ac.uk>
Sender: news@infodev.cam.ac.uk (USENET news)
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Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
References: <2ajbj0$191@bingsunq.cc.binghamton.edu>
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 18:39:34 GMT
Lines: 36

Paul Bobby writes:
|> What is the majority preference for doors in adventure games? Should they open
|> automatically if the door is unlocked and you walk through it, or should the
|> player always have to open the door before going through?

Unlocking and opening doors is something we have all come across
before.  Like other time-old problems (mazes, weight limits, etc)
unless you have some exceptional new twist, having to unlock and
open doors to move around is extremely tedious.  You might include
a nod to the old customs by requiring the player to 'solve' it once
and then solving it automatically thereafter:

  You see a round green door to the south
  >south
  The door is locked
  >unlock the round green door with the round green door key
  Done
  >open the round green door
  Done
  >south
  Ok

Later in the same game:

  You see a round green door to the south
  >south
  [unlocking the round green door with the round green door key]
  [opening the door]
  Ok

Perhaps thinking of more interesting ways to block an adventurer's
path than a door with matching key that has to be collected might
stimulate you to find new puzzles...

-- 
Gareth Rees
