Re: New Development Language. (READ THIS)


19 Feb 1995 18:22:29 GMT

In article <Pine.ULT.3.91.950217123851.23694A-100000@bert.cs.byu.edu>,
Thomas J. Palmer <lefty@bert.cs.byu.edu> wrote:

> How many of you would be interested in a C++ library to handle
>parsing and other aspects of IF?

We are attempting to do almost the same thing, in our boogum virtual world
project. It will actually end up being a mix of MUD and IF technology, we
hope.

The boogum driver is the game engine (like z-machines etc) on top of which
is built the world. The first experimental world being built is the Cafe,
a simulation of a coffee shop.

Eventually boogum aims to simulate worlds as realistically as is feasible,
with a framework that allows multiple players to interact simultaneously.
The focus will mainly be on role-playing and puzzle-solving gaming worlds,
but other applications are surely possible.

Currently it is in pre-alpha, version 0.8, and is nothing more than
a simple driver which accepts telnet connections. The following classes
are slated for the next version: World, Domain, Place, Thing, Container,
Body.

> Furthermore, I'm thinking about new ideas for game construction.
>It would be a development in the basic structure of IF. Think, instead
>of rooms actually storing physical data that would be interpreted into
>text. This could be used in conjunction with the old rooms thing too.
>Imagine storing a map of the countryside where coordinates are kept of
>everything and user input could be more freeform, or kept simplified to
>old compass directions.

In addition to scripted, pre-written rooms, we will have rooms whose
descriptions are constructed on the fly from, as you term it, 'physical data'.
This would be very useful in large areas such as the outdoors.

Also, all rooms have a universal coordinate. Something we'd like to do in
the future is include line-of-sight revelation of things happening in other
rooms that you can presumably see.

>Also, imagine a property simulator that kept
>track of objects' durability, flammability, sizes, and so on for the sake
>of less linear story control and improved input flexibility. (Realize
>that this could coexist with old rooms/hardwired control which has a
>number of benefits.)

All Things in boogum have physical characteristics, size, weight, bulk, etc.
This includes your own Body :) (Body is derived from Thing, in c++ terms)

There are many many more ideas and concepts in the cooker, so to speak..
for instance, sense propogation, where sounds and scents are propogated
through the world so you can smell and hear things :) AI-driven non-player
characters are another biggy.

To sum it up, boogum aims to provide a realistic world framework for both
scripted storylines and unscripted, user-driven action. In IF, it seems that
a lot of effort is expended to round out worlds, making sure all the objects
respond in kind to all verbs. Note the many releases of Curses, all of which
make the world complete, however, there are _still_ things you can't do (trying
to climb the mast in the ship or look at it comes readily to mind).

Anyone interested in discussing this further please e-mail me at
zun@foop.mit.edu. One topic of especial interest is parsing.. we have a rather
simple-minded parser right now :p.

. . . Zun.