Python Text Adventure Authoring System

[Zachary]

Hello,
I've recently thought of how ideal Python is for the development of what
used to be called text adventures. In case any of you don't know, these
were basically sort of a computer game in which the player guided the story
by typing in natural language commands, e.g. get ball.
Some popular games of the 1980's include Zork, A Mind Forever Voyaging,
among others.
I was just wondering if anyone has any module that might help in the
implementation of a text parser, something to read player commands.
My idea is to have each room, item, creature, etc. Be represented as a
Python instance.
For example, the following code might setup a room class:
class room:
def __init__(self, rdesc, exit):
self.desc = rdesc
#Add Other code here

If anyone has any idea how this might be done, I would love to hear from
you.
P.S:
I have already seen another text adventure development system written in
Python, called Paws. I thought this would be a sort of first project.

[Francis Avila]

Re: Python Text Adventure Authoring System

Zachary wrote in message ...[color=blue]
>I have already seen another text adventure development system written in
>Python, called Paws. I thought this would be a sort of first project.[/color]

I don't want to stop you, but I warn you that developing a system like this
is far more complex than you think.

Take a look at PAWS, and after that some of the mechanisms in the language
Inform. Studying another language specifically designed for text-adventure
authoring will give you an idea of the mechanisms involved, particularly in
grammar and parsing, where a lot of things are needed that you might not
otherwise think of.
--
Francis Avila

[Erik Max Francis]

Re: Python Text Adventure Authoring System

Francis Avila wrote:
[color=blue]
> I don't want to stop you, but I warn you that developing a system like
> this
> is far more complex than you think.[/color]

Also, it's a pretty mature field in terms of existing technology. There
are dozens of authoring systems, including half a dozen or so major
ones:

http://www.alcyone.com/max/links/if.html#Authoring__authoring_systems

--
__ Erik Max Francis && max@alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
/ \ San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && &tSftDotIotE
\__/ Do we really want to go to Mars / Do we really want to try
-- Cassandra Wilson

[Jp Calderone]

Re: Python Text Adventure Authoring System

On Sun, Jan 18, 2004 at 05:44:00PM -0800, Zachary wrote:[color=blue]
> Hello,[/color]
[color=blue]
> I've recently thought of how ideal Python is for the development of what
> used to be called text adventures. In case any of you don't know, these
> were basically sort of a computer game in which the player guided the
> story by typing in natural language commands, e.g. get ball.
>
> Some popular games of the 1980's include Zork, A Mind Forever Voyaging,
> among others.
>
> I was just wondering if anyone has any module that might help in the
> implementation of a text parser, something to read player commands. My
> idea is to have each room, item, creature, etc. Be represented as a
> Python instance.
>
> For example, the following code might setup a room class:
>
> class room:
> def __init__(self, rdesc, exit):
> self.desc = rdesc
> #Add Other code here
>
> If anyone has any idea how this might be done, I would love to hear from
> you.
>
> P.S:
>
> I have already seen another text adventure development system written in
> Python, called Paws. I thought this would be a sort of first project.
>[/color]

There are a few modules in Twisted's CVS repository that are handy in this
area (as a few people are aware, Twisted is actually a support framework for
multiplayer interactive fiction or text adventure games). Documentation is
sparse, but much of the code is pretty simple (a *few* parts are mind
bendingly complex, but none of those are related to text parsing ;)

cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co Reality
cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co NewReality
cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co Imagination

There was also a presentation about Reality at last year's PyCon. The
paper is available in Twisted CVS (history docs directory), or with viewcvs
at:

http://cvs.twistedmatrix.com/cvs/doc/historic/2003/pycon/twisted-reality/

Imagination represents the most current thinking on the topic, but Reality
and NewReality have more infrastructure for actually dealing with user input
(Imagination is like a hyper distillate of our ideas currently, and so can't
be bothered to cover such things as handling user input ;).

And of course, many of the developers frequent #twisted on irc.freenode.ne t
and just *love* it when someone wants to talk about Reality instead of boring
things like HTTP and IMAP4 ;)

Hope this helps,

Jp

[Zachary]

Re: Python Text Adventure Authoring System


"Jp Calderone" <exarkun@intarw eb.us> wrote in message
news:mailman.48 9.1074478463.12 720.python-list@python.org ...[color=blue]
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2004 at 05:44:00PM -0800, Zachary wrote:[color=green]
> > Hello,[/color]
>[color=green]
> > I've recently thought of how ideal Python is for the development of what
> > used to be called text adventures. In case any of you don't know, these
> > were basically sort of a computer game in which the player guided the
> > story by typing in natural language commands, e.g. get ball.
> >
> > Some popular games of the 1980's include Zork, A Mind Forever Voyaging,
> > among others.
> >
> > I was just wondering if anyone has any module that might help in the
> > implementation of a text parser, something to read player commands. My
> > idea is to have each room, item, creature, etc. Be represented as a
> > Python instance.
> >
> > For example, the following code might setup a room class:
> >
> > class room:
> > def __init__(self, rdesc, exit):
> > self.desc = rdesc
> > #Add Other code here
> >
> > If anyone has any idea how this might be done, I would love to hear from
> > you.
> >
> > P.S:
> >
> > I have already seen another text adventure development system written in
> > Python, called Paws. I thought this would be a sort of first project.
> >[/color]
>
> There are a few modules in Twisted's CVS repository that are handy in[/color]
this[color=blue]
> area (as a few people are aware, Twisted is actually a support framework[/color]
for[color=blue]
> multiplayer interactive fiction or text adventure games). Documentation[/color]
is[color=blue]
> sparse, but much of the code is pretty simple (a *few* parts are mind
> bendingly complex, but none of those are related to text parsing ;)
>
> cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co Reality
> cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co NewReality
> cvs -d:pserver:anon@ cvs.twistedmatr ix.com:/cvs co Imagination
>
> There was also a presentation about Reality at last year's PyCon. The
> paper is available in Twisted CVS (history docs directory), or with[/color]
viewcvs[color=blue]
> at:
>
>[/color]
http://cvs.twistedmatrix.com/cvs/doc...isted-reality/[color=blue]
>
> Imagination represents the most current thinking on the topic, but[/color]
Reality[color=blue]
> and NewReality have more infrastructure for actually dealing with user[/color]
input[color=blue]
> (Imagination is like a hyper distillate of our ideas currently, and so[/color]
can't[color=blue]
> be bothered to cover such things as handling user input ;).
>
> And of course, many of the developers frequent #twisted on[/color]
irc.freenode.ne t[color=blue]
> and just *love* it when someone wants to talk about Reality instead of[/color]
boring[color=blue]
> things like HTTP and IMAP4 ;)
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Jp
>[/color]
Thanks for the advice, but I believe that the project could be considered
shelved for now. I'll content myself with creating something smaller scale.

[Peter Hansen]

Re: Python Text Adventure Authoring System

Jp Calderone wrote:[color=blue]
>
> There are a few modules in Twisted's CVS repository that are handy in this
> area (as a few people are aware, Twisted is actually a support framework for
> multiplayer interactive fiction or text adventure games).[/color]

Just to clarify, though I know Jp knows this very well :-), Twisted is *much more*
than just a support framework for multiplayer interactive fiction, although
it had its origins in that area and is still being developed for it.

-Peter