Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)
About Ninja v1.30:
I must admit I wrote Ninja v1.30 very quickly. I also wrote this Ninja
to be as weird and confusing as possible. Why? I wanted the player to
explore the game, even if it didn't make sense (or still had some
bugs). In contrast to 'HLA Adventure' and 'Westfront PC', I spent very
little time debugging and coding this game. However, I still wanted it
to be unusual enough to spark others' interest in the history of
shinto, ninjas and ancient japan. Perhaps, even as bad as this game
was/is, other coders will write more ninja-themed games. There can
never be enough ninja-themed games, in my opinion.
There are some very unusual things implemented (at least for most of
my games). You can chop down a tree to cross the river, enter the
shrine and fight ninjas that walk out of the shadows. The game also
requires the player to examine the sky, including the clouds,
mountains, etc. The more the player examines, the more points he/she
is awarded. The more points they are awarded, the greater the
likelihood the player will be rewarded. If the player has enough
points added up when the ninja appears, he/she should be able to fight
the ninja with a fair chance of winning. Otherwise, the ninja doesn't
waste any time and doesn't give the player a chance to defeat him.
The goal of the game is to retrieve an idol from a rival shrine. I did
neglect to include the 'enter' command into the verb list, but
fortunately, that was intentional (e.g. I wanted the player to not
rely so much on the supplied verb list, but to try a fer verbs until
the command worked; in my opinion, some of the magic of an adventure
game comes in trying out various verbs and finding the right
combination).
The score is indeed based on examining the world, making certain
choices and not making incorrect ones. The ">20" is not debugging
code, as was suggested previously, but an indication that the player
is 20 (or more) points below the threshold for avoiding the ninja. If
the player continues to see the ">20" message, the ninja (should be)
more likely to engage the player in combat.
This game, written very quickly, does have some glaring bugs. The
scoring system is a bit weird: I don't know why it applies a greater
score than what is possible at the end (e.g. "101/9" and other
variations). Also, for some reason I forgot to reset the HP if the
player falls in combat and restarts the game (e.g. -29 HP, to the
ninja's 0).
Nevertheless, I enjoyed writing a game based on a new theme (for me),
rather than the overused "Westfront PC" style that I've probably used
for 95% of my games since 1993. Color-coded inventory was nice in
1993, but I am now tired of writing games based on that schema. I
wanted the storyline to be unique enough, but not rely so much on my
past games.
I must admit an affinity and love for late-1970's and early-1980's era
adventure games. I have coded all of my adventure games to be playable
in that vein. Long room descriptions are not usually a part of my
adventures (although some of my Commodore 64/128 adventures have much
longer descriptions than what I usually implement).
I have also played MUDs extensively, and add in MUD-like combat as a
twist. Most text adventures do not feature MUD-like combat, and that
is why I added that in (plus, I always loved playing MUDs and Dungeons
& Dragons).
"Ninja" has some interesting themes, but can no doubt be expanded upon
(and heavily improved). The game was written in QuickBASIC, rather
than HLA (High Level Assembly) or C. Most of my other games were
written in PowerBASIC's Console Compiler for Windows (e.g. "Westfront
PC").
Sincerely,
Paul Allen Panks
dunric@yahoo.com
About Ninja v1.30:
I must admit I wrote Ninja v1.30 very quickly. I also wrote this Ninja
to be as weird and confusing as possible. Why? I wanted the player to
explore the game, even if it didn't make sense (or still had some
bugs). In contrast to 'HLA Adventure' and 'Westfront PC', I spent very
little time debugging and coding this game. However, I still wanted it
to be unusual enough to spark others' interest in the history of
shinto, ninjas and ancient japan. Perhaps, even as bad as this game
was/is, other coders will write more ninja-themed games. There can
never be enough ninja-themed games, in my opinion.
There are some very unusual things implemented (at least for most of
my games). You can chop down a tree to cross the river, enter the
shrine and fight ninjas that walk out of the shadows. The game also
requires the player to examine the sky, including the clouds,
mountains, etc. The more the player examines, the more points he/she
is awarded. The more points they are awarded, the greater the
likelihood the player will be rewarded. If the player has enough
points added up when the ninja appears, he/she should be able to fight
the ninja with a fair chance of winning. Otherwise, the ninja doesn't
waste any time and doesn't give the player a chance to defeat him.
The goal of the game is to retrieve an idol from a rival shrine. I did
neglect to include the 'enter' command into the verb list, but
fortunately, that was intentional (e.g. I wanted the player to not
rely so much on the supplied verb list, but to try a fer verbs until
the command worked; in my opinion, some of the magic of an adventure
game comes in trying out various verbs and finding the right
combination).
The score is indeed based on examining the world, making certain
choices and not making incorrect ones. The ">20" is not debugging
code, as was suggested previously, but an indication that the player
is 20 (or more) points below the threshold for avoiding the ninja. If
the player continues to see the ">20" message, the ninja (should be)
more likely to engage the player in combat.
This game, written very quickly, does have some glaring bugs. The
scoring system is a bit weird: I don't know why it applies a greater
score than what is possible at the end (e.g. "101/9" and other
variations). Also, for some reason I forgot to reset the HP if the
player falls in combat and restarts the game (e.g. -29 HP, to the
ninja's 0).
Nevertheless, I enjoyed writing a game based on a new theme (for me),
rather than the overused "Westfront PC" style that I've probably used
for 95% of my games since 1993. Color-coded inventory was nice in
1993, but I am now tired of writing games based on that schema. I
wanted the storyline to be unique enough, but not rely so much on my
past games.
I must admit an affinity and love for late-1970's and early-1980's era
adventure games. I have coded all of my adventure games to be playable
in that vein. Long room descriptions are not usually a part of my
adventures (although some of my Commodore 64/128 adventures have much
longer descriptions than what I usually implement).
I have also played MUDs extensively, and add in MUD-like combat as a
twist. Most text adventures do not feature MUD-like combat, and that
is why I added that in (plus, I always loved playing MUDs and Dungeons
& Dragons).
"Ninja" has some interesting themes, but can no doubt be expanded upon
(and heavily improved). The game was written in QuickBASIC, rather
than HLA (High Level Assembly) or C. Most of my other games were
written in PowerBASIC's Console Compiler for Windows (e.g. "Westfront
PC").
Sincerely,
Paul Allen Panks
dunric@yahoo.com
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