Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)
I've now seen a few people say that the hint system wasn't very well
handled. (Kicking in too early or too late.) I'm trying to think of
ways to improve it.
As you all noticed, the "HELP" command deals solely with "how to play
IF" help -- it doesn't have any game-specific hints. I had originally
considered having a separate "HINT" command, which would display a
context-specific hint. However, after three rewrites of the paragraph
which explained this distinction, I decided it was silly -- there
wasn't any point to burdening newcomers with the distinction. So I
put all the hints in the pro-active Tutorial Voice.
Now, that seems to work pretty well for the first few rooms. (Although
I have at least one report from someone who watched a newbie fail to
leave the first room. Lacking a transcript, I'm not sure exactly how
that went wrong.)
When it comes to the goals of the body of the game -- the seven masks
-- I had more trouble rigging up pro-active hints. How do I know when
the player is stuck?
Since all those puzzles involve a mask which is out of reach, I wound
up using a simple scheme -- if the player types "GET MASK" a couple of
times in a row, I assume he needs a hint. Actually, any verb that
tries to touch the mask will work. I can imagine the player trying a
series of un-useful commands like "TOUCH MASK", "GO TO MASK", "BLOW ON
MASK", and none of the puzzles are actually solved that way, so I take
them as cries for help. As it were.
(I take other actions as cries for help, too, depending on the
situation. "NORTH" on the mountain peak, "WEST" by the river, etc.)
Obviously this may or may not work for a given person and a given
puzzle. But I can't think of ways to improve it. Ideas?
I still don't want to put in an explicit "HINT" command. By the time a
(newbie) player is deep into the game, he'd likely have forgotten that
there *were* two distinct help commands.
Have the "HELP" command list a separate option -- "HELP ME" or "HELP
GAME" or "HELP STUCK" or "HELP MASK" -- which gives a local game hint?
Give an explicit instruction early on -- or in the "HELP" text -- that
if you're stuck, just keep trying and the hints will come by
themselves?
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.
I've now seen a few people say that the hint system wasn't very well
handled. (Kicking in too early or too late.) I'm trying to think of
ways to improve it.
As you all noticed, the "HELP" command deals solely with "how to play
IF" help -- it doesn't have any game-specific hints. I had originally
considered having a separate "HINT" command, which would display a
context-specific hint. However, after three rewrites of the paragraph
which explained this distinction, I decided it was silly -- there
wasn't any point to burdening newcomers with the distinction. So I
put all the hints in the pro-active Tutorial Voice.
Now, that seems to work pretty well for the first few rooms. (Although
I have at least one report from someone who watched a newbie fail to
leave the first room. Lacking a transcript, I'm not sure exactly how
that went wrong.)
When it comes to the goals of the body of the game -- the seven masks
-- I had more trouble rigging up pro-active hints. How do I know when
the player is stuck?
Since all those puzzles involve a mask which is out of reach, I wound
up using a simple scheme -- if the player types "GET MASK" a couple of
times in a row, I assume he needs a hint. Actually, any verb that
tries to touch the mask will work. I can imagine the player trying a
series of un-useful commands like "TOUCH MASK", "GO TO MASK", "BLOW ON
MASK", and none of the puzzles are actually solved that way, so I take
them as cries for help. As it were.
(I take other actions as cries for help, too, depending on the
situation. "NORTH" on the mountain peak, "WEST" by the river, etc.)
Obviously this may or may not work for a given person and a given
puzzle. But I can't think of ways to improve it. Ideas?
I still don't want to put in an explicit "HINT" command. By the time a
(newbie) player is deep into the game, he'd likely have forgotten that
there *were* two distinct help commands.
Have the "HELP" command list a separate option -- "HELP ME" or "HELP
GAME" or "HELP STUCK" or "HELP MASK" -- which gives a local game hint?
Give an explicit instruction early on -- or in the "HELP" text -- that
if you're stuck, just keep trying and the hints will come by
themselves?
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.
bject" or "help:task"
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