As
you can know now (or not – if you don’t know me), I took my degree
of informatics in 1997, at the Kalman Kando Technical College
in Budapest – my chosen theme was text adventure games. My thesis
was born as a result of a plentiful half year’s development, and
the very most of this work was the programming of a PC adventure
called A babó (The Hobbit – that is the Hungarian
translation of the title of Tolkien’s classical novel), in Assembly,
under MS-DOS. (The game can be downloaded from my website, but
it is only in Hungarian; sorry; there is no English version,
and there already will never be.) I made the written part of the
thesis (besides the program) subsequently only in the last few
weeks… It is somewhat like a documentation. But I hope that you
can also read it as an essay or an article (you can find it in
a PDF, too). (Of course all of this description has to be read
in the dependence of time expended, and passed since then; namely
that time it was much more difficult to get some datas about anything
as still not being everybody full of online sources non-stop night
and day etc.) It contains thirteen chapters, the full title is:
Practical Problems of Making Text Adventure Games. It
consists of two independent, major parts (altogether 43 pages
in the original). The second and smaller part of that was just
a description and user manual of the game.
In
the course of writing it, my direct and explicitly instant aim
with it was obviously getting the 
diploma
(I naturally finished it with success), but not merely this only
one… Yonder certain next phase already was floating before me
again: a large-scale, monumental, well worked out, detailed, thorough,
intelligent, nevertheless flexibly further pliable and advanced
adventure system for PC; that is not only one and/or each one
definite game, but much rather a generous development environment;
such like an own programming language and an editing frame system
built together; which then capable to use for producing any adventure
game at will later. (As naturally being told by any modern word
we should call that as an engine.) Since I knew that
it was of a several-year work, I still had to restrain myself
in the beginning about it, and to touch only the most elemental
basics: that much I could carry out within those few months (or
finally a half year) for a thesis. (That is to say: I combined
the pleasant with the useful… I did not want to waste that time
I had got as a student yet; but start into my next work still
within.)
That
strange duality is due to that while as considering at a system
level this program is significantly higher and more advanced than
all my previous works, notwithstanding it is still rather of a
short run, relatively easy to play along, and even a bit defective,
half-made seeming creation (and still has no graphics at all,
either). The story and the plot was not even my own, but only
an adaptation instead, since I neither wanted to waste my time
on this. Thus, I quickly whipped out my favourite novel, namely
J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and more exactly the former
(elder) 8-bit adaptation of that, and beginning from there, applying
as a sketch, or as a script, I had instantly got my plans – might
concentrate rather to the technical level development instead.
I
picked up the same logical thread again, which I had dropped after
The Galleon for a while, and started from the same point
further on again. As the PC environment offered a considerably
wider range of possibilites than the Commodore (primarily far
more speed and memory), or at least – compared to the contemporary
hardware relations – it could be reached if been exploited totally
in Assembly, therefore I was similarly interested in the challenge
setting about this. So, I exactly built along my preceding ideas
further in the new environment, just without their former limitations.
I
expanded the number of my two main characters theoretically up
to any number of them – in practice it meant the fourteen heroes
of the original book. In addition already the non-player characters
(the so-called NPC’s) became indirectly controllable, for example
through some asks or queries given them. Likewise I endeavoured
attributing them with their own „will” or at least some acting
possibilities: they did not only be walking hither and tither
in the space as before, but – in theory – any difference was ceased
between the real and the virtual players: in this respect the
only difference between them is where they get their commands
from; which, however, can be changed at any time. It means that
every doing possibility therein the game is pre-programmed in
such a way that does not depend from the personal being of the
subject, thus can be connected to any: everything that you may
do, might also be done by any other player, or (non-player) character.
I programmed some limited level of an „artificial intelligence”
into the behaviour generator of those living beings not controlled
by any real human player (and so controlled by the computer instead)
that they could „find out” the possible most amount of their reachable
stepping combinations by themselves (for this case it actually
meant some mostly random decisions).
To
do this, another former limit had to be transgressed: ceasing
any waiting for the user interact. That is: the whole process
of the game – unconditionally and completely – had to become realtime.
Yes, and what is more: I divided the computer screen into up to
four independent parts, and within them up to four independent
characters might be placed – you can follow all happening events
of the game simultaneously by all them. Namely by this way the
several characters act not only by turns, but in real parallel.
(In the obsolete and too weak, too old 8-bit environment such
a result would be nearly impossible; however here is not so any
more.)
I
think this old game remained some joyful, entertaining still looked
by a modern eye; and, moreover, will remain so for ever. (Naturally
– and firstly – you must depart and abstract yourself from that
3D force-demonstrating throught the network in your soul, and
also from those self-comforting bad habits of yours being picked
up during the last decade or two… It is worth for a little while.)
Have a good fun for this great Interactive Fiction game
of mine (khm, if you speak Hungarian at least… oh, sorry).
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A
babó (The Hobbit) |
09/01/2011 |
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Interactive
Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien’s classical novel (1997) |
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