Text Adventure

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  • Ok so I've tried fiddling around with things and none of it seems to work. Basically I'm trying to create a little text adventure, with these features:

    -Analyses input sentence for keywords, gets order of keywords, and then gets a function out of that. (e.g. "Go get the rope over by the basket". "Get", "rope" and "basket" are filtered, sees the order, so the character gets the rope)

    -A scrolling output conversation box. The list object doesn't work because I want it to scroll without you being able to select an item.

    -Images that change according to the output box. I should be able to do this.

    So, as random tinkering has led me nowhere, can anyone help?

  • Hmm. Wild guessing here, so don't sue me if it goes horribly wrong.

    You'd need one large text field to display text and one text imput field. Store the text somewhere as lines (whole paragraphs, which would wrap automatically, anyway), then make a text scrolling engine that just adds and removes lines as requested, while keeping everything 'logged'. For that purpose, list object would be immensely useful (not the windows list thingy), but I guess you'll have to make an use of array or something else (hashtable), which means a lot of extra work.

    For input, basically another text field. It would catch keys typed and type letters out - you'd have to do that manually with events, which is quite a bit of work again, but worth the experience - then submit the text to parser at a press of Enter key.

    The parser would then use the text manipulator to search for strings, find key words, spit 'em out. Then you'd just compare them to the context, execute whichever actions are appropriate etc.; if it is not clear enough, spit an error message out or something along lines of "That is a silly thing to do!" or "Huh?".

    So, yeah, you'd have to reinvent the wheel a few times. Such is Construct in its infancy - not many generic plugins that would simplify the work flow. For example, in this case you'd need a list object (to log text) and text input field for DX runtime (not app). That would save you hours of messing with events just to work a couple basic features out!

    Oh, there is Timeline object, maybe you can make an use of it.

  • Thanks Mipey, some really good ideas there.

    Hmm yes the text manipulator object. I do believe this is the key thing here, but as there's basically no documentation on it I'm basically feeling around in the dark, which probably won't lead to anything. Does anyone know how to do the keyword scanning with the text manipulator?

  • I've got something close to the scrolling text and I've actually been looking for a project to get me back into working with construct again, just haven't felt up to it in a while. I'll work on that a bit and get it up soon. You are still planning to use direct X right? You did mention changing graphics after all.

  • Yes, I would be using DirectX. That would be really great Misfit, I'd appreciate it.

  • for this I'd go with Teh Pythons.

  • for this I'd go with Teh Pythons.

    Agreed, Python would be far more powerful when manipulating text. You probably would need that power for a text adventure game. Plus, I'm pretty sure all the Python text manipulation stuff works since it is part of the standard install.

    The text manipulator object would suffice for a really simple game... but I'm still trying to figure out how it works!

  • Other than a couple tweaks and writing a short tutorial, its done so I'll have it up after getting a bit of sleep.

    A quick question, are you using 99.4 or 98? The way its made will work in either version, but right now its saved in 99.

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  • Hmm I can't get it working on 99.42 or 99.5.

  • Thats odd since it was made in 99.42 and doesn't use anything special. You can't get the file to open, like it says it was made in an different version or you just can't get it to run right?

    I didn't explain this but you're supposed to type (paste) some long message into the entry box and hit the Enter button. That was just a cheap way to get text into quickly. Could it just be that misunderstanding or is it an actual problem?

  • btw... nice example misfitbyte on how to have scrolling text/edit boxes. It seems to have disappeared from the tutorial section.

  • No one was responding, so I figured everyone was having the same issue cow trix was with it not working and was taking it down till I could figure out what was wrong.

    Glad to find out not everyone is having the problem, thanks

  • Oh sorry misfit, I had the reply thing open and everything but I totally forgot. Yeah the problems I'm having aren't really predictable... I can open it, but it doesn't remember the strings, and I can't get back to the first string, i.e. the counter doesn't go back to 1. I can't tell if it still displays the first string, however, because it doesn't display.

  • Does it do that after hitting the enter button again, or just randomly?

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