The idea of writing this article is finding a better way to write a decent text adventure/ interactive fiction game than making one in MMF.

I used to use this program a lot back before i got a PC and although it was made in 1985 it's perfect for making text adventures.

Since this program was never ported to the pc to my knowledge I'll be using an emulator to use it.


Getting started
---------------

I'll be using The graphics adventure creator on the Amstrad cpc.

First of all you need an emulator. I suggest Caprice32 or Winape. These emulators come with all needed rom files (which are all released to the public domain and so are legal)

http://www.winape.net/


And of course you'll need the program itself which can be downloaded here. It will be in the Amstrad cpc dsk file format.

http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/downloads/filedetail.php?recid=1557

A lot of this article is based on one i found online. However it seems to be a quick cut and paste job with some errors and no spaces where they ought to be.

http://gac.interface1.net/balrog.html


Using the Emulator
------------------

Because this is a computer that is being emulated and not a console, you'll need to use it's operating system to load up the disks.

First of all click on 'File' then 'Drivea' and insert the disk image.
Done!

During this time a game may have auto started. Burning rubber which shares the same cartridge as the Operating system.
Reset the emulator back to the start ctrl and f9.

ON the screen you will see a prompt.
f1 Amstrad basic (A version of basic which is also used to load games)
f2 Burnin' rubber. (A generic racing game)

When you're ready press 1 on the keypad which was f1 on the Amstrad. (make sure numlock is on)

It says 'ready'

now type cat and press enter to see whats on the disk.
you will see 4 files

Advinman.adv
Gac
Qs.adv
Ransom

You will need to load up Gac.

so type in Run"Gac and press enter to load it up.

Now you might want to save an emulator snapshot image to be able to instantly load the game from this point. Much like other emulators allow you to save your progress.



Trying the demo game
--------------------

one of the other files on the disk image is a demo game, if you would like to try it press T on the options menu and select disk then type
advinman.adv
this will load the game into GAC. Press enter to play it. I wont write a solution here but it's quite easy.

(don't worry, when you make your game you can save it as a stand alone game... albeit an Amstrad cpc emulator file...)


Loading quickstart
------------------

At the start of making an adventure there are a lot of annoying little things to do like setting up the parser prompts like 'what now?' and 'you can't' that any who has ever played a text adventure will have seen. Some of us a few times too many.

However GAC comes with a quickstart file. You can load it like you loaded the demo game only this time type Qs.adv. This makes life much easier for you.

Getting familiar with the menu screen.
-------------------------------------

(Copied and edited from the online tutorial i found)

Adverbs
-------

Used for words like 'in', 'out'

Begin Where
-----------

Instructs GAC which room the adventure starts in.

Conditions (LOCAL)
------------------

Room specific, these conditions can be used for puzzles. (For example we could have had a local condition that if in room 1 and input was 'get gold' then a message would be printed (alarm bells sounds).

Graphics
--------

Great fun to play with - any room in a GAC game can have a graphic, subject to memory limitations. (quite limited, 4 colours and a crude, slow vector based engine. Just like the games of the 80's then )

High Priority Conditions
------------------------

Err... The highest priority conditions! These conditions are checked before the others - so you could code a puzzle which depended on a time limit amongst other things.

Low Priority Conditions
-----------------------

Whatever the player types these conditions check to see if the input is correct - ie in our bank example 'get gold' is a LPC.

Messages
--------

Used for describing objects, events etc.

Nouns
-----

Like adverbs.

Objects
-------

Creates objects in a set room

Printer Menu
------------

Lets you print out your program. (Um i don't know if that would work via the emulator.)

Room Descriptions
-----------------

Used for locations descriptions.

Save adventure
--------------

Obvious! You can save your file as an executable (which means you could load it independently of GAC) or as a data file (which can be loaded back into GAC).

Verbs
-----

Like nouns/adverbs...

Erase adventure data
--------------------

Don't do this unless you're really sure you want to do it as it will delete everything you've typed in!

Enter adventure
---------------

Play adventure you are writing (used for testing).


Also you'll see a number in the top right hand corner. This tells you how many bytes are left in memory. Not a lot really. After loading the QS file you have about 24 kilobytes. BY todays standards thats tiny. But keep in mind in the 80's most computers had very little ram and that this will go further than you think. You'll still eat up memory rather quickly i'm afraid. (even more so if you have detailed graphics in each room)

The Amstrad cpc only had 64k in total, and GAC take up the other 40k.
Still there is nothing stopping you making multiple parts to your games and making a dummy room with a password to get into the real 2nd part.