[

  This textfile is made from the original commodore 64 manual to GAC.

    I have change a few places to the Spectrum keys - mostly in

  the graphics section. "<-" in the text means BREAK (shift+space).

     There might be errors and typos and if you found any please report them

  to me at tusk@daimi.aau.dk so I can correct it in the next version.

    I am released this without section 1.2 and the two appendix because

  I don't have the time right now to finish it and these sections

  aren't necessary for using GAC.



  A legal notice. This text and the program is still copyrighted by

  INCENTIVE SOFTWARE and you may only use it if you have legally

  bought a copy of GAC.



  version 0.9

  /20. Januar 1997. Martin M. Pedersen, tusk@daimi.aau.dk

]







                THE GRAPHIC ADVENTURE CREATOR

                -----------------------------



           CONTENTS :



          SECTION ONE

          -----------

   1.1             Introduction

   1.2             Load instructions



          SECTION TWO

          -----------

   2.1             Writing Adventures

   2.2             Editing Inputs

   2.3             Verbs

   2.4             Room Descriptions

   2.5             Messages

   2.6             Nouns and Objects

   2.7             Adverbs

   2.8             Conditions

   2.9             Begin Where?

   2.10            Save and Load

   2.11            Delete Data



          SECTION THREE

          -------------

   3.1             Graphics

   3.2             Graphics Commands



          SECTION FOUR

          ------------

   4.1             Test Adventure

   4.2             Player Commands





          APPENDIX A

          ----------

Definitions and Conditions for the

       Demostration Adventure





          APPENDIX B

          ----------

       Tables and Charts







COPYRIGHT 1986 INCENTIVE SOFTWARE LTD - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED











                (1.1) INTRODUCTION

                ==================





    Welcome to the GRAPHIC ADVENTURE CREATOR!







This manual is intended as a simple introduction to writing

adventures using GAC. The GRAPHIC ADVENTURE CREATOR is the best though

of as a small programming language specifically designed for

writing adventure games. Although it is smaller than other

programming languages such as Basic or Pascal it can perform all

of the complex tasks needed to write an adventure program, and

although the instructions may seem complicated at first, a little

time spent studying this manual will enable you to write yout very

own large scale adventures, far more easily and efficiently than by

using basic or machine code.

   Any adventures that you write using GAC are your own work, and

may be sold as such without any prior permisson being sought or

payment to us being made. However in this case, you should include

with your adventure something to the effect that it was written

using the GRAPHIC ADVENTURE CREATOR,     (C)    1986   by   Sean

Ellis/Incentive Software.



                       And now on with GAC!











                      CREDITS

                      -------

         DESIGN           by   Sean Ellis

         PROGRAMMED       by   The Kid

         RANSOM PICTURES  by   Pete James

         COVER            by   Pete Carter





     Thanks also to Lesley, Giles, Dave and John







      COPYRIGHT 1986 INCENTIVE SOFTWARE LTD.

         54 LONDON STREET, READING RG1 4SQ







All right of the producer, and of the owner of the work being

producd, are reserved.  Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending,

public performance and broadcasting of this program is prohibited.

The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, nor liability

for damage arising from its use.













                (1.2) LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

                ==========================



[Section skipped]







                (2.1) SECTION TWO - WRITING ADVENTURES

                ======================================





There are several elements necessary to writing adventures using

GAC. These are displayed on the Main Menu which is the first thing

you will see after loading the program.

  For convenience the menu is arranged in alphabetical order,

which makes it easier for you to remember which keys to press in

order to call up any part of GAC. At the top of the menu screen you

will see the display showing "FREE:" which shows the memory free.

  You may write the elements of your adventure in any order you

like, although you may find that certain orders may make things

easier than others.

  What follows is a brief description of what each element of the

main menu does, together with detailed instructions of how to use

each one. They are presented in an order which you may find

convenient to follow.







                (2.2) EDITING TEXT AND NUMERIC INPUTS

                =====================================



The text editor behaves in much the same way as the Commodore screen

editor, with the following additions:



       HOME             - return the cursor to the start of the text.

       CLR              - deletes to the right from the current cursor

                          position, keeping the cursor fixed.



  Pressing "<-" will escape from the current input or current option.







                (2.3) VERBS

                ===========





Verbs are the words with which you will actually tell the computer

what to do when you are playing an adventure. For example EAT or

DROP. Directions such as WEST or UP are also treated as verbs. GAC

allows you to enter and edit your own verbs when writing an adventure.

Some of the most commonly used verbs are already in the

Quickstart File, however since GAC allows you to enter up to 255

verbs, your imagination is the only limit to the commands you may

incorporate into your adventure.

   After pressing V from the Main Menu, you should see a prompt on

the screen, * EDIT VERBS *, and a pointer >.

   To enter a verb, simply type in a number, then a space followed

by your verb. When you press RETURN the verb will be entered on the

screen in alphabetical order.

If two or more verbs have the same meaning and you wish both to be

accepted, ie., "Get" and "Take", simply allocate to them the same

verb number. Try to think of as many similar words as you can in

this way, since this will make your adventure appear more friendly.





EDITING   - To edit, scroll the list using the cursor keys until the

-------     desired verb is adjacent to use the pointer. Press Return,

            edit the word, press Return again.

DELETE    - Position the word to be deleted by the pointer and press

------      Delete.

RETRIEVE  - Home will retrieve the last word deleted.

--------





   There is a brief summary of these instructions at the bottom of

the screen.





NOTE: The verbs in the Quickstart File may be edited in exactly the

same way as any other verbs.

More information about the use of verbs may be found in section(2.8)

CONDITIONS.



           PRESSING "<-" WILL RETURN YOU TO THE MAIN MENU









                (2.4) ROOM DESCRIPTION

                ======================





The term "room" is used to refer to any location in your adventure.

For example, "a forest", "a car", "a strange alien world" and so on.

GAC allows you to use up to 9999 of these rooms, memory permitting,

and to specify the connections to and from each room. You will

probably find it easier if you have decided in advance what each

room is and how the rooms are connected.

   On pressing R from the main menu, the prompt "Which room number

? ...." should appear. At this point enter a room number n, followed

by RETURN which will give the prompt "Room number n is ....". You can

then enter the description which can be up to 255 characters long.

   You will then see the prompt "Connections are.....?". The

connections are specified in terms of a verb, which must part of

the list already specified, followed by a space, followed by the

room number it connects with. For example EAST 20.

   You may have as may connections from a single room as you can

fit into 255 characters, followed by RETURN, i.e.

         EAST 20 WEST 18 NORTH 19 SOUTH 21 JUMP 49 (RETURN)

You will then see a prompt asking for a picture number, which links

this location with the appropriate picture should you wish to

have one. In this case you should enter a picture number followed by

RETURN. If you do not want a picture simple press RETURN. This

returns you to the prompt "Which room number ?..." again.

   Any of the above may be edited at any time by using the cursor

keys. "<-" at any point will return you to the Main Menu.



More information about the use of room descriptions can be found in

section (2.8) CONDITIONS.





                (2.5) MESSAGES

                ==============





Messages consist of prompts, descriptions or other comments that

appear on the screen when you play an adventure, i.e. "What now ?",

or "You can't do that". Many if the more common system messages are

contained in the Quickstart file, and are numbered from 240 to 255.

GAC allows you to enter up to 255 messages which may appear at any

point in your adventure.

   Pressing "M" from the main menu will give the prompt "Which

message number ?...". You should then enter a number followed by

RETURN, then type in your message, which may be up to 255 characters

long. Pressing RETURN will enter your message and repeat the "Which

message number ?..." prompt.

   To edit a message once it has been entered, simply recall the

message and edit it using the cursor keys.



   Please note that all message from 240 to 255 should be

defined, since these are esential system message without which

your adventure will not run correctly. You can edit these messages

but you should be careful to preserve the meaning. For example,

message 242, "Pardon ?" could be changed to "Eh ?".



   Pressing "<-" will return you to the prompt "Which message

number ?...." and pressing "<-" again will return you to the Main

Menu.



More information about the use of messages can be found in section

(2.8) CONDITIONS.









                (2.6) NOUNS AND OBJECTS

                =======================





Nouns are the "things" that your adventure will recognise. For

example, BOOK, SWORD and so on.

   GAC frequently requires you to define things both as nouns and

as objects: once as a noun so that the adventure will recognise it,

and then as an object so that the program can move it around and do

things with it. For example, SWORD is defined as a noun, but since

you may wish to pick it up during your adventure, you must also

define it as an object. A further example makes clear another point:

if your adventure requires you to light a lamp. LAMP must be defined

as a noun, and you must also define two objects, AN UNLIT LAMP and A

LIT LAMP .

   When you press N from the main menu, the prompt * EDIT NOUNS *

will appear. Apart from this, the procedure for entering and

editing nouns is exactly the same as that for editing verbs. (2.3)

   When you press 0 from the main menu, the prompt "Which object

number ?...." will appear.

You should then enter a number n from 1 to 255 followed by RETURN.

You will then see the prompt "Object number n is...". You may then

enter the object description consisting of up to 255 characters

followed by RETURN. This will produce the prompt "Starts in room

number...". Enter the number of the room you wish this object to

start in, or press RETURN. Pressing RETURN will assign the object to

room zero, a special room which cannot be travelled to, and which

contains "dead" and "unborn" object. For example, a piece of cake

once eaten will be assigned to room zero.

The prompt "and weighs...." will then appear. Enter the weight you

wish to allocate to this object and press RETURN.



"<-" will return you to the main menu.



More information about the use of nouns and objects can be found in

section (2,8) CONDITIONS.





                (2.7) ADVERBS

                =============



In the GAC adverbs are used for two sorts of things: firstly to

describe the precise way a verb is used, i.e. "move slowly" or "put

down gently", and secondly they are used to differentiate between

similar nouns. For example, if you adventure has three differently

coloured boxes, the adverbs will specify the colours: RED, GREEN

etc.

   On pressing A from the main menu, the prompt * EDIT ADVERBS *

will appear. Apart from this the procedure for entering and editing

adverbs is exactly the same as that for editing verbs and nouns.



More information on the use of adverbs can be found in section

(2.8) CONDITIONS.





                (2.8) CONDITIONS

                ================



When using GAC the conditions form the internal commands that

simulate decision-making processes within the game. All the terms

you have specified and the data you have entered is now drawn

together to form the structure for your adventure-

   "Conditions" tell the adventure that if certain things are true,

then it is to perform some action, i.e., "if x is true then do y",

though much more complicated conditions may be constructed, i.e.,

   "if x and y are true then do t",

or "if z and q are true then do y and x", and so on.

The GAC has a speciel format for writing these conditions. For

example, if you have defined verb number 16 to mean "Examine", and

noun number 2 to mean "Room", then a condition using these terms

might read :

   "IF ( VERB 16 AND NOUN 2 ) LOOK WAIT END"

Translated this means if "Examine Room" is typed in, describe the

current room and wait for a new command.

   The Conditional list below separates the words used for the

"Conditions Part", 'If ( Verb 16 and Noun 2)' and those used for

the "Action Part", 'LOOK WAIT END'. For subscripts used (a, c, m,

as, o, n, r, v, x and y) - See Appendix B.





i.  CONDITION PART

    --------------

    VERB v              Is verb v typed ? (v is a number)

                        VERB 7 will give a TRUE answer if verb number

                        7 was typed, otherwise it will give a false

                        answer.

    NOUN n              is noun n typed ? (similar to VERB)

    ADVE a              is adverb a typed ? (similar to VERB)



    HERE o              is object o here ? (i.e. in the same room as

                        you ?)

                        If you are in room 3 and object 1 is also in room

                        3, then HERE 1 will give a TRUE answer because

                        object 1 is here.

    CARR o              Is object o being carried ? (Similar to HERE).

    AVAI o              Is object o available for use ? i.e. here or being

                        carried? (Similar to HERE).

    o IN r              Is object o in room r ? If object 1 is in room 3,

                        as above, then 1 IN 3 will be TRUE, but 1 IN 4

                        will be FALSE.

    WEIG o              Gets the weight of object o. In our adventure,

                        weig 2 would give the value 20, which is the

                        weight of the rat.



    SET? m              Is marker m set ?

    RES? m              Is marker m reset ?

                        (There are 256 markers, numbered 0 to 255. They

                        are used to store information that can be in one

                        of two states, like doors which are open or shut,

                        light which are on or off, etc. There are three

                        which are important for the adventure program :

                        Mkr 0, if set, means that a room has been

                               described since it was last reset.

                        Mkr 1, if set, means you are in a light room,

                               Otherwise you are in a dark room.

                        Mkr 2, if set, means you have a lamp or some

                               other source of light.

                        If markers 1 and 2 are both reset, then the

                        program will refuse to describe rooms, coming up

                        with the "It's dark" message instead, since you

                        are in a dark room without a lamp.

                        Mkr 3, if set, disables the scoring mechanism

                               when you exit from the game.



    CTR c               Gives you the value of counter c.

    x EQU? c            Is x equal to the value of counter c ?

                        There are 128 counters, numbered from 0 to 127.

                        They are most frequently used to store the number

                        of moves since a particular event, (e.g., moves in

                        the dark). Counter 0 holds the score and counters

                        126 and 127 hold the turns count since the start

                        of the game.

    TURN                Gives the number of turns since the start of the

                        game.



    ROOM                Gives you the room number of the room you're

                        currently in.

    AT r                Gives a TRUE answer if you are in room number r.



    condition AND condition will give a TRUE answer if both of the

                        conditions give TRUE answers.

                        e.g. VERB 1 AND NOUN 2 will TRUE only if verb 1

                        and noun 2 are both typed.

    condition or condition will give TRUE if either condition is

                        TRUE, or both.

    condition XOR condition will give TRUE if one of the conditions

                        is TRUE and the other FALSE.

    NOT condition will give a TRUE answer if the condition was

                        FALSE, and vice versa.

                        So NOT VERB 1 will be TRUE if verb 1 is NOT typed.



    x < y               Gives TRUE if number x is less than number y

    x > y               Gives TRUE if x is greater than y.

    x = y               Gives TRUE if x is EQUAL to y.



    RAND x              Gives a random number between 0 and (x-1). So

                        RAND 10 will give any number at random in the

                        range 0 to 9.



    VBNO                Gets the number of the verb in this command.

    NO1                 Gets the number of the first noun in this command,

                        if any.

    NO2                 Gets the number of the second noun in this

                        command, if any. These are used to check word

                        order, and to GET and DROP object without having

                        to have a condition for each one.



ii. ACTION PART

---------------

    LOOK                Describe the room you are in at the moment.

    DESC r              Describe room number r.



    PICT                Turns the picture display on.

    TEXT                Turns the picture display off, giving a text

                        adventure.



    GET o               Get object number o. If it isn't here, or you've

                        already got it, or it's too heavy then the

                        appropriate message is displayed.

    DROP o              Drop object number o. If you haven't got it, then

                        the appropriate message is displayed.

    x SWAP y            Exchange objects x and y. In our little

                        adventure, 1 SWAP 5 will exchange the lamp with

                        the lit lamp.

    OBJ o               Describe object number o.

    LIST r              List all the objects in room number r.

    LIST WITH           List all the objects carried with you.

    o TO r              Move object number o to room r. To destroy an

                        object move it to room zero.



    SET m               Set marker m

    RESE m              Reset marker m. See SET? and RES? for an

                        explanation of markers.

    x CSET c            Set x to be the value of counter number c.

    INCR c              Increase counter c by one. The maximum is 255.

    DECR c              Decrease counter c by one. The minimum is 0.

                        Trying to increase past 255 or decrease past 0 is

                        ignored.



    GOTO r              Go to room r and describe the new room

    CONN v              This checks through the connection table for a

                        connection from the current room using verb v. If

                        one is found, this returns the room number of the

                        room you would have move to if you were to take the

                        connection, otherwise it gives zero. As an

                        example if you were in room 3 in our adventure,

                        CONN 4 would return the value 2, because in the

                        connections from room 3, verb 4 (WEST) would take

                        you to room 2.

    STRE x              Set the maximum weight you can carry to x. STRE

                        is short for STRENGTH.

    BRIN o              Brings object o here, if it exists.

    FIND o              Find objects o and move to it, if it exists.

                        This does not acknowledge any restricitions, (such

                        as connections), so it could be useful in a magic

                        spell.

    SAVE                Saves the current game position to tape or disc.

    LOAD                Loads the current game position from tape or disc.

                        These are useful for continuing a game after tea

                        (or coffee - the kettle's probably boiled by now!)



    WAIT                Waits for a new command.

    OKAY                Prints "Okay" and waits for a new command.

    EXIT                Stops the game. Since the player is NOT asked,

                        this is recommended for use when the player wins

                        or is killed.

    QUIT                The player is first asked if he wants to quit. If

                        he types "Y", the game terminates, otherwise the

                        game continues. On abandoning the game, both the

                        score and the number of moves taken are displayed,

                        assuming this function has not been disabled by

                        setting marker three.



    MESS ms             Print message number ms.

    PRIN x              Print number x.

    LF                  Prints a Linefeed. Everything from hereon is

                        printed on a new line.

    HOLD x              Halts the game for x fiftieths of a second, or

                        until a key is pressed. For example, to freeze

                        for 10 seconds, do HOLD 500.

    x + y               As you may expect, returns the value of x added to

                        y.

    x - y               And this gives the value of x - y.





There are several things to note when writing conditions. Firstly

all operations are performed strictly from left to right. Secondly

GAC requires spaces both inside and outside brackets, and between

words such as 'verb' and 'noun' and their numbers.

Thirdly, x and y need not be simply numbers, they can be more

complex expressions. However you should note that since GAC

performs all its operations from left to right, you should be

careful about the order in which you enter things. Put any

comparisons first, i.e. if ( VERB > 5 ) AND NOUN 9 ) QUIT END

   The conditions are checked by GAC at three different points,

and are entered as High Priority, Low Priority and Local.

The flow chart at the back of the manual indicates the order in

which these are actioned.

  The GAC checks for HIGH PRIORITY conditions before prompting

for a player comman. It checks for such things as whether you are

still "alive", whether a light a flashing, etc.

Pressing H from the main menu will return the prompt "Which line

number ?...". You should enter these lines in order, ie. 1, 2, 3

etc.

The GAC will not recognise a line number such as '5' when you have

only entered two conditions so far, although it will insert a

condition earlier in your list and remember accordingly. RETURN will

give you the prompt "Line number n is....", at which point you

should enter your condition and press RETURN which will give you the

"<-" returns you to the main menu.



   LOCAL CONDITIONS are checked for after the player has entered a

command, and deal with things local to a particular room, for

example, whether a particular object is in that room. Alternatively

they might execute a player command to go to another room, or open a

door at that location.

   Pressing C from the main menu will give the prompt "Which room

number ? ....". Entering a number followed by RETURN will give the

prompt "Which line number ?....". Thereafter the procedure is

exactly the same as for High Priority Conditions, except that each

Room has it's own set of line numbers, (1, 2, 3 etc).



   LOW PRIORITY CONDITIONS are also checked for after a single

player command is entered, but are not associated with any room. For

example, they might check whether you are carrying a particular

object, independent of the location. After pressing L from the main

menu, the procedure for entering and editing Low Priority Conditions

is exactly the same as that for High Priority Conditions.



   Further examples of High, Local and Low Priority Conditions can

be found in Appendix A.







                (2.9) BEGIN WHERE?

                ==================



The last element of your adventure, at least as far as the text is

concerned, is to specify which room your adventure starts in.

   Pressing B from the main menu will give the prompt to enter the

start location room number.



Entering a room number followed by RETURN means that your adventure

will start at this room. To change the start room, simply enter a

new number.

"<-" will return you to the main menu.







                (2.10) SAVE AND LOAD

                ====================





SAVING

------

After pressing S from the main menu, you will be asked if you wish

to save a "Data File" or a "Runnable Adventure".

If you press 'D' for 'Data File',  the computer will prompt for a

file name. Enter your file name followed by RETURN. This will save

your data which can be loaded into GAC at a later date for further

development.

Alternatively pressing RETURN without first entering a filename will

save the file "DUMMY.ADV" to tape, or "@:DUMMY.ADV" to disc.

Pressing 'G' will prompt for the filename for a runnable adventure.

This can no longer be loaded into the GAC for editing, but will run

on it own.



LOADING

-------

Pressing T from the main menu then entering a file name will load a

data file into GAC for editing. Alternatively pressing RETURN

without first entering a filename will attempt to load the file

"DUMMY.ADV" from tape or disc.



To load your Runnable Adventure from tape, press SHIFT and RUN/STOP,

or from disc type LOAD "NAME",8,1 after resetting the machine.



NOTE : Do not attempt to load a runnable adventure into GAC. It

will run on its own !







                (2.11) DELETE DATA

                ==================



Pressing X from the main menu will delete all your data.

N.B. Loading a new data file will have the same effect.





                (3.1) SECTION THREE - GRAPHICS

                ==============================



The Graphics part of GAC will enable you to draw pictures to go with

the room descriptions in the text part of your adventure.

   Press G from the Main Menu to enter the Graphics sections. You

will see displayed a high-resolution Window and a Graphics Menu,

together with prompt "Which picture number   ?....".

Enter the number of the picture you wish to design.



The fill Routine is designed to be fast and it can cope with

irregular shapes, but you may need to press "F" more than once. If

an area is left unfilled, then you can just move the cursor into

that area and press "F" again.

   Here is a simple method which will allow you to get the best

results from your filling. If your shape has a high point, position

the cursor directly under it. If it has a low point, position your

cursor directly under it. Here is an example using a triangle...







                    /^\              /|\

                   /   \            /-|-\

Only this part    /|----\          /--|--\      All filled

filled           /-+-----\        /---+---\   + = cursor position

                /--|------\      /----|----\

               <---|------->    <-----|----->



                  CASE A           CASE B





The area filled is worked out by the fill routine checking up and

down from the cursor position until it encounters a boundary.

It is possible to fill the same area more than once using shading

patterns consisting of different colours.

   If you should run out of memory in one particular picture, you

can get round this by moving to an unused picture and merging the

full picture into the new one before continuing with your drawing.







                (3.2) GRAPHICS COMMANDS

                =======================



Picture (M) - Picture Merge - Prompts for a picture number and

              merges that picture with the one currently

              displayed without changing the current ink colours.

Change      - Allows you to change any of the 4 ink colours or the

              colour of the graphics frame.



Shade   (S) - Prompts for 2 inks with which to generate stipple

              patterns used by the 'Fill' command. These 2 inks

              may be the same.

Rect    (R) - The first press of the 'R' key sets the corner of a

              rectangle, which can then be drawn using the cursor

              keys. The second press fixes the rectangle.

Ink     (I) - Allows you to change the current pen colour.



DEL         - Deletes the last graphics command.



Ellipse (E) - The first press of the 'E' key sets the centre of an

              ellipse which can then be drawn using the cursor

              keys. The second press fixes the ellipse.

Mirror  (M) - Reflects the picture by copying from top to bottom,

              or left to right.

Whole   (W) - Draws the whole picture



Fill    (F) - Fills an area surrounding the current cursor

              position, this area being bounded by an ink of a

              different colour to that under the cursor.

Dot     (D) - Places a dot at the current cursor position.



AOT         - (Head over heels) similar to mirror, but invers the

              picture either up/down or left/right.



Line    (L) - The first press of the 'L' key sets one end of a line

              which can then be drawn using the cursor keys. The

              second press fixes the line.



[special spectrum keys T-Border, V-Flash, P-Paper, G-Bright gridt,

 B-bright, C-? ]





Editing pictures

----------------



,           - Moves back one graphic command.

.           - Moves forward one graphic command.

<           - Moves back 8 grahics commands.

>           - Moves forward 8 graphic commands.



SHIFT *     - Deletes all picture information held after the

              edit position.

Z           - Takes you back to the start of the picture.

f7          - Toggle the graphics cursor speed, between 1 pixel

              per keypress (default) and 4 pixels per keypress.

"<-"        - Takes you back to the Main Menu.



Whilst stepping through the graphic commands the last command will

be highlighted in green. If the last graphic command was a line,

"Dot" will be highlighted in light blue.











                (4.1) SECTION FOUR - TEST ADVENTURE

                ===================================



To test your adventure, get back to the main menu and simply press

"f1" to enter the adventure.

When are testing and adventure, the way to return to the main

menu is to press "<-" as usual. This gives you the message "Press D

for diagonstics or "<-" to escape....". If you press the "D" key, then

all the markers and counters will be displayed on the screen. For

the markers, a solid box indicates "SET" and an empty one indicates

"RESET". The values of the counters are given as you would expect.

To get back to the game press RETURN. If you press "<-" again, then

you will get back to the main menu.

   The rror routine prints out a message indicating the nature of

the error, plus a line of conditions if the error occurred in one of

the condition tables.



"Message not found" means you have referred to a message that does

not exist. If this appears immediately, check that you have included

the system's special messages, numbers 240 and above.



"Room not found" means you have tried to describe or move to a room

that doesn't exist.



"Object not found" means you have tried to pick up, drop or describe

an object that does not exist.



"Marker not found" means you have tried to access a counter which

does not exist.



"Counter not found" means you have tried to access a counter which

does not exist.



"Illegal value" means you have tried to look for a verb, noun or

adverb with a number greater than 255, or you have tried to load a

counter with a number greater than 255.



Here are a few hints for solving errors :

  i.    Suspect typing error. Check that you really mean what you

        have said.

  ii.   Have you forgotton to enter the room/object/message being

        referred to? if so enter it.

  iii.  Have you forgotton to delete a condition which you didn't

        need, having deleted the objects/messages used by it?







                (4.2) PLAYER COMMANDS

                =====================



This section deals with the commands a player gives when he plays

the adventure. It is intended to give an idea of the complexity of

the commands the adventure will understand.

   Each command line consists of one or more simple commands,

which in turn consist of a verb, and maybe an adverb and one or two

nouns. Any word which the command interpreter does not understand

as being a noun, verb or adverb is ignored.

Let us take a typical line and see how the program looks at it:



    Get the gold, examine it, put it in the box then go north



Let us assume that the vocabulary includes :

                                                      ADVERBS: 1 IN

NOUNS :   3 GOLD        VERBS :   1 NORTH

          7 BOX                   7 GET

        255 IT                    8 PUT   16 EXAMINE



   The command line is split into separate commands by the

following : ".", ",", "?", ":", "and" and "then", so it

becomes ;



    Get the gold      ","

    Examine it        ","

    Put it in the box "then"

    go north



Each of these is canned for verbs, adverbs and nouns in that order,

and nay found have their number stored;



                       VERB     ADVE     NOUN1     NOUN2

   Get the gold         7        0         3         0

   ---     ----



   Examine it           16       0        255        0

   ------- --



   Put it in the box    8        1        255        7

   --- -- --     ---



   Go north             1        0         0         0

      -----





Then all occurences of noun 255 ("It"), are replaced by the last

noun typed before that, giving:



                       VERB     ADVE     NOUN1     NOUN2

   Get the gold         7        0         3         0

   Examine it           16       0         3         0

   Put it in the box    8        1         3         7

   Go north             1        0         0         0



These values are the passed to the connection table, then to the

conditions. See the diagram in Appendix B.

Note that all the letters in the vocabulary entries are significant

- there is no truncation to only four or five letters. Thus RIVER

and RIVET, TROUT and TROUSERS, and other like these are

differentiated.









                APPENDIX A

                ==========

   Defintions and Conditions for "ADVINMAN"





                APPENDIX B

                ==========

            Tables and Charts



