Developing a Prototype of a Dynamic Text Adventure Game Fast

[BlackBulletIV]

Okay, I tried and gave up several times trying to put together something that works. (I didn't quite give up after my last post.) I can't do it. I hate the numbers and the.dots() 449.x, 72 elseif COMPUTERS ARE SUPPOSED TO SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE!!! It's 2011, where's my fucking hovering robot monkey AI to do all this stuff for me?

Lol. If they spoke our language you'd be writing a lot more. English (or any other communicational language) is incredibly more verbose, and open ended. Consider this statement:

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if love.something() == love.somethingElse() and foo ~= bar then
  doSomethingCool()
end

And compare it to this:

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if the function "something"'s return value which belongs to the module love is the same as the function "somethingElse"'s return value which belongs to the module love, and the value of foo is not the same as the value of bar, then call doSomethingCool.

Which would you rather write? Programming languages are meant to be used, not be a bit easier to understand to beginners.

And Lua is one of the easiest languages out there. Try C or C++, that's a just a wee bit harder (no, muuuch harder).

Anyway, I should probably stop now. I guess my brain is so used to programming, lol.

[Robin]

Compare programming language to algebraic notation, or music notation: you have to learn the grammar and the words, and it can be tough, but if you do, you'll be able to express yourself in a whole new way. (Try writing a symphony in English, if you're still not convinced. )

[kikito]

Okay, I tried and gave up several times trying to put together something that works. (I didn't quite give up after my last post.) I can't do it. I hate the numbers and the.dots() 449.x, 72 elseif COMPUTERS ARE SUPPOSED TO SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE!!! It's 2011, where's my fucking hovering robot monkey AI to do all this stuff for me?

Annnnnyway,

Thank you, guys, for your suggestions. I hope this thread helps someone else eventually. I realized that I may not need a working prototype, I can just make a visual presentation demonstrating what I want to happen on the screen. It's not hard to make still images with basically just outlines and description text. And, if I don't have the talent to get a programmer's imagination going enough to envision this game, the game itself probably isn't very good.

Are you sure you gave inform7 a look?

What you are asking is exactly what it does. It allows you to "build stories" in (nearly) natural English. Here's an example of the syntax you use to describe a room with things inside it:

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    "Cave Entrance" 

    The Cobble Crawl is a room. "You are crawling over cobbles in a low passage. There is a dim light at the east end of the passage." 

    A wicker cage is here. "There is a small wicker cage discarded nearby." 

    The Debris Room is west of the Crawl. "You are in a debris room filled with stuff washed in from the surface. A low wide passage with cobbles becomes plugged with mud and debris here, but an awkward canyon leads upward and west. A note on the wall says, 'Magic word XYZZY'." 

    The black rod is here. "A three foot black rod with a rusty star on one end lies nearby." 

    Above the Debris Room is the Sloping E/W Canyon. West of the Canyon is the Orange River Chamber. 

[BlackBulletIV]

Try writing a symphony in English, if you're still not convinced.

Ha ha! Yeah, now that's an idea. Write out pitch, length, tone, and so on in English. Tedious to the max!

But that's what languages (of all kinds) are for. They allow you to express yourself properly and usually succinctly in a certain field.