A simple text adventure: MoonBase Escape

[LordVaderUK]

Many thanks to EdwardianDuck and Lurkio for trying the game and coming up with ideas for improvements. I've fixed many of the assorted bugs / niggles they raised.

I've also modified the game so it should now work on the Electron in MODE 6. Can someone give it a try on the real hardware and let me know if it works?!

UPDATED MOONBASE.SSD attached to original post.

[iamaran]

Original version of the game completed with a score of 84% in 111 turns.

[LordVaderUK]

Original version of the game completed with a score of 84% in 111 turns.

That's not half bad! Wonder where you dropped the 16%... did you eat the pill?

Also - any suggestions for improvements/bug fixes?

[iamaran]

Sent you a pm re the scoring. No bugs encountered

[lurkio]

Original version of the game completed with a score of 84% in 111 turns.

That's not half bad! Wonder where you dropped the 16%... did you eat the pill?

Hmm. I got 84% as well (in too many moves to mention!). I'm sure I ate the pill. Wonder what I missed..?



EDIT: I wonder if it's that <rot13>lbh unir gb svk gur ubyr jvgu gur gncr nf jryy nf jvgu gur ebobg</rot13>?

[iamaran]

Original version of the game completed with a score of 84% in 111 turns.

That's not half bad! Wonder where you dropped the 16%... did you eat the pill?

Hmm. I got 84% as well (in too many moves to mention!). I'm sure I ate the pill. Wonder what I missed..?



EDIT: I wonder if it's that <rot13>lbh unir gb svk gur ubyr jvgu gur gncr nf jryy nf jvgu gur ebobg</rot13>?

111 moves was my optimised attempt!

I did both of those, and got no points for either.

[LordVaderUK]

OK, I have now attached an updated MOONBASE.SSD to the original post. Should work on the Electron (can someone test it on Elk hardware for me!?)

This version fixes the scoring bug (you can now score 100% ) as well as various improvements kindly suggested by EdwardianDuck and Lurkio. Happy to receive any other ideas from others too!

[fuzzel]

Hi Mr V, just had a quick spin in your spaceship, I have to say I'm very impressed so far. I love the last survivor on a spaceship genre which brings to mind Snowball (well, alone except for homicidal mechanoids anyway), 5 Spheres of Goliath and Escape from Pulsar 7 (there might be an alien in that one). Just a couple of minor bugs spotted so far (the known unknowns you alluded to in an earlier post):
GO BED - no response
EXAM SUIT - when fixed, still says it needs mending (or maybe a further fix is required?)
INV - See attached bitmap. I have four objects but INV says I have none.
Looking forward to playing further tomorrow...

[fuzzel]

Edit to previous post. Doh! I really need to read the blurb before playing games! I guess I must have thought Moonbase was the name of the spaceship
Further to previous post, I'm loving this game! I goofed up near the start and drew my map wrong so I've been wandering about trying to find a torch. I've just started again after dying and found it near the start! I think I had too long a day at the office yesterday...

[LordVaderUK]

Edit to previous post. Doh! I really need to read the blurb before playing games! I guess I must have thought Moonbase was the name of the spaceship
Further to previous post, I'm loving this game! I goofed up near the start and drew my map wrong so I've been wandering about trying to find a torch. I've just started again after dying and found it near the start! I think I had too long a day at the office yesterday...

Glad you are enjoying the game.
The inventory bug is fixed - introduced, stupidly, by me when I modified something else. Schoolboy error! New improved SSD added to original post.

[dp11]

Just an Idea, but you could a debug/log mode that just dumps all key presses to a file. Then you could have a replay option which reads the file.

[fuzzel]

Here's my save state of the Inventory error.

Moonbase1 error got 4 items says got nothing.uef

(129.2 KiB) Downloaded 99 times

I'm in the kitchen. When you LOOK then INV you can now see your objects again. Strange one.

[LordVaderUK]

Here's my save state of the Inventory error.
Moonbase1 error got 4 items says got nothing.uef
I'm in the kitchen. When you LOOK then INV you can now see your objects again. Strange one.

Stupid error introduced by me, fixed now. Sorry about that!

[lurkio]

MoonBase Escape is now online at bbcmicro.co.uk:

• http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=3424

Many thanks, LordVaderUK!

[fuzzel]

Just finished and managed 90%. Now to find the other 10%...

[lurkio]

A walkthrough and a map for MoonBase Escape are now at CASA:

• http://www.solutionarchive.com/game/id% ... scape.html

[fuzzel]

Is it a 100% solution ?

[lurkio]

Is it a 100% solution ?

Yes.

[fuzzel]

Ouch! Now up to 98% Now what minor achievement am I missing? The only 2% scores I have found so far are:
Dispenser objects x 3
Dispenser x 1
Pill x 1
Diary x 1

The things I don't believe I've found a use for:
Wrench
Bed

I could always use CASA's solution but that would be cheating, I'll have to persevere...

btw on Beebem, setting speed to x5 revs the game up so much it's like I'm using a ramdisc! And it doesn't mess up the keyboard input either for some reason.

[lurkio]

btw on Beebem, setting speed to x5 revs the game up so much it's like I'm using a ramdisc! And it doesn't mess up the keyboard input either for some reason.

It's because the program disables keyboard autorepeat with *FX11,0 -- for the express purpose of enabling gameplay with >=2x emulator acceleration.

The URL for the Play button on bbmicro.co.uk runs the game at 4x CPU speed.

[iamaran]

Is it a 100% solution ?

Yes.

Yes, 'cos it's mine

[LordVaderUK]

Well after the rip roaring success and world wide adulation for MoonBase Escape, I've set to work on version 2

Already implemented:

• Multiple commands on single line, e.g. GET TORCH THEN GO NORTH THEN DROP TORCH
• Other fixes to the parser to streamline responses
• Verbose mode ON/OFF
• Cacheing system for messages, rooms and items reduces disk access (and speeds up responses!)

I am looking for ideas and suggestions for improving the story, making it longer and more interesting, and generally making for a better experience for the player. Some ideas I have include:

• Multi level map, with lifts between levels
• Hint system to help players solve tricky puzzles (with a possible hit on your score...)
• Items which can hold or hide other items - e.g. a locker or a box
• Items can be ON or UNDER other items
• Interaction with the robot - you can ask it stuff, maybe also get it to carry items for you
• Introducing hunger/thirst - you need to find and eat food to stay alive!
• New items - a magnet to retrieve something metallic; uniforms maybe with items in the pocket; a laser to cut / shoot things
• Giving the player some items to start with - maybe a mobile phone you can use to help solve puzzles?
• New hazards - a fire you accidentally start, and then must extinguish; a power generator you have to start; a chasm you have to cross; a feral animal escaped from the lab
• A bank of CCTV monitors where you can see rooms you have yet to visit - and maybe clues to how to solve puzzles
• Signs dotted around the base with info/clues or just amusing trivia

The above are all possible, some easier than others to program - but all need a sensible story flow to fit into.

I'd love to hear any ideas or feedback that others might have, especially those who love text adventures like I do

[Soruk]

Having extracted the files from the SSD, thought you'd like to know it works in Matrix Brandy on Linux!

[lurkio]

@LordVaderUK, I basically think that most of your ideas sound great! Here are a few comments...

Multiple commands on single line, e.g. GET TORCH THEN GO NORTH THEN DROP TORCH

This was a feature that was always touted by the major developers BITD, such as Level 9 and Infocom, as a great advance in parser technology, but I'm not sure if players actually made use of it. Certainly I never did! Even today, as a player, I always revert to basic two-word VERB NOUN commands wherever possible -- just to keep things simple!

Verbose mode ON/OFF

Another marquee feature which I was never very fond of! There's the constant anxiety that you need to keep verbose mode on all the time for fear that you'll miss a vital clue otherwise! (This is just my personal opinion, btw. Feel free to ignore me!)

Cacheing system for messages, rooms and items reduces disk access (and speeds up responses!)

I approve!

Introducing hunger/thirst - you need to find and eat food to stay alive!

That can be one of the most frustrating text adventure gameplay mechanics of all! Resource managment. Be careful how you implement it!

a feral animal escaped from the lab

Yes, some sort of monster you have to escape from, and/or kill, would be good. And it might explain why everyone else has already fled the base!

I am looking for ideas and suggestions

Judicious use of sound effects might be interesting. E.g. an alarm sound could play -- briefly! -- each time you move to a different room, just to remind you of the urgency of your predicament (till you patch the air-leak). This might turn out to be very annoying in practice, though!

Another possibility is interrupt-driven tunes, or a set of interrupt-driven sound effects, which play continuously (and quietly) in the background..? Plus an option to switch them off!

Again, these are all just my personal opinions, preferences and suggestions. Please feel free to ignore any and all of them!