Creating your own Worlds
Each YourLands adventure game is called a World.
Locations
Each world can have any number of Locations. A typical Location is a room, field, crossroads, bridge, etc.
Each Location has a long description, that is displayed when the player first enters the location, and a short description, that is displayed when the player subsequently enters the location.
Exits
The Locations are linked together by Exits. A typical Exit is a door, path, road, or staircase. In YourLands paths can lead from a Location in any of the directions: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, or NW.
Each Exit has a title, such as "a rusty iron gate", and a description that is displayed when the player moves through the exit, such as "You go through the gate".
Objects
Your World can also contain Objects, which the player can use to solve puzzles or manipulate the environment. Typical examples are: a key that can unlock a door, a spade that can be used to dig for treasure, or a troll that blocks a bridge.
A good convention is that every object in the game must have some significant purpose. Some objects help the player solve puzzles; for example, a key that is needed to unlock a door. Other objects may be valuable, and one objective of a game can be to get as much treasure as possible.
Actions
Each World is created with a number of built-in commands. You can create additional commands using Actions. For example, you can define actions that are activated when the player types shout, drink potion, pull lever, or give troll bread.
An Action can be active everywhere, only in a specified location, only when a specified object is present, only when the player is holding a specified object, or a combination of these requirements.
An Action can execute a built-in command, to cause an effect such as unlocking an exit, or it can print a response, such as "You dig but find nothing.".
Each World initially contains the following predefined Actions.
- Look - describes the current location.
- Intro - gives the introduction to the game.
- Go any direction - interprets "go" followed by a direction.
- Go through any exit - interprets "go through" or "go along" followed by the name of an exit.
- Pick up anything - interprets "pick up" or "take" followed by the name of an object.
- Drop anything - interprets "drop" followed by the name of an object.
You should probably not delete or redefine these Actions.
In addition, two "magic" actions are provided to help you test the game you are creating:
- Fly - interprets "fly to" followed by the name of a location, and moves you directly there.
- Create - interprets "create" followed by the name of an object, and moves the object directly to the current location.
It is recommended that you disable these Actions when your game is finished.
Puzzles
In traditional text adventures puzzles often killed the player; for example, drinking the contents of a bottle might produce the response "Oh dear, that was poison, and you die a painful death! Start again?", forcing the player to retrace their steps from the beginning of the game. In YourLands adventures our policy is to warn the player rather than kill them, so the response would be "You sniff the contents of the bottle and decide not to risk it.".