Text Adventure Contest

[Bodadem]

Text Adventure Contest


YAY! Text adventures are great, aren't they? That's why I'm having this contest.

Your Goal: Make a text adventure using flash.

Rules: It must be text-based. Other than that, it's basically up to you. You can make it as hard or as easy as you like, it can be about whatever you want, as descriptive as you want...It's your game, GO NUTS!

What am I doing? : I will be judging, along with anybody who wishes to and I think worthy. I will judge it based on Complexity, Plot, Interface, Completeness, And bonus marks may be awarded if it is about a topic I'm interested in (doubtful, though) .

What I need: I need some donations of XCash for prize money. I am giving 4 Gmail invites as prizes, but as I have under 500 XCash, I will need some help in that department. If you donate a good amount of XCash, you will be offered a judging position, to help decide where the money goes.

Prizes
*Note : This is what the prizes will be if I don't get any more XCash donations*

1st - 2 Gmail invites, sent to the E-Mails of your choice, and 1200 XCash.
2nd - 1 Gmail invite, sent to the E-Mail of your choice, and 700 XCash.
3rd - 1 Gmail invite, sent to the E-Mail of your choice, and 600 XCash.

When? : I am going to give three weeks from today. If, at that time, I do not have any, or enough submissions, the time will be lengthened, and any submissions already recieved will be allowed to be improved. Therfore, the contest will close (if I have enough submissions) on Thursday, October 28 2004.


Please feel free to post any questions or comments here, or PM me if your wish to make a donation and/or judge.

Please post and tell me if you are going to take a shot at it, so I can keep a list of participants.

Current Participants:

arkhan
illrainman
bobmasedo

[eatmorchikin6464]

I dont think I will try this. It is too much to make a text based adventure game for 200 xcash, especially when we only have 2 weeks.

[arkhan]

YEEY..another contest!!this time Ill rank up to the 1st place!

if u could just..dunno..give us some more time..im gonna have to travel next week(graduation rlz!!) and I dont really have plenty of time until day 21(LOTS of end-year homeworks..)if u could pull it to begining of november, or at least another week..but dont worry..im starting it already

[eatmorchikin6464]

Stupid southern hemisphere! Lol. We just started school, it being Fall/Autum and all.

[Bodadem]

Fine, I'll add another week to it..and EMC, that's why I need to get some donations, so that the prize will be a little bit more tempting..

[eatmorchikin6464]

Well, I would donate, but, I dont think this contest is going to go anywhere. No offense or anything, but for a contest where you make a fullfledged text base game will take too much effort.

[arkhan]

well..no pain no gain!!I was thinking about doing one anyway..the sistem is geting closer to be done(its geting closer..it isnt close yet), but from there its pretty much just a bunch´o´typing...maan, and Im probably translating it to my language later..its gonna take a long whileto get this thing done..at least its somenthing simple I can do on my own..

[h00pla]

All I can say is

"Get ye Flask"

[bobmasedo]

You cant get ye flask
Ill try I suck at flash tho so it probably won't be finished
And i'll donate 1000xcash just because

[MercuryLime]

It's be better if you could add graphics.

Can you?

[illrainman]

Can I donate AND still participate? I'm gonna donate 1000 xcash, but would also try my luck at this contest.

I had tried to do a game similar to this, but I tried to go for too much, like make a full rpg with scrolling text and all that stuff.

[HungryMonkey]

ill, this time you should swing towrads middlin' instead of high. [/dungeonman reference] I seem to like text advuntures, since I'm such a nerd.

[Bodadem]

Yeah, illrainman, you can donate and still participate, you just can't judge and participate.

[arkhan]

lol..he donates, judges and participates...gotta rule!!

[Freddy]

Well, I would donate, but, I dont think this contest is going to go anywhere. No offense or anything, but for a contest where you make a fullfledged text base game will take too much effort.
It doesnt take that much effort at all. All u need is a decent story. And u have to have a responce to everything the user says, even the worng stuff, thats the dificult part.

[Bodadem]

Yeah, they really aren't that tough, since it's really all just coding, once you think up a story..and it really isn't tough coding, either..

[illrainman]

The story is gonna be the hard part for me I think. I'm not good at making up plots, but I can probably get the rest of the game working.

By the way, is this supposed to be an adventure kinda game like Resident Evil, or an rpg with weapons and skills or whatever.

[Bodadem]

Whatever, man..It's up to you. Whatever you think will make a better impression on me and any other judges.

[Freddy]

does length matter?

the story I concocted(sp) isn't that long.

[illrainman]

I would say any length would be fine as long as the story is completed.

[Bodadem]

Everything, and i mean EVERYTHING, is completely up to you (other than that it has to be a text based game)...Of course, a more complete plot will be best, but really I don't want to have to play these games for 10 hours and only be 1% through the game (Not that you have enough time to make a game that long and complex anyways..) , so go for quality, and not quantity.

[arkhan]

I wasnt really thinking of a linear game..more like a..play for how long you want..

have u ever played a MUD??its basicly that..with a linear story and some extra quests and tuff..RPG like..just like a MUD, but more likely flash..still working on the engine tought..lots of troubles...

[Bodadem]

IDK what MUD stands for, so I'm not sure if i've played one before or not, but it sounds fine...anything goes, as long as it's a text based game! I have a feeling this won't be the last time i say that.. -.-

[bobmasedo]

Yay I figured out how to make it that'll make it easier can anybody tell me how to make it so it isnt case sensitive

[illrainman]

This may help a bit:

TextField.restrict
Availability
Flash Player 6.

Usage
my_txt.restrict

Description
Property; indicates the set of characters that a user may enter into the text field.

Example
The following example allows only uppercase characters, spaces, and numbers to be entered into a text field:

my_txt.restrict = "A-Z 0-9";

The following example includes all characters, but excludes lowercase letters:

my_txt.restrict = "^a-z";



I'm not quite sure how this works, as I can't get the other part of my game to work anyway, but whatever.

And on the MUD thing, go to dawn.eos.net (http://dawn.eos.net) and try one of their java telnet links they provide to try it out. Basically an online text based rpg.

[bobmasedo]

Ok, thanks ill try that

Edit: I got it working, just needed to give the text box the instance of my.txt

[mprimmer]

whats a textbased game?

[Bodadem]

-.- ... Wait till the contest is over and you'll see. Or, go google "text based adventure" and I'm sure you can find one to play.

[arkhan]

well..there isnt much to say about text-based-games..the name is pretty much self explanatory..

[illrainman]

So what is the specific deadline for the contest?

[Bodadem]

When? : I am going to give three weeks from today. If, at that time, I do not have any, or enough submissions, the time will be lengthened, and any submissions already recieved will be allowed to be improved. Therfore, the contest will close (if I have enough submissions) on Thursday, October 28 2004.




Please read the first post so as to avoid asking stupid questions..

[illrainman]

My mommy always said there is no such thing as a stupid question. :)


It was a simple question. No need to get all huffy puffy and bold the important stuff. A plain "October 28th" would have been great.

[mprimmer]

ok. lol. I found out what a text based game is. Thats some boring shit. I just played pong! the text based version haha. is there anything that is actually fun cause that looks like an official waste of time.

[arkhan]

so this is it!!the official waste of time contest!!

[illrainman]

Well it is a lot more fun playing an rpg than pong in text form.

I didnt' even think pong could be done in text form. That does sound boring.

[The Brown Cow]

A good example of a text-adventure: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml

[MercuryLime]

Ahh, that's addicting.

[Bodadem]

mprimmer, if you're just going to tell us how stupid we are...don't bother...we already know it. ;)

On another topic, sorry for my being absent for a few days, as I was grounded from the computer...and if anyone cares (and even if nobody does, I'll tell you anyways ;)) I was grounded from the computer because that's the only way my parents can punish me (sad, I know..), and they were punishing me because one of my teachers called to say I hadn't handed in a SINGLE article of homework.. AND I GOT THREE DAYS OF NO COMPUTER FOR THAT!!!!!!!!..Anyways, I'm back now, however I won't be able to post tomorrow, as I'll be doing..other..things...

[illrainman]

Haven't handed in any homework? Sounds like a 'Rage against everything except the machine' kind of person.

[mprimmer]

lol. But woulnt you guys rather make something super awsome like the next stick rpg or something rather than make a text game.. I mean I see the games probably could be fun unlike my rocken textbased pong experience but still flash gaming is sweet.

[Bodadem]

*ignores mprimmer*

Off Topic: heh, I just realised that the new forums caused all warnings to be removed (HURRAH!)

[illrainman]

Sorry to possibly ruin your fun there, but I'm guessing the old xgen forums are still running and have all the information still stored, but have just been moved to a different link so they can get the new servers up without people getting on them.

You do realize mprimmer that a full flash rpg takes MUCH longer than the amount of time given in this contest? I'm fairly sure Stick RPG was not completed in under a month. And thats with a team.

[Bodadem]

Actually it wasn't a team, as that was already said in the post where mprimmer asked that question. Anyways, if you can't get your mind around the fact that there is more to gaming than graphics, then please just stop posting in this topic, mprimmer, as you really have nothing to contribute to the contest, or discussion about the contest.

[arkhan]

if it makes you happy, my game will be basicly what stick RPG is..just no graphics..and a rather diferent gameplay..

[illrainman]

I don't think I'm gonna have enough time to add in the stuff that really needs to be in there. Like I don't think I'll have time to add and test the inventory system like I wanted to, or the fighting system either. Doin what I can though.

[Bodadem]

Okay, incase anyone was wondering how I am going to give the winner(s) thier xcash, since we currently have none, I will simply keep the names and amount of xcash owed and I will award the Gmail accounts at the end of the contest, and I will give the XCash when skye decides to install the cashola.

[illrainman]

Well I already have a Gmail account, so am I allowed to give that Gmail account to the top entry who doesn't get one?

[Bodadem]

Sure...You'll get to choose the email which the invite is sent to, so you can simply ask whoever you want thier email and I'll send it to them.

[mprimmer]

sorry guys., I wasnt trying to make fun of you I was just saying how flash games are fun to make and more worth while. But yeah dont worry about it this is just a contest for some fun if I knew more about it id be in.

[Bodadem]

er..Apology accepted?

[arkhan]

=/..dont expect my RPG to be shown here..Im stuck with some problems and Im gonna travel tomorrow..so i wont be able to finish it...so Ijust do somenthing when I come back..

[illrainman]

Well I don't like having deadlines extended as much as the next person, but I doubt I would get mine completed either, so I would be ok with an extention of a few days.

[MercuryLime]

My text RPG will not be a part of this contest because it is going to take way too long to make.

[Bodadem]

It's okay if they aren't done..I understand that it's not easy to make a full game in only a couple weeks. Just do your best, and try to at least have some sort of ending, rather than it just stopping..

[Bodadem]

As this contest gets nearer it's end (possibly..) I just thought I'd tell you that if / when you've finished your Text Adventure, please upload to your site, or..some free site if you don't have a site...and them PM me the address so I can view and judge it. Thankyou.

[thunderchunky_05]

i'm having a hard time with this. could someone post a special text based games tutorial or something?

[Bodadem]

Hmm.. Maybe I will..but not right now..I'm busy...actually, I"m not..I just don't feel like it right now.

[illrainman]

Well there isn't a real set way of making a text based game, but if you want to see how I set up my game, I'll upload the fla after the contest is over. Don't wanna give out my secrets before the judging.

[eatmorchikin6464]

Lemme add a lil prize to this if you don't mind...

The winner will get their work posted on my website(www.chickenslayerproductions.com). I know it's not much, but hey it's a prize!

[bobmasedo]

Thunder, the way im doing it is to do a screen with 2 text boxes, 1 an input text with a variable and a dynamic text with a variable

The next frame loops to that one and its like
if (Key.isDown(ENTER) and inputvariable >= ""){
gotoandplay(3)
}
then in that frame it gives updates the variable for the dynamic text depending on the input variable and then clears the input variable so it wont keep going to that frame if you hold down enter yea theres alot more in my programming and you wouldnt actually need a third frame you could just do the replies in the first but I find that less confusing

[illrainman]

Well I have a slight problem. I forgot I have to work tonight and tomorrow night, so I won't have enough time to finish up the main part of the program, let alone an intro. Soo... I guess I can either finish it up on Saturday and then post it here, or try to get it uploaded tomorrow after school. I can't get on that computer at all today cause I have to write a paper, so at the earliest, I can post it tomorrow.

[Bodadem]

Okay..well..Since today was the set ending date..and..i have no entries yet..i'm going to extend it by one week.

Hopefully by next thursday i'll have a few to judge..

[illrainman]

Well i finished mine. Partly.

I didn't have enough time to get an intro in the game, so I'm putting it here.

*Opening Scene Music*
The king killed your brother, so you want revenge. You have no fighting skills, so you must start off small, meaning rats. As you gain more xp, you gain fighting levels, enabling you to kill stronger beings, meaning you can gain even more xp. This goes on and on until you can finally kill the king, and avenge your brother's death. The end.

Refreshes were set to every 20 seconds so it wouldn't turn into an hour long rpg kinda thing. And the layout of the area may be a little hard to understand, but I can't really put a map here, so can't help you there.

To move:
n = north s = south
e = east w = west

Other Commands:
lvl = shows xp and lvl kill (Character) = kills character if you are high enough lvl

Kill the King (http://www.freewebs.com/illrainman/Kill-the-King.swf)

[arkhan]

illrainman...I have the sistem to make a minimap if you want..coz itll be a lot easyer to travel around with a minimap of some sort...if I could take a look at the source Ill put it up for ya

[Bodadem]

Hmm..I am unable to type..That sucks...mind e-mailing me the .swf and .fla? BodadeM@gmail.com

Thanks.

[illrainman]

Here is a link to the fla

http://www.freewebs.com/illrainman/kill-the-king.fla

And I could send you them in a email, but I can't get on that computer anymore, so I can't send then as attachments. I've already posted the links here, and thats the best I can do as of now.

[arkhan]

O.O

im really amazed..I supose you did everything in the most "extensive" way as possible..that was some hard time you spent tiping it all and stuff O.o

by the way...I dont think I can make an auto-map unless I change...90% of all that...altought it would be indeed easy..

[illrainman]

Well it was a lot of copy and pasting going on there. I probably could have used arrays or something, but I don't know how to use all those things.

[Freddy]

I made it to the king.

it wont let me kill him.
can it be done?

[arkhan]

well..I can say it can be done..but I never did it..you gotta lvl up a bit more if you cant..

[illrainman]

Yea you have to start off killing the rats in the room you start in, and then go to the cook. I think you have to kill each of those 3 times to get to the next lvl. Then kill the guard and you should be able to kill the king.

[Bodadem]

-.-...Unfortunately my contest hasn't been very popular..So, since there was only one entry...I guess illrainman gets 1st prize..and 2nd...and..3rd...Hmmph. How bout i just give you 2 gmails tho? And you get all that lovely xcash when the time comes that it is returned to us..So, what emails shall the gmail invites be sent to?

[bobmasedo]

Yea, sorry I couldn't finish mine, I managed to basically finish it but it had some big error and I couldn't be bothered fixing it.
Also I couldnt go on the computer that had it on