text adventure game

I'm still working on my text adventure game. I have a general idea for the design, well maybe more than just that, but I'm not sure how to put it all together.
Here's what I have:
Character class (has inventory, name, and location)
Inventory class (has list of Items, add/remove functionality)
Item class(es) (has name and bool isUseable)
Lamp, Door, Chest inherit from Item (has isOn, isLocked, and methods to change state)
Room class (has description of room, list of items)

that's what i have so far, i'm not sure how to put it all together... any suggestions? thanks a lot

[edit]changed item system[/edit]

Start with the "has-a" and "is-a" stuff, perhaps (if C++).
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lit....html#faq-19.3
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lit....html#faq-24.2

Following on Dave's suggestion, you then need to think what "things" are going to happen. You need to establish the action of the game in order to have an idea of how you are going to code it.

Fo far you have concentrated on the "nouns". Now you need to establish the "verbs".

How will my character move?
What happens when it moves?
How will my character attack? Can it be attacked too?
How does it pick items, handle them, use them?
How can it interact with NPCs? Will I develop a NPC reaction system?
... ... ...

Well, if he has class implementations, then he has the verbs, as well. Verbs are nothing more than functions of the noun doing said verb.

When you have your class hierarchy and implementation complete (this is more than just objects, you'll need a class to handle the storyline, key-processing, etc), then I'd say the next step is to make your game loop. Create instances of your objects... ie. your main character, your timeline, what ever enemies are roaming around, etc... the run a loop that constantly waits for user input to process. Perhaps also updating things like an active clock or whatever else you need.

Maybe I'm in a little over my head here. I want to do something a little simpler than what SlyMaelstrom's saying, I mean my goal is to have a main player, items that can or cannot be picked up, items that can or cannot be used, rooms that know their exits, a map, and some kind of simple story. i don't even want to make a story until i have the game working...
but you're saying i need a class for the input-processing, but another one for the storyline? how would that work?
should i start over and figure out the objects and inheritance?

Not really. If you don't feel comfortable with OOP, don't use it.

Well, don't use it for this project, but do seriously consider studying this subject. Many programs can be written in C++ without inheritance, data abstraction and dynamic binding in mind. On some cases it makes sense, on most it probably doesn't.

But since this is a learning process, go ahead and continue your game without it if you don't want to use it.

What you seem to be missing is the glue that will hold your current objects together. As I said before you need to think slow about what you want your game todo...

Try first to move your character across the rooms. What keys will allow this to happen? What will happen when the character moves? Will the player class have a data member that informs which room the player is in? That data member could be a pointer or a reference to a room instance. What command will be used to allowa player to pick and item? and what about drop it? What will happen when he does so? The inventory probably needs to be updated and the room too so that the object is removed from the room.

What SlyMaelstrom said about the game is completely true. However you should also note that an input class is probably not going to do all that much. An input class most likely needs to do this:

• Accept valid characters and concatenate those onto the existing input string
• Perhaps perform background game processing while waiting for input -> IE: Things can happen while you type and while it waits for you to type.
• When ENTER is pressed, run the input string through the parser.
• If input string is invalid (from parser class), notify the player of the problem.

The parser, however, should only parse strings. It should not worry about key input.

Core classes:

• CKeyHandler - handles the core input routines, would interact directly with the API, be it DirectX, Windows, etc.
• CGameInput - handles input for the game
• CGameParser - parses strings that are typed in
• CTextWindow - for handling the input text window and the main text window.
• CGameScript - if the game is this complex, this would be a class handling scripts
• CConditional -> a conditional script object -> linked to any of the following
• CEvent -> a script event object -> a container of a combination of conditionals, actions, or triggers.
• CRandomEvent -> a random event object
• CAction -> a script action object
• CTrigger -> a script trigger, possibly linked to a CConditional, CEvent or CAction

Possible game specific classes/objects:

• CDoor - a door object
• CDoorMgr - a small class that handles a collection of doors
• CRoom - a room object
• CRoomMgr - a room container
• CGameObject - base class for all objects
• CPlayer - derived from CGameObject to implement a character/player object
• CAIObject - derived from CGameObject to implement an AI object
• CNPC - a type of CAIObject
• CStaticItem - a static room object with description and properties
• CInventoryItem - one inventory item object
• CInventoryMgr - manages a collection of inventory items

With this setup, CInventoryItems would be placed in rooms and the player could pick them up. Non-CInventoryItem(s) or CStaticItem(s) would support all forms of interaction, except for being picked up and placed into inventory. Such things as a piano, window, chandelier...etc, etc. would be put into this category.

I could go on, but it's pointless. Hopefully this might fire off some ideas in your head as to how you want to design the system.

Game design you'll find is very similar to the very basic level "don't look over anything" problems they give you in early programming classes, like how to build a robot to start a car or buy a drink from a soda machine. When you write one, you'll find out how much you take for granted and don't really think you need to program. People often on their first time through a game write a character, a sword, a goblin, and a short story and then they get very lost... You gotta put some mortar between those bricks. That's what Bubba is posting above. Interaction of everything is the most important part of game design.

Wow. Thanks for all the info guys. I'm realizing that there's SO much more to this than what I was expecting. It will probably take me a lot more time to complete than I expected, since I don't have a whole lot of free time to figure it all out. But it's a good challenge while I learn Java, and hopefully I will finally complete it and have a fun playable game (eventually).

ur doing this text based game in C++?

is it online...cause if it is...PHP is the easiest i would guess...

sorry if that sounds like a stupid remark but im a newbie and ive just started off with this whole programming language thing...currently doing C++...so far its ok and interesting

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Originally Posted by Shiv4life

ur doing this text based game in C++?

is it online...cause if it is...PHP is the easiest i would guess...

sorry if that sounds like a stupid remark but im a newbie and ive just started off with this whole programming language thing...currently doing C++...so far its ok and interesting

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Wrong. PHP is a one-way language, meaning that once you write something to the page, it's permanent until the user reloads the page (or browses to another page).

No. You have to use a language such as C/C++, Java, etc. If you need to make it online, then you can simply add sockets to your program.

linucksrox, this is only a text rpg. I know that what these guys said is a little too hardcore for you right now, so all you really have to do is create some kind of battle system (I would really look at gamefaqs.com, and at the final fantasy pages, this would help with the "how much damage he takes, and how much I take") , after that is completed, all you really have to do is add in the items you gain after battle. The text rpg idea is a VERY GOOD idea for beginners like myself because it helps you get used to the programming language (i'm a newb in c++, but getting up there in my AP class in JAVA). As for your storyline, I suggest you read a really good series (A.K.A Inheritance: Eragon and Eldest).

hoped I cleared that up a bit, good luck!

Typically for a lot of online text games I have seen recently people use PHP/Javascript to do it... check out http://blue.bots2.com for an example

You could query the PHP script in a hidden frame and then display its content in a visible container through JavaScript; se yes, it would be possible with PHP without "reloading the page" so to speak.

But hey, where are my on-topic manners?

well I am actually planning on using Java to make my game, but I think I'm going to get something going in TADS right now and then try to convert what I have to Java, so that I can have a good understanding of how everything works together and I have a good working model to translate into java code. I don't want anything online, I'm just trying to create my first program basically, and I'd like to go the text adventure route.
I agree with Drake though, some of the info I've been getting is a little too hardcore (way too hardcore) for me right now. I mean, I've gotten through data structures in c++ and a tiny bit of algorithms, and now I'm learning java stuff. But I have never worked on any project of this complexity (I know it's not even that complex compared to "real world" apps). Thanks for all the help, I'm also getting a ton of help on javagaming.org forums, and I plan on posting my progress as I work on my game.

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linucksrox, this is only a text rpg. I know that what these guys said is a little too hardcore for you right now, so all you really have to do is create some kind of battle system (I would really look at gamefaqs.com, and at the final fantasy pages, this would help with the "how much damage he takes, and how much I take") , after that is completed, all you really have to do is add in the items you gain after battle. The text rpg idea is a VERY GOOD idea for beginners like myself because it helps you get used to the programming language (i'm a newb in c++, but getting up there in my AP class in JAVA). As for your storyline, I suggest you read a really good series (A.K.A Inheritance: Eragon and Eldest).

hoped I cleared that up a bit, good luck!

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Nothing we said was 'hard-core' as you put it. The advice you gave him is a quick way for him to code himself right into a corner. Think before you code and if you don't want to think about the details, then please don't code.

The best way to learn IMO is from those who have tried this very thing and failed for various reasons. What we post here has been from our own experiences in game design. Resources are everything. A game is all about resources and if you cannot manage them correctly and/or manage the game correctly, you won't have a game at all.

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I know that what these guys said is a little too hardcore for you right now, so all you really have to do is create some kind of battle system (I would really look at gamefaqs.com, and at the final fantasy pages, this would help with the "how much damage he takes, and how much I take") , after that is completed, all you really have to do is add in the items you gain after battle......

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So this is all he really has to do eh? That encompasses about a thousand lines of code unless you want some off the wall if () printf(), if () printf() stuff all crammed into a for loop or a while loop.

Take my advice and get Game Code Complete, 2nd edition. It covers far more than just pretty 3D graphics and is a very good book for 'hard-core' game programming - from start to finish. Many books tell you 'how' to do something but never explain the 'why' you should do something. This book goes from a ton of why, to a ton of how. Very good resource.

If you take the easy road and just start throwing stuff together willy nilly, I 100% guarantee you that your project will fail. Either plan it out or plan on failing.

HANG ON A SECOND!!! Bubba, I dunno if you took what I said the wrong way, but I took it that he was making his first Text RPG, like one that I would make through a consol window. If he was only going for a quick practice game then take my advice. Next time you read one of my post's bubba, don't take it so harsh; it was only to help him get started on what I thought was a very basic consol Text RPG, not a full blown gui app with side scrolling action.

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Originally Posted by Drake

Next time you read one of my post's bubba, don't take it so harsh;

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Unfortuantely, you don't realize how harsh your post was. Telling a programmer how to program incorrectly is like telling a skydiver how to pack his parachute incorrectly. In the end it can only mean bad things. There are right ways to learn and wrong ways to learn. If you don't know the difference then you shouldn't be explaining things to people. For your own sake, you should not only agree with Bubba's advice to linuxrox, you should take it for yourself.

Yea, the only reason I'm going to TADS right now is because it looks very capable of doing much more than I even would like to do with my first game, but more importantly I will be able to learn from it, and I plan on converting at least what I make with my game to Java. I don't want to leave out details or be any type of slacker, my ultimate goal is more experience and knowledge of programming. I don't even want to be a game programmer...