Creative heights

One problem in the world of adventure games is rarely publicly acknowledged. It is this: Most good programmers aren't all that creative and most creative and imaginative types are lousy programmers. People of the calibre of Peter Killworth and Jon Thackray of the Oxbridge Mob or the Level 9 lot are few and far between.

It was for that reason that I welcomed the advent of such utilities as The Quill, which released the imaginative talents of, for example, Geoff Larsen as a writer of adventures for the BBC Micro and Electron.

So when the ALPS (Adventure Language Programming System) package landed on my desk, I sat up and took notice.

A few mental relays clicked over and I checked my files: Yes, I had seen an adventure produced by ALPS for the BBC Micro - written, in fact, by Philip Hawthorne, who is the person responsible for the major part of ALPS the utility.

I thought well of Plague Planet in its BBC Micro version, so what was I going to make of ALPS for the Archimedes?

It comes with two spiral-bound booklets: A 40 page introductory guide sets the scene, and a more detailed reference guide provides specific examples of every aspect of the utility. A couple of hours devoted to careful reading will pay dividends.

Getting started could hardly be easier. The introductory guide recommends installing the Help application from Risc OS Applications Disc One before installing ALPS itself, so that interactive comments are provided as you work through the early stages of getting acquainted with what can be done.

Next you are taken through the procedure of setting up a data disc, either on a floppy or a hard disc. Again, things could hardly be simpler.

After this, Philip Hawthorne provides us with a small adventure scenario. It's not aimed at stimulating the imagination, but is a very helpful tool for taking a novice through must of what ALPS provides for the would-be adventure writer.

ALPS provides a starter game containing a basic vocabulary of movement verbs and some other commands together with the necessary system messages which can then be modified to suit the user's preferences.

This is an important and particularly helpful feature since much repetitive work is thus avoided since the starter game can be used - every time you want to create a new adventure.

Entering the program's text editor is simple, thanks to the explicit instructions given - and that's the next step. In this instance the aim is to allocate the player's strength and capacity to carry objects. These abilities are determined in PROC(2) of the starter program, and the alterations needed to do this are carefully explained.

It's time to quit the micro in favour of pencil and paper while the adventure is mapped out and the various room descriptions considered. ALPS can handle up to 1,000 locations, enough to satisfy the most ambitious writer.

Philip uses room 1 to hold whatever objects the player is currently carrying, so creating the map should begin at room 2 (or a higher number if desired).

Each room is assigned eight flags, six of which are available to the user. The two already designated are the *light* and *visited* ones which can be toggled on or off as desired via the mouse.

The other side can make a given room airless, boiling hot, freezing, or anything else that occurs to the writer so that they can only be visited safely with special equipment.

Another powerful method of controlling the adventure is through *exit routines* which enable you to create invisible exits, locked doors, blocked exits and so on and appropriate messages are already provided for invisible exits and closed doors should the player try to go through them.

I have spent time describing in detail the initial procedures for finding your way into ALPS because there is one particular kind of person I should like to encourage to use this utility - the adventure player who can just about handle the desktop environment of the Archimedes and little else.

ALPS has been carefully and painstakingly created so that, together with the introductory and reference guides, almost anyone with a good imagination can create an adventure that is satisfying, entertaining and - above all - playable.

Mad Hatter