Re: Proposal - PBM Writing System

From: rwallace@cs.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace)

Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 18:33:38 +0000

thomson@netcom.com (Deb and Bob Thomson) writes:

>Russell Wallace writes:

>>I've got a vague idea for a PBM writing system that I might perhaps
>>implement at some stage.  The idea is that the system would allow you to
>>write PBM games in a special-purpose language, hopefully much more
>>quickly than they could be written in a general-purpose language like C.
>>(Somewhat similar idea to an adventure writing system, a number of
>>successful adventure writing systems being currently available.)
>>

><Much good stuff deleted>

>Since I've just spent the last year programming a PBM game, I find
>Russell's post very interesting.  Would I have used a PBM writing
>system if I could have?  All in all, I don't think so.  I would
>have felt constricted by any standardized system.  Any truly
>interesting game needs to have unique features, and I don't see how
>any pre-defined system can allow for everything.

Indeed, if you are prepared to spend a year programming a PBM game,
you should probably do it in C rather than a special purpose language.
However, for every one person who is prepared to spend a year at it,
surely there are ten people who would write a PBM provided they could do
it in only a week or two?

>On the other hand, I think that you can make the task a lot easier
>by using a database system rather than writing everything in C.
>Any programmable database with strong report-writing capabilities
>should do.  Our game is written in (snicker if you must) a form of
>Basic.  However, this Basic is part of a database system called
>Pick, and includes a number of features that make it easy to
>manipulate data in the ways that a PBM game requires.

Hmm, I thought about this when I was writing my games, but came to the
conclusion that a database package would not be useful; it's designed
for a completely different kind of job.  (Most of the code in a database
engine is there to ensure fast access to disk files and concurrent
multiuser access, neither of which is required in PBM (you can hold all
the data in memory, and there is only one operator for each game).)

>Certainly there are modules that every PBM game has need for:  data
>entry, email processing, player database, etc.  A large part of the
>drudge work could be avoided if you could use an existing framework
>when writing your game.  We are certainly looking forward to _not_
>having to rewrite this code for our future games.

So, you'd rather work in C but would like to have some blocks of code
made available for standard stuff to avoid writing them yourself; not an
unreasonable view... (Incidentally, if anyone wants to lift some
standard code from Galaxy, JD or Atlantis, feel free, but an
acknowledgement would be appreciated :))

>I can imagine creating a family of PBM games, all using the same
>engine: role-playing games set in various milieus, perhaps.  But I
>can't imagine a system that would allow someone to create both Starweb
>and Middle-Earth PBM, especially a non-programmer.

Not to create both Starweb and ME-PBM in full, no.  But to implement
maybe 90% of the rules of those games, with a standard user interface?
Then the task becomes a lot easier.

--
"To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem"
Russell Wallace, Trinity College, Dublin
rwallace@cs.tcd.ie

References

Proposal - PBM Writing System
rwallace@cs.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace)
Wed, 02 Feb 1994 18:16:47 +0000
Re: Proposal - PBM Writing System
thomson@netcom.com (Deb and Bob Thomson)
Thu, 03 Feb 1994 01:51:18 +0000