Traditional Mode

You can also use this package to play Adventure at a traditional prompt that does not require its input to be valid Python. Use your operating system command line to run the package:

$ python3 -m adventure
WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!!  WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS?

>

At the prompt that will appear, two-word commands can simply be separated by a space:

> get lamp
OK

For extra authenticity, the output of the Adventure game in this mode is typed to your screen at 1200 baud. You will note that although this prints the text faster than you can read it anyway, your experience of the game will improve considerably, especially when a move results in a surprise.

Why is the game better at 1200 baud? When a paragraph of text is allowed to appear on the screen all at once, your eyes scan the entire paragraph for important information, often ruining any surprises before you can then settle down and read it from the beginning. But at 1200 baud, you wind up reading the text in order as it appears, which unfolds the narrative sequentially as the author of Adventure intended.

If you created a file with the in-game save command, you can restore it later by naming it on the command line:

> save mygame
GAME SAVED
> quit
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO QUIT NOW?
> y
OK

$ python3 -m adventure mygame
GAME RESTORED
>

Notes

• Several Adventure commands conflict with standard Python built-in functions. If you want to run the normal Python function exit(), open(), quit(), or help(), then import the builtin module and run the copy of the function stored there.

• The word “break” is a Python keyword, so there was no possibility of using it in the game. Instead, use one of the two synonyms defined by the PDP version of Adventure: “shatter” or “smash.”

Copyright

The advent.dat game data file distributed with this Python package, like the rest of the original source code for Adventure, is a public domain work. Phrases from the original work that have been copied into my source code from the FORTRAN source (the famous phrase “You have gotten yourself killed” and so forth) remain public domain and can be used without attribution.

My own Python code that re-implements the game engine is:

Copyright 2010–2015 Brandon Rhodes

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

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