PDP-10.its/doc/madman/madadv.help

ZORK User Information

I. Getting a ZORK
 
    a. ITS:  Say ZORK^K to DDT rather than :ZORK to get a zork. 
    b. 10X/20X:  Invoke the local dungeon (usually ZORK.EXE)

II. Bugs, comments, suggestions...

    Always welcome and encouraged.  All mail should be sent to
    ZORK@MIT-DMS.  ZORK has a BUG command, in addition, which
    may be used to report strange happenings.  Its use is described
    below.  Please note that for 10X/20X systems, net mail to ZORK
    will be acted on much more quickly than BUG command reports.

    If, in making a bug report, you know what symptoms were exhibited
    by the program, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!! include them.  It is at best
    extremely irritating and at worst useless to receive a bug report
    like 'mumble frotz' loses, or 'try saying \"mumble frotz\"'.  With
    such reports, we have no way of knowing the situation when your
    'mumble frotz' lost, and no way of knowing if any bug we manage
    to reproduce (if we do) is the same one you saw.  In consequence,
    everyone's time is wasted.

III. Typing to Zork.

    A number of characters in Zork have special effects.  These
    include a number of line editing commands.  The characters are:

     <rubout> or <backspace>:  delete the last character typed
     <ctrl-W>:  delete the last word typed
     <ctrl-U> or <ctrl-X> or <ctrl-@>:  delete the entire buffer
     <ctrl-D>:  redisplay the buffer
     <ctrl-L>:  redisplay the buffer.  Sometimes this also clears the
	screen.
     
     <altmode/cr>:  terminate commands
     <ctrl-S>:  flush long typeouts
     <ctrl-G>:  like the QUIT command (vide infra)
     <semicolon>:  Causes the remainder of the command line to be ignored.
	This may be useful for annotating hard copies/scripts of games.

IV.  Garbage Collection

    Zork may occasionally type out a message 'GIN FREE STORAGE-
    <long pause> GOUT TIME=10.92'.  This indicates that a garbage
    collection is occurring.  We have attempted to prevent this, since it
    may take a significant amount of real time on a loaded system; should
    it ever occur, please send mail to ZORK@MIT-DMS describing the
    circumstances -- how many moves have been made, whether a RESTORE has
    been done, and so on.  THIS IS NOT FATAL:  after the GOUT message is
    printed, you may continue playing.

V.  User Commands

    The following commands may prove useful for the playing of Zork.
They are not, however, game commands (i.e. they have no side effects
in the current game).

 a. Verbosity

   Verbose:      The default:  print long room descriptions on first
		 visit, 20% of the time thereafter.

   Brief:        Supresses printing of long room descriptions for rooms
	         which have been visited.  Short object descriptions
		 are also used in such rooms.
 
   Super(brief): Suppresses printing of all long descriptions, even
		 on the first visit.  Short object descriptions are
		 always used.

   Noobj:	 Suppresses printing of object descriptions in rooms
		 already visited.  See the 'object' command.

Note that the maximally verbose description (that printed on the
first visit to a room in verbose mode) may always be obtained by
saying 'look'.  See also the 'room' and 'object' commands.

 b. Help
    
    Info:	 Prints a file which might give some idea of
		 what the game is about.
     
    Help:	 Prints a short summary of useful commands.

    Doc:	 Prints this.

 c. Progress

    Quit:	 Prints your score, and asks whether you wish to
	         continue playing.

    Score:	 Deflate your ego.

    Time:	 Describe how much of eternity you have injured.

    Versi(on):	 Describe the current version.

 d. Hard copy (directory owners only!)

    Scrip(t):	 Script to a file ZORK.SCRIPT 

    Unscr(ipt):	 End scripting

 e. Save/restore  (directory owners only!)

    Save:	 Save the game for future continuation (to ZORK.SAVE)

    Resto(re):	 Restore a saved game (from ZORK.SAVE)
	 	 Only the player who created the save file can restore
		 it at a later time!  You are warned.
		
 f. Bugs, etc.

    Bug:	 Although the best way to report bugs is to send mail
    	         to ZORK@MIT-DMS, there is a 'bug' and command
		 built in to the game.  This generates files which 
		 must, alas, be manually transmitted to the
		 maintainers.  It is, however, better than nothing.
     
    Featu(re):	 Like Bug, to make a suggestion for a feature.

 g. General

    Again:	 Repeat the last input.

    Look:	 Describe the current surroundings. 'L' is equivalent.

    Room:	 Print the verbose description of the room, without
		 mentioning any objects.

    Rname:	 Print the short description of the room.

    Object:	 Print the verbose description of all the objects in
		 the room, without describing the room.  'Look' is
		 equivalent to a 'room' command followed by an
		 'object' command.

    Inven(t):	 Describe your possessions. 'I' is equivalent.

    Diagn(ose):	 Describe your state of health.

    Wait:	 Causes 'time' to pass.

    Oops:	 Corrects a misspelled word:  As an example,
		 for 'I don't know the word TORHC' -> say 'OOPS TORCH'.

VI.  Zork Command Parser
     
       A command is one line of text terminated by a carriage return or
    altmode.  For reasons of simplicity all words are distinguished by
    their first five letters.  All others are ignored.  For example,
    typing 'DISASSEMBLE THE ENCYLOPEDIA', while meaningless, is also
    creating excess finger motion.  Note also that ambiguities can be
    introduced by this:  'unscr' is 'UNSCRipt', not 'UNSCRew'.

       You are talking to a moderately stupid parser, which understands
    the following types of things.

 Actions:	

     Among the more obvious of these, TAKE, DROP, etc.  Fairly general
     forms of these may be used:  PICK UP, PUT DOWN, etc.

 Directions:

     NORTH, SOUTH, UP, DOWN, etc. and their various abbreviations.
     Other more obscure directions (LAND, CLIMB) are appropriate in
     only certain situations.  Because words are only five letters,
     you must say 'nw' for 'northwest':  the latter is truncated to
     'north', which isn't quite what you had in mind.
     
 Objects: 

     Most objects have names, and can be referenced by them.  At most,
     two objects can be specified in one command.

 Adjectives:

     Some adjectives are understood and are required when there are
     two objects which can be referenced with the same 'name' (e.g.
     DOORs, BUTTONs)

 Prepositions:

     It may be necessary in some cases to include prepositions, but
     the parser attempts to handle cases which aren't ambiguous
     without.  Thus 'Give car to demon' will work, as will 'Give demon
     car.'  When a preposition is used, it should be appropriate:
     'Give car with demon' does not parse.

 Sentences:

     The parser understands a reasonable number of things.  Rather
     than listing them, we advise you to do reasonable things.  Note
     that several sentences may be typed on the same line, separated
     by periods or by 'and':  'n.e.s.w.open mailb and read' will [try
     to] do just that.

 Multiple Objects:

     Sentences of the following forms will parse:
	Put A and B and C in trophy case
	Put A, B, and C in trophy case
	Give A and B to the troll
     The following will not:
	Put A B in case
	Take A B C
     The point is that an AND or a <period> are required so as not
     to hopelessly confuse the parser.
     Special objects named 'everything' and 'valuables' exist; one
     may, for example, say 'take everything' and 'put valuables in
     trophy case'. 

 Multiple commands:

     Several commands may be included on a single line.  They must be
     separated by 'then' or '.'.  Thus:
	TAKE BOOK. N. DROP BOOK AND CANDLE
     is correct.  Note that the use of a comma between commands will
     cause the command line to be parsed incorrectly:  comma should
     only be used between multiple objects.

 Ambiguity:

     The parser tries to be clever about what to do in the case of
     actions which require objects in the case that the object is not
     specified.  If there is only one possible object, the parser will
     assume that it should be used.  Otherwise, the parser will ask.
     Most questions asked by the parser can be answered (e.g. With
     what?).  
	 
 Errors:	

     There are a number of errors which the parser may find in an input 
     sentence.  Some of the more common ones are listed here:

    1. 'I don't know the word ZROK'.  Probably the most common parser
	error.  To correct the spelling of a work, use the OOPS command.
	In this case, 'OOPS ZORK' would be the correct thing.

    2. 'I can't make sense out of that.'.  This error means that there
	is no known syntax that matches the input.  For example, saying
	'PUT X WITH Y' does not match any known form for the verb 'PUT'.
      	This error never implies that the idea of the command was not
	good, but rather that the parser doesn't know that form of the
	verb.  It's usually best to try another way of saying the same
	thing.

    3. 'Huh?'.  A command usually without a noun or a verb.  Sometimes
	this is confusing, because a word thought to be a noun was really
	an adjective.  This is the case with, for example, 'GOLD'.
        Other commands which cause this are: 'WITH' and 'THE'.

    4. 'I can't see any <thing> here.'.  An object represented by
	'thing' was not found within the room or on your person.

    5. 'It's too dark in here to see.'.  A reference was made to
	an object within an unlighted room.

    6. 'I can't reach the <thing> from within the <vehicle>'.  This
	means that the <thing> referenced was within the room proper,
	while you are in a vehicle within that room.  Some vehicles
	will not allow access to objects outside of themselves.

    7. 'That doesn't make any sense.'  Usually this will mean that
	something like 'TAKE THE COIL OF KEYS' instead of the 'SET'
	of keys.  In the general case, 'THE <x> of <y>' is legal only
	if <x> and <y> are names for the same thing.

    8. 'Two verbs in command?'  The parser believes that two verbs
	were in the command.  If you check carefully, you will find
	that one of the words is really a verb, and not a noun as
	supposed.

    9. 'Double preposition?'  Try 'TAKE WITH IN MAILBOX'.

   10. 'Multiple inputs cannot be used with <verb>'.  It is only
	legal to use multiple inputs with certain verbs.  The ones
	which come to mind are TAKE, DROP, and PUT.

   11. 'Too many objects specified?'  A legal command may contain
	at most two object references.

   12. 'Beg pardon?'.  A null input was parsed.

VII.  Theories

     The following 'theories' are fundamental to the game and should
     be noted:

  Containment:  

      Some objects can contain other objects.  Many such containers
      can be opened and closed; the rest are always open.  They may or
      may not be transparent.  For you to access (take, for example)
      an object which is in a container, the container must be open;
      for you to see such an object, the container must either be open
      or transparent.  Containers have a capacity, and objects have
      sizes; the number of objects which will fit therefore depends on
      their sizes.  You may "put" any object you have access to (it
      need not be in your hands) into any other object; at some point,
      the program will attempt to pick it up if you don't already have
      it, which process may fail if you're carrying too much.
      Although  containers can contain other containers, the program
      doesn't access more than one level down.

  Fighting:

      Occupants of the dungeon will, as a rule, fight back when
      attacked; they may in some cases attack you unprovoked.  Useful
      verbs here are 'attack <villain> with <weapon>', 'kill', etc. 
      Knife-throwing may or may not be useful.  The adventurer has a
      fighting strength, which varies with time:  in particular, being
      in a fight, getting killed, and getting injured, all lower it. 
      One's carrying capacity may also be reduced after a fight. 
      Strength is regained with time.  (Thus, it is not a good idea to
      fight someone immediately after being killed.)  Other details
      may become apparent in the course of a few melees.  The
      'diagnose' command describes your state of health.

  Vehicles:

      There are some objects in the labyrinth which are rumoured to have
      the ability to transport the fearless adventurer to mysterious
      regions which are inaccessible on foot.  Needless to say, the
      adventurer faces great personal peril as he encounters these     
      regions.  The 'vehicles' can usually be entered with the 'board'
      command, and can be exited with the 'disembark' command.