Room
A distinct region of the simulated gaming space that can be occupied by the player-character (PC). A kitchen, a stretch of beach, or the roof of a building are all properly implemented as rooms.
The term is often used in gaming to refer only to a part of what would conventionally be called a room, for example, the northern part of a jail cell (entered via the command "go north") or the moonlit region of a laboratory. These portions are sometimes called "logical rooms," while the jail cell or laboratory itself are called "story rooms." Story rooms are convenient for the understanding of the player and are not programmed into the game itself; the logical rooms are what the computer program's logic uses.
By convention, a player who leaves one room and enters another should not expect to be able to interact with items left behind in the first room, even if the game does not specify the presence of a physical barrier between the rooms.
Also by convention, all items listed in a room description are presumed to be accessible to the player. For instance, if a room description mentions a dresser, the player should not have to first ">go to dresser" in order to ">open" it.
Each room may contain any number of items that the PC may enter, such as a chair, a sleeping bag, or a trapdoor; but these items are properly implemeted as child objects, not separate rooms (but see containment.)
See also
- Location. The place in the game where an object or character is currently located.
- Starting room. The room that the player character starts the game in.
- Multi-room. A story room that has been partitioned into several logical rooms.
Links
- The Room as Metaphor in Interactive Fiction - article by Nathan Jerpe, February 2009.
| Code Compare: Room | |
| ADRIFT 4: | The Room dialog box (Add a Room/Edit Room) |
| Hugo: | The room class |
| Inform 6: | The Object class |
| Inform 7: | The room kind |
| TADS 2: | The room class |
| TADS 3: | The Room class |