Guess-the-verb: Difference between revisions
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"Guess-the-verb" is the name of a particular fault in game design where although the player has correctly guessed what he is meant to do, the game's parser does not understand unless he uses a particular and possibly non-obvious way to phrase the command. For example, if there is a crate to be opened with a crowbar and the only way to open it is to "pry crate with crowbar", other actions like "open crate with crowbar" give a misleading response. | "Guess-the-verb" is the name of a particular fault in game design where although the player has correctly guessed what he is meant to do, the game's parser does not understand unless he uses a particular and possibly non-obvious way to phrase the command. For example, if there is a crate to be opened with a crowbar and the only way to open it is to "pry crate with crowbar", other actions like "open crate with crowbar" give a misleading response. | ||
Some games, such as ''[[The Edifice]]'' ([[Lucian Smith]], 1997, [[Z-code]]) and ''[[Ad Verbum]]'' ([[Nick Montfort]], 2002, | Some games, such as ''[[The Edifice]]'' ([[Lucian Smith]], 1997, [[Z-code]]) and ''[[Ad Verbum]]'' ([[Nick Montfort]], 2002, Z-code) intentionally include guess-the-verb puzzles to good effect, but in contexts where the puzzles are explicitly ''about'' language. | ||
''[[Guess the Verb!]]'' ([[Leonard Richardson]] | ''[[Guess the Verb!]]'' ([[Leonard Richardson]]; 2002; Z-code) uses the phrase as the instruction in a surreal carnival game. | ||
==Solution== | ==Solution== | ||
Revision as of 13:53, 12 July 2006
"Guess-the-verb" is the name of a particular fault in game design where although the player has correctly guessed what he is meant to do, the game's parser does not understand unless he uses a particular and possibly non-obvious way to phrase the command. For example, if there is a crate to be opened with a crowbar and the only way to open it is to "pry crate with crowbar", other actions like "open crate with crowbar" give a misleading response.
Some games, such as The Edifice (Lucian Smith, 1997, Z-code) and Ad Verbum (Nick Montfort, 2002, Z-code) intentionally include guess-the-verb puzzles to good effect, but in contexts where the puzzles are explicitly about language.
Guess the Verb! (Leonard Richardson; 2002; Z-code) uses the phrase as the instruction in a surreal carnival game.
Solution
- Plenty of Beta-testing.
- A good thesaurus can also come in handy.
- Play plenty of IF to get a feel for the sort of verbs considered standard - which may not always be the standard library ones.
- When coding synonyms, make them actual synonyms instead of giving responses along the lines of 'Try INSCRIBE rather than WRITE.' It's just polite.
- Include a special verbs list in your Help and/or About menus. If these verbs are going to be used a lot, draw attention to those menus in the banner text.