> So when am I going to see some actual AGLL code to install for testing? You're getting me all psyched, but I can't get involved until the code writing begins. Wahh.
>

Oh, alright.... I'll tell you what. As soon as I run out of steam on the section of the castle I'm writing up right now, I'll try starting with the first couple of locations and coding them. Then it'll be my turn to say "wahh", but that's the way it works. ;-)

Actually, I figure there's a fair chance that I might get enough of a hang of things working on the first few locations to get over this code-phobia. I'm glad, though, that I've put it off as long as I have, because many of the game's ideas have changed and developed in significant ways during the creative writing process, and I'd hate to have to go back and completely re-do locations that I'd already committed to code. Of course I'll have to make changes as bugs are found, but at this point I doubt I'll suddenly need or want to do a major overhaul of any locations.

One thing has recently changed the way I'm writing each location: several days ago I re-played Fantasy Quest from start to finish (under the nick "bartholomew") and considered how terse I'll need to be with descriptions in order to serve the interest of making a screen readable and keeping the action going. The temptation for me while re-playing FQ was to skim the description and immediately look at the options menu. Partly, of course, this was because I'd already gone through the game once, but even so, I think the layout of the AGL interface tends naturally to draw the eye down to that menu.

I'm now trying to make initial location descriptions as brief as I can bear to write them (the regulars around here know what a serious resolution that is :-) ), and put a "Look around" option in almost every list. Players who take the time to select "Look around" (or however the option is labeled) will often be rewarded with new possible actions in the list, on the basis of their having noticed or observed something about the scene. That seems to me like a good way to get players to slow down and treat the AGL game a little more like a traditional text-based adventure game, where reading the description of a room is critical for determining what to do next. I think you even did basically the same thing at several points in FQ. Are you doing anything similar with GotA that might help me decide how to handle the issue for my own game?

> By the way, GotA is looking really COOL, and none of you can see it yet.

Waahh. Please? Just a little hint?

Iss "You want a hint? How long can you tread air?" achar