I have been playing around with a combat system for Quest, and I have prepared a demo. I would be interested in comments.

http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ ... est-combat

It includes character creation, weapons, shields, armour, potions, spells, a shop and of course some foes, all packed into about eight rooms. Type HELP to see what is available. It is a demo, so somethings might not work properly.

Will have a play when I get the chance. Wouldn't mind having a crack at doing some Livingstone/Jackson type trip down nostalgia lane.

Seems like a good set up, but I cant seem to learn tthe first spell Ive tried

Use parchment
Read parchment
Learn parchment
Use spell
Learn spell

And none of them work, I tried learn <spell> but the game stoped working.
Im probaly doing somthing wrong.

Yep, i was doing it totally wrong

Ok, this time I actually found a error, as this is a demo (a really good one if I may add) im not sure if you want to correct errors or not. But its in the shop just after mudman. It says a error, somthing about the healing potion not being part of the list.

I was able to learn the spell and get out of the cell. I actually like how things are set up (and though I didn't always get what to type the first time, I usually got there). Quite fun!

A couple of notes.
1) I initially typed "attack goblin" (well, I used the menu; it was on there). Then it said I had hit the goblin, etc, I had the word "hit" in my head, so I typed "hit goblin" and it said I couldn't hit her. Then I did "attack goblin", and it said I swung and hit. ("swing at goblin" also resulted in an error.) I don't know if you need to work with all variants, but perhaps at least allowing the words it uses itself..? For some reason, I also have connotations of "attack" as being the initial entering into battle; that might just be my perception, but it seemed odd to "attack" the goblin again when I was already engaged in battle. That's probably ignorable generally, unless it makes sense to you at all.

2) After the goblin died, I found I could keep beating on it, and gaining more damage. I suppose a person can beat a dead goblin if they wish, but I wasn't sure if you wanted that to work that way.

3) Minor nitpick: when I exit my cell through the east door, the next description says my room is to the east.

4) A sequence for you to examine:

> cast frostform
You cast Frostform. Your body changes, you become colder, more powerful, well defined...
Coins (2): You drop them.
spellbook: You drop it.
Fireball: You are not carrying it.
Aura: You are not carrying it.
Teleport: You are not carrying it.
Mark: You are not carrying it.

> learn fireball
That spell is way out of your league. Perhaps if you were more intelligent...

> learn aura
In a process that seems at once unfathomable, and yet familiar, the spell fades away, and you realise you are now able to cast the Aura spell.

> cast aura
You cast Aura. Suddenly you are glowing.
The Frostform effect ends.

> take all
spellbook: You pick it up.
Fireball: You can't take it.
Teleport: You can't take it.
Mark: You can't take it.
mudman: You can't take it.
Pile of coins: You pick up 2 coins.
Error running script: Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute.

I played the game again in the hope to be able to give more helpful thoughts.
Once again I can't access the shop, it just shows this error apon entry.........

A shopError running script: Error compiling expression 'healing_potion_impl': Unknown object or variable 'healing_potion_impl'Error running script: Cannot foreach over '' as it is not a listThis is a a quaint little shop.

I killed the goblin, mudman, fire imp, frostguard and ghost but never found half the items mentioned in jaynabonne's messege above, (I assume they are found in the shop)

I really enjoyed the spell and combat, especially the bonus damage inflicted on the frostguard by the fire sword. It really gave that RPG feel to the game.

I also found it a little strange that I could attack a dead goblin and still inflicted damage, perhaps a alternative attack description for that?

Once I killed the mudman there was not "the mudman dies" type text, instead it just stoped attacking.

Apart from that I really enjoyed the system, it added a really edge to the game.

Ps does the spellbook have a use?

What's mentioned are spells in the spellbook. You have to open the spellbook to find them. ("Look at" and "read" did not work.)

Oh ok. thanks, I would have never thought of that.

Thanks for the comments, I will modify accordingly. Clearly there is an issue with synonyms...

I have uploaded a new version that takes account of all these comments. You will now find you cannot walk past the mudman; you need to kill him to get past him.

Thats much better, I've noticed a couple of other things that (in my opinion) would be a good idea to change/add.

First of all a very small change, not that important but, it would be nice if you can type 'read parchment" as im pretty sure that will be tried a lot.

Secondly are the weapons and armor, a way to see how powerful each one is would be nice (maybe in the description) like a rank.

Third and lastly is the combat. I feel like it really drags out. By the time its half way though I have completely lost attention. And tying "attack mudman' twenty times feels rather tedious. Probaly just me

With regards to your last point, the mudman has a lot of hits and the dagger does not do much damage, so that will make it worse.

Instead of typing, use up arrow to scroll though previous commands, or select the Mudman in the pane on the right, and click attack.

Awesome, another Pixie Library, grins. I'll have to check it out (and intensely study it, hehe) sometime! Thanks Pixie for yet another library for us!

@ejm29

You can also charge the mudman. Charging gives a bonus to your attack, but a penalty to your defense, which would work well against him.

@HegemonKhan

You will have to wait a bit to study, I have only uploaded the demo game so far. I will upload the library later, once I am happy with it, with instructions. Most things can be set up though the GUI; there is a new Combat tab.

Ah ok. thanks. I withdraw the mudman comment

I have uploaded a new version. you start with enough money to buy weapons at the shop, and have changed the imp for a lava golem and a fire drake. The new rapier is good against the fire drake, the mace is good against the lava golem. Comments in room descriptions tell you what is being demoed in each location.

This one is great.