jaynabonne wrote:I realize the parser is working as you wished (though I disagree about the "object not here" message, as normal IF games do not distinguish between objects that do and do not exist in the game - it's just an "I can't see that" message, which provides no hint about what might actually exist elsewhere) - I was trying to suggest (lamely it seems) that you might wish to mitigate the expectations of those who have played other IF by explaining a bit how yours differs.
At the very least, you might wish to remove the "classic" phrasing from your help, as this is not a classic style game! From what I have read on the IF sites, plus my own experience, the most widely used command in IF is "x",which doesn't exist in your game, either literally as an input command or even in function.
1) As you have pared things down so much, even to the point of eliminating verbs as a fundamental input necessity, where the player is effectively entering words they see on screen (hint hint!), you could probably dispense with the parser altogether. That might be against your design goals, but I'm throwing it out there as an option you might not have considered, as it would help players have a different set of expectations up front.
2) I've thought about this a bit over night, and I've come to realize that the deal breaker for me is the lack of the ability to explore textually the game environment. That gets back to our friend "x" (or "examine" or "look at" or whatever). A major draw for me with IF is being able to dive into the environment, to eke out details by looking at things and finding new things to look at. I love having nice rich descriptions that put me in the game. I must confess that I'm not a big puzzle fan. I'm not that keen on the whole "magpie collecting items to use in arcane ways elsewhere" thing. I'll do it, and I know it's key to this sort of IF, but if a game is reduced down to being *solely* that, with no roses to smell along the way, then it's lost its appeal for me. I'm basically walking around looking for things to pick up. Since you have said others have enjoyed it, I'll leave it at that. I'm clearly not your target audience. But I wanted to offer that last bit of feedback, in case it's useful to you.
I am also most impressed that you wrote this in C++, rolling your own system instead of using someone else's! That is no small feat, and you've done a great job.