INTERACTIVE FICTION -- GETTING STARTED "Okay, so I've read the opening paragraphs. What am I supposed to do with this > thingy?" Good question. The > prompt appears whenever it is your turn to tell the program what you want to do. Simply type in an imperative statement, like OPEN THE DOOR, or EAT THE SANDWICH, and press the Enter key. Also, articles aren't necessary: OPEN DOOR or EAT SANDWICH will work just as well. Occasionally, the program will ask you to clarify a command you've typed. For instance, if you type EAT SANDWICH, and there is more than one sandwich in your immediate vicinity, the program may respond, "Which sandwich do you mean, the ham sandwich or the bologna sandwich?" It is not usually necessary to retype your command -- simply answering the question is fine (HAM is a sufficient reply, for example.) Of course, you don't have to answer the question if you don't want to; if you're a vegetarian and don't want to eat either sandwich, you can type OPEN DOOR and the program will treat it as an all-new command. No matter how enthralling your initial location is, chances are you'll eventually want to go somewhere else. To do so, you will usually simply type the compass direction you want to go: WALK NORTH is a perfectly acceptable command, but N will do the same thing, and is easier to type. Most interactive fiction understands twelve directions: the four cardinal directions (N, S, E, W), four diagonals (NE, NW, SE, SW), UP and DOWN (which may be abbreviated U and D), and IN and OUT. (These last two may not be appropriate in many places: IN makes sense if you're standing next to a car, for instance, but not if you're standing all alone in a meadow.) Pronouns such as IT are useful, but can be tricky. Usually, IT refers to the last object you used as a direct object of a command: if you type EXAMINE RHODODENDRON and the description is appealing enough that the rhododendron must be yours, TAKE IT is sufficient. Be careful, though, or you'll fall into the following trap: > EXAMINE FLOWER Which flower do you mean, the rhododendron or the chrysanthemum? > RHODODENDRON It's awful purdy. > TAKE IT Taken. > PUT IT IN BACKPACK Done. > CLOSE IT You can't close a rhododendron! ALL is another useful word for when you want to PUT ALL IN BACKPACK or TAKE ALL FROM CUPBOARD; you can even go so far as to DROP ALL EXCEPT RHODODENDRON AND SANDWICH if you like. Sometimes you will encounter people and other animate creatures with whom you'll wish to interact. Different IF works will offer different ways to converse with other characters. Sometimes you will be able to ask about something (ASK SHEILA ABOUT MODERN ART) and tell the character about something (TELL SHEILA ABOUT INCOMING MISSILES); sometimes you'll simply TALK TO SHEILA and then select a quip from a menu; many programs will even let you issue orders, in the following format: SHEILA, TOUCH MY MONKEY. (Of course, the character may choose not to obey.) Most interactive fiction these days has a reasonably impressive vocabulary; some words you might want to try are: BUY KILL PUSH SMELL CLOSE KISS PUT TASTE DRINK KNOCK READ THROW DROP LICK REMOVE TIE EAT LISTEN SEARCH TOUCH EXAMINE LOOK SHOW TURN GIVE OPEN SIT UNTIE JUMP PULL SLEEP WEAR You can also combine many of these verbs with prepositions: in addition to LOOK, for instance, you can LOOK AT, LOOK INSIDE, LOOK UNDER, LOOK THROUGH, and so forth. There are also several special commands and abbreviations you should be aware of. In addition to the compass directions mentioned above, they include: G: short for AGAIN, this repeats the last command. I: short for INVENTORY, this produces a list of what you're carrying. L: short for LOOK, this describes your surroundings. X: short for EXAMINE, this provides a description of an object. Z: short for WAIT, this causes a turn to pass without an action being performed. QUIT: ends the game. RESTART: restarts the game from the beginning. RESTORE: restores a saved game. SAVE: saves your position in the game. This is only the beginning of what you can do in a piece of interactive fiction. Every game will provide additional verbs, rules and capabilities unique to that game. Feel your way around, try things as they occur to you, and most of all, have fun!