http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoFmT5cYVI

This blog has been quiet of late so here’s a line or two to report that the Latest Release is posted.
03 Aug 2010 (Alpha Release 58)

thinBASIC Adventure Builder (aka T.A.B.) is my adventure creator project for Windows 98/2000/ME/XP/Vista/7 currently at Alpha stage.

thinBASIC Adventure Builder Home Page. ScreenShots. Download the TAB Editor, the TAB Player and some games and demos. (3.48mb zip)

http://tab.thinbasic.com/

TAB is not meant to compete with the likes of INFORM, TADS, HUGO, ADRIFT etc. It is a personal project which I am sharing free with the Interactive Fiction community at large.
TAB operates on similar principles to popular retro adventure creators such as STAC, GAC, CAT, Quill, PAW or ACE. It has an IDE to enter adventure data and interprets parser commands using a condition/action ‘language’. It is being developed with the thinBASIC scripting language.

Even though TAB is still in development it is perfectly possible to create a standard text adventure right now using it. A few are currently so doing.
I think it will appeal more to ‘home- grown’ adventure makers esp. those who dabbled with Quill, PAW or GAC in the eighties. With some thought, games made with those could be converted to run under TAB fairly easily.

TAB  is one of a few variants or alternative tools that might be considered by the aspiring adventure writer who may prefer or be happier using/working with a different authoring system…
There is certainly plenty of room for these other creators like SUDS, ADRIFT, QUEST, JACL or the CYOA-type makers to co-exist alongside INFORM – and I understand a new system called CURVESHIP is on the horizon too. It’s all good.

Some Screenshots here: http://tab.thinbasic.com/

Version History Change Log here: http://tab.thinbasic.com/history.txt

Only the freely distributable ‘TAB Player’ is needed to run any TAB games made using the TAB Editor.

Sound and music supported: mp3, ogg, wav, aiff, mod.
Graphics supported: jpg, gif, bmp, png.

There is also a FORUM and a Yahoo email user group.

Some Youtube videoclips here:
TAB Player – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzqQv2L35w&NR=1
TAB Editor – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq1ZYS7TAJQ&NR=1
Graphic Mode – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Z72QpLTIE

If forum members wish to try out an example game which was entered into the IF “Spring Thing” Comp in 2009 by Amy Kerns download “Realm of Obsidian” (old skool retro text adventure) from here:
http://amethystgames.wordpress.com/92/

Best wishes,
catventure.

I’ve managed to return to this project and released a new update today to fix a couple of issues.

http://tab.thinbasic.com/

Watch a short demo here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Z72QpLTIE

http://tab.thinbasic.com/

Youtube videoclips here:
TAB Player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzqQv2L35w&NR=1
TAB Editor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq1ZYS7TAJQ&NR=1

catventure.

http://tab.thinbasic.com/

http://tab.thinbasic.com/crystal.zip

catventure.

It is a personal project and is not meant to compete with the likes of INFORM, TADS, HUGO z-code and the like. In fact, it operates largely on similar principles to popular 80′s retro-style adventure creators like STAC, GAC, Quill or PAW.

Screenshots, details and download here:
http://tab.thinbasic.com/

Vocabulary Changes in Alpha 46:
======================

TAB allows you to create more than one Long Noun and Long Verb per Vocabulary word entry.
 
What is a long noun?
 
It is a type of noun (ordinary, object or character noun)  that can have extra word(s) that are joined to it using a separator symbol making the TAB parser think that it is a single word…
For this separator symbol I`ve chosen:  “¯”
which can be obtained by holding down the left ALT key and typing 0,1,7,5 on the numeric keypad then releasing the ALT key to get the  ¯  symbol.
 
Example LONG NOUN KEYWORDS:
 
/large¯wooden¯crate/

/tiny¯ornate¯earring/

/cracked¯decorated¯china¯pot/

As you can see long nouns are not limited to 2 words but can have more!
In practice though they will mostly consist of 2 or possibly 3 words depending on the textual description for the normal, object or character noun.

Normally any adjectives or words describing objects had to be placed into the Deletions list to enable these words to be understood from the input command(s) by the parser… Now this is no longer mandatory. Very,very handy because the author may want to use some of these words for other objects in the game.

Long noun object keywords will be printed by TAB in the default system messages or for the n1 and n2 variables in various message actions
eg:

“You now have the tiny ornate earring.”
“You drop the gold key.”
“You put the tiny ornate earring into the cracked decorated china pot.”
etc.. etc..

and the long noun keywords will also be printed in the inventory listing or container contents listing too.

A long noun keyword (probably consisting of 2 or 3 words) is still a KEYWORD and must be entered properly in the RESPONSE words conditions as usual in the correct place eg:

[start]press small¯red¯button#room=1#flag3=0[acts]….etc.etc….[end]

SYNONYMS can be Long Nouns as well. I will call these LONG SYNONYMS. eg:

/tiny¯ornate¯earring/ ornate¯tiny¯earring/tiny¯earring/ornate¯ earring/earring/

/book/tattered¯black¯book/ tattered¯book/ black¯book/

/slender¯spruce¯ tree/slender¯ spruce/slender¯ tree/spruce¯ tree/spruce/ tree/

The second example (book) shows you can have long synonyms even for one word KEYWORDS.

There are a couple of important rules regarding long nouns and long synonyms:

1) Long synonyms for Long Nouns must not contain MORE words than that contained in the long noun keyword.

Example Noun and synonyms:

/small¯pocket¯radio/small¯radio/pocket¯radio/radio/ = CORRECT FORMAT

/small¯radio/ small¯pocket¯radio/pocket¯radio/radio/ = INCORRECT FORMAT

/blue¯teacup/ blue¯cup/cup/ = CORRECT FORMAT

/decorated¯pot/ cracked¯decorated¯pot/pot/ = INCORRECT FORMAT

2) In addition to Rule 1 – Long synonyms must be entered in order by placing the synonyms that contain the MOST words first down to the synonyms that contain the LEAST last. (descending order)

Example:
OBJECT NOUN KEYWORD: /small¯pocket¯radio/
SYNONYMS: /pocket¯radio/ small¯radio/radio/

would be entered as:

/small¯pocket¯radio/pocket¯radio/ small¯radio/radio/

If using a single word KEYWORD and require long synonym alternatives then Rule 2 only applies eg:

NOUN: /book/
SYNS: /tattered¯black¯ book/tattered¯ book/black¯ book/

entered as:

/book/tattered¯black¯book/tattered¯book/black¯book/

Because of all of this inputs by the player can be substantially longer but can still be made to be understood by TAB…

Examples:
 
>examine the small pocket radio then put the tiny ornate earring into the cracked decorated china pot
 
>put the ornate earring into the large wooden crate then turn on the small radio
 
ALL the default TAB Response entries will work automatically with these
long noun combinations too – so no extra complicated coding required….

CHARACTER Nouns can be long nouns and have long syns:

/rasputin¯clever¯mad¯monk/rasputin¯ monk/mad¯monk/monk/rasputin/

Since “the” is a deletion word the following input might work:

>give the small tricorn hat to rasputin [the] clever mad monk

Incidentally, you can also have LONG VERBS and have LONG SYNS with them also!

/get/pick¯up/
/remove/take¯off/
/wear/put¯on/
/i/get¯i/inventory/
/carefully¯examine/ carefully¯exam/carefully¯x

Regards,
catventure

“PiggerJokery” by catventure http://tab.thinbasic.com/piggeryjokery.zip

Guide Peregrine Piglet in a woodland quest to help his animal compatriots and lift an enchantment!

“The Crystal Keepers” by Doreen Bardon http://tab.thinbasic.com/crystal_keepers.zip

Help the five fairies regain their lost property and explore a strange landscape in this tale of magic and treasure.

Both games are conversions of adventures written some time ago.

To play the unzipped TAB adventure files (.tab) you will need the TAB Player which is part of the TAB download at:

http://tab.thinbasic.com/  

PS. Both the above mentioned games can also be downloaded from within the TAB Editor using the “TAB Online Services” button on the Editor main dialog window.

An IMPORTANT UPDATE to TAB was released on 20 Sep 2008.

20 Sep 2008 (Release 43)
=========
*FIX. Numbers can now be entered into Deletions Listbox on Vocabulary Editor.

*ADDED. n1=n2; n2=n1; n1<>n2′; n2<>n1 parser variable checking CONDITIONS

*FIX. “replay” action in TAB Player. Also turnscount adjustment for a typed replay/restart and a “gameover” action

*FIX. Bug in character movement for characters with a walk pattern causing TAB to crash

*NEW. Author can now control text in StatusBar (3 text panes). System Messages 81, 82 and 83 can be customized and can include message format %tags% such as %score%, %turns%, %brief% etc. See demos.

*NEW. Extra Conditions added on request:

objlocn1=carrworn – is object n1 carried or worn?
objlocn2=carrworn
objlocn1=carrworncont – is object n1 in a carried or worn container?
objlocn2=carrworncont
objlocn1=roomcont – is object n1 in a container in the current room?
objlocn2=roomcont

objlocn1<>carrworn – is object n1 not carried and not worn?
objlocn2<>carrworn
objlocn1<>carrworncont – is object n1 not in a carried or worn container?
objlocn2<>carrworncont
objlocn1<>roomcont – is object n1 not in a container in the current room?
objlocn2<>roomcont

*NEW. “call_CONDITION” is an ACTION that allows you to call a condition check whilst processing actions after the [acts] tag in a coding entry. All conditions can be prefixed by “call_” to cause TAB to briefly jump out of ACTIONS to check the specified condition. eg: #call_flag30=2# : Is flag 30 equal to 2?
If the condition is passed as TRUE then TAB continues with the following ACTIONS. If it is FALSE then TAB exits that entry. This useful ACTION replaces the little used and not working correctly “then” action command which is now no longer supported by TAB and has been superceded by the “call_condition” action.

*NEW “call_ACTION” is a CONDITION that allows you to call an action during condition processing before the [acts] tag in a coding entry. All actions can be prefixed by “call_” to cause TAB to briefly jump out of CONDITIONS to do the specified action. eg: #call_cmessI am a message.# : Print a cmess.
TAB then continues checking the subsequent conditions as normal.
The “call_” commands will prove to be a very useful addition to TAB and they can be used in Response, Script1 and Script 2.

*NEW. (ADVANCED TAB CODERS) Character “charmsg” ACTION extended to include optional facility to include Character compliance level messages. If using this note that flags 501 to 600 will need to be reserved to hold the “trust/compliance” level for each Character. New CONDITION “trust=X” where X is the compliance level held in the corresponding flag linked to the Character being commanded.
More info on this in TAB forum/Email Group.

*FIX. Coding fix for Script1 and Script 2 “else” processing.

*FIX. Some minor fixes.

http://tab.thinbasic.com/

catventure.