Basic structure of a room
Each room in a game has it's own individual logic (except in
special cases which I won't go into here). Room 2 of the template
game gives you an example of the basic structure of a room, which
I will go through in detail here. Note that these sections are
not required in each room - but it is recommended that you follow
this structure. Once you get more experience with AGI you might
like to experiment with this a bit.
The header
This section doesn't actually do anything for the room, as
it's all commented out - it's just to remind you what the room
is. You might like to put a description of what happens in the
room or something.
// ****************************************************************************
//
// Logic 2: First room
//
// ****************************************************************************
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Defines
All your defines should be placed together at the top of the
logic. There aren't any actual defines in this room, but it does
include the defines.txt file so the include statement goes here.
For more info on defines and include statements, click here.
The initialization section
When the player first enters the room, there are some things
that need to be set up. The background picture needs be loaded,
drawn, and discarded from memory. The horizon is set to the
appropriate value, and ego is positioned on screen at the desired
location. Objects such as background animations, props and other
characters are also set up here.
Since the interpreter operates in cycles (and the logic for
the current room is executed on each cycle), we only want to do
the initialization on the first cycle in the room. This is done
by testing for the new_room flag. If this is set, then it means
that this is the first cycle in this room. Otherwise, the
initialization section is skipped over.
if (new_room) {
load.pic(room_no);
draw.pic(room_no);
discard.pic(room_no);
set.horizon(50);
// The next 6 lines need only be in the first room of the game
if ((prev_room_no == 1 || // just come from intro screen
prev_room_no == 0)) { // or just started game
position(ego,120,140);
status.line.on();
accept.input();
}
// Check what room the player came from and position them on the
// screen accordingly here, e.g:
// if (prev_room_no == 5) {
// position(ego,12,140);
// }
draw(ego);
show.pic();
}
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The main bit
This is where the code goes that controls all the things that
happen in the room. In room 2 of the template game, it just
consists of a simple text response to the "look"
command and a test for ego touching the edge of the screen to
switch to the next room (this room just loops back on itself).
if (said("look")) {
print("This is an empty room.");
}
if (ego_edge_code == horizon_edge) { // ego touching horizon
new.room(2);
}
if (ego_edge_code == right_edge) { // ego touching right edge of screen
new.room(2);
}
if (ego_edge_code == bottom_edge) { // ego touching bottom edge of screen
new.room(2);
}
if (ego_edge_code == left_edge) { // ego touching left edge of screen
new.room(2);
}
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The return command
The return command must be present at the end of every logic.
In the case of a room, it returns execution to logic 0 (which
calls the room's logic on every cycle). In the case of logic 0
(the main logic), it tells the interpreter to go on to the next
cycle.
