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House on a Disk (WAS: Can you identify this Apple II game?)
Hi!
OK then, you asked for it. This was written by a much younger me (Oh how
time flies when you're having fun with an apple II...) Apologies in advance
for any errors, omissions, or presumptions....
Cheers
2c
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Instructions for House On A Disk.
By Me 24th November 1987
I don't really have a complete set of instructions for the "game" if you
can really call it that, but I have had a close look at
the instruction set contained on the disk. The program does a number of
things simultaneously, including animating the little man and his dog,
creating all the sound effects (quite well too!), and where appropriate,
scanning the keyboard for input. The program contains quite a good input
parser, (although not quite as good as the command parser for some of
the Infocom games) and it can recognise sentences quite well, although if
it does not interpret your command there are no error messages, the little
man just ignores you! This is not a real handicap though, because without
typing anything in, the man just wanders around his house, doing things that
he wants (is programmed) to do at random. The real fun begins when you
say hello to him or tell him something. The man in the house actually
answers you back or does the thing that you have asked him to do, all in
fully animated shades of green (or in my case, amber) or colour, depending
on which sort of monitor you have.
I have a list of key words below which the command parser can recognise,
and they must be included in a reasonably good sentence for the man to
respond. The most important thing to remember is that if you are talking to
Ivan, (that's his name by the way!) you MUST be polite, which means
saying PLEASE if you ask him to do something. I tried
commands like "DRINK WATER" and got the proverbial cold shoulder, so be
warned. :-)
COMMANDS:
Control- A : Rings the alarm clock.
Control- C : Rings telephone, and Ivan will go and answer it.
Control- D : Leaves dogs food at front door.
Control- F : Man's food is delivered.
Control- P : When Ivan is in the chair, give him a pat on the
head.
Control- R : Leaves a record at the front door.
Control- W : Fills water tank in the kitchen (most important.)
IVAN'S STATE OF HEALTH:
Smiley face: Ivan is happy.
Straight mouth: Ivan is content.
Down in the mouth: Ivan is sad.
Green Face: Ivan is feeling sick (and no smart comments about
my amber monitor!)
A LIST OF COMMAND WORDS:
00: PLAYFUL
01: SHOWER DIRTY CLEAN
02: LIKE ENJOY
03: PLEASE (the magic word)
04: NAP BED
05: PLAY PLAYING PERFORM USE TRY
TICKLE
07: RELAX
10: LIGHT START MAKE BURN
12: SEEM LOOK APPEAR ARE AREN ARENT
RE ISNT ISN LOOKS
IS SEEMS APPEARS WHATS WHAT
13: HEAR LISTEN PUT SPIN
14: WORK BRUSH FLOSS
20: HUNGRY STARVED
21: LOGON PROGRAM UTILITIES MATH
23: TYPE TELL WRITE CONFIDE
25: DRINK
27: FEED
30: FILL
31: OPEN
32: DANCE MOON SHOW
34: TIRED BORED APATHETIC AWFUL TALK
42: IN INSIDE STORED KEEP
43: EAT DOWN HAVE ATE
50: PIANO IVORIES SONG TUNE
SERENADE JAZZ BOOGIE
51: STEREO TURNTABLE MUSIC RECORD PLATTER
52: FIRE FIREPLACE LOG
53: CHILLY FREEZING COLD
54: PROBLEM PROBLEMS TROUBLES MATTER LETTER
NOTE TYPEWRITER NAME
55: CHRISTMAS XMAS HOLIDAY HOLIDAYS
60: TEETH
61: GLASS COOLER
62: DOG PET MUTT POOCH PUPPY
63: BOWL DISH CAN
64: TV
66: COMPUTER APPLE TERMINAL
67: WATER LIQUID LIQUIDS FLUID FLUIDS
70: UPSTAIRS
71: BEDROOM
72: CLOSET
73: KITCHEN
74: FILING FILE FILES
75: CABINET
76: FREEZER
77: REFRIGERATOR FRIG FRIDGE REFRIG
80: DRESSER
81: OUTSIDE
83: FOOD SOMETHING CHOW SNACK LUNCH
84: GAME CARDS POKER WAR CARD
ANAGRAMS
90: YOU
91: EXCUSE PARDON HELLO ATTENTION HEY
As you can see, the word list is quite extensive, and a great deal of
variety can be generated within the sentences to (hopefully) make the
little man do almost anything that you want. The numbers down the left hand
side were included in the command block on the disk, and it seems pretty
obvious that, to the command parser, all the words in the one group have
the same meaning. The words in group 21 are the key words to use when you
want to change the name of the researcher who owns the disk. Just type
"LOGON" or one of the other words in that list, and Ivan will go and sit
down at his terminal and type away for a few seconds and then the
screen will say "Which programs can we run? 1. UPDATE INFO". type a 1 and
the computer will then update your name onto the disk. You can also get
Ivan to talk to you by asking him to "WRITE ME A LETTER PLEASE" or any
combination of the correct words in the command list given above which
means the same thing.
Well, hopefully I've given you some insight into the game, and maybe helped
with some of those annoying little problems that you've been having with
the game. I know that these text adventures (with or without graphics)
must have been made up by a sadistic gang of degenerates who are
probably still chuckling to themselves in their cosy padded cells while we
all sit here and go mad trying to beat the "error messages" like "You're
obviously letting things get to you, calm down" etc.
Good luck.
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"nunki" <nunki@surfcity.net> wrote in message
3A7DB132.C1CFD994@surfcity.net">news:3A7DB132.C1CFD994@surfcity.net...
> Too Sense wrote:
> >
> > I actually have an article I wrote for the game, for our (long since
> > defunct) apple II user group over here (Australia). It contains the key
> > commands for the game, and a very rough idea of how to play.... Should I
> > post it here?
>
> Sure. I'd like to see it.