The GRAAL Player Interface
Although the graphics of the player interface can be changed very much
to your liking, all GRAAL games play in pretty much the same way. It
presents the alternatives to the user in a very clear and precise way to
let them know exactly what objects can be manipulated and what options
are available at any time.
This is an attempt to explain the elements of GRAAL's intuitive control
method. which is really much harder than just doing it:) It also
contains some "style guide" tips...
SENTENCE AND OBJECT DISPLAYS:
OBJECTS IN THE SCENE AREA:
As soon as the mouse cursor moves over an object with a name consisting
of anything but an empty string, its name appears above the cursor.
If there is a default command associated with the object, and neither a
verb or other object has actually been clicked by the player, the
default command for the object beneath the mouse cursor is shown in the
sentence box.
If a verb has been previously clicked, the name of the object also
appears in the sentence box. IF the verb / object combination requries a
second object to beclicked, the appropriate preposition is also
displayed in the sentence box.
OBJECTS IN THE INVENTORY:
Pointing to an object in the inventory works the same way as pointing to
an object in the scene area, with the exception that its name does not
appear above the cursor - instead, it appears in the sentence box IF a
scene area object has not been selected already.
VERBS:
If you move the mouse cursor over a verb in the command area, and no
verb has been clicked, the name of the verb appears in the sentence box.
Once more, IF an object is already there and the verb/object combination
requires a second object, the preposition will also be shown.
EXITS:
If you move the mouse pointer over an exit, and the name of the exit is
anything but an empty string, its name apperas above the mouse cursor.
Note that object and exit cursor texts in most cases SHOULD be coloured
differently, so that players don't leave the room and waste a lot of
time by accident.
If you try to use an exit, the message "GO TO exit name" will be shown
in the sentence box. If the exit name is blank, no message at all is
shown.
KEYBOARD KEYS
PLAYER KEYS
These keys are avaliable regardless of whether the system is in
developer or runtime mode (although some of them may be disabled by
special statements in graal.main):
S and L both bring up the same save/load requester.
(May be disabled by the DISABLE_SAVE: statement.)
space puts the game in pause mode. Any key continues.
F displays the amount of free memory (mainly for
debugging purposes.)
M toggles sound on and off.
V displays the adventure name and version information.
I increases the speed of sentence displays.
D decreases the speed of sentence displays.
Q quits the game. (May be disabled by the DISABLE_QUIT:
statement, if you provide another way to QUIT.)
Esc jumps to the end of a cutscene
. ends a pause or sentence display
left mouse button Select an object, exit, command or dialogue
alternative
right mouse button Select default object action or end a pause
DEVELOPER KEYS
G brings up the monitor screen.
R starts a macro recording. Pressing R again stops the
macro recording and asks for a name for the new macro.
P asks for a macro name, then starts playing it.
ctrl+c aborts GRAAL. Use only in emergencies, as this does
not clean up memory, leaves FONTS: assigned to RAM:FONTS,
etc.
leftA+m (A="Amiga") switches between GRAAL and Workbench. Note that
programs running concurrently will be sluggish, and only
the fonts in your GRAAL FONTS: drawer will be available.
(That's why I have included the DPAINT font in the drawer,
because I sometimes need to run that in parallell...)
All developer keys are diabled in an encrypted game (registered users
only), unless a DEBUG: statement in graal.main specifically asks for
them to be turned on.