gkZerk: The Great Work-in-Progress
This is an interactive fiction (IF) interpreter that I wrote for a class project. It was inspired by Infocom's IF adventure games (especially the Zork series). Traditionally, IF games are all-text, and gkZerk is no exception. It's like reading a book, only it's a game. Also, it's very buggy.
Try it out
You'll need a Python 3 interpreter. For a Windows install, make sure you check the box to add Python to your system path.
Once you have Python installed, it's pretty simple:
git clone https://github.com/gregkrsak/gkZerk.git
cd gkZerk
python gkzerk.py tutorial-map.json
For Windows users, Make sure you run python from the Windows command prompt, and not from Git Bash (See Issue #12).
Make your own maps
gkZerk is just a framework, and that means your actual experience isn't tied to my code. The levels (or "maps") in the game are actually loaded from a text file that's in JSON format.
Here's the basic structure of a gkZerk map (For those of you familiar with IF, these map files are not the traditional Z-code structure of most IF games):
{
"zerk": "map",
"version": "1",
"about": {
"title": "Your map's title",
"author": "Your name",
"version": "your-maps-version-string"
},
"rooms": [ . . . ],
"room_types": [ . . . ],
"nouns": [ . . . ],
"verbs": [ . . . ]
}Where the keys "rooms", "room_types", "nouns", and "verbs" each contain a list of objects.
An example of a verb object:
{
"id": "take",
"immediately": "self.addNounWithIdToInventoryOfNounWithId('${TARGET_NOUN_ID}', '${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}'); self.removeNounWithIdFromRoomWithId('${TARGET_NOUN_ID}', self.roomsContainingNounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')[0]['id']) if self.nounWithId('${TARGET_NOUN_ID}')['big'] == 'false' else self.sendNotificationToNoun('You can\\'t pick that up!', self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}'))",
"synonyms": [
"get",
"grab",
"acquire",
"hold"
]
}An example of a noun object:
{
"id": "light_001",
"active": "true",
"playable": "false",
"switchable": "true",
"mortal": "false",
"big": "false",
"weapon": "false",
"on": "false",
"short_desc": "lantern",
"long_desc": "This 12 volt Eveready is always ready.",
"before_each_turn": "for room in (self.roomsContainingNounWithId('light_001')): self.setLitInRoomWithId(room['id'], False) if (self.nounWithId('light_001')['on'] == 'false') and (room['always_lit'] == 'false') else self.setLitInRoomWithId(room['id'], True)",
"after_each_turn": "",
"on_take": "self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')['score'] = str(int(self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')['score']) + 5)",
"on_drop": "",
"inventory": [],
"allowed_verbs": [
"take",
"drop",
"use"
]
}An example of a room_type object:
{
"id": "OutsideEntry",
"short_desc": "Front Porch",
"long_desc": "Blowing snow assaults your morale as you attempt to stay warm on the front porch of a large building. It looks as if the residence was constructed methodically, in the middle of an evergreen forest, with no obvious roads in sight. Well, at least you don't feel trapped inside of that silly house anymore. That silly, warm house. Ah, what fun it was."
}An example of a room object:
{
"id": "outside_001",
"type": "OutsideEntry",
"always_lit": "true",
"lit": "true",
"obvious_exits": "s",
"exit_s": "room_005",
"on_entry": "self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')['score'] = str(int(self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')['score']) + 10); self.nounWithId('${SOURCE_NOUN_ID}')['game_state'] = 'finished_won'",
"obvious_nouns": [],
"requires_nouns": [
"key_001"
]
}You've probably noticed that there's some scripting allowed; in-fact, it's required for a reasonably-functioning map! All scripts are Python 3, executed within a server-side instance (shared among all users) of the ZerkModel class. Note that, as of right now, the program is hard-coded to only connect a single, local user. So, you'll be playing by yourself!
To learn more about the map design, go ahead and dive into the file tutorial-map.json!