Introduction

In this section we’ll look at how to get started writing a game with adventurelib.

Starting a project

The first thing you’ll need to do is import the good stuff from adventurelib:

from adventurelib import *

Then, at the bottom of the file, call the start() function, which begins the game:

start()

Save the file.

Because we haven’t added any behaviours, this game won’t do very much, but we should run it at this point as a “sanity check” that everything is installed. If you’re using IDLE, the game should just run, or you can run it at a command prompt using the python or python3 binary.

python3 my_game.py

You should be able to get results like the following:

> go north
I don't understand 'go north'.

> help
Here is a list of the commands you can give:
?
help
quit

Pressing Ctrl+D will quit the game, or you can type the built-in quit command.

Adding a command

All of the rest of your code should go in between the from adventurelib import * and the start() lines.

We can use the @when syntax to create a command that player can type in order to interact with your game. Let’s add a brush teeth command:

@when("brush teeth")
def brush_teeth():
    print("You brush your teeth. They feel clean.")

If you start the game again you can try out the new command:

> brush teeth
You brush your teeth. They feel clean.

Using long text

Writing rich, descriptive text is your main tool for getting a player to feel immersed in your game.

While Python’s built-in print() function is useful for displaying output to a user, it is a bit unwieldy when you want to write several lines of text at once. You could write your descriptions like this, using + to glue together individual strings:

@when("brush teeth")
def brush_teeth():
    print(
        "You squirt a bit too much toothpaste onto your " +
        "brush and dozily jiggle it round your mouth."
    )

This can be inconvenient and harder to make changes to. Adventurelib provides a convenience function called say() that you can use instead to show longer strings of text to the player. It’s intended to be used with triple-quoted strings like this:

@when("brush teeth")
def brush_teeth():
    say("""
        You squirt a bit too much toothpaste onto your
        brush and dozily jiggle it round your mouth.
    """)

This will clean up the spacing of the string, then wrap the output to the width of the player’s screen.

> brush teeth
You squirt a bit too much toothpaste onto
your brush and dozily jiggle it round
your mouth.

It also supports multiple paragraphs of text, separated by blank lines:

@when("brush teeth")
def brush_teeth():
    say("""
        You squirt a bit too much toothpaste onto your
        brush and dozily jiggle it round your mouth.

        Your teeth feel clean and shiny now, as you
        run your tongue over them.
    """)

> brush teeth
You squirt a bit too much toothpaste onto
your brush and dozily jiggle it round
your mouth.

Your teeth feel clean and shiny now, as
you run your tongue over them.

You do not have to use say() over print():

  • print() will preserve the formatting of the strings you give it. This is sometimes needed; for example, to show a pre-formatted poem, or to display ASCII art.
  • Use say() to make it easier to output prose, in a way that will be easier for the player to read.

Be creative

That’s more or less all there is to it. Now you need to think up a good story for your game.

Adventurelib can help with:

…but you’re going to need to use those features to tell a story that players can interact with and get drawn into. You’re going to have to write the Python code that enforces the game’s rules and lets you tell that story.

Think about:

  • Characters
  • Locations
  • Emotions
  • Detailed descriptions
  • Expressive language
  • How players will experience your game

Good luck and have fun!