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the-infocom-files / starcross

Starcross
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The game defines LAND and CROSS as directions, but don't seem to use them #7

Open eriktorbjorn opened 5 years ago

eriktorbjorn commented 5 years ago

I was testing the "LAND" verb, which has the following syntax:

<SYNTAX LAND = V-LAND>
<SYNTAX LAND OBJECT = V-LAND>
<SYNTAX LAND ON OBJECT = V-LAND>
<SYNTAX LAND WITH OBJECT = V-LAND>
<SYNONYM LAND DOCK INTERCEPT RENDEZVOUS>

<ROUTINE V-LAND ()
         <TELL "Such complicated tasks are best left to computers." CR>>

But it didn't work as I expected:

>LAND SHIP
Such complicated tasks are best left to computers.

>LAND
You can't go that way.

Apparently that's because the game defines the following words as directions:

<DIRECTIONS NORTH EAST WEST SOUTH UP DOWN IN OUT LAND CROSS>

I don't know if LAND and CROSS can be safely removed.

eriktorbjorn commented 5 years ago

It also leads to this bug:

>COMPUTER, LAND
"I'm only a navigational computer. That is not one of my functions."

If I remove LAND from the directions, I get a more appropriate message, for instance:

>COMPUTER, LAND
"Program cancelled. There is nothing nearby to land on."
arcanetrivia commented 3 years ago

I know "That is not one of my functions" is just a generic response to a command not otherwise handled, but don't you think it a bit strange that going in a specific direction is not among a navigational computer's functions...?