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I don't seriously expect anybody to be greatly interested in using
A-code to develop adventures. Still, you never know. The built-in
browser mode might attract a brave soul
or two. Hence this page.
Not included are a few things, which as a putative user you are expected to
provide on your own:
- A text editor of your choice
- An ANSI C compiler
- Most important of all: a dash of creative imagination.
(NB: Depending on your browser's setup, you may need to hold down the
shift key when clicking on the link of any bundle to be downloaded.)
- Converting A-code
source into ANSI C source
The main job is done by the acdc utility, which
translates A-code source into ANSI C. But you also need to combine the
derived C source files with the A-code kernel ones. This document tells
all, as well as providing links for acdc and the kernel source files.
- Building an executable from derived
ANSI C source
Having converted the A-code source to ANSI C, you'll now want to
build an executable. This document explains how.
- Command line options
for A-code game executives
The A-code kernel understands a number of command line options,
though some of these need active support from the A-code source. E.g.
adv550 won't understand the name of a save file to restore being
supplied on the command line, and will land the player in limbo, with
no source of light.
- A-code 12 texts explained
This document explains the details of A-code texts in all their
non-standard glory. A minimal
understanding of the A-code language is helpful but not essential.
- A-code 11 guide
(Fairly obsolete, needs version 12 re-write)
Explains the concepts of the language and provides a reference guide
to its commands. The best way to learn A-code beyond that is to look at
the provided A-code sources. This document is really describing version
10 of A-code, though mixing in some of the version 11 enhancements. It
needs to be brought up-to-date with the current A-code version (11.90 at
the time of writing).
- A-code 12 minor
directives
Because the A-code guide is by now grossly out of date, this document
gives a terse summary of the minor A-code directives as of A-code
version 12.53.
- A-code 12 exec
codes
Because the A-code guide is by now grossly out of date, this document
gives a terse summary of code values supported by the EXEC minor
directive as of A-code version 12.53.
- Game-level
entities known to the A-code 12 kernel.
This document lists all game-level entities (i.e. objects, locations,
variables and flags), which are known to the A-code kernel (version
12.53 at the time of writing).
They are either used by the kernel to pass information to the level of
the game program, or can be used by the program to modify the behaviour
of the kernel.
- ANSI C sources of the A-code
12 engine ([an error occurred while processing this directive])
This tarball contains sources of the A-code to C translator
acdc version 12.23 (10 Mar 2013), A-code
kernel version 12.53 (05 April 2013), and some handy
but not essential scripts: advbuild.sh (Bourne shell
script, only useful on Unix/Linux/MacOS) and sortref.pl
(Perl script for sorting A-code cross-reference files).
- A-code 11 adventure
skeleton template ( 35K)
This template already codes for adventure basics. New
adventure can be built from it by adding your own code and customizing
the template one. NB: This is just an A-code version 10 toolkit. It'll
work with version 11 acdc and kernel, but I really must re-write it, so
that it takes advantage of the A-code features new in versions 11 and 12.
- A demo adventure
inplemented using the template
( 20K)
This is a different A-code implementation of the "Cloak of Darkness"
demo adventure, from the one to be found on the sources downloads page.
This one uses the skeleton template, thereby immediately providing a
much richer functionality than the ab initio implementation,
while also reducing to the minimum the amount of additional code.
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