node-adventure

A simple engine for text-adventures, based on Node.js and YAML.

How to play

If you just just want to play install the dependencies with npm install and run the app with node app.js

How to write your own adventures

The idea is to write your adventure as a deterministic finite state machine in YAML. The program will parse this YAML file and run your game on the commandline.

To write your adventure, you have to edit game_instructions.yml in the src folder. Every state has a prompt, which will be prompted when this state is active. In each state you can define interactions with objects, which will either result in a transition to a new state or a new prompt in the same state. It is also possible to combine multiple objects to create new actions. You can define as many states and many interactions and object as you like. If a state should be a valid endstate, name this state "end".

---
  # Define as many states as you want, naming them as you want
  q0:
    # Every state has a prompt, which will be prompted when state becomes active
    prompt: "You wake up in a bed in a dark room."
    # In every state, you can define interactions (verbs) with your environment
    actions:
      inspect:
        # You can define gameobjects (nouns) to interact with
        room:
          # Each interactions with a gameobject leads to a new prompt on the same state... 
          prompt: "The room is pretty dark. You notice a door."
      take:
        axe: 
          # ... or even a new state
          nextState: "q1"
      use:
        shovel:
          prompt: "You want to use the shovel, but with what?"
          # You can even combine gameobjects and create new interactions
          with:
            floor:
              # End states will end the game
              nextState: "end"

Author

Simon Breiter