;--------- Script file, contains INTRO, HELP, ETC. :)
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`7`h
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/PAUS:24
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[2A`
`9        The adventure BEGINS! `5  Written by `#Mike Snyder `8(wyndo@cxo.com)

/ENTER
/CLEAR
/PALETTE
/VIEW 1, 24
`}`d`
`%`d `0Breath Pirates`%, an `$INTRO`% adventure by `!Mike Snyder`%, (c)1997 `!Prowler Productions`% `h`7`
`}`d`
/VIEW 4, 24




















/LAG ON
`@`h     In the weeks before the Oxygen Wars began, a segment of Earth's popula-`7
`@`h tion began to have visions of a black-hooded figure holding a blood-stained`7
`@`h blade. The visions usually came as dreams, but not always. Although rare by`7
`@`h percentage, it wasn't uncommon to know somebody who claimed to be plagued`7
`@`h by these disturbing mental images.`7

`7`h     `@One day, only a few weeks after the visions began, the sun didn't come`7
`@`h up -- or that's what seemed to happen. In reality, a solar energy unlike`7
`@`h anything ever predicted had blotted out the sky. What we didn't know then,`7
`@`h but what we know now, is that this energy was causing the Earth's oxygen`7
`@`h to, for lack of a better word, dissolve.`7

`@`h     Within a week of the Black Onset, people began to die. A pattern quickly`7
`@`h emerged. In fact, it wasn't hard to see that the people dying were the ones`7
`@`h who'd had visions of the black-hooded figure.`7

`@`h     The war didn't begin immediately, however. It was preceded by attempts
`7`h `@to "cope" with the worldwide environmental changes.


[`A`
/ENTER

`@     Restrictions were imposed on oxygen consumption. Breathmasks and small
`@ pocket-sized tanks of concentrated oxygen were available for sale at very
`@ high prices by companies with the ability to produce it. Those who couldn't
`@ afford the equipment were breaking the law by breathing unsupplemented air.

`@     Within a year this point became acedemic, as unsupplemented air no longer
`@ contained enough oxygen to breath. The war started gradually in the form of
`@ worldwide riots. It escalated into a full-blown war in which governments and
`@ their corporate sponsors fought back against the rebellious population.

`@     This story takes place somewhere in the final months of the first year
`@ of the Black Onset (before the first pre-war riots had even begun), so a
`@ further history lesson isn't necessary. This is the story of the most
`@ important person in the history of the Oxygen Wars. This is the story of
`@ an unknown agent who brought the war to an end and instigated the rebirth of
`@ our world. This is the story of one agent's initiation into the rebellion,
`@ from which our best agents were recruited.

`@     This is your story.

/ENTER
/LAG OFF
/ABORT
;---------------------- Help/Instructions
@@HELP
/CLEAR

`4****** `$INTRODUCTION

`7     Welcome to `@Breath Pirates`7, a text adventure written in October 1997
`7 by Mike Snyder of Wichita, Kansas. If you've played this kind of game before,
`7 then you probably won't need much help winning it very quickly. This is a
`7 small adventure -- my first one in over 7 years -- and I created it to get
`7 familiar with adventure programming again so I can tackle LARGER projects.

`7     If you HAVEN'T played an adventure before, then let me welcome you to
`7 the greatest (and one of the first) computer game concepts... adventures!
`7 Text adventures have also come to be known as "Interactive Fiction." You
`7 won't find high-powered graphics in (most) text adventures. The images come
`7 from the author's ability to weave a picture in your head -- much the way a
`7 book compares to a movie.

`7     In an age of multi-CD Super-VGA masterpieces, created by large teams,
`7 some of the essential elements of adventure gaming have been lost to the
`7 masses. What most people never knew or have forgotten -- but what you are
`7 about to discover -- is that nothing -- NOTHING -- can replace the original
`7 idea that started it all -- the original Text Adventure game!

/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$HOW TO PLAY

`7     You have direct control in a text adventure. Simply type a command and
`7 see if it works. You INTERACT with the game this way. Although there are
`7 standard "commands" you use to play, nearly every adventure adds something
`7 new, or a new command you must figure out to win.

`7     Some of the traditional VERB commands include `2GET`7, `2DROP`7, `2LOOK`7, `2EAT`7, `2JUMP`7,
`7 `2CLIMB`7, `2TALK`7, `2OPEN `7and so forth. This is definitely not a complete list,
`7 nor are all of those verbs necessarily used in this game.

`7     Although the commands are traditionally a VERB followed by a NOUN, this
`7 doesn't mean you can only use 2-word input -- actually, you can type full
`7 sentences if you wish: UNLOCK THE GATE TO THE NORTH USING MY BRASS KEY.

`7     Text adventures take place in a series of "rooms." For instance, on the
`7 deck of a ship, in a crew cabin aboard a ship, or in the galley of a ship.
`7 The room is described to you, and the description itself often contains key
`7 words and clues for things to look at.


[`A`
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$HOW TO PLAY (continued)

`7     In this adventure, article adjectives (the, an, a) can be used if you
`7 wish, but are not necessary. For instance, you can simply type `0GET BOOK
`7 instead of `0GET THE BOOK`7 but either one would work if you prefer doing
`7 more typing than necessary -- Type whole sentences if you wish!

`7     Sometimes, you can use the word `2ALL `7in place of a noun, particularly
`7 with the `0GET `7and `0DROP `7commands. For instance, if a book, a clock, and
`7 a knife were in the current room, you could use `0GET ALL`7 instead of three
`7 individual commands comprised of `0GET BOOK`7 then `0GET CLOCK `7then `0GET
`0 KNIFE`7. You can also use `2AND `7in certain places. For instance, in the
`7 example above you could `0GET BOOK AND KNIFE `7to pick up two of the items
`7 without picking up the clock in the process. If you prefer, however, you
`7 can certainly do each command by itself.

`7     Commands themselves can be compounded by using the word `2THEN `7or a
`7 period `0. `7or semicolon `0;`7. For instance, if you intended to place a
`7 cup on a shelf then push the shelf then look at the shelf you could type
`7 the command `0PUT CUP ON SHELF THEN PUSH SHELF THEN LOOK SHELF`7 to avoid
`7 typing three separate commands.
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$HOW TO PLAY (continued)

`7     Some commands require more than just a verb and a noun. For example,
`7 if you were in a room with three pots and you intended to put a marble
`7 in one of them, you might have to type `0PUT MARBLE IN CENTER POT`7 to get
`7 the result you wanted. If you wanted to write a message on a piece of
`7 paper, you might have to type `0WRITE "HELP ME" ON PAPER USING PEN`7 (if
`7 you had a piece of paper and a pen).

`4****** `$DIRECTIONAL COMMANDS

`7     You move from room to room by typing a direction. Most adventures allow
`7 you to abbreviate the direction to one letter. It's much more convenient
`7 to type `0N`7 if you want to walk north than it is to type `0NORTH `7or even
`7 `0GO NORTH`7 but any of these would probably work. Some adventures also support
`7 `0U`7 for UP and `0D`7 for DOWN, as well as `0NW`7 for northwest,`0 SE`7 for southeast,
`7 and so forth. It's usually a good idea to create a map as you go along to
`7 help keep from getting lost. North would be toward the top of the page. South
`7 would be toward the bottom.


[1A`
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$ADDITIONAL COMMANDS

`7     In addition to the standard commands that almost all adventures use...

`0                GET `2<item>        `7Example: `0GET KNIFE
`0               DROP `2<item>        `7Example: `0DROP KNIFE
`0               LOOK `2<something>   `7Example: `0LOOK STATUE
`0               OPEN `2<something>   `7Example: `0OPEN CONTAINER
`0               TALK `2<person>      `7Example: `0TALK TO BILLY BOB

`0       N S E W U D NW SW SE SW    `7(Movement Directions)

`7 ...you will find additional commands in many adventures, including this one:

`0        INV `7or `0I `7-- `2Display items you are carrying (inventory)
`0            SAVE `7-- `2Save your position in case you die or quit.
`0            LOAD `7-- `2Load a previously saved game.
`0            QUIT `7-- `2Quit playing (exit the game).
`0           SCORE `7-- `2Show your current score.
`0            LOOK `7-- `2when used by itself will re-display the room!

/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$A WORD ON PARSING

`7     Keep in mind that you are talking to a computer, so try not to get too
`7 frustrated when the command you try doesn't do what you'd hoped. Many times,
`7 it just wasn't understood, or it's just not something you NEED to do to
`7 complete the game.

`7     It might seem totally natural to see a pond in the game and attempt to
`0 SWIM IN POND`7, but if the author of the game didn't anticipate this, then
`7 you will likely not get the result you expected. Or, you might walk into a
`7 room with many beautiful tapestries. You may find that you can't GET them or
`7 even LOOK at them. This is usually because they're only there to serve in the
`7 image the author is painting in your mind. This doesn't mean you shouldn't
`7 TRY to get them or look at them, because this might actually be something you
`7 are SUPPOSED to do.

`7     The act of "parsing" is the game's attempt to make sense of the command
`7 you typed. Some games will only accept `0GET BOOK`7 to pick up a book. This
`7 type of rigid parser would reject `0GET THE BOOK`7 because it wasn't built
`7 to expect the word "the" in the middle. Other games recognize almost anything
`7 you type, to the point of "guessing" what you really meant.
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$SAMPLE SESSIONS

`7     To give you an idea of what to expect, here are a few samples.

`3    You are standing on a long pier. Behind you to the south, your car
`3    is parked and the engine is running. It looks as though you missed
`3    your boat. In fact, it's nothing more than a dot on the horizon now.

`9    Your Command: `%SWIM TO BOAT
`7    You would never make it in time.
`9    Your Command: `%TURN OFF ENGINE
`7    That's a good idea. You turn off your car's engine.
`9    Your Command: `%LOOK PIET
`7    What are you trying to look at? You don't see that here.
`9    Your Command: `%LOOK PIER
`7    There is a jet ski floating beside the pier.
`9    Your Command: `%USE JET SKI
`7    You hop aboard the jet ski, turn the key (which was already in the
`7    ignition) and speed away toward the distant ship.


[1A`
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$SAMPLE SESSIONS (continued)

`3    Speeding away on the jet ski, you have arrived at the ship. It moves
`3    along slowly beside you.

`9    Your Command: `%CLIMB SHIP
`7    You can't just climb up the side of the ship.
`9    Your Command: `%YELL FOR HELP
`7    I don't understand what you're trying to do.
`9    Your Command: `%LOOK

`3    You are on your jet ski, floating beside the ship which moves slowly
`3    beside you.

`9    Your Command: `%N
`7    There is no exit to the north.
`9    Your Command: `%LOOK SHIP
`7    You see a rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship.
`9    Your Command: `%CLIMB LADDER
`7    You reach out to grab the ladder and your jet ski falls over and is
`7    left behind. You reach a ledge and, with effort, haul yourself aboard.
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$WHY I DIDN'T USE AN ADVENTURE-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE

`7     In the text adventure/interactive fiction circles, a large push toward
`7 "platform independence" has been established. This means that adventures are
`7 being written using tools that allow them to be used on virtually ANY comp-
`7 uter -- not just IBM PC compatibles. This is a wonderful thing but I found
`7 several problems in it which prompted me to write my first one for IBM PC's
`7 only.

`7     I'm not trying to cause waves among die-hard adventurists who aren't
`7 currently and possibly never will be IBM PC users, but I had reasons.

`7     I have downloaded games in the past that "require" other files to run.
`7 These games are promptly deleted from my system unless I was particularly
`7 looking for the game. For instance, the title of a game might interest me,
`7 and I'm disheartened to discover that I can't use it until I find the
`7 "interpeter" it were written under. I know I'm not the only person who has
`7 had this problem. For success among IBM users (who make up the vast
`7 majority of computer users these days) a download must work by itself.


[1A`
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$WHY I DIDN'T USE AN ADVENTURE-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE (continued)

`7     I found a few shortcomings in what I've seen so far as well. Granted,
`7 the parsing systems in these adventure-specific programming languages blow
`7 mine to smithereens. I'd hate to think that the parser "makes" the game
`7 though -- the GAME should make the game. I want to deliver text adventures
`7 that are not only fun to play but visually appealing as well. This may
`7 very well be possible in an adventure-specific language, but I didn't see
`7 it and I was extremely eager to start working on something.

`7     It might become just another feeble effort, but I'd like to recruit a
`7 large, new adventure game following by creating good adventures, for free,
`7 and promoting them aside other shareware products I have on the market.
`7 I feel that this can best be accompolished with stand-alone IBM/PC games.

`7     Also, I ENJOYED writing this game and its parsing system. I've been
`7 encouraged to not "re-invent the wheel." I feel like it's the TIRE that I'm
`7 re-inventing, if that makes any sense. My main goal was to create a look and
`7 feel of my own -- not to create an amazing parsing system.


[1A`
/ANYQUIT

`4****** `$WHY I DIDN'T USE AN ADVENTURE-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE (continue)

`7     I will probably learn and use an adventure-specific language to achieve
`7 platform-independence, or (if anybody is willing to help port one to other
`7 platforms) write my own. For a time, I plan to refine my skills by writing
`7 DOS-based games.

`4****** `$WANT MORE?

`7     Keep in mind that `@Breath Pirates`7 is just a small game -- any seasoned
`7 adventurist should be able to beat it 30 minutes I'm sure. It's just the
`7 intro to `@The Oxygen Wars`7 which I haven't written as of this release but
`7 plan to if I get good feedback from this.

`7    A great source for more text adventure games, including those that are
`7 built using adventure-specific languages to run on nearly any computer,
`7 is the FTP site `2ftp.gmd.de `7in the `2/if-archive`7 directory! If you need
`7 to reach me, email me at: `2wyndo@cxo.com`7. My web site (for BBS doors and
`7 more) is `2http://www.cxo.com/~wyndo`7. `7For an adventure game player's forum
`7 on the internet, check out `2rec.games.int-fiction`7.

/ANYQUIT

;`7     This game is FREEWARE. This means it's totally legal to copy it and
;`7 give it to other people, in fact it's encouraged! However, it isn't legal
;`7 to charge for it beyond a modest fee for a disk or shipping charges. If
;`7 this game is available for download on a BBS or internet area, no fees
;`7 may be charged for accessing this file other than the normal fee you would
;`7 pay to be online. If you were charged for this game, or you were charged to
;`7 download it, please report it to me at the email address below, because
;`7 whoever charged you has committed a crime!

