Starting Out Right

One thing our Airport currently lacks is a decent introduction. The game begins with a somewhat minimalist room description and that's it, leaving the player no indication of what he should be trying to do or what the game is actually about. We really need to add a proper introduction, which we can do in the showIntro() method of the gameMain object:

gameMain: GameMainDef
    /* Define the initial player character; this is compulsory */
    initialPlayerChar = me
    paraBrksBtwnSubcontents = nil
    
    showIntro()
    {
       "<font size=+2><b>Airport</b></font>\b
       They're out to get you. No, they really are --- <q>they</q> being the
       local drug barons. You've just got the evidence that will put them behind
       bars for the rest of the century, and now you're desperate to leave with
       it while you still can, since El Diablo and his henchmen will be equally
       desperate to stop you --- for good. They've pursued you as far as the
       airport and now your only hope is to get the first plane out of here.\b";
    }       
;

The gameMain object can also be used to define a number of options that affect the whole game (for a complete list, see the section on Beginnings in the adv3Lite Library Manual). Here we've taken the opportunity to define paraBrksBtwnSubcontents = nil (paragraph breaks between subcontents); this can make room listings more compact by removing the, possibly unnecessary, paragraph breaks between sentences like, "In the red box you see a pen and a notepad. On the desk you see a blotter and a diary."

Another thing players commonly try at the start of the game is X ME (EXAMINE ME), in order to get some idea about who the player character is meant to be. It's generally a good idea to oblige them by providing a custom description on the player character object:

+ me: Player'you'   
    "Secret agents are normally meant to be well equipped, but your quick
    getaway just now meant you had to leave just about everything behind
    except what you're wearing, and that's not much. You couldn't even go back
    to pick up your wallet or your credit card. "
;