chapter 32 "QCS: Commands"
What with muds being text only, QCS has no fancy windowing system.
Using a menu-driven creation system was ruled out quickly due to the
vast complexity of the menus that would be required. Instead, QCS
relies on a few powerful commands.
create
This is the command that gets the ball rolling. This command
is what lets you bring a new thing into existence. The things you can
create can be seen by typing "help create". Examples are rooms, weapons,
doors, and so on. We will be reviewing each of those in later chapters.
When you issue this command a generic version of the item you
wish to create appears (or, in the case of a room, appears in the
direction you specify). Once that generic copy materializes, you can
change it to suit your needs using the "modify" command.
modify
I tend to regard this command as the heart and soul of QCS. It's
this tool that lets you make your world your own. Your new generic
things are not useful or fun until you modify them. A "generic weapon"
isn't very interesting, but a "mithrilite poleaxe" might be just the
thing to deal with a pesky dragon.
add
Creatures, rooms, and containers are capable of storing other
things. Once you make an ogre, you may want to give him a hammer to
wield. After you make that hammer, you use the add command to let
the ogre have that wepon in his permanent inventory.
delete
On the other hand, you may be tired of that ogre after a while. If
he is a part of the permanent inventory of a room, you can use the
delete command to remove him permanently. Or if you'd rather he have
a Kill-O-Zap Frogstar blaster rather than a hammer, get rid of the
hammer in his inventory with this command.
copy
This is a room-specific command. Rather than write multiple,
nearly identical rooms for large areas, you can use the copy command to
make the room you are almost exactly like any other room you choose,
except for the exits, which remain the same. Handy for big forests,
cell-blocks, twisty mazes of little passages, etc.
initfix
If a thing isn't working right, try to initfix it. "init()" is
an object function that many items need in order to work properly. If
you've run into something that is behaving unexpectedly, run initfix on
it. The trouble just might clear up.
