This happens in a brand new game, TA offline editor. Can't believe I never ran across this before.

Say you have a diagonal exit -- e.g., "northwest" -- from room1 to room2 (and, conversely, "southeast" from room2 to room1). There is only the one exit in each room. If you are in room1 and type "n", Quest will move you northwest into room2! In a similar vein, Quest will move you southeast from room2 to room1 if you type "s". I guess Quest sees "n" and "s" as abbreviations for "northwest" and "southeast", since there are no actual north/south exits to compare commands against. This bug is also true for looking in those same directions.

Is this true for everyone else?

it also might be doing this possibly:

it's intentional (doing 'pathfinding')

n: no north...
is there a ne? no...
is there a nw, yes...

w: no west...
is there a nw? no...
is there a sw, yes...

e: no east...
is there a ne? no...
is there a se, yes...

s: no south...
is there a sw? no...
is there a se, yes...

up 1: no
over left: no
over right: yes

down 1: no
over left: no
over right: yes

left 1: no
up 1: no
down 1: yes

right 1: no
up 1: no
down 1: yes

or, alternatively to 'pathfinding', it's doing string parsing:

nw

n: is there a matching 'n' direction exit: no
ne: is there a matching 'ne' direction exit: no
nw: is there a matching 'nw' directionexit: yes

// err, actually it'd probaby be this order:

nw

ne: is there a matching 'ne' direction exit: no
nw: is there a matching 'nw' direction exit: yes
n: is there a matching 'n' direction exit: no // actually we'd not get to this here step/check, obviously

I found an old post where Alex mentions setting it up so the player can enter the first letter of a direction, and another where Quest would ask 1 N or 2 NW if you had the choice, but I can't find the script in Quest.

It's not a bug, it's a feature. Quest tries to find the best match to your input. Same, when taking an apple if you type 'take a'

It's not really a bug, though.

Well... I can see how it could be considered a nuisance...

I like being able to enter N to go NW (the same goes for NE, SW, and SE).

The feature was added before diagonal directions even existed by default, I believe.

(I think it's the same script that allows you to enter GET ORA instead of GET ORANGE.)

If that's the only exit in the room, you could probably make a custom go #text#;go to #text# command for that room.

I'll test that out.

You can create a n;nw command on any room with no northern exit.

EDIT

Ah! Hello, Pertex!

You beat me to that one!

ANOTHER EDIT

Argh!

HK said that already, too...

Sometimes I'm multi-tasking, you guys.

KV.multi-tasking = not_really_accomplishing_anything

I came up with a simple solution.

Set this command on the offending room:

    <command name="no_north">
      <script>
        msg ("You can't go that way.")
      </script>
      <pattern>n;north</pattern>
    </command>

If room1 goes northwest to room2, and northeast to room3, and you type "n" from room1, then Quest gives you the disambiguation menu. I personally don't like going nw or ne by typing "n", but then I'm a stickler.

Your logic is sound, Dcoder.

...but it is considered a feature, and it was added purposefully by Alex.

Strangely enough, I like being able to enter N to go NW or NE, but I don't like being able to enter just the first few letters of object names.

In fact, that's the number one complaint I get from Quest players who play the game I made with Inform 7.

Q: "Why can't I just type in the first three letters of something?"

A: Isn't typing an entire word something kids still do nowadays? Or has texting and Twitter mutated humans more than I imagined?

NOTE: I think Inform 7 games (as well as INFOCOM games) only parse the first 6 characters of an object's name, but they definitely don't know that APP means APPLE.

Yes, KV, I actually find it more satisfying to type out the entire object alias, unless it's a finger-twisting/complicated one. Of course, we older, I mean more mature, folks are used to typing things out completely, as opposed to the younger generations and their smartphone lingo. Guess that makes me an old guy. LOL...no wait, WTF?

I'd normally type a whole word, but not necessarily a whole alias. Like "put bunny in box" even if it's a "giant rabbit sculpture" and a "gilded treasure box".

... thought a playtester pointed out in my first game that the auto-completion, combined with trying to provide every alias a player might think to use, meant that in my first attempt at a game an important action could be shortened to "put cat in ass". I would have preferred that not to work.

Yeah, there are headphones in one of the games I'm collaborating on.

You can enter GET HEAD.

Uh...
huh-huh-huh

I agree about the alias.

GET GILDED is how it should work. Don't ask me which one unless the both have the same first word, that's what I say.

eat shitake mushroom!

I needed that laugh!

Thanks!

I think that if the alias has adjectives in, it should be able to accept the noun; because that's how you'd give the instruction in English. If you've got more than one box, then you should be able to identify it by any combination of adjectives that specify a unique item. So "get big box", "get green box", "get box from floor" … the parser mostly does it well, at the cost of sometimes accepting things it shouldn't. I'd say that overall, that's preferable to the alternative.

KV:

Yeah, there are headphones in […]

My first thought on that is if they're wearable, you have the option of:

> REMOVE HEAD
You take it off.

Yes, sir.

You can:

GET HEAD
DON HEAD
REMOVE HEAD

It's no big deal. It actually amuses me.

I agree, mrangel. It is definitely preferable to the alternative:

You can see no such thing.

@mrangel

I didn't mean to butt in on that other thread. I was just trying to save you from repeating yourself over and over.

I'll control myself from now on.

Which thread? Think I'm losing track of how many I'm replying to.

I'm not good at explaining stuff; I think I might be better at code than English, which isn't ideal for an author.

@mrangel

Explaining stuff:

You've taught me at least 6 things in the past week. (I think it's a reception issue if someone isn't getting you. You're broadcasting loud and clear.)

...and it's the thread you'll see pop up just after this one (if you haven't already). (I don't really want to call any more attention to it, out of politeness. The OP seems to be trying really, really hard to wrap his mind around everything, and his game doesn't look too shabby, either.)

>I'm not good at explaining stuff; I think I might be better at code than English, which isn't ideal for an author.

You are clear, concise, and to the point. Plus, I don't think we're talking to native English speakers 1/3 of the time on this site. ...which is cool, don't get me wrong. It's just a little more difficult to help in those instances.