In the game I'm writing at the moment, time is really important, and you will have to do some actions in a given time. Mistakes will have their importance too in the following events. Now, what bothers me is the undo function that is always accessible in the game menu (the little arrow) or just by typing "undo". How can I desactivate for the player this function that would clearly become a cheat function in my game. Thanks for your explanations.

I am assuming you are making a TA and the downloaded version of Quest. Add a REGULAR EXPRESSION command to the game tab in the GUI.

^undo$

Type the above in the box just under the regular expression drop down.

Add your script for whatever you want to happen when the player types 'undo'. In Into Dragon's Den, I added this print message script:

To undo that move would seem so wise,
but then you could just use more tries.
Too easy is what this game would be.
So no undo for you you'll see.

Ask if you have questions.

Exactly, I'm in the middle of a TA on the dowloaded software. Your solution is so simple I couldn't think of that ! It works flawlessly ! ^^ Thanks for your kind help.

I think you could also put destroy("undo") in your start script.

^Hm. Never used the destroy script.

Can I put a destroy(“spammers”) bit on the start script of the forums page? 😂

Hello.

UNDO is not a cheat function. It has been a standard text adventure command for three decades.

If you take that away, many of us will be unappreciative. Some of us will probably decide your game isn't even worth playing, unless it's a really good game.

For example, XanMag's game, Into the Dragon's Den, is an outstanding game, but players can't use undo. I think it would be in the top 10 if it allowed us to undo our mistakes, but, the way things stand, it has less than 1,000 plays. That's sad, too, because it really is an excellent game (besides the lack of UNDO).

You see, we're doing a lot of work when we're playing a text adventure, and we don't always know what to do next (no matter how simple the author may believe a puzzle is; the author thinks it's all easy to figure out because the author wrote it). One mistake should not cause the player to have to start a text adventure over from the beginning (or from a save point).

Besides, even if it was cheating, do players not have the right to cheat?

Ever heard of the GameShark? Or the GameFAQs website? Or Nintendo Power?

Heck, all we have to do is unzip a Quest game and open the game file in a text editor to see all the code (and we can even modify things).

...and wouldn't you consider restarting the game to go back and enter the correct command the same thing as entering UNDO to go back and enter the correct command? The only difference being the player has to do more work without undo?

I'm not trying to tell you how to make your game. I'm just sharing my point of view concerning this (which is (or at least once was) shared by the majority of the IF community).

Best wishes,
A Constant Adventurer

PS

Sorry. I get a little testy when I read about people taking my right to UNDO away. I understand why it may seem like a good idea at times, but...

Well, here's what the Inform documentation has to say regarding UNDO PREVENTION:

Many players consider UNDO to be their birthright, and that any work using this option is an abomination: indeed, it has even been suggested that this section of the Inform documentation be censored. To use the option is to court controversy if not outright hostility.

SOURCE: http://dhayton.haverford.edu/wp-content/uploads/Inform-manuals/WI_2_12.html

I disabled UNDO in my games because when I started a couple of years ago the operation didn't work properly with maps and turn scripts. That now seems fixed in Quest 5.8, so as soon as it is released UNDO will be put back!

@Richard Headkid
Whilst I concede that undo may, as you said, have been a feature of text adventures for three decades.
I do take issue with the following;

One mistake should not cause the player to have to start a text adventure over from the beginning (or from a save point).

How many mistakes is 'one'. It seems to me that you could conceivably keep typing undo, to eventually be at the start of the game and do it over again.
I know that my time being both the creator and player of adventure games is both tough and head-scratchingly infuriating, I want my puzzles to be fair and workable to give the adventurer something to think about and not go for an easy option like undo.

How many mistakes is 'one'.

I don't know... What does the word "is" mean?

It seems to me that you could conceivably keep typing undo, to eventually be at the start of the game and do it over again.

This is definitely the case.

I want my puzzles to be fair and workable to give the adventurer something to think about and not go for an easy option like undo.

That is your choice to make, and it's normally the player's to decide whether or not he or she enters "undo", unless someone has disabled undo, in which case the player may or may not continue playing, depending on the size and/or quality of the game.

Usually, I won't even notice if it's possible to undo, but, when I do try to undo my turn, it's not usually because I'm trying to cheat or make the game less enjoyable. It's because I'm trying to continue enjoying the game.

...and the undo command has been available for three decades. (I keep saying that, I know, but that's only because that proves that undo is a standard text adventure feature, which means text adventurers expect it to be there.)

Also, I use restraint. For example, if I'm solving a complex puzzle, be it a conversation or a three-correct-moves-in-a-row thing, or what have you, I generally don't use undo because there would be no challenge. If I make a careless mistake during play, though... I'd like to be able to undo my mistake.

To reiterate, and just to prove I'm not just being argumentative, modifying undo so it doesn't work during certain scenarios is one thing, but completely disabling undo in a big text adventure is going to irritate quite a few players.

PS

Hello, DrAgon and DavyB!

(KV here. RH is my pen name (sometimes).)

UNDO is not a cheat function.

It can be interpreted simply as a shorthand for "SAVE, attempt operation, RESTORE". That said, if a game designer doesn't want to provide it, or wants to discourage its use that seems reasonable. In my two educational games, for example, there is a scoring system with points deducted for hints, so when I reactivate UNDO in the next releases, anyone using "HINT, UNDO", should 'feel' they are cheating!

KV here. RH is my pen name (sometimes).

Hi KV, what happened to that promised/threatened break from the site?