Common Conventions

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As a text based game, there are a few common conventions in use here that you may not be familiar with.

The shortest explanation is that only words necessary for executing a command are typically recognized. For example, in Interactive Fiction games, it is common to do something like, look at <object>, while in Sentience, this would be look <object>.

action	natural example	sentience syntax	generic sentience example
look at an rock	look at rock	look rock	look <keyword>
look at an additional rock	look at second rock	look 2.rock	<verb> #.<npc>
put a rock into a box	put rock into box	put rock box	put <item> <container>
step into a portal	walk through portal	enter portal	enter <keyword>
interact with a door or container	open the door	open east	open|close|lock|unlock <container|direction>
interact with furniture	sit on the couch	sit couch	sit <keyword>

look in <container> is a notable exception to the above conventions.

You can further combine these as needed as part of your interaction with the world. To get the sword “Vengeance” from Scarm’s Coffin, equip it, and attack a guard, you would use a set of commands such as the following:

get vengeance coffin
equip vengeance
kill guard

The Passage of Time

Time in Sentience is currently handled at a rate of 1 hour ingame being approximately equal to 1 minute of real time. This means an ingame day will pass in 24 minutes. Most spells and other timers are built around this assumption, and you will often see reference to ‘ticks’. These are the once-per-minute pulses that will refresh your stats, cause objects to do things, and periodically reset zones.