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<title>DM4 §23: ‘Ruins’ revisited</title>
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<a id="p176" name="p176"></a>
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<h2>§23 ‘Ruins’ revisited</h2>
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<blockquote>These fragments I have shored against my ruins<br>
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— T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), <i>The Waste Land</i></blockquote>
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<p class="normal"><span class="atleft"><img src="dm4-176_1.jpg" alt=""></span>
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Though ‘Ruins’ is a small world, and distorted in shape by
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the needto have “one example of everything”, it seems worth
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a few pages to gather together the fragments scattered through the book
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so far and complete the game.</p>
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<p class="indent">To begin with, the stage set back in
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<a href="s4.html">§4</a> was too generic, too plain. Chosen
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at random, it may as well become La Milpa, a site rediscovered in dense
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rainforest by Eric Thompson in 1938, towards the end of the glory days
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of archaeological exploration. (La Milpa has been sadly looted since.)
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Though this is something of a cliché of interactive fiction,
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‘Ruins’ contains two objects whose purpose is to anchor
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the player in time and place. Lining the packing case, we find:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object -> -> newspaper "month-old newspaper"
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with name 'times' 'newspaper' 'paper' 'month-old' 'old',
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"~The Times~ for 26 February, 1938, at once damp and brittle
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after a month's exposure to the climate, which is much the
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way you feel yourself. Perhaps there is fog in London.
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Perhaps there are bombs.";
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<p class="normal">And among the player's initial possessions:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object map "sketch-map of Quintana Roo"
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with name 'map' 'sketch' 'sketch-map' 'quintana' 'roo',
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"This map marks little more than the creek which brought you
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here, off the south-east edge of Mexico and into deepest
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rainforest, broken only by this raised plateau.";
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<p class="normal">To turn from the setting to the prologue, it is a
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little too easy to enter the structure in the rainforest. And if the
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steps were always open, surely the rain would sluice in? Recall that
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the <code>Forest</code> includes inward map connections to the <code>steps</code>,
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which are a door, instead of to the <code>Square_Chamber</code> directly:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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<pre class="code">d_to steps, in_to steps,</pre>
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<a id="p177" name="p177"></a>
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<p class="normal">The steps are, however, intentionally blocked by
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rubble, as happened in thecase of the hidden staircase found by Alberto
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Ruz beneath the Temple of theInscriptions at another site, Palenque:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object -> steps "stone-cut steps"
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with name 'steps' 'stone' 'stairs' 'stone-cut' 'pyramid' 'burial'
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'structure' 'ten' '10',
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if (self.rubble_filled)
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"Rubble blocks the way after only a few steps.";
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print "The cracked and worn steps descend into a dim
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chamber. Yours might ";
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if (Square_Chamber hasnt visited)
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print "be the first feet to tread";
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else print "have been the first feet to have trodden";
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" them for five hundred years. On the top step is
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inscribed the glyph Q1.";
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if (self.rubble_filled)
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"Rubble blocks the way after only a few steps.";
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return Square_Chamber;
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has scenery door open;
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<p class="indent">Next we must face the delicate issue of how to get from
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the mundane 1930s to a semi-magical Maya world. The stock device of
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Miguel Angel Asturias's <i>Leyendas de Guatemala</i> and other founding
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works of magic realism (indeed, of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> come to
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think of it) is for the arriving, European rationalist to become
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fascinated by a long tale told by local peasants. This would take too
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much code to get right in so small a game, though, and there also
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remains the unresolved question of what the mushroom is for.
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So we delete the original <code>before</code> rule for the mushroom,
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which made eating it potentially fatal, and instead give it an <code>after</code>:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Eat: steps.rubble_filled = false;
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"You nibble at one corner, unable to trace the source of an
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acrid taste, distracted by the flight of a macaw overhead
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which seems to burst out of the sun, the sound of the beating
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of its wings almost deafening, stone falling against stone.";
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<a id="p178" name="p178"></a>
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<img src="dm4-178_1.jpg" longdesc="colophon.html#ld_map"
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title="Map of ‘Ruins’"
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alt="This is a typical map of `Ruins'; which names all eleven
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"rooms" (such as Great Plaza*), uses lines to mark the
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connections between them, and lists the items of interest in each room
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under the room's name. Some connections are also labelled to indicate
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if a connection is one-way or requires puzzle-solving.">
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<p class="aside">* The player begins at the Great Plaza, carrying
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the map, the sodium lamp and Waldeck's Mayan dictionary.
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[<a href="colophon.html#ld_map">description</a>]</p>
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<a id="p179" name="p179"></a>
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<p class="normal">This is fairly authentic, as a cult of hallucinogenic
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mushrooms seems to have existed. Anyway, the player is getting off
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pretty lightly considering that Maya lords also went in for narcotic
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enemas and ritual blood-letting from the tongue and penis, an interactive
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fiction for which the world is not yet ready.</p>
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<p class="indent">Descending underground, <a href="s8.html">§8</a>
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alluded to an eggsac which burst on contact with natural light. Naturally,
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this repellent object belongs in the Wormcast, and here is its definition:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object -> eggsac "glistening white eggsac",
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with name 'egg' 'sac' 'eggs' 'eggsac',
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initial "A glistening white eggsac, like a clump of frogspawn
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the size of a beach ball, has adhered itself to something
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in a crevice in one wall.",
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Take: "Oh my.";
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Go: if (location == Square_Chamber && noun == u_obj) {
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"The moment that natural light falls upon the
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eggsac, it bubbles obscenely and distends. Before
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you can throw it away, it bursts into a hundred
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tiny, birth-hungry insects...";
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<p class="normal">Note the clue that some object is within the egg sac:
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as it turned out in <a href="s8.html">§8</a>, a stone key, released
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by putting the egg sac into the shaft of sunlight. The key itself has
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a very short definition:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object stone_key "stone key"
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with name 'stone' 'key';
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<p class="normal">This is not an easy puzzle, but a further clue is
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provided by the carvings onthe Stone Chamber wall, which can be translated
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with Waldeck's dictionary to read “becoming the Sun/life”.</p>
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<p class="indent">Given the key, the player must next solve the problem
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of bringing light to the Stooped Corridor, by pushing the burning sodium
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lamp south. This means, as promised in <a href="s14.html">§14</a>,
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adding a <code>before</code> rule to the lamp:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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if (location == Shrine && second == sw_obj)
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"The nearest you can do is to push the sodium lamp to
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the very lip of the Shrine, where the cave floor falls<a id="p180" name="p180"></a>
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AllowPushDir(); rtrue;
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<p class="normal"><a href="s14.html">§14</a> also promised to
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run down the battery power: although since 100 turns is plenty, this
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rule doesn't play any real part in the game and is just window-dressing.
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We need to <code>StartDaemon(sodium_lamp)</code> in the <code>Initialise</code>
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routine, and define the lamp's daemon along the following lines:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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if (self hasnt on) return;
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if (--self.battery_power == 0)
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give self ~light ~on;
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if (self in location) {
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switch (self.battery_power) {
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10: "^The sodium lamp is getting dimmer!";
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5: "^The sodium lamp can't last much longer.";
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0: "^The sodium lamp fades and suddenly dies.";
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<p class="normal">With the obligatory light puzzle solved, the Shrine
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can at last be opened:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object Shrine "Shrine"
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"This magnificent Shrine shows signs of being hollowed out
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from already-existing limestone caves, especially in the
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western of the two long eaves to the south.",
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n_to StoneDoor, se_to Antechamber,
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"The eaves taper out into a crevice which would wind
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further if it weren't jammed tight with icicles. The glyph
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of the Crescent is not quite obscured by ice.";
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<p class="normal">Looking up the Crescent glyph in the dictionary
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(<a href="s16.html">§16</a>) reveals that it stands for the word
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“xibalbá”: asking the Priest
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(<a href="s17.html">§17</a>) brought into existence by wearing
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the jade mosaic mask (<a href="s11.html">§11</a>) melts the icicles
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and makes the southwest connection to Xibalbá, of which more
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later. No Maya game would be complete without their religiously-observed
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cyclical countings of time:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object -> paintings "paintings"
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with name 'painting' 'paintings' 'lord' 'captive',
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initial "Vividly busy paintings, of the armoured Lord trampling
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on a captive, are almost too bright to look at, the
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graffiti of an organised mob.",<a id="p181" name="p181"></a>
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description "The flesh on the bodies is blood-red. The markers
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of the Long Count date the event to 10 baktun 4 katun 0 tun
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0 uinal 0 kin, the sort of anniversary when one Lord would
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finally decapitate a captured rival who had been ritually
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tortured over a period of some years, in the Balkanised
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insanity of the Maya city states.",
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<p class="normal">Having called the priest “calendrical”,
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here's another topic to <code>Ask</code> the priest about:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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'paintings': "The calendrical priest frowns.
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~10 baktun, 4 katun, that makes 1,468,800 days
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since the beginning of time: in your calendar
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19 January 909.~";
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<p class="normal">And also, to make the point once more, and remind
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the player once again ofdistant Europe:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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if (noun == newspaper)
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"He looks at the date. ~12 baktun 16 katun 4 tun
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1 uinal 12 kin~, he declares before browsing the
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front page. ~Ah. Progress, I see.~";
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<p class="normal">Perhaps the player will never see either calculation:
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if so, it doesn't matter, as dates and calendars turn out to be this
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game's red herring. (Every game should have one.) The Antechamber of
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the Shrine is an undistinguished room…</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object Antechamber "Antechamber"
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"The southeastern eaves of the Shrine make a curious
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<p class="normal">… except that this is where the iron cage
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(<a href="s15.html">§15</a> and <a href="s21.html">§21</a>)
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is located, so that the Burial Shaft lies below, with its complex
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puzzle in which the player is transformed to a warthog and back again,
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opening the shaft. Lastly, then, in the southwest eaves of the Shrine
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is a natural cave entrance, which in Mayan mythology leads to the
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Underworld. There is supposed to be a crossroads here, but in this
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modest game a three-way junction is all we have space for:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object Junction "Xibalb@'a"
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"Fifty metres beneath rainforest, and the sound of water
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is everywhere: these deep, eroded limestone caves<a id="p182" name="p182"></a>
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extend like tap roots. A slither northeast by a broad
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collapsed column of ice-covered rock leads back to the
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Shrine, while a kind of canyon floor extends uphill to
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the north and downwards to south, pale white like shark's
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teeth in the diffused light from the sodium lamp above.",
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ne_to Shrine, n_to Canyon_N, u_to Canyon_N,
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s_to Canyon_S, d_to Canyon_S,
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Treasure -> stela "stela"
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with name 'stela' 'boundary' 'stone' 'marker',
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"A modest-sized stela, or boundary stone, rests on a
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ledge at head height.",
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"The carvings appear to warn that the boundary of
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Xibalb@'a, Place of Fright, is near. The Bird glyph is
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<p class="normal">This canyon houses the eight-foot pumice stone ball
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(see <a href="s15.html">§15</a>) at the north end, and the
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chasm (<a href="s2.html">§12</a>, <a href="s21.html">§21</a>)
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object Canyon_N "Upper End of Canyon"
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with s_to Junction, d_to Junction,
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"The higher, broader northern end of the canyon rises only
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to an uneven wall of volcanic karst.",
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Object Canyon_S "Lower End of Canyon"
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with n_to Junction, u_to Junction,
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s_to "Into the chasm?", d_to nothing,
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"At the lower, and narrower, southern end, the canyon stops
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dead at a chasm of vertiginous blackness. Nothing can be
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seen or heard from below.",
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<p class="normal">As promised in <a href="s12.html">§12</a>,
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the chasm must react to having the stone ball pushed into it, which
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means adding this to the chasm's definition:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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if (huge_ball in parent(self)) {
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remove huge_ball; Canyon_S.s_to = On_Ball;
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Canyon_S.description = "The southern end of the canyon
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now continues onto the pumice-stone ball, wedged into
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the chasm.";<a id="p183" name="p183"></a>
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"^The pumice-stone ball rolls out of control down the
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last few feet of the canyon before shuddering into the
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jaws of the chasm, bouncing back a little and catching
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you a blow on the side of the forehead. You slump
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forward, bleeding, and... the pumice-stone shrinks,
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or else your hand grows, because you seem now to be
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holding it, staring at Alligator, son of seven-Macaw,
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across the ball-court of the Plaza, the heads of his
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last opponents impaled on spikes, a congregation baying
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for your blood, and there is nothing to do but to throw
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anyway, and... but this is all nonsense, and you have
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a splitting headache.";
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<p class="normal">(Horribly violent, semi-religious ball-game rituals
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are common in early central America, though nobody knows why: all substantial
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Maya cities have prominent ball-courts.) A fat paragraph of text in which
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fairly interesting thingshappen, beyond the player's control, is sometimes
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called a “cut-scene”. Most critics dislike the casual use
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of cut-scenes, and ‘Ruins’ would be a better game if the
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confrontation with Alligator were an interactive scene. But this manual
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hasn't the space. Instead, here is the final location, which represents
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“standing on the wedged ball”:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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Object On_Ball "Pumice-Stone Ledge"
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with n_to Canyon_S, d_to Canyon_S, u_to Canyon_S,
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"An impromptu ledge formed by the pumice-stone ball,
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wedged into place in the chasm. The canyon nevertheless
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Treasure -> "incised bone"
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with name 'incised' 'carved' 'bone',
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"Of all the sacrificial goods thrown into the chasm, perhaps
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nothing will be reclaimed: nothing but an incised bone,
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lighter than it looks, which projects from a pocket of wet
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silt in the canyon wall.",
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"A hand holding a brush pen appears from the jaws of
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Itzamn@'a, inventor of writing, in his serpent form.";
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<a id="p184" name="p184"></a>
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<p class="normal">And this is where Itzamná lays down his brush,
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for this is the fifth and last of the cultural artifacts to collect.
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The game ends when they are all deposited in the packing case, a rule
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which means a slight expansion of the definition of <code>Treasure</code>:</p>
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<p class="lynxonly"></p>
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if (score == MAX_SCORE) {
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"As you carefully pack away ", (the) second,
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" a red-tailed macaw flutters down from the tree-tops,
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feathers heavy in the recent rain, the sound of its
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beating wings almost deafening, stone falling against
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stone... As the skies clear, a crescent moon rises above
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a peaceful jungle. It is the end of March, 1938, and it
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is time to go home.";
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<p class="aside"><span class="warning">▲</span>
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The following sequence of 111 moves tests ‘Ruins’ from
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beginning to end: “examine case / read newspaper / get newspaper
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/ get camera / down / examine steps / east / up / enter structure 10 /
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eat mushroom / eat mushroom / down / examine inscriptions / look up arrow
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in dictionary / east / get eggsac / west / put eggsac in sunlight /
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get key / drop lamp / light lamp / look / push lamp s / get statuette /
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drop all except camera / photograph statuette / get key / open door /
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unlock door with key / open door / drop key / get pygmy / north / up /
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put pygmy in case / down / south / get dictionary / get newspaper / south
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/ north / push lamp south / examine paintings / drop all but camera /
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photograph mask / get mask / get dictionary / get newspaper / wear mask /
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show dictionary to priest / show newspaper to priest / drop newspaper /
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ask priest about ruins / ask priest about paintings / se / nw / push lamp se
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/ push lamp nw / sw / look up crescent in dictionary / ask priest about
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xibalba / sw / north / push ball south / push ball south / south / drop
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all but camera / remove mask / drop mask / photograph bone / get all /
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north / north / drop all but camera / photograph stela / get all / ne /
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north / north / up / put bone in case / put stela in case / put mask in
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case / down / east / nw / west / south / south / push lamp se / examine
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cage / enter cage / open cage / nw / north / north / east / down / east
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/ up / drop all but camera / photograph honeycomb / get all / up / open
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cage / out / push lamp nw / north / north / up / put honeycomb in case”.</p>
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<p class="aside"><span class="warning"><b>•</b> <b>REFERENCES</b></span><br>
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I am indebted to, which is to say I have roundly travestied, the following:
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“Mapping La Milpa: a Maya city in northwestern Belize” (Tourtellot,
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Clarke and Hammond, <i>Antiquity</i> 67 (1993), 96–108). All the
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same ‘Ruins’ favours old-fashioned ideas of Maya, a good example
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being the “calendrical priests” fondly imagined by early
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archaeologists before Maya writing was deciphered.
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<span class="warning"><b>•</b></span>The standard all-in-one-book book
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<a id="p185" name="p185"></a>
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D. Coe's <i>The Maya</i> (fourth edition).
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<span class="warning"><b>•</b></span>The same author's history of
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<i>Breaking the Maya Code</i> offers pungently vivid portraits of Sir
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Eric Thompson and Maximilien Waldeck. The British Museum guide <i>Maya
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Glyphs</i>, by S. D. Houston, is a trifle more reliable than Waldeck's
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<span class="warning"><b>•</b></span>Numerous colour-postcard photographs
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by F. Monfort are collected in <i>Yucatan and the Maya Civilization</i>
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(Crescent Books, 1978).</p>
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