Part 5 mini-project: Text Adventure

The biggest project yet. It uses every Part 5 idea — functions, lists, dictionaries, modules — to build a small text adventure: a player walks through rooms typing commands like go north and take torch.

What to build

A program that, when run:

  1. Drops the player into a starting room.
  2. Loops:
    • Prints the current room's description and any items in it.
    • Prompts for a command.
    • Carries out the command:
      • look — describe the current room again.
      • go <direction> — move through an exit (north, south, east, west, up, down).
      • take <item> — pick an item up off the floor.
      • inv — show what the player is carrying.
      • quit — stop the game.
  3. Wins when the player picks up the gold coin: print a victory message and exit.

Sample session:

-- Forest Path --
You are on a moss covered forest path. Birdsong drifts on the air.
Exits: north
> go north
-- Clearing --
A small clearing of wildflowers.
Items here: torch
Exits: east, south
> take torch
You pick up the torch.
> go east
-- Cave Entrance --
A cool, damp cave mouth opens to the east. A rope lies coiled on the floor.
Items here: rope
Exits: down, west
> quit
Goodbye.

File layout

Two Python files sit side by side. Since main.py loads world.py with import world, cd into their folder before running. To play the finished version:

cd projects/04-text-adventure/finished
python main.py

Files:

  • world.py — defines the rooms dictionary. Each room is a dictionary with "name", "description", "exits", and "items".
  • main.py — the game loop and command functions.

Both versions live under projects/04-text-adventure/:

starter/
    world.py
    main.py
finished/
    world.py
    main.py

To work on the starter:

cd projects/04-text-adventure/starter
python main.py

Hints

  • The rooms dictionary maps room id (a number) to a room. Exits map a direction string to the id of the room it leads to. A room's items are a list of strings.

  • The player has two pieces of state: current_room_id (a number) and inventory (a list of strings).

  • To parse go north, split it into a verb and argument:

    words = command.split()
verb = words[0]
arg = words[1] if len(words) > 1 else ""

  • The win check after a successful take is one if: was it the gold coin? If so, print the win message and break out of the main loop.

  • In world.py, define the rooms dict at the top level. In main.py, use import world then access world.rooms.

What you cannot use yet

  • Classes and self (chapter 26). Functions take the data they work on as a plain argument — take(item, room, inventory), not room.take(item).
  • Inheritance (chapter 27). Plain dicts and functions are enough.

A stretch (optional)

  • Add a read command for signs or letters.
  • Lock one exit until a specific item is carried (e.g. the gold coin is only reachable if the player has the torch).
  • Add an enemy that blocks an exit until the player uses a sword.

None of these are required to finish the project.

Done?

When you can walk through every room, pick up the items in order, and trigger the win on the gold coin, the project is complete. Move on to Chapter 26 — Methods and self, the first chapter that introduces Python classes directly.