Though I've never tested it, there is a z-machine interpreter for Infocom games, written in Perl. You can find it here. I leave finding the games as an exercise for the reader.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict -w;

sub Random ()
{
     my $randnum = int (rand(18))+1;
     return $randnum;
}

my $x=0;
while ($x<=5)
{
@STR[$x]=Random();
@INT[$x]=Random();
@WIS[$x]=Random();
@DEX[$x]=Random();
@CON[$x]=Random();
@CHR[$x]=Random();
$x++;
}
print("Strength:\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@STR)
{
     print ("$STR[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
print("Intelligence:\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@INT)
{
     print ("$INT[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
print("Wisdom:\t\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@WIS)
{
     print ("$WIS[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
print("Dexterity:\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@DEX)
{
     print ("$DEX[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
print("Constitution:\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@CON)
{
     print ("$CON[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
print("Charisma:\t\t");
my $x=0;
while($x<=@CHR)
{
     print ("$CHR[$x]\t");
     $x++;
}
print("\n");
[download]

All of the die rolls are somewhat on the high side, and not at all what actually rolling three six-sided dice would produce.

I don't really see how they come out high on average - all that happens is that they come out fairly evenly spread over the entire range, whereas you get more of a bell-curve of probability with 3x6-sided...

In terms of "fine tuning", you should really turn some of that into loops. You're doing pretty much the same thing over and over again:

foreach (qw/Strength Intelligence Wisdom Dexterity
             Constitution Charisma/) {
  printf "%-15s", $_;
  for (1 .. 6) {
    printf "%2d\t", int(rand(6)) + int(rand(6)) + int(rand(6)) + 3;
  }
  print "\n";
}
[download]

Or:

printf "%s\t%s\n", $_,
  join "\t", 
   map { int(rand(6)) + int(rand(6)) + int(rand(6)) + 3 } (1 .. 6)
    for (qw/Str Int Wis Dex Con Chr/);
[download]

Tony

Thank you for your suggestion. I will definitely do that.

TStanley
There can be only one!

Another way of doing the same thing:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

##################### Script Constants ######################

use constant CHARACTER_STATS => qw(Strength Intelligence Wisdom Dexter
+ity Constitution Charisma);

################### Main Program ############################

MAIN: {
    
    my $character = make_character();

    foreach my $stat (keys %$character) {

        print STDOUT ("$stat:  \t\t",
                      join("\t", @{ $character->{$stat} }),
              "\n"
                     );

    }
                    
}

sub make_character {

    my $character = {};

    for (my $x = 0; $x<=5; $x++) {

        foreach my $stat ( CHARACTER_STATS ) {
            push(@{$character->{$stat}}, Random());
        }
    }

    return $character;
}

sub Random ()
{
     return (int (rand(18))+1);
}
[download]

If you're interested in having the dice follow a normal distribution, check out the Math::Random module.

stephen

^-^

BTW, the other hemisphere seeks to be a manga artist...

fongsaiyuk

Okay... For those who like a more 'lovey dovely' aspect to their Monastery life: :)

What's your partners favourite perl game?

... or has anybody lost a partner due to a perl game? :)

My partner's favorite Perl game is the one where I do the dishes and she sits in judgement. Of course, that is merely a fantasy game and I don't play fantasy games -- nevertheless, she continues to play ... and I continue to lose points...
:-(