Games::PMM::Monster::Commands - class abstracting monster commands

	use Games::PMM::Monster::Commands;

	my $commands = Games::PMM::Monster::Commands->new(
		'scan',
		'move forward',
		'turn left',
	);

Games::PMM::Monster::Commands presents a nice interface to the set of commands a monster will execute. You will probably never need to use it directly, though, unless you're hacking on Games::PMM::Monster.

Monsters understand several commands. This list will grow in the future, both in size and in complexity.

* forward

Moves the monster one square forward, depending on the monster's current facing.

* reverse

Moves the monster one square backward, depending on the monster's current facing.

* turn [ left | right ]

Turns the monster in the given direction, from the monster's point of view. This only changes the monster's facing, not its position.

* scan

Looks for other monsters in the current monster's field of vision. Only those monsters in front of the current monster (per its facing) and those directly beside the monster are visible. In the following diagram, * represents the current monster (facing north), M represents a visible monster, and . represents an monster that is not visible.

  MMMMM
  MMMMM
  .M*M.
  .....
  .....

If the monster were facing east, the visible positions would be:

  ...MM
  ..MMM
  ..*MM
  ..MMM
  ...MM

Beware that scan does not track seen monsters. The monster will remember the position of monsters it sees but it will not update those positions as those monsters move.

* charge

Moves or turns the current monster one step toward the nearest monster that has previously been seen (via scan). Monsters prefer to walk toward a position in the direction they are facing, turning only when they cannot move closer by moving forward.

* retreat

Moves or turns the current monster one step away from the nearest monster that has previously been seen (via scan). Monsters prefer to backwards from a position, turning only when they can back up no further.

* attack

Causes the current monster to attack another monster one position ahead, left, or right of the current position. If this attack connects, it will damage the other monster.

* new( [ @commands ] )

Creates and returns a new Commands object. The arguments are optional. Any arguments are treated as raw, unprocessed commands. They will be processed and stored within the object.

* next()

Returns the next available command. Commands are returned as a list, with the first item being the name of the command and subsequent items being the arguments to the command.

This will return undef if there's a break in the commands, as when reaching the end of a command list.

chromatic, chromatic@wgz.org

No known bugs.

Copyright (c) 2003, chromatic. All rights reserved. This module is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself, in the hope that it is useful but certainly under no guarantee.