User's Manual

BrailleNote Apex BT User Guide
19-451
19.6 Status Line.
As mentioned earlier, Interactive Fiction games are written with a screen in mind. One of the
downsides to this approach, is that there are a few situations where the author of a game, considers
things from a visual perspective. Part of this issue is the status line, an area on the screen (usually at
the top) which holds information about the game, such as the title, the number of moves a player
has had and the score. Keysoft a way to access the status line via a keystroke. The contents of the
status line will be captured and it will be read to you, when you press BACKSPACE with S. You
can also read the information once it has been captured in the same manner as any other turn, by
using the standard reading keys.
The status line is another place where the author of a game, can write information. In fact the status
line can grow to be several lines in size and can be used to display a lot of text. Some games have
what is called a "splash screen" at the start of a game, which is an enlarged status line. If you hear
limited words when you first start up a game, then you may wish to try reading the status line, as it
could hold some valuable information. It is a good idea to do this before you press any other key if
you have not run the game before. By pressing BACKSPACE with S, you know if there is
important information at the start of the game.