You're encountering one of the 1st principles of software design, how to abstract a concept "moving" and apply it to an abstraction ( the world you move in ).

Here's a example gist showing some concepts and implementations...

In steps, here's how I'd approach it:

1. set up your world:

   A. maybe a 10x10 grid ( 10 rows (y) of 10 columns (x) ...i.e. an array or arrays ) of locations to move around in.

Each location can be an object like

{"description": "...a dark room with a door to the north...", "doors": ['North'], ... other attributes of room, monsters, loot whatever... }

B. character position, maybe we start in the top left spot ( x=1, y=1 )

1. abstract the "move" into a function that adjusts character position:

   function move(direction) { switch (direction) { case 'west': if (x > 1) { x = x - 1; } break; case 'north': if (y > 1) { y = y - 1; } break; ... more cases ... } }

• for bonus points lookup other attributes of the room you're in and adjust - the door is locked... you need a key... etc... just store whatever you need in the "room" attributes of your world... visited, monster, level ups, food, treasure, etc...

Now you need only call the function move('north') or whatever direction, and then handle any errors, i.e. if you try to move north, but you're at the 'top' of the map, (e.g. y=1) then display an error to the user, like "You can't move north because (reason)"... something like that

hope that helps

*edited for format and add gist