New here & a question about hidden locations

Hi all,

I’m not new to IF, having dabbled as player since 1985 and for about six months as a writer circa 2008, but I am new to attempting to more than dabble. I’m working on my first game, and I’m sure there’s an obvious solution to this, but for some reason I can’t find it.

I’ve got a location called Back Yard, north of which is the Hacked Path, northeast of which is Woods, northeast of which is Pet Cemetery. I don’t want the player to see the Hacked Path until he’s climbed up the Fire Escape and caught a glimpse of the Pet Cemetery from afar. After doing so, upon revisiting the Back Yard, he will notice the beginnings of the Hacked Path and proceed (possibly by making use of a machete, possibly not, but that’s easy enough to implement).

(I hope that’s clear; I’m still a little hazy from the holiday).

As I’ve said, I’m sure there’s a simple enough way to do this, but would someone mind either pointing me in the right direction, or if it’s not too much trouble just telling me how to do it?

Thanks in advance!

The Hacked Path can be revealed or unrevealed. It is unrevealed.
Instead of to the unrevealed Hacked Path: say "There's nothing much in that direction."

Then set it to “revealed” when the player sees it. You can also make the room description change based on this property.

Wow, lightning fast reply. That makes perfect sense. Thank you!