intfiction.org

"problem 01, seeing another room" by Nicole

section - about

[This little adventure will (eventually) star a timid and self-important kitty cat that won't come out to eat unless conditions are perfect. I want you to be able to watch what the cat does through a telescope in the window. Every time you look, she will give you a clue about what needs to be done before she will finally eat her dinner.

I tried to use the scope rules in Manual 17.27, but I'm stuck. I'm not even sure if that's the best way to do what I want.

How do I see what's happening in the Courtyard through the telescope?]

test me with "x telescope/peek through telescope/x bag/get Kitty Kibbles/d,d/put food in dish/l/call cat/u/u/peek through telescope";
test s with "u,u/examine telescope/look through telescope/peek through telescope";
test t with "u,u/d/d/climb lovely oak tree/climb cat's favorite oak tree/enter cat's favorite oak tree"

section - once upon a time

Top Floor Apartment is a room. "A not-so-fancy apartment with a black and white chessboard floor. A window faces north. To the south is a winding staircase, leading down."

In Top Floor Apartment is a bag of Kitty Kibbles. A description of bag of Kitty Kibbles is "Kitty Kibbles, favorite of cats everywhere." In it is cat food. A description of cat food is "Shaped like little fish, birds, and mice. But made out of a mass produced, factory-processed corn product." [Learn how to make unlimited supply of cat food]

[Question: How do I make it so you can only pick up the bag and not the cat food while its in the bag?]

section - THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP

A telescope is a thing. "A brass telescope is pointing down through the window." It is fixed in place. Understand "scope/lens/brass" as telescope.

Instead of examining telescope:
say "A lovingly cared-for antique telescope made of brass. [line break](HINT type: 'peek through telescope'). [paragraph break]I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO 'LOOK THROUGH TELESCOPE'" [...includes a message to my helpful testers.]

Peeking is an action applying to one visible thing. Understand "peek through [something]" as peeking.

Instead of peeking something that is not a telescope:
say "Get real..."

Instead of peeking telescope:
say "You peek thru the telescope and see the courtyard down below...";
[This is a message to my helpful testers, to be removed when the problem is fixed:]
say "[line break]I WANT YOU TO SEE THE COURTYARD AS IT CURRENTLY IS HERE... ";
[ *** Here is the part that doesn't work as expected...]
After deciding the scope of the player:
place the Courtyard in scope;

section - everything else

In Top Floor Apartment is a telescope.

Winding Staircase is a room. "A winding staircase, painted white, runs from the ground floor all the way up to the top of the building. Your apartment is on the top floor. A courtyard is on the ground floor, on the north side of the building." In it are some stairs. Some stairs are scenery. A description of some stairs is "The stairs are made of wood. The bannister is painted white." Understand "stair/step/steps/rail/bannister" as stairs.

Every turn when in Winding Staircase, say "You like the way your footsteps echo on the stairs."

[I love this paragraph for some reason...]
Winding Staircase is south from the Top Floor Apartment. The Top Floor Apartment is up from the Winding Staircase. The Winding Staircase is up from the Courtyard. The Courtyard is north from the Winding Staircase.

Instead of examining down when player is in Winding Staircase: say "You see all the way down to the ground floor. High up places make you feel kind of dizzy."
Instead of examining up when player is in Winding Staircase: say "You see past all floors to very top. Why isn't there an elevator in here?"

Courtyard is a room. A description of Courtyard is "A courtyard below a very tall red brick building. Through the entryway, to the south is a winding staircase, leading up. [paragraph break]There are two very large and beautiful oak trees here, spreading their arms to heaven."

A lovely oak tree is a thing. It is scenery. Instead of entering lovely oak tree: say "Ouch! The bark is too rough for climbing!"

The cat's favorite oak tree is a thing. It is an enterable container and scenery. After entering favorite oak tree: say "You climb the familiar branches until you reach your familiar branch." Instead of going down when player is in cat's favorite oak tree: try exiting.

Every turn when in the cat's favorite oak tree, say "The wind caresses your skin as you sway with the branches."

[How do I make it so that Inform 7 assumes the player is going to climb the cat's favorite oak tree? It keeps asking me "which tree do you mean? and then it doesn't work anyway..."]
Instead of climbing [something] tree:
try entering tree. [ *** THIS ISN"T WORKING!]

In Courtyard is a lovely oak tree. [squirrel's tree]
In Courtyard is the cat's favorite oak tree.
In Courtyard is a dish. It is fixed in place and a container.

[Learn how to differ between the two trees with just one word. It gets tedious typing lovely, cat's, or favorite. ]

Calling is an action applying to one thing. Understand "call [something]" as calling. Instead of calling cat: say "'Here, kitty kitty kitty!'"

[Conditions before cat will eat: food in dish, squirrel busy in tree, garnish in dish, player must call kitty kitty, player up in apartment, opera music playing, etc.]

section - next work

[Learn how to make a cat and a squirrel that interacts with the player and things the player leaves lying around.]

>peek through telescope
You peek thru the telescope and see the courtyard down below...
A courtyard below a very tall red brick building. Through the entryway, to the south is a winding staircase, leading up.

There are two very large and beautiful oak trees here, spreading their arms to heaven.