I figured that the problems I’m trying to fix ultimately fell into the same category, so I’ve provided a list for readers to follow along.
- Controlling the way an object’s contents are printed via the use of a scene
I have the entire Prologue of the game I’m working on wrapped up into a scene. The look and feel of the game are both changed after the player opens the mailbox and examines the leaflet inside. The traversal of the rest of the white house is completely optional, almost all objects are fixed in place, and passages like the staircase and the trapdoor are not present in the house; however, I want to keep the ‘game’ authentic by its presentation of the content that is implemented.
I’m having an issue with the way an object’s contents are printed using a scene. Here’s the code I originally used from the Inform version of Zork by Dean Menezes:
To say stuff in (O - an object):
list the contents of O,
with newlines,
indented,
giving inventory information,
including contents,
not listing concealed items,
and with extra indentation.
and I implemented it by saying:
[code]To say stuff in (O - an object) when Prologue is happening:
list the contents of O,
with newlines,
indented,
giving inventory information,
including contents,
and not listing concealed items.
To say stuff in (O - an object) when Prologue is not happening:
list the contents of O,
as a sentence,
prefacing with is/are,
using the definite article,
giving inventory information,
including contents,
and not listing concealed items.[/code]
despite this, the parser says (these are the initial appearances in Kitchen):
On the table is an elongated brown sack, smelling of hot peppers.
A bottle is sitting on the table.
and, when examined, says:
In the glass bottle is a quantity of water.
even though the code for the Prologue scene says:
Prologue is a scene. Prologue begins when play begins. Prologue ends when the player is in Bedroom.
- Implementing a supporter that lists the initial appearance of the items on top of it when examined
As I’m modeling this part of the game mainly off of the MS-DOS version of Zork, I noticed that in the Inform port the table is not implemented as an object in Kitchen, however in the MS-DOS version the table is fixed in place and a supporter. When it is examined, it only lists the sack’s initial appearance, the bottle of water’s initial appearance, and the :
>examine table
On the table is an elongated brown sack, smelling of hot peppers.
A bottle is sitting on the table.
The glass bottle contains:
A quantity of water
I appreciate the help, and I’m glad to see how far I’m progressing in my knowledge of Inform so far, as cliché as that might sound.