I was wondering, how can we get the game to reply “This is not something you need to refer to in this game?” I suppose it is related with the “not something you need to refer to” parser error, but then what? How do I associate specific objects with this response?
One way, I guess, is to say
The bedroom is a room.
Unimportant is a kind of thing.
The flip-flops are in the bedroom. They are unimportant.
Instead of doing anything with an unimportant:
say "This is not something you need to refer to in this game."
Nevertheless, this way does not use the parser error…
It seems to be a holdover from Inform 6 times: you could attach dictionary words to a room itself, and this error would be printed when the player refers to those words. See page 106 of the DM4 for a better explanation.
However, searching through the I6 code generated by Inform 7, it appears that the parser never generates this error.
This is a different issue, I guess, but The Neutral Standard Responses extension (which seems to work with the latest version of Inform 7) gives you functionality where it distinguishes words that have some use but not right now from words that aren’t in the dictionary at all. In a game where there is a matchbook in the game but not visible, but nothing called “gogog,” you will get this:
And Unknown Word Error by Mike Ciul does the same thing without changing all the standard parser error responses. (It’s incorporated into Neutral Standard Responses.)
But then this is different from the functionality you’re talking about, as ArdiMaster points out–that seems like something that can be done now by making an unimportant scenery object (I would recommend always making it scenery) and having a message for it. (It looks like in I6 the unimportant words were technically names for the room?)
It is ironic that we actually need to create these objects as scenery things, in order not to use them.
How about making only one such object as an omnipresent backdrop and then assign several names to it, through an “understand” rule?
The Attic is a room. "Thousands of useless crates and boxes suffocate the narrow space under the roof."
The Corridor is down from the Attic. "A narrow space dressed with old wall paper."
Unimportance is a backdrop. It is everywhere.
Understand "crate" or "crates" or "box" or "boxes" or "roof" or "wallpaper" or "wall paper" as unimportance.
Instead of doing something with unimportance, say "Nah, don't bother. There are more important things in this game." [Which sucks as a reply anyway, since it stinks of out-of-worldliness.]
Of course, this causes the problem of cancelling out every possible box or crate or roof the game could otherwise introduce in other parts of its geography.
I guess, the question I need to answer is, do I like such a reply? As I said, it is an out of world reply. It is not the narrator, but the story’s Great Architect who suddenly speaks…
EDIT:
This is resolved by:
Understand "crate" or "crates" or "box" or "boxes" or "roof" as unimportance when the location is the Attic. Understand "wallpaper" or "wall paper" as unimportance when the location is the Corridor.
EDIT 2:
Here is a better solution. I create only one unimportant thing for each location and then “understand” all the stuff that are unimportant as that thing:
"Understanding Unimportance" by "Giannis G. Georgiou"
A thing can be unimportant or important.
Instead of doing something with an unimportant thing, say "You needn't worry about that."
The Attic is a room. "Thousands of useless crates and boxes suffocate the narrow space under the roof."
Attic-unimp is unimportant scenery in the Attic. Understand "crate/crates/box/boxes/roof" as attic-unimp.
The Corridor is down from the Attic. "A narrow space dressed with old wall paper."
Corridor-unimp is unimportant scenery in the Corridor. Understand "old/-- wallpaper" or "old/-- wall paper" or "old/-- wall-paper" as corridor-unimp.
I posted some info on the parser errors in the “Hidden secrets of Inform 7 thread” in Nov 2017. (That’s the thread that was revived a few days ago.) The “not something you need to refer to error” is one of several which are currently unused.