| Chapter 8: Change |

| 8.10. Now...

As Chapter 5 has already discussed, Inform looks at a whole range of "relations" between objects, many of which we can change. The general rule is as follows. Suppose S is a sentence about a relationship between things. Then there are three things we can do with S:

> S. - The relation holds at the start of play.
> if S, ...; - Does the relation hold right now?
> now S; - Make the relation hold from now on.

For instance,

> The apple is in the basket.
> if the apple is in the basket, ...;
> now the apple is in the basket;

The effect of "now the apple is in the basket" is identical to "move the apple to the basket", so this appears to offer nothing new; and "now" duplicates other things already available, too, because "now the oaken door is open" does the same thing as "change the oaken door to open". But "now" is more general and more flexible. For instance,

> now the top hat is worn by Mr Darcy;

will make the hat worn, rather than simply carried, by Darcy: this is something which could not be done with the "move" phrase. We can also apply "now" to many things at once:

> now all the doors are open;
> now all of the things in the sack are in the box;

The second of these moves the entire contents of the sack to the box.

103
| Example Bee Chambers A maze with directions between rooms randomized at the start of play.

104
| Example Technological Terror A ray gun which destroys objects, leaving their component parts behind.

Previous | Contents | Next