6.6. Looking Under and Hiding

| Chapter 6: Commands |

| 6.6. Looking Under and Hiding

Finding hidden objects is a classic puzzle in IF. Beachfront provides the most basic example, an object that becomes visible only when we have searched the papers on a cluttered desk. Beneath the Surface takes this further, giving all large furnishings the ability to conceal items, and allowing the player to put things underneath other things, as well as find them. Flashlight adds an extra twist to the puzzle by requiring that the player have a flashlight to shine under a bulky object in order to find what lies underneath.

Looking inside an object is generally handled by the searching action, and we could extend that to allow the player to search multiple or complex objects. Matreshka turns the puzzle on its head by allowing the player to search a whole room systematically with only a single command.

See Kitchen and Bathroom for the related case of needing to look in a mirror

98
| Example Beachfront An item that the player can't interact with until he has found it by searching the scenery. |
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233
| Example Beneath the Surface An "underlying" relation which adds to the world model the idea of objects hidden under other objects. |
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The standard world model provides for the idea of containers and supporters, but this is not the only way that objects can relate to one another in the real world. Here we try adding the idea of concealment beneath another object: "Beneath the Surface" Section 1 - In Which our Terms are Defined Underlying relates various things to one thing. The verb to underlie (he underlies, they underlie, he underlaid, it is underlaid, he is underlying) implies the underlying relation. The verb to be under implies the underlying relation. The verb to be beneath implies the underlying relation. Instead of looking under a thing which is underlaid by something (called the lost object): say "You find [the list of things which underlie the noun]!"; now every thing which underlies the noun is carried by the player; now every thing which underlies the noun does not underlie the noun. Hiding it under is an action applying to one carried thing and one thing. Understand "put [something preferably held] under [something]" as hiding it under. Understand "hide [something preferably held] under [something]" as hiding it under. Understand the commands "shove" and "conceal" and "stick" as "hide". Check hiding it under: if the second noun is not fixed in place, say "[The second noun] wouldn't be a very effective place of concealment." instead. Carry out hiding it under: remove the noun from play; now the noun underlies the second noun. Report hiding it under: say "You shove [the noun] out of sight beneath [the second noun]." Section 2 - In Which They are Put To Use The Room of Hidden Objects is a room. It contains a sofa, an easy chair, and a rug. The sofa supports a lime-green pillow and an innocent-looking Chinese finger toy. The rug is fixed in place. The chair is a supporter. A treasure map underlies the easy chair. A skeleton is beneath the sofa. A blueprint of Atlantis, a lexicon of Linear A, and the key to Jimmy Hoffa's Mausoleum are under the rug. Test me with "look under the sofa / look under the rug / look under the easy chair / hide lexicon under rug".

218
| Example Flashlight Visibility set so that looking under objects produces no result unless the player has a light source to shine there (regardless of the light level of the room). |
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173
| Example Matreshka A SEARCH [room] action that will open every container the player can see, stopping only when there don't remain any that are closed, unlocked, and openable. |
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