6.10. Entering and Exiting, Sitting and Standing

| Chapter 6: Commands |

| 6.10. Entering and Exiting, Sitting and Standing

Under ordinary circumstances, Inform does not keep track of the player's posture, nor of his exact location in a room. Lies implements a room in which the player can lie in different positions on the floor, getting different views as a result.

Our other examples are all modifications of the way Inform handles player movement to make better default guesses at what he wants to do: Anchorite adds a GET DOWN and DOWN command that work when the player is on a supporter, to accompany GET UP, GET OFF, and GET OUT (already understood). Hagia Sophia makes the player rise before heading in a compass direction, but only if movement in that direction is actually possible. And Get Axe makes the player get out of a portable container before attempting to lift it - a consideration that comes up relatively rarely, but that might pertain to inflatable rafts, beanbag chairs, and other lightweight but capacious pieces of furniture.

See Position Within Rooms for a box the player can push around the room and stand on in different locations

See The Human Body for letting the player sit, stand, or lie down systematically on furniture or on the floor

See Furniture for various objects on which the player can sit or stand

299
| Example Lies Commands to allow the player to lie down in three different ways. |
WI

To set the scene, and make new actions to provide for two of these ways: "Lies" The Laundry is a room. "An old Limehouse haunt, the Chinese laundry used by the down-trodden wives of the Tong of the Black Scorpion." The vast marble sink is here. "There is nothing obviously oriental about the vast marble sink, which is large enough to lie down inside. A wooden-rack floor, equipped for easy drainage, turns out also to be equipped for snagging the shoes of passers-by." The sink is an enterable container, fixed in place. Lying down is an action applying to nothing. Report lying down: say "You lie down for a while in the middle of the Laundry, wondering about the point of existence, then get up again." Lying near is an action applying to one thing. Report lying near: say "You lie down next to [the noun] for a while, mumbling to yourself." Instead of lying near the sink, say "Lying down close to the cool butcher's marble slabs of the sink, your attention is caught by the sight of coolie shoes through a floor-level grille for ventilation. The game is afoot!" So far, so good. Now for the grammar, where we create two new tokens: one for each of two groups of alternative prepositions. Understand "beneath/under/by/near/beside/alongside/against" or "next to" or "in front of" as "[beside]". Understand "on/in/inside" or "on top of" as "[within]". Understand "lie down" as lying down. Understand "lie down [within] [something]" as entering. Understand "lie [beside] [something]" or "lie down [beside] [something]" as lying near. Test me with "lie down / lie down on top of the sink / get out / lie down inside the sink / get out / lie down in front of the sink".

278
| Example Anchorite By default, Inform understands GET OFF, GET UP, or GET OUT when the player is sitting or standing on an enterable object. We might also want to add GET DOWN and DOWN as exit commands, though: |
WI

206
| Example Get Axe Changing the check rules to try automatically leaving a container before attempting to take it. (And arranging things so that other people will do likewise.) |
WI

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