10.4. During scenes

| Chapter 10: Scenes |

| 10.4. During scenes

Scenes are not only useful for changing the setting, by moving items or people around and providing a little narration. We can also make the rules different in one scene from another. For instance, at a sleepy country halt there is no reason why one should not walk across the tracks: but if there is a train in the way, that would be impossible.

> Before going north during the Train Stop, say "The train blocks your way." instead.

Any rule can have the clause "during ..." attached, provided that clause goes at the end and explicitly names a scene. This is especially useful with "every turn":

> Every turn during the Train Stop, say "Water is sluiced out of the tank and into the engine."

We can test whether a scene is happening with the adjective "happening":

> if Train Stop is happening, ...

if (scene) has happened:

This condition is true if the given scene has both begun and ended.

if (scene) has not happened:

This condition is true if the given scene has not ended (or never started).

if (scene) has ended:

This condition is true if the given scene ended at least once.

if (scene) has not ended:

This condition is true if the given scene has never ended.

We need to be a bit careful: it's possible to set things up so that the Train Stop scene will play out more than once, so "Train Stop is happening" and "Train Stop has happened" might both be true at once.

The kind of value "scene" is one which is allowed to have properties - it has a tick in the "properties" column in the chart on the Kinds index page - and this can be very useful in describing scenes. For instance, we could write:

> A scene can be thrilling or dull. Train Stop is dull.
> A scene has a text called cue speech. The cue speech of Train Stop is "All aboard!".

Inform has the adjectives "recurring", "non-recurring" and "happening" all built in to describe scenes, and the above would add "thrilling" and "dull". Moreover, the "during" clause of a rule can give a description of a scene as easily as a specific scene name. For instance:

> Before going north during a dull non-recurring scene, ...

157
| Example Full Moon Random atmospheric events which last the duration of a scene. |
RB

158
| Example Space Patrol - Stranded on Jupiter! We'll be back in just a moment, with more exciting adventures of the... Space Patrol! |
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159
| Example Day One A scene which plays through a series of events in order, then ends when the list of events is exhausted. |
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160
| Example Bowler Hats and Baby Geese Creating a category of scenes that restrict the player's behavior. |
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