6.14. Remembering, Converting and Combining Actions

| Chapter 6: Commands |

| 6.14. Remembering, Converting and Combining Actions

Sometimes we want Inform to apply a player's action to a different target than the one specified: for instance, directing all (or almost all) commands from the doorknob to the door of which it is a part. Fine Laid demonstrates how to do this. Along the same lines, Lucy shows how to direct a player's conversation action to apply to a new conversation topic.

We can also record a series of actions performed by the player or by another character.

Cactus Will Outlive Us All demonstrates characters each of whom reacts to a very specific provocation; I Didn't Come All The Way From Great Portland Street implements a game show in which the player is not allowed ever to repeat an action he has already performed; and Leopard-skin implements a maze which the player can escape only by performing a specific sequence of actions.

Anteaters provides a peculiar gizmo that can remember actions performed in its presence and force the player to reiterate them.

89
| Example Fine Laid Making writing that can be separately examined from the paper on which it appears, but which directs all other actions to the paper. |
WI

Sometimes it is useful to direct all -- or almost all -- actions from one object to another. For the sake of argument, say we have a sheet of paper with writing on it, and (because we're very meticulous) we want to let the player examine the writing and get a customized response, different from when he just examines the sheet of paper. But for all other purposes -- say, TAKE or TASTE -- we want the two objects to be treated as one. Here, we approach the problem by changing the noun and/or the second noun of the current action, then issuing a new command to "try the current action". Because we've changed the noun and second noun, the "current action" at this point is different from the one generated originally by the player's command. "Fine Laid" High Street Stationer is a room. The sheet of paper is a thing in High Street Stationer. The writing is part of the sheet of paper. The description of the sheet of paper is "A beautiful sheet of heavy cream paper." The description of the writing is "Delicate and spidery." Instead of tasting the sheet of paper, say "You might need more fiber in your diet, but this isn't the way.". Before doing something other than examining when the current action involves the writing: if the writing is the noun, now the noun is the sheet of paper; if the writing is the second noun, now the second noun is the sheet of paper; try the current action instead. Test me with "examine sheet of paper / examine writing / get writing / taste writing".

92
| Example Lucy Redirecting a question about one topic to ask about another. |
WI

220
| Example Cactus Will Outlive Us All For every character besides the player, there is an action that will cause that character to wither right up and die. |
WI

422
| Example I Didn't Come All The Way From Great Portland Street In this fiendishly difficult puzzle, which may perhaps owe some inspiration to a certain BBC Radio panel game (1967-), a list is used as a set of actions to help enforce the rule that the player must keep going for ten turns without hesitation, repetition, or deviating from the subject on the card. |
WI

419
| Example Leopard-skin A maze that the player can escape if he performs an exact sequence of actions. |
WI

222
| Example Anteaters The player carries a gizmo that is able to record actions performed by the player, then force him to repeat them when the gizmo is dropped. This includes storing actions that apply to topics, as in "look up anteater colonies in the guide". |
WI

Previous | Contents | Next