9.3. Clothing

| Chapter 9: Props: Food, Clothing, Money, Toys, Books, Electronics |

| 9.3. Clothing

A person can wear any (portable) thing which has the "wearable" property. (This property seldom needs to be quoted because it is deduced automatically from sentences like "Trevor wears a red hat.")

In most traditional IF, clothing is only used when it is exceptional in some way. That is, we ignore the three to eight different garments most people are wearing at any given time - the everyday clothes which people wear without thinking about them - and only simulate the unexpected extras: a borrowed jaunty red hat, a radiation-proof space suit, and so on.

These unusual garments turn up only occasionally in play and usually one at a time, so Inform does not normally provide rules to restrict how much or little is worn, or in what unlikely combinations. Get Me to the Church on Time categorises clothing by body area (trousers for lower body, shirts for upper); Bogart by layer, distinguishing underwear from outer garments. What Not To Wear combines both into a general-purpose system adequate for most kinds of clothing situations.

See Kitchen and Bathroom for a simple mirror implementation, which could be adapted to reflect what the player is currently wearing

Hayes Code is a somewhat stripped down version.

Clothes are normally single things which have no function other than display and concealment, but Being Prepared gives them pockets which act as containers, and Some Assembly Required allows clothes to be stitched together from pieces of cloth.

44
| Example Get Me to the Church on Time Using kinds of clothing to prevent the player from wearing several pairs of trousers at the same time. |
WI

234
| Example Bogart Clothing for the player that layers, so that items cannot be taken off in the wrong order, and the player's inventory lists only the clothing that is currently visible. |
WI

We have two things to keep track of with our layering clothing: what currently is covering something else; and what can cover something else. This implementation goes for a fairly simple treatment, assuming that each item of clothing will completely conceal those beneath it, and that we are not implementing entire sets of shirts, jackets, etc. But it will do for a demonstration. "Bogart" Section 1 - Clothing Behavior First we make our relation to represent what *is* underneath another item: Underlying relates one thing to various things. The verb to underlie (it underlies, they underlie, it is underlying, it is underlaid) implies the underlying relation. The verb to be under implies the underlying relation. And now we prevent taking a lower layer off before the thing that is worn over it: Before taking off something which underlies something (called the impediment) which is worn by the player: say "(first removing [the impediment])[command clarification break]"; silently try taking off the impediment; if the noun underlies something which is worn by the player, stop the action. Check taking off: if the noun underlies something (called the impediment) which is worn by the player, say "[The impediment] is in the way." instead. Carry out taking off: now the noun is not underlaid by anything. Report taking off something: say "You are now wearing [a list of uppermost things worn by the player]." instead. Definition: a thing is uppermost if it is not under something. That covers order of clothing removal, but we also want to restrict what can be worn on top of what else. This time we need Inform to have some idea of what customarily can be layered on top of what other clothing: Overlying relates one thing to various things. The verb to overlie (it overlies, they overlie, it is overlying) implies the overlying relation. Covering relates a thing (called A) to a thing (called B) when the number of steps via the overlying relation from A to B is greater than 0. The verb to cover (it covers, they cover, it is covering) implies the covering relation. With these definitions, we can say that a jacket should go over a shirt and a shirt over an undershirt (say), and then Inform will know that a jacket will cover both shirt and undershirt. Before wearing something when something (called the impediment) which covers the noun is worn by the player: while the player wears something which covers the noun: say "(first removing [the impediment])[command clarification break]"; silently try taking off the impediment; if the player is wearing the impediment, stop the action. Carry out wearing: if the noun covers something (called the hidden item) worn by the player, now the hidden item underlies the noun. Instead of looking under something which is worn by the player: if something (called the underwear) underlies the noun, say "You peek at [the underwear]. Yup, still there."; otherwise say "Just you in there." Instead of taking inventory: say "You're carrying [a list of things carried by the player][if the player wears something]. You are wearing [a list of uppermost things worn by the player][end if]." Notice that our inventory only describes the things that the player can see as the upper layer of clothing. Section 2 - The Scenario The Trailer is a room. "A full-length mirror is the main amenity in here, and that suits you just fine." The full-length mirror is scenery in the Trailer. Instead of examining or searching the mirror, try taking inventory. The player wears a fedora, a jacket, a shirt, some undershorts, an undershirt, some slacks, a pair of socks, and a pair of shoes. The shirt underlies the jacket. The pair of socks underlies the pair of shoes. The undershorts underlie the slacks. The undershirt underlies the shirt. The jacket overlies the shirt. The shoes overlie the socks. The slacks overlie the undershorts. The shirt overlies the undershirt. Test me with "x mirror / remove fedora / remove jacket / remove shirt / remove slacks / remove undershirt / remove shoes / remove socks / remove shorts / remove undershorts". If we further wanted to prevent the player from taking off clothes in inappropriate places, we might add something like this: Instead of taking off something in the presence of someone who is not the player: say "You are far too modest to strip in public."

241
| Example What Not To Wear A general-purpose clothing system that handles a variety of different clothing items layered in different combinations over different areas of the body. |
WI

325
| Example Hays Code Clark Gable in a pin-striped suit and a pink thong. |
WI

54
| Example Being Prepared A kind for jackets, which always includes a container called a pocket. |
WI

319
| Example Some Assembly Required Building different styles of shirt from component sleeves and collars. |
WI

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