7.12. Characters Following a Script

| Chapter 7: Other Characters |

| 7.12. Characters Following a Script

So far we've seen characters who will answer questions whenever the player feels like asking, and characters who will use some reasoning procedure to direct the conversation. There is a third option, often useful in IF with a fast-paced narrative: the character follows a conversational script, making sure to cover a series of points before the scene ends.

There are more and less tedious ways to implement this kind of scene. The worst case is one in which the player is not allowed to interrupt or ask any questions; he must merely wait until the character runs out of things to say. This can be useful and plausible in very small doses - say, two or three turns - but if the character has more information than that to impart, we may want to make the scene more interactive.

Pine 2 partly addresses this challenge: the character has a line of conversation that she wants to follow to its conclusion; we may ask questions along the way, but if we're silent, she'll take up the slack, and the scene won't end until she's done with what she has to say.

Another kind of script is a series of actions for the character to perform. Robo demonstrates a programmable robot that will observe what the player does, then try to emulate the actions later when switched into play-back mode. Robo 2 extends this capacity to allow the robot to contain fifteen different scripts which the player can store, list, run, and erase.

Your Mother Doesn't Work Here offers a character with a list of tasks but whose plans can be interrupted by more urgent demands. This verges on not being a simple script any more: if we carry the idea to its natural conclusion, we get characters capable of planning scripts for themselves to accomplish their aims. This is conventionally called "goal-seeking".

See Goal-Seeking Characters for characters that work out plans for themselves in order to accomplish various outcomes

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| Example Pine 2 Pine: Adding a conversation with the princess, in which a basic set of facts must be covered before the scene is allowed to end. |
WI

> "Pine" A person can be asleep or awake. A person can be active or passive. The Spinning Tower is a room. "A remote corner of the old castle, reserved for spinning and weaving tasks." Sleeping Beauty is an asleep woman in the Spinning Tower. "[if asleep]Sleeping Beauty lies here, oblivious to your presence[otherwise]Sleeping Beauty stands beside you, looking a little confused[end if]." The description is "She is even more magnificent than the rumors suggested." Understand "woman" or "girl" or "princess" or "lady" as Sleeping Beauty. Discovery is a scene. Discovery begins when play begins. Discovery ends when Sleeping Beauty is awake. Marriage Proposal is a scene. Marriage Proposal begins when Discovery ends. When Discovery ends: say "Throughout the palace you can hear the other sounds of stirring and movement as the spell of centuries is broken." Instead of waking an awake person: say "Redundant." Instead of waking an asleep person: say "Yes, but how?" Instead of attacking an asleep person: now the noun is awake; say "[The noun] sits bolt upright. 'Hey! Ow!' So much for that true love's kiss nonsense." Instead of kissing an asleep person: now the noun is awake; say "[The noun] slowly stirs to wakefulness!" Instead of throwing water at an asleep person: now the second noun is awake; remove the noun from play; say "You pour out [the noun] on [the second noun]. [The second noun] wakes, shuddering. 'Agh! I had a terrible dream about drowning and then-- Hey!'" The player carries a jug of water. Understand "pour [something] on [something]" or "splash [something] at/on [something]" as throwing it at. So much, we had before. Now, suppose we want a conversation style which allows the player to move conversation forward by asking appropriate questions, but which will keep moving forward even if he doesn't. To this end, we provide a table -- a borrowing from a later chapter. In the table, we record two ways of performing each conversation bit, one which reflects the player's participation, and one in which the character moves things onward: Table of Conversation
> topic | reply | quip
> "dream/dreams/nightmare/nightmares/sleep" | "'Sleep well?' you ask solicitously.
> 'Not really,' she replies, edging away from you. So much for that angle." | "'Ghastly nightmares,' she remarks. You nod politely."
> "marriage/love/wedding/boyfriend/beau/lover" | "'So,' you say. 'This is a little weird since we just met, but, um. Would you like to get married?'
> She looks at you nervously. 'Do I have to?'" | "'I, er,' she says. 'I hope I'm not supposed to marry you or something.'"
> "marriage/love/wedding/boyfriend/beau/lover" | "'I was told I was going to marry you and inherit the kingdom,' you say, apologetically. 'Would that be very bad?'
> 'Oh, it's not you -- I'm seeing someone,' she says, smiling quickly.
> You try to think how to point out that it's been a hundred years since she last saw her boyfriend." | "'Do you think I could go look for someone? I'm seeing him, you see, and I think I've been... sick... for a while, so he might be worried.'
> You try to think how to point out that it's been a hundred years since she last saw her boyfriend."
> "marriage/love/wedding/boyfriend/beau/lover" | "'You've been up here for a hundred years,' you say. An unpleasant thought occurs to you. 'Was your young man in the castle somewhere?'
> She shakes her head mutely." | "She goes to the window and looks out at the now-fading thicket of briar. 'That took a while to grow,' she observes. 'I've been up here longer than I thought.'
You shrug, uncomfortable." Instead of asking an awake beauty about a topic listed in the Table of Conversation: now Beauty is passive; say "[reply entry][paragraph break]"; blank out the whole row. The "now Beauty is passive" line prevents her from making any conversation of her own on a turn when we've spoken to her. This keeps the conversation from progressing too quickly. Instead of telling an awake beauty about something: try asking the noun about it. Instead of asking an asleep person about something: say "[The noun] snores." Marriage Proposal ends when the number of filled rows in the Table of Conversation is 0. Every turn during Marriage Proposal: if Beauty is active: repeat through Table of Conversation: say "[quip entry][paragraph break]"; blank out the whole row; make no decision. After we've generated any spontaneous conversation, we return her to her regular active state. Every turn: now Beauty is active. When Marriage Proposal ends: end the story saying "This is going to take some explaining." Test me with "x beauty / wake beauty / pour water on beauty / ask beauty about sleep / z / ask beauty about marriage". Now we have a scenario in which the player can ask her some questions out of order if he really wants to, but the scene will not end until the basic conversation topics have been exhausted. If we wanted to add some other chit-chat, not as part of the main conversation strand, but by way of optional enrichment, we might make a second conversation table and record alternative outcomes in it.

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| Example Robo 1 A robot which watches and records the player's actions, then tries to repeat them back in the same order when he is switched into play-back mode. |
WI

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| Example Robo 2 A robot which watches and records the player's actions, then tries to repeat them back in the same order when he is switched into play-back mode. |
WI

425
| Example Your Mother Doesn't Work Here Your hard-working mother uses a list as a stack: urgent tasks are added to the end of the list, interrupting longer-term plans. |
WI

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