12.2. The Status Line

| Chapter 12: Typography, Layout, and Multimedia Effects |

| 12.2. The Status Line

The status line is the reverse-coloured bar along the top of the window during play, which conventionally, but not necessarily, shows the current location, the score (or sometimes the time of day) and the number of turns so far. It has been highly traditional since the early 1980s (Infocom's customer newsletter was for many years called "The Status Line"): it has become the visual identifier of IF. It plays the same role for IF that a header with chapter name and page number plays in a printed book.

The status line is ordinarily printed from two named pieces of text, the "left hand status line" and the "right hand status line". These can be changed during play, so for instance,

> When play begins, change the right hand status line to "Time: [time of day]".

The examples below offer miscellaneous alternatives, and are fairly self-descriptive.

See Viewpoint for a way to make the status line list the player's current identity

373
| Example Blankness Emptying the status line during the first screen of the game. |
WI

Occasionally we want to print something as our first screen and then pause the game. By default, Inform will print a rather odd status line, with "You" on the left side and "0" on the right. This is because the left hand status line is set to display the location, but (because we're not done with the when-play-begins rules) the player has not yet even been moved to a room. We can tidy this up in the "starting the virtual machine" activity, by temporarily changing the status line content. We will not provide game-pausing code here, because that is easily done by extension; so: "Blankness" Include Basic Screen Effects by Emily Short. When play begins: say "take me home"; wait for any key; say " yeah"; wait for any key; say " yeah"; pause the game; now the left hand status line is "[location]"; now the right hand status line is "[turn count]". Before starting the virtual machine: now the left hand status line is ""; now the right hand status line is "". Paradise City is a room. The description of Paradise City is "The grass is green and the girls are pretty." Quite a modest effect, but occasionally useful.

402
| Example Capital City To arrange that the location information normally given on the left-hand side of the status line appears in block capitals. |
WI

115
| Example Centered Replacing the two-part status line with one that centers only the room name at the top of the screen. |
WI

442
| Example Status line with centered text, the hard way A status line which has only the name of the location, centered. |
WI

336
| Example Ways Out A status line that lists the available exits from the current location. |
WI

337
| Example Guided Tour A status line that lists the available exits from the current location, changing the names of these exits depending on whether the room has been visited or not. |
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114
| Example Politics as Usual Have the status line indicate the current region of the map. |
WI

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