3.6. Windows

| Chapter 3: Place |

| 3.6. Windows

Calvin Coolidge once described windows as "rectangles of glass." For us, they have two purposes: first, they offer a view of landscape beyond. In the simplest case the view is of an area which will not be interacted with in play, and therefore does not need to adapt to whatever may have changed there:

> The window is scenery in the Turret. "Through the window you see miles and miles of unbroken forest, turning from green to flame in the hard early autumn."

More interesting is to adapt the view a little to provide a changing picture: a forest may not change much, but a street scene will. Port Royal 4 allows us to glimpse random passers-by.

The trickiest kind of window allows the player to see another room which can also be encountered in play, and to interact with what is there. Dinner is Served presents a shop window, allowing people to see inside from the street, and even to reach through.

Vitrine handles the complication of a window misting up to become opaque, and thus temporarily hiding its view.

Second, windows provide openings in walls and can act as conduits. Escape shows how a "door" in the Inform sense can become a window. A Haughty Spirit provides a general kind of window for jumping down out of: ideal for escapers from Colditz-like castles.

See Doors, Staircases, and Bridges for a door which can be partially seen through

20
| Example Escape Window that can be climbed through or looked through. |
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116
| Example Vitrine An electrochromic window that becomes transparent or opaque depending on whether it is currently turned on. |
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261
| Example Port Royal 4 A cell window through which the player can see people who were in Port Royal in the current year of game-time. |
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> Our protagonist is imprisoned in Port Royal, waiting out his years, and sometimes through the window of his cell he is able to see someone. We are, however, obsessive about historical accuracy, so we provide a table of people who really lived in the city, together with the year in which their existence is attested. We want these people to appear in the description only in the year when they are known to have been present. (After all, mortality was high in Port Royal and new people were constantly arriving, so someone's presence one year is no guarantee of their continued existence the next.) "Waiting for Godot, Chyrurgeon" New New Prison is a room. "You have a not very interesting room. Through the window you see passing [current denizen]." Instead of waiting: increment the current year; say "It is now the year [the current year]."; try looking. When play begins: now the right hand status line is "[current year]". Every turn: if the current year is 1692: say "It turns out you have remained imprisoned until the great earthquake of 1692! Oops."; end the story. Current year is a number that varies. The current year is 1664. To say current denizen: repeat through the Table of Occupations and People: if the date attested entry is the current year: say "[nickname entry] [family entry], [trade entry]"; blank out the whole row; rule succeeds; say "absolutely no one". It is possible to look up a row corresponding to, say, a specific year value using "listed in", but repeat through is convenient here because we know that we will never wind up trying to print entries when no row can be successfully selected. Table of Occupations and People
> Trade | nickname | family | Date attested
> "architect" | "Robert" | "Snead" | 1684
> "baker" | "William" | "Wingar" | 1683
> "barber" | "William" | "Alcocke" | 1676
> "blacksmith" | "William" | "Davidson" | 1679
> "bricklayer" | "Samuel" | "Richardson" | 1683
> "butcher" | "John" | "Dennis" | 1676
> "carpenter" | "John" | "Albert" | 1675
> "cabinet-maker" | "Robert" | "Avis" | 1666
> "joiner" | "Peter" | "Bartaboa" | 1666
> "chandler" | "William" | "Bates" | 1674
> "chyrurgeon" | "William" | "Axtell" | 1674
> "chyrurgeon" | "Thomas" | "Trapham" | 1678
> "combmaker" | "Paul" | "Bennett" | 1673
> "cooper" | "James" | "Hall" | 1676
> "cooper" | "Henry" | "Pullein" | 1675
> "cordwainer" | "George" | "Barnard" | 1675
> "cordwainer" | "Edward" | "Skannon" | 1680
> "cordwainer" | "John" | "Wilmott" | 1675
> "drugster" | "William" | "Mathews" | 1682
> "fisherman" | "Richard" | "Collingwood" | 1674
> "glazier" | "Thomas" | "Hudson" | 1684
> "goldsmith" | "Richard" | "Lord" | 1677
> "gunsmith" | "Stephen" | "Massey" | 1664
> "hatmaker" | "John" | "Rosewell" | 1683
> "ivory turner" | "William" | "Clifton" | 1691
> "labourer" | "John" | "Dennis" | 1674
> "limeburner" | "John" | "Hardwick" | 1675
> "mariner" | "Alexander" | "Bailing" | 1680
> "mariner" | "Thomas" | "Bowtell" | 1675
> "mariner" | "Peter" | "Claiton" | 1675
> "mariner" | "Joseph" | "Cupid" | 1672
> "mariner" | "Michael" | "Dunn" | 1675
> "mason" | "John" | "Stone" | 1673
> "merchant" | "John" | "Agard" | 1680
> "merchant" | "David Lopez" | "Narbona" | 1674
> "merchant" | "Abraham" | "Langford" | 1675
> "merchant" | "John" | "Sweeting" | 1675
> "merchant" | "Charles" | "Knight" | 1680
> "merchant" | "Cornelius" | "Vandananker" | 1670
> "merchant" | "Moses Jesurum" | "Cordova" | 1675
> "pewterer" | "Simon" | "Benning" | 1667
> "pipemaker" | "John" | "Pope" | 1680
> "porter" | "George" | "Paul" | 1670
> "poulterer" | "Richard" | "Jeffreys" | 1677
> "sailmaker" | "Adam" | "Brewer" | 1671
> "schoolmaster" | "Peter" | "Bird" | 1677
> "shipwright" | "William" | "Cavell" | 1676
> "tailor" | "William" | "Case" | 1676
> "tailor" | "Pewter" | "Ebden" | 1683
> "waterman" | "William" | "Brocke" | 1674
> "waterman" | "Joel" | "Clements" | 1668
> "wherryman" | "John" | "Grant" | 1669
> "victualler" | "Barnaby" | "Adams" | 1675
> "vintner" | "Gabriel" | "Adkins" | 1668
> "tavern-keeper" | "John" | "Baldwin" | 1670
> "tavern-keeper" | "Mary" | "Dayton" | 1664
> "tavern-keeper" | "James" | "Turpin" | 1679
> "tavern-keeper" | "Christopher" | "Mayham" | 1664
Test me with "wait / wait / wait / wait / wait / wait / wait / wait / wait / wait".

217
| Example Dinner is Served A window between two locations. When the window is open, the player can reach through into the other location; when it isn't, access is barred. |
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181
| Example A Haughty Spirit Windows overlooking lower spaces which will prevent the player from climbing through if the lower space is too far below. |
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