10.2. Creating a scene

| Chapter 10: Scenes |

| 10.2. Creating a scene

As usual, we only need to say that something is a scene to make it so:

> Train Stop is a scene.

We conventionally write scene names with capital letters, as this demonstrates.

This works, and shows up in the "Scenes" index, but does nothing. We have given no instructions on when it begins - no cue, in stage-play terms - so it never will begin, and even if it did, nobody would notice since it does nothing. First, to give it a beginning:

> Train Stop begins when the player is in the Station for the third turn.

In theory any condition can be used to cue the scene - here, it's "the player is in the Station for the third turn" - but it's wise to look for a state of affairs which will last at least a brief time, because scene changes only happen at the start and end of turns. (Something like "...when examining the timetable" may be true only for a part of the middle of a turn, and so go unnoticed.)

Every scene has two rulebooks attached, one at each end, so to speak. These look very like "when play begins" and "when play ends", and work in the same way. Thus:

> When Train Stop begins:
> move the Flying Scotsman to the Station;
> say "The Flying Scotsman pulls up at the platform, to a billow of steam and hammering."

> When Train Stop ends:
> remove the Flying Scotsman from play;
> if the player is in the Station, say "The Flying Scotsman inches away, with a squeal of released brakes, gathering speed invincibly until it disappears around the hill. All is abruptly still once more."

Thus when the scene begins, our imaginary stage-hands wheel in a steam train; when it ends, they get rid of it again. Note that we know where the player will be at the start of the scene, but by the end he may have wandered off across the fields, so we must be careful not to report something he might not be in a position to see.

When Train Stop begins, we printed some text, but we did this by hand. We didn't need to, because Inform automatically prints out the description of a scene (if it has one) when the scene begins. Scenes can have properties, just like objects, and in particular they have the "description" property. For example, we could write:

> Arrival is a scene. "There's a flourish of trumpets."

which saves us the trouble of writing the rule:

> When Arrival begins: say "There's a flourish of trumpets."

We can also write rules like this which apply to a whole variety of scenes at once. For instance:

> A scene can be bright or dim. A scene is usually dim. Dawn is a bright scene.

> When a scene which is bright ends: say "So passes the bright [scene being changed]."

Here, instead of naming a scene ("Train Stop"), we've given a description ("a scene which is bright").

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| Example Pine 1 Pine: Using a scene to watch for the solution of a puzzle, however arrived-at by the player. |
RB

Because scene rules are checked every turn, they can be useful for designing puzzles which have multiple solutions. Instead of deciding the puzzle is "solved" when the player does a certain action, we set up a scene that checks to see whether the player has achieved a certain outcome -- however he accomplished it. For instance, in this scenario, we're waiting for Sleeping Beauty to wake up, and it doesn't much matter how... "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. Test me with "x beauty / wake beauty / pour water on beauty".

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| Example Entrapment A scene in which the player is allowed to explore as much as he likes, but another character strolls in as soon as he has gotten himself into an awkward or embarrassing situation. |
RB

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