17.20. Printing the description of a dark room

| Chapter 17: Activities |

| 17.20. Printing the description of a dark room

1. When it happens. When looking in darkness.

2. The default behaviour. To print "It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing."

3. Examples. (a) A simple variation of wording:

> Rule for printing the description of a dark room: say "Your eyes can barely make anything out." instead.

(b) More stylishly,

> Rule for printing the description of a dark room: try listening instead.

which produces, for instance,

> Darkness
> You hear nothing unexpected.

(Note that this activity does not come in different forms for different dark rooms: the wording is fixed at "printing the description of a dark room", and we are not allowed to substitute particular dark rooms or assign a "(called ...)" onto the mention of the dark room.)

334
| Example Hohmann Transfer Changing the way dark rooms are described to avoid the standard Inform phrasing. |
RB

335
| Example Four Stars An elaboration of the idea that when light is absent, the player should be given a description of what he can smell and hear, instead. |
RB

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