4.2. Scripted Scenes

| Chapter 4: Time and Plot |

| 4.2. Scripted Scenes

Sometimes we want to arrange a scene in which something goes on in the background (as though it were a movie playing) while the player goes about his business; or where a series of things has to happen before the player gets to the end.

The simplest way to arrange background events for a scene is to write the sequence of events into a table and work our way through it, printing one line per turn, until the scene runs out. Day One does exactly this.

At other times, we want a scene to last as long as it takes the player to do something. Entrapment lets the player poke around and explore as much as he likes, but ends as soon as he has accomplished the scene's goal - which, unfortunately for him, is to get into an embarrassing situation so that another character can walk in and make fun of him. The Prague Job has a scene that requires the player to do a more specific set of tasks, but nags him and hurries him along until he's done.

Bowler Hats and Baby Geese assumes that our game is going to be assembled with a number of scenes, some of which will need to prevent the player from leaving the location until the scene is complete: it thus defines a "restricted" property for scenes, so that all such elements of the plot will work in the same way.

For more complex sorts of scripts and schedules, it may be worth consulting the extensions.

See Characters Following a Script for a character whose conversation with the player is scripted to follow a pattern and then conclude

159
| Example Day One A scene which plays through a series of events in order, then ends when the list of events is exhausted. |
WI

"Day One" Lecture is a scene. Lecture begins when play begins. Every turn during Lecture: repeat through Table of Lecture Events: say "[event entry][paragraph break]"; blank out the whole row; rule succeeds. Here we use a table (see subsequent chapters) to keep track of all the events we wish to have occur during the course of the scene. Table of Lecture Events event "'Welcome to Precolumbian Archaeology 101,' thunders Dr Freitag from the front of the class. 'Miss-- yes, you in the back. If you can't find a free seat, how are you going to find Atlantis? Sit down or leave. Now. Thank you.'" "Freitag stands behinds his desk and lines up the pile of books there more neatly. 'It has come to my attention over previous years that there are two sorts of person who enroll in my class,' he says. 'Some of you will be members of the swim team or women's lacrosse players who have a distribution requirement to fulfill and are under the mistaken impression that archaeology must be easier than psychology. If that description applies to you, I advise you to drop the class now rather than at the midterm break. Under absolutely no circumstances will I ever sign a withdrawal form for someone who is crying at the time. Make a note of that, please.'" "'The second sort of person,' Dr Freitag says, getting another wind. 'Yes, the second sort of person takes this class because she imagines that it is going to lead to adventure or possibly to new age encounters with dolphins.' His eye moves over the class, lingering an especially long time on a girl in a patchwork skirt. 'You should also leave now, but since you are probably lying to yourself about the reasons you're here, you will probably not heed my warning and we will be doomed to a semester of one another's company nonetheless.'" "'Whatever you may tell yourself, you are not here to gain a deeper understanding of the world or get in touch with yourself or experience another culture.' He paces before the first row of desks, hammering on them one at a time. 'I know you probably wrote an admissions statement saying that that is what you hoped to do. Well, too bad. It is not inconceivable that some of you, somehow, will muddle towards a deeper understanding of something thanks to this class, but I am not holding my breath, and neither should you.'" "Freitag takes a breath. 'No, my dear freshwomen, what you are here to do is learn facts. FACTS. Facts are unpopular in this university and, I am unhappily aware, at most of the institutions of inferior preparation from which you have come. Nonetheless, facts it will be. I will expect you to learn names. I will expect you to learn dates. I will expect you to study maps and I will expect you to produce evidence of exacting geographical knowledge on the exams. I will expect you to learn shapes of pottery and memorize masonry designs. There are no principles you can learn which are more important or more useful than a truly colossal bank of facts right there in your own head.'" "'I do not ever want to hear that you do not need to learn things because you will be able to look them up. This is the greatest fallacy of your computer-semi-literate generation, that you can get anything out of Google if you need it. Not only is this demonstrably false, but it overlooks something phenomenally important: you only know to look for something if you already know it EXISTS. In short there is no way to fake knowledge, and I am not going to pretend there is.' He smiles in lupine fashion. 'This class is likely to be the most miserable experience of your four years in university. Clear?'" "Everyone is silent." "The lecture is interrupted by the shrill of a bell." And then we define the scene so that it ends when the table runs out. Lecture ends when the number of filled rows in the Table of Lecture Events is 0. One advantage of this is that we can then edit the events in the scene by changing just the table; the scene will always run the right length and end on the turn when the last event occurs. And to add a few additional details: Instead of doing something other than waiting, looking, listening or examining during Lecture: say "Dr Freitag glares at you so fiercely that you are frozen into inaction." Notice the careful phrasing of "doing something other than..." so that we do not mention the objects; if we had written "something other than listening to something...", the instead rule would match only action patterns which involved a noun. We state the rule more generally so that it will also match nounless commands such as JUMP and SING, since Freitag will probably take a dim view of those as well. When Lecture ends: remove Freitag from play; say "There is a flurry of movement as your fellow students begin to put away their books. Dr Freitag makes his way to the door and is gone before anyone can ask him anything." The Classroom is a room. Dr Freitag is a man in the Classroom. "Dr Freitag paces before the blackboard." Test me with "listen / x dr / x me / jump / sing / z / z / z / z / x dr".

155
| 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. |
WI

162
| Example The Prague Job Scenes used to provide pacing while the player goes through his possessions. |
WI

160
| Example Bowler Hats and Baby Geese Creating a category of scenes that restrict the player's behavior. |
WI

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