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INTRODUCTION ADAPTIVE PROSE
PLACE
TIME AND PLOT THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER
COMMANDS
OTHER CHARACTERS VEHICLES, ANIMALS AND FURNITURE
PROPS: FOOD, CLOTHING, MONEY, TOYS, BOOKS, ELECTRONICS
PHYSICS: SUBSTANCES, ROPES, ENERGY AND WEIGHT PUZZLES
OUT OF WORLD ACTIONS AND EFFECTS
TYPOGRAPHY, LAYOUT, AND MULTIMEDIA EFFECTS TESTING AND PUBLISHING
PREFACE About the examples DISENCHANTMENT BAY Basic backdrop INFORMATION ONLY About Inform's regular expression support VARYING WHAT IS WRITTEN Case change for text produced by to say phrases VARYING WHAT IS READ Printed names for complex-named objects USING THE PLAYER'S INPUT Fish of ambiguous species MAP Carousel Room from which exits lead to random locations DOORS, STAIRCASES, AND BRIDGES Deadbolted door unlockable without a key on one side POSITION WITHIN ROOMS Pushing a box between named internal positions in a room CONTINUOUS SPACES AND THE OUTDOORS Backdrops which can only be examined WINDOWS Basic window similar to a door LIGHTING Basic switchable light for a room SOUNDS Noisemaking gadgets which can be heard with LISTEN PASSERS-BY, WEATHER AND ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS Atmospheric background events that occur randomly during a scene THE PASSAGE OF TIME All actions given different durations SCRIPTED SCENES Hurrying the player on a specific task EVENT SCHEDULING Appointments at future times SCENE CHANGES Commercial break FLASHBACKS Flashback scenes, simple PLOT MANAGEMENT Goal-seeking plot manager, simple THE HUMAN BODY Disambiguating body parts TRAITS DETERMINED BY THE PLAYER Allowing the player to describe his character before starting play CHARACTERIZATION Another, distinct from the player BACKGROUND, MEMORY, AND KNOWLEDGE Box reports whether it has been open VIEWPOINT Description related to player preconceptions LOOKING Room description changes after first visit EXAMINING Adding to descriptions without using "after examining" LOOKING UNDER AND HIDING Evidence hidden until item is searched INVENTORY INVENTORY listing with separate carried and worn items TAKING, DROPPING, INSERTING AND PUTTING DROP applies even to objects the player carries indirectly GOING, PUSHING THINGS IN DIRECTIONS Compass directions renamed ENTERING AND EXITING, SITTING AND STANDING Automatically leaving an object before trying to take it WAITING, SLEEPING Sleep and waking MAGIC WORDS REMEMBERING, CONVERTING AND COMBINING ACTIONS ASKing about a conversation topic other than the one the player typed ALTERNATE DEFAULT MESSAGES Replacing standard action report rules CLARIFICATION Disambiguation question giving items more explicit names ALTERNATIVES TO STANDARD PARSING Adverbs used in commands GETTING ACQUAINTED Characters and objects with titles and special articles LIVELINESS Child who asks if we're there yet REACTIVE CHARACTERS Actions prohibited in the presence of a dangerous character BARTER AND EXCHANGE GIVE action for other characters COMBAT AND DEATH Command prompt changing to reflect state of combat GETTING STARTED WITH CONVERSATION People who must be greeted before conversation SAYING SIMPLE THINGS ASK made like SHOW when applied to objects SAYING COMPLICATED THINGS Conversation based on keyword recognition CHARACTER EMOTION Gestures for different characters to make during speech CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE AND REASONING Conversation where characters seek logical connection to foregoing topics CHARACTERS FOLLOWING A SCRIPT Princess who makes various remarks TRAVELING CHARACTERS FOLLOW command OBEDIENT CHARACTERS ASK person TO do something, understood GOAL-SEEKING CHARACTERS Escape action for non-player characters only SOCIAL GROUPS People listed as a group, with their possessions afterward BICYCLES, CARS AND BOATS Car which can only be driven on roads SHIPS, TRAINS AND ELEVATORS An elevator operated simply by walking in and out ANIMALS Cat interacting with toys FURNITURE Basic enterable containers and supporters KITCHEN AND BATHROOM FOOD Food the player can eat without taking it first BAGS, BOTTLES, BOXES AND SAFES Bottles with removable stoppers CLOTHING Clothing kinds MONEY Catalog of juggling equipment with prices DICE AND PLAYING CARDS Deck of cards with identified poker hands READING MATTER Book with numbered pages PAINTING AND LABELING DEVICES Colour names for exotic pigments SIMPLE MACHINES Computer with numerous components TELEVISIONS AND RADIOS Radio producing cycling programming TELEPHONES Telephones reaching distant parties CLOCKS AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS Clocks that can be SET TO any time CAMERAS AND RECORDING DEVICES Camera producing instant photographs GASES Diffusion of gas through the map, where gas sinks LIQUIDS Command applying to an object added to the story GLASS AND OTHER DAMAGE-PRONE SUBSTANCES Broken and unbroken flowerpots VOLUME, HEIGHT, WEIGHT Containers that calculate internal volume and available room ROPES Rope, able to be tied to things and dragged betwixt rooms ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM Batteries that can power devices and eventually run down FIRE Camp fire which can be lit using tinder HEAT Disambiguating based on properties MAGIC (BREAKING THE LAWS OF PHYSICS) Machine that transmutes objects START-UP FEATURES Banner printing at appropriate times SAVING AND UNDOING A point for never saving the game HELPING AND HINTING HELP command is recommended if the player seems lost SCORING FULL SCORE using a list of stored actions ENDING THE GAME AMUSING menu shown at the endgame TYPOGRAPHY Accented and exotic letters and symbols THE STATUS LINE Blanking the status line before play FOOTNOTES GLULX MULTIMEDIA EFFECTS An RSS reader connecting to the Internet TESTING Checking for missed properties PUBLISHING Producing an EPS floorplan INTRODUCTION
Basic room, container, and supporter descriptions
Basic character
Basic clothing
Basic descriptions
Basic door
Basic holdall
Basic locked container
Basic pushable object
Basic scenery
Disenchantment Bay 1. The charter boat
Disenchantment Bay 12. Complete playable scenario
Radar aboard ship
Backus-Naur form for rules
Formal syntax of sentences
Graph-theory view of relations
Mathematical view of relations
ADAPTIVE PROSE
Creating our own text variations rules
Cyclical randomization of named objects
Filtering text output in room names
Names of objects change with player's diction
Otherwise if demonstrated
Phrase to let us say things some number of times
Random variations within text
Say rules for is-are and it/them
Saying a number in round numbers
Substituting insults and boasts
To say rules for insults and boasts
Understanding names of things, basic
Pig Latin for the player's commands
Player's erroneous command recorded for later
Understanding indexed text
PLACE
Exits added to a room
Map rearranged as player wanders so he finds rooms in order
Maze with randomized room links
Port Royal 1. A landscape from Jamaica, 1691
Port Royal 2. With one-way connections added
Port Royal 3. Divided into regions
Region off-limits to a player without VIP pass
Door described differently depending on where it is
Door kind that describes the destination
Doors that open automatically
Plank bridge breaks on being crossed when the player is carrying something
Readout showing status of all doors
Staircase kind of door which diverts the CLIMB command
Staircase kind of door, always open and unopenable
Rooms with visible exteriors
Continuous space with distant objects visible and automatic room description
Continuous space with distant objects visible
Continuous space, simple
Large objects visible from distant rooms
Lighthouse whose light can shine in different directions
LOOK [direction] command
Signposts to distant rooms
Random characters seen through a window
Window connecting two rooms
Window that can be opaque or transparent
Windows in high places
Cloak that makes a room dark
Dark room which relies on other senses when light is off
Dark rooms given non-standard description
Electric light kind of device
Light levels variable depending on the number of candles the player has lit
Scope approaches compared
Shiny items are described as reflecting torchlight
Torch understood as flaming or extinguished
Rooms with sounds of nearby water
Scope for listening different from scope for seeing
Clouds with random descriptions
Cycle of day and night scenes
Randomized pedestrian passer-by
Scheduling an eclipse
TIME AND PLOT
Instant EXAMINE and LOOK
Time expressed in units other than minutes
Time told in 24-hour military style
Turns take 15 minutes each
Turns take a quarter day each
Sequence of background events that plays out in order
Triggering a new scene when the player does any of several things
People who follow a schedule of activities
Shops open and close at specific hours
Moving a backdrop during play
Moving props on and off-stage as scenes start and end
Flashbacks with multiple outcomes
THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER
Height of player affects descriptions
Postures for sitting, standing, and lying down
Asking the player to choose a gender
Name of player character selected at start of play
Examining the player
Restrictions preventing inappropriate behavior
Characters referred to when absent
FIND command
Horribly heavy box described differently after being taken
REMEMBER command keyed to topics
Description varying depending on which avatar the player uses
Different player characters that see different things
Player controls multiple player-characters in turn
COMMANDS
Room description changes after note is read
Room description changes at each of several visits
Room description given in full each time the player enters
EXAMINE always lists contents of containers and supporters
EXAMINE multiple things at once
Examining everything at once
You see nothing special... message replaced
Hiding things under other things
LOOK UNDER shows nothing unless the player has a light
SEARCH [room] action that opens every visible unlocked container
INVENTORY revised for other characters
Wide and divided variations on inventory
DROPPING into and onto things
PUT and INSERT automatically TAKE first even with multiples
PUT and INSERT automatically TAKE first
Scenery taking with a new message
TAKE action reports where the noun came from
TAKE prints a description
Exits listed when the player tries a wrong direction
Falling into a pit when going from darkness to darkness
First look text added for a newly entered room
GO BACK command
GO equivalent to GO OUT
GO OUT and GO IN determine most appropriate direction if none is defined
GO UP and GO DOWN determined by room altitude
Message on leaving a region
Travel to a room described
Travel with a pushed object given a new description
Traveling by room name rather than compass direction
Traveling by room name, opening doors on the way
Automatically leaving an object before trying to travel
GET DOWN and DOWN understood as EXIT
Variety of postures
WAIT [number] MINUTES command
WAIT UNTIL [time] command
Characters killed off by trigger actions
Device to remember and play back actions
Redirecting actions to new objects
Disambiguation question worded in a new way entirely
USE action which divines rational behavior for a wide range of possible nouns
Keywords in place of ordinary commands
OTHER CHARACTERS
Characters renamed in play
Murderer chosen randomly at start of play
People changing their titles during play
People introduced by relative
Relations applying to multiple values of the same kind
Every turn an opponent plays
People who do new things each time the player looks
Person who picks up treasures
Disorderly conduct
Furniture, resentment of
Person who comments on the player's every action
Sleeping person who can be woken in various ways
Smuggler carrying hidden items
GIVE command extended
Corpses left behind when a character dies
DIAGNOSE command
Multipart objects broken into components by gun blast
Randomized Combat with Weapons
Simple Randomized Combat
TALK TO usage corrected
ASK, TELL, and ANSWER commands rolled into one
Asking the player a Yes/No question
YES and NO handled as conversation
Conversation system with recap of past exchanges
Conversation with multiple options for each conversation topic
TALK TO command used with scenes
Person with emotions about what is said
Hints leading the player through conversation
People attempting to detect the murderer
Person who answers questions based on a common pool of knowledge
Person who answers what, where, and when questions differently
Multiple people's movements are collated into paragraphs
Person who finds a path to a destination specified by player
Person who follows the player
Person who moves on a pre-determined path
Person who moves randomly
Issuing vague commands to characters
People commanded to obey
People who reject categories of instruction
Person who gets fed up after being asked to do many implausible things
Person who obeys almost all instructions
Person who opens a container before trying to get something from it
Person who pursues his own goals each turn
Reporting rules for other characters' behavior
People who interact with each other each turn
People who move around a party on their own
Shifting alliances among people
Shifting alliances demonstrating all relation types
VEHICLES, ANIMALS AND FURNITURE
Description from inside a vehicle
Travel requiring a vehicle
Vehicles that make noise
An elevator which takes the player to alternate floors
Shipboard directions
Train that makes station stops
Concealed pet who would yip at you if it could see you
Name of a dog set by the player
Chest with a supporting lid
Drawers where thing is always in the last opened
Finding the bottom of a pile
Stool, from which dropped objects fall to the floor
PROPS: FOOD, CLOTHING, MONEY, TOYS, BOOKS, ELECTRONICS
Food with ingredients affecting the player
Foods with flavor
Hunger eventually killing the player
Poisoned candy chosen randomly
Containers referred to by contents
Letters described as a group
Object named differently if alone in its container
Object named differently if next to specific things
Safe that can be opened with a combination
Clothing that layers
Clothing with layering and regions of the body
Concealing clothing for other characters
Pocket added to every jacket
Shirts constructed from component parts
Money system including denominations of bills and coins
Money system with simple tracking of player wealth
OFFER price FOR command allowing player to bargain
Deck of cards with individual card objects
Deck of cards
Pair of dice for rolling
Shuffling the arrangement of items in a container
Book with various contents
Bookshelf with numerous books
Encyclopedia set
Notebooks that can be written in as a separate command line
Notebooks that can be written in
READ command separate from EXAMINE
Paint that colours blocks
Red sticky label
On/off button for devices
Signpost that can be turned
Radios and other devices active when switched on
Television with aspect ratio
Television with channels, advanced
Television with channels, simple
Telephones with standard American-length phone numbers
EMF Meter for ghost detection
Telescope allowing view of another room
Mirror remembering a room description from the past
Model objects referred to by the thing modeled
Recorder that records sounds made by player and non-player actions
Video camera that records all actions
PHYSICS: SUBSTANCES, ROPES, ENERGY AND WEIGHT
Diffusion of gas through the map, with concentrations
Smoke which spreads, not tracking concentration
Fire put out by liquid
Flotation of objects
Liquid container removed when drunk
Liquid container that can be full, depleted, or empty
Liquid containers with measured contents
Liquid model with large bodies of liquid added
Liquid which soaks into porous items
Liquids in mixtures, identified by recipe
SHAKE command
Fragile objects broken when things are thrown at them
Fragile things that break when attacked
Fragile things, basic
Soft objects able to be cut open
Containers which have a breaking strain
Sloping landscape on which round things roll away
Weighbridge
String that can be divided and tied together again
Electrified objects
Magnet which picks up nearby metal objects
Candle that changes as it burns down
Fire that spreads
Matches that set fires
Hot and cold objects approach room temperature
Infrared goggles affect what player can see and refer to
Supporter from which the player cannot take things
Person capable of reaching through solid objects
The Pointy Hat of Liminal Transgression
Wand which reveals a person's concealed possessions
OUT OF WORLD ACTIONS AND EFFECTS
Preferences file loaded on replaying
A room where the game cannot be saved
HELP menu from extension, with added content
HELP with a simple menu
Hint access able to be turned off for the duration of the game
Hints leading the player through physical puzzles
Novice mode offers suggestions before each prompt
Responding to questions starting with WHO, WHAT, etc.
FULL SCORE with achievements table and rankings
Plot summary in place of a score
Scoreboard preserved between games
Scored items listed in a table
Death message replaced
Histories of previous games saved to external file
Resuming play after an accidental death
TYPOGRAPHY, LAYOUT, AND MULTIMEDIA EFFECTS
Coloured lettering for both z-machine and Glulx
Coloured letters on screen
HTML-style italic and boldface tags
Capitalised status line
Exits and rooms listed in the status line
Exits only listed in the status line
Map region listed in status line
Status line with centered text, the easy way
Status line with centered text, the hard way
TESTING AND PUBLISHING
Testing command
Producing an EPS map of Greece
Producing an EPS map of Port Royal