Breaking objects

Authoring Inform 7
#1

I need a way to break/split objects. I think I have it down, but when I try the command “>break Kyoketsu-shogei”
Violence isn’t the answer to this one.

Understand "break [something]" as breaking. breaking is an action applying to one thing. Breaking is allowed.
Before breaking the Kyoketsu-shogei:
	say "you break it back into its original parts, a chain and your shiv.";
	move the Kyoketsu-shogei to Davy Jones' Locker;
	move the chain to player;
	move the shiv to player.

Can someone help meh?

#2

The problem is that there is a default command break that’s a synonym for attack, and Inform thinks that your breaking command is the same as attacking, which gives the default response (“violence isn’t the answer”). A simple solution is to define break as something new.

Cage is a room. 

Kyoketsu-shogei is a thing in Cage.
chain is a thing.
shiv is a thing.

Understand the command "break" as something new.
breaking is an action applying to one thing.
Understand "break [something]" as breaking. 

After breaking the Kyoketsu-shogei:
	say "you break it back into its original parts, a chain and your shiv.";
	remove the Kyoketsu-shogei from play;
	move the chain to player;
	move the shiv to player.
	
test me with "break kyoketsu-shogei / i "

Also, I’m guessing you just want to remove the weapon from play, and an after routine made more sense to me than a before. Your ‘is allowed’ wasn’t doing what I guess you thought it was doing – it was just creating a property called ‘allowed’ that didn’t affect the game.

When you compile a game with just one room you can go to the Index / Actions tab in the IDE and see all the commands available in the game. If you do that you’ll see the break synonym I’m talking about. Also when you see a response you want to get rid of (like the ‘violence isn’t’) you can do the rules and actions commands, and get a better picture of what’s going on. For example with this code,

[code]
Cage is a room.

Kyoketsu-shogei is a thing in Cage.

test me with “break kyoketsu-shogei / actions / break kyoketsu-shogei / rules / break kyoketsu-shogei”[/code]

You get this

#3

I suggest moving the chain and shive to the part of the Kyoketsu-shogei, then remove the K-s from play. That gives correct results if the player isn’t holding the K-s.

#4

Although you can just unlist all of the attack verbs (understand them as “something new”), it may be simpler to do this:

[code]A thing can be breakable. A thing is usually not breakable.

Instead of attacking a breakable thing, try breaking it.[/code]

#5

If you’re going to do that, you might as well dispense with the breaking action and write

Instead of attacking a breakable thing: […the actual disassembly code]

#6

But only if you’re not going to add any alternative grammars like “disassemble” or “take apart,” etc.