Hi everyone! I’m new to authoring (but have been playing since the days of Zork in the 80s). Most everything I have been able to figure out by searching and reading replies, but for some reason this specific and very particular situation seems not to have come up. I have a sofa that I have labeled as furniture and enterable, which inform handled fine. However, when I enter the sofa it automatically prints a new room description of the same room with (in the sofa) beside the room heading. Try as I might, I cannot figure out how to stop this. I can turn off looking altogether, but turning off looking for the first time when entering sofa didn’t work. turning off looking when entering the sofa didn’t work, turning off looking with a before or instead rule if the player is on the sofa didn’t work. Please help!!! Thank you in advance.
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like the particular behavior is output from Inform’s built-in “describe contents entered into rule”. If so, you could do something like…
the describe contents entered into rule does nothing when entering the couch.
This is just a guess. If you type “rules” while testing your game, Inform will print a lot of output. It’s hard to understand it all, but the rules listed immediately before the undesired output should provide a clue as to what is causing the problem.
An alternative might be writing your own “report” rule to circumvent the generic one Inform is following for entering the couch. Something like
report entering the couch:
say "Ahh... comfy.";
If none of that does the trick, perhaps we could see the rules output or have a look at the code (you can paste your code here, then use the “preformatted text” option to preserve its formatting).
EDIT: Oh! If something like this is going on
move the player to the couch
then this might do it.
move the player to the couch, without printing a room description
Thank you for answering! I tried the rule doing nothing and the reporting option but they didn’t work. I will paste my code if we can’t figure it out from the rule output I’m including here:
sit on sofa
[Rule “declare everything initially unmentioned rule” applies.]
[Rule “generate action rule” applies.]
[Rule “announce items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “before stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “basic visibility rule” applies.]
[Rule “basic accessibility rule” applies.]
[Rule “access through barriers rule” applies.]
[Rule “carrying requirements rule” applies.]
[Rule “instead stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “Instead of entering the sofa” applies.]
You sink down onto the sofa. The softness makes you emit a small sound of pleasure.
[Rule “determine visibility ceiling rule” applies.]
[Rule “announce items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “before stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “basic visibility rule” applies.]
[Rule “basic accessibility rule” applies.]
[Rule “carrying requirements rule” applies.]
[Rule “instead stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “requested actions require persuasion rule” applies.]
[Rule “carry out requested actions rule” applies.]
[Rule “descend to specific action-processing rule” applies.]
[Rule “work out details of specific action rule” applies.]
[Rule “investigate player’s awareness before action rule” applies.]
[Rule “player aware of his own actions rule” applies.]
[Rule “check stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “carry out stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “declare everything unmentioned rule” applies.]
[Rule “room description heading rule” applies.]
Penthouse - Living Room (on the sofa)
[Rule “room description body text rule” applies.]
The main space of your Penthouse, the living room is where you entertain. (Well… unless the lady has earned the privilege of seeing your bedroom.) The kitchen is to the northeast, the dining room is to the north, the guest bedroom is to the northwest, the den is to the west, the guest bathroom is to the southwest, and your bedroom is to the south.
[Rule “room description paragraphs about objects rule” applies.]
[Rule “initialise locale description rule” applies.]
[Rule “find notable locale objects rule” applies.]
[Rule “standard notable locale objects rule” applies.]
[Rule “interesting locale paragraphs rule” applies.]
[Rule “initial appearance on supporters rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention player’s supporter in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention scenery in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention undescribed items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “offer items to writing a paragraph about rule” applies.]
[Rule “use initial appearance in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on scenery supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on mentioned supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “initial appearance on supporters rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention player’s supporter in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention scenery in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention undescribed items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “offer items to writing a paragraph about rule” applies.]
[Rule “use initial appearance in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on scenery supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on mentioned supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention player’s supporter in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention scenery in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “don’t mention undescribed items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “offer items to writing a paragraph about rule” applies.]
[Rule “use initial appearance in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on scenery supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “describe what’s on mentioned supporters in room descriptions rule” applies.]
[Rule “you-can-also-see rule” applies.]
You can see an end table and a TV here.
Instead of entering the sofa:
say “You sink down onto the sofa. The softness makes you emit a small sound of pleasure.”;
now the player is on the sofa.
Ok, I think I’ve got it. So Inform understands “now the player is” somewhere as moving the player somewhere new. And when the player goes somewhere new, a room description prints. Try this instead:
move the player to the couch, without printing a room description
“Instead” can be a bit of a trap sometimes; it short-circuits a lot of built-in stuff.