AHA. Found it.
The syntax is "Now the [property of the thing] is the [property] after/before [the property of the thing].
It’s in chapter 8:5 in example 118 “Thirst 2”. I’m surprised such a useful trick isn’t called out more obviously.
[rant=example][code]Test Room is a Room. “You are standing on the ground, which seems [stability of ground] at the moment.”
The ground is a thing.
Stability is a kind of value. The stabilities are solid, slightly dented, cracked, unstable, and perilous.
The ground has a stability.
Instead of jumping:
now the stability of the ground is the stability after the stability of the ground.[/code]
I don’t think the property has to be a named kind. I think you could just say “The ground can be solid, dented, cracked…” and then just call it “[condition of the ground]”[/rant]
You can talk about “the [property] after [property]”, so for example “the temperature after the temperature of the iron” gives the next one in line. I don’t know if “increment” works on named properties though.
It’s called out specifically in §11.18. The value after and the value before, but it’s still pretty hard to find.
You can’t “increment” a property value, because “increment” specifically adds the number 1, and thus only works on numbers. But you can easily define a phrase:
To heat up (item - a thing):
if the temperature of the item is less than very hot:
now the temperature of the item is the temperature after the temperature of the item.
To cool down (item - a thing):
if the temperature of the item is greater than very cold:
now the temperature of the item is the temperature before the temperature of the item.
Yes, I did figure that out and the error text did explain it. I’m glad it’s someplace in the manual!
It all makes sense. You could increment temperature expressed as a number. “Temperature is a number that varies. The iron has a temperature. Every turn when the iron is switched on: increment the temperature of the iron.”