How to list items in rooms on separate lines?

Authoring Inform 7
1

I’m working on a project which involves a large amount of similar objects in various rooms. I’m trying to learn how to have them listed on individual lines so they are easier to read. For example, one room currently looks like this:

Hall of Classics
The opulent hall is filled with various portals on ornate pedestals.
You can see a Portal to Aisle shimmers here, a Portal to Anchorhead shimmers here, a Portal to Coloratura shimmers here, a Portal to Counterfeit Monkey shimmers here, a Portal to Lost Pig shimmers here, a Portal to Photopia shimmers here, a Portal to Shade shimmers here, a Portal to Slouching Towards Bedlam shimmers here, a Portal to Spider And Web shimmers here, a Portal to Varicella shimmers here, a Portal to Violet shimmers here and a Portal to Zork shimmers here here

Ideally, I’d like it to look something like this:

Hall of Classics
The opulent hall is filled with various portals on ornate pedestals.
A Portal to Aisle shimmers here.
a Portal to Anchorhead shimmers here.
a Portal to Coloratura shimmers here.
a Portal to Counterfeit Monkey shimmers here.
a Portal to Lost Pig shimmers here.
a Portal to Photopia shimmers here.
a Portal to Shade shimmers here.
a Portal to Slouching Towards Bedlam shimmers here.
a Portal to Spider And Web shimmers here.
a Portal to Varicella shimmers here.
a Portal to Violet shimmers here.
a Portal to Zork shimmers here here.
2

This is a good use case for the “writing a paragraph about” activity. (18.24.) You can iterate through all the portals in the location, printing their names with [line break]. And this will prevent them from appearing in the “you can also see” line. (Again, see 18.24.)

3

This worked! Thank you! Here’s how I did it:

[code]Dimension is a kind of value. The dimensions are transdimensional and monodimensional. A thing has a dimension. A thing is usually monodimensional.

Rule for writing a paragraph about a transdimensional thing (called X):
say “A .”.
[/code]

All the portals are in this format:

Portal to Adventure is a kind of thing and transdimensional. The printed name is "Portal to Adventure shimmers here". The description of Portal to Adventure is "Inside the portal you see a deep cave with a series of complex tunnels. Something tells you this is where this whole thing started.".	One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Adventure.     One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Fantasy.

This is how it ends up looking:

[code]Hall of Classics
A Portal to Aisle shimmers here.

A Portal to Anchorhead shimmers here.

A Portal to Coloratura shimmers here.

A Portal to Counterfeit Monkey shimmers here.

A Portal to Lost Pig shimmers here.

A Portal to Photopia shimmers here.

A Portal to Shade shimmers here.

A Portal to Slouching Towards Bedlam shimmers here.

A Portal to Spider And Web shimmers here.

A Portal to Varicella shimmers here.

A Portal to Violet shimmers here.

A Portal to Zork shimmers here.

[/code]

I can’t remove the extra line break between the listings, but I’m actually alright with it. I think it makes them easier to read.

4

Note also that you can use the rule for writing a paragraph about to print “shimmers here,” while leaving the printed name alone. This could be useful if you have to print the name in another context (for instance, if you take the portal and then take inventory, though I suspect you want to make those fixed in place):

[code]
Rule for writing a paragraph about a transdimensional thing (called X):
say “A shimmers here.”.

Portal to Adventure is a kind of thing and transdimensional. The description of Portal to Adventure is “Inside the portal you see a deep cave with a series of complex tunnels. Something tells you this is where this whole thing started.”. One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Adventure. One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Fantasy.[/code]

You can also use “[A X]” instead of “A ” which should automatically take care of printing the indirect article–omitting if if the object is proper-named, supplying “A” or “An” respectively depending on whether its name starts with a vowel. In order to make this work you’ll have to make sure the portals are improper-named, but I think that works out because you created the portals as instances of a kind of thing, so Inform will assume they’re improper-named unless you either say they’re proper-named or give them specific names (in which case Inform will infer whether it’s meant to be proper-named from the way you create it; see Writing with Inform §3.18).

So if you look at this:

[code]A thing can be transdimensional.

Rule for writing a paragraph about a transdimensional thing (called X):
say “[A X] shimmers here.”.

Portal to Adventure is a kind of thing and transdimensional. The description of Portal to Adventure is “Inside the portal you see a deep cave with a series of complex tunnels. Something tells you this is where this whole thing started.”. One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Adventure. One Portal to Adventure is in the Hall of Fantasy.

Crowther’s Magical Xyzzybox is a transdimensional thing in Hall of Adventure.

A plugh-hole is a transdimensional thing in Hall of Adventure.

Hall of Adventure is a room. Hall of Fantasy is a room.[/code]

you get:

Inform inferred that the Xyzzybox shouldn’t get an indefinite article because we created by saying “Crowther’s Magical Xyzzybox is a transdimensional thing” rather than “A Crowther’s…” or “The Crowther’s…” And it inferred that the plugh-hole should get an indefinite article because we created it by saying “A plugh-hole…”

All this may not be necessary if your only transdimensional things are portals, but it’s good to know.

5

Thank you! I’m fortunate in that Portal will be very static and the only transdimensional objects in the game or things that behave this way. Still, thank you for elaborating. It will empower me in further endeavors.