OK I am having trouble with a simple conversation table and I need advice. Here’s some of my code:
[code]The tacklebox is scenery in the dock. The description is “[The dock-man]'s fishing tackle seems to consist of a couple of rods, reels, and a well-used tackle box.” Understand “tackle”, “rod”, “pole”, “reel” and “box” as the tacklebox.
After asking dock-man about a topic listed in the table of dock-man talk, say response entry.
Table of dock-man talk
topic response
“fishing” “‘I like fishing,’ [the dock-man] says. ‘It relaxes me.’[paragraph break]”
“water” “‘Isn’t the lake pretty?’[paragraph break]”
“tackle” “‘I’ve had this gear for years.’[paragraph break]”
[/code]
I have two questions. First, if I ask the dock-man about the tackle, I get “there is no reply”. Second, I want to be able to have multiple topic items result in the same response, like if “box” or “tackle” or “rod” are queried. How can I do that? I already tried “tacke[or]box” and “tackle” “box” but neither worked. I hate to make things redundant, I may have a lot of conversation in this game.
Just guessing, but could part of the problem be that you used an “after” rule rather than an “instead” rule? “After” only kicks in (as I understand it) after the succesful execution of a “carry out” rule.
OK this is getting weird. If I change the tacklebox from “scenery” to a “backdrop” it no longer conflicts, which is weird. Other than the fact that a backdrop can exist in more than one room, what’s the difference between a scenery and a backdrop? I find this odd because a backdrop IS a scenery.
Using “Instead of” instead of “after” had no discernable difference in behavior.
Anyway, I still don’t know how to introduce “understand” behavior to the conversation table.
Here is a table-less scheme I used in Hallow Eve, just in case you decide to take a different approach.
[code]Understand “fred” or “fred murks” or “murks” as “[Fred topic]”.
Report asking Steve Dirks about “[Fred topic]”:
say “Steve says ‘Fred is a trip, dude. Do you remember that time he tripped Mrs. Bowman in the 4th grade with marbles in the gym? Ha!’” instead.
[/code]
You can use this method to generate many topics with many “understands”.
“Scenery” and “back drop” are not the same thing in Inform7. Think of say the sky as a “backdrop” that can span many rooms, while a boulder laying around outside is “scenery” in a room. For more information see sections 3.8 and 3.9 in the Writing with Inform documentation.
Table of dock-man talk
topic response
"fishing" "'I like fishing,' [the dock-man] says. 'It relaxes me.'[paragraph break]"
"water" "'Isn't the lake pretty?'[paragraph break]"
"tackle/rod/pole/reel/box" "'I've had this gear for years.'[paragraph break]"
(It’s mentioned in the documentation ch. 15.13.)
Actually, the only rule that the Standard Rules define for the asking it about action is a report rule, so it wouldn’t get in the way of the after rule.
Hey I tracked it down. The extension “conversation framework” version 9 by Eric Eve was causing the conflict with tables and “understand”. Haven’t a clue why.