I’m working on an idea for an IF game I have, and I’m working with Inform, since it seemed like a really nice package. I read through the documentation, very impressed, etc.
The problem I have is I want some sort of dialogue tree, a la Monkey Island or Sam And Max, to replace the standard “ask X about X” or “tell X about X”. Ideally it would work something like this:
Test Room
You can see John here.
TALK TO JOHN
1: “Hello John, how’s it going?”
2: “Hey, did you pick up those cream puff things for me at the store?”
3: “You know, it’s times like this that really makes me feel great.”
4: “Um…never mind, I didn’t need to talk to you.”
1
“Fine, thank you.”
1: “Hey, did you pick up those cream puff things for me at the store?”
2: “You know, it’s times like this that really makes me feel great.”
3: “Later.”
1
“No, they were all out. Sorry. I did get you that fabric softener you like though. Want it?”
1: “Sure.”
2: “Nah.”
2
“Ok, that’s fine. More for me!”
1: “Hey, did you pick up those cream puff things for me at the store?”
2: “You know, it’s times like this that really makes me feel great.”
3: “Later.”
2
“How do you mean?”
1: “When everything just clicks, you know?”
2: “When there’s an upcoming movie release I can’t wait for!”
3: “When I get the day off!”
4: “Um…I dunno.”
3
“Say, that reminds me. Me and some of the guys were going to go to Harlom creek next weekend and go fishing. Wanna come with?”
1: “Sure!”
2: “Nah.”
1
“Awesome! It’s gonna be great.”
1: “Can you tell me more about that fishing trip?”
2: “Hey, did you pick up those cream puff things for me at the store?”
3: “You know, it’s times like this that really makes me feel great.”
4: “Later.”
4
“Later.”
Test Room
You can see John here.
Okay, that was completely cobbled together as I wrote it, but that should give you a pretty good idea of what I want. I’m a very novice programmer, both in Inform and in general, so if there’s an obvious way to do this, I don’t know what it is. 