Chapter 5, cont. (just the final section which didn’t fit):
Finally, Section 5.13, Making New substitutions.
I use this for everything; it’s literally my favorite thing in the world. Anytime my code inside a quote is getting too complex, I make my own substitution and put it in instead. An example:
The Missile Base is a room. "[security notice]Seems to be a futuristic missile base." M's Office is east of the Missile Base. "[security notice]Admiral Sir M.- M.- glares up from his desk." To say security notice: say "This area is a Prohibited Place within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act 1939. "
The nice thing is, you can actually run code in the ‘to say’ statement! That means every time that thing is printed, your code executes!
Unfortunately this doesn’t work well for a few circumstances, as detailed here. But it works often enough that it’s worth a shot!
Example 71 is a pretty funny example called Fifty Ways to Leave Your Larva:
The Beekeeper's Palace is a room. Wasp is a woman in the palace. Drone is a man in the palace.
Instead of kissing someone:
say "'[denial], [insult]! [boast]!'";
A person has some text called denial. The denial of a person is usually "Stand back". The denial of Drone is "You forget yourself"
A person has some text called insult. The insult of a person is usually "Grasshopper". The insult of Wasp is "Larva".
A person has some text called boast. The boast of a person is usually "I am ferocious". The boast of Drone is "I have ferocious allies".
I did a lot of stuff like this in Grooverland, but relying too much on procedural text is dangerous. I got several complaints that the dialogue in that game was flat and lifeless.
Example 72 is Fifty Times Fifty Ways, and has more complex ‘say’ rules:
To say denial for (speaker - a person):
if speaker is calm:
say “You must not”;
otherwise if speaker is female:
say “Stand back”;
otherwise:
say “You forget yourself”.
And that’s Chapter 5! Great chapter!