This idea/question was prompted by a single line of code in the ongoing Iron ChIF Pilot Episode
(dont scan $thingy)
Do you recall any parser game where you can/should/must give a “negative order” as a command ?
I know there are many example “negative action” (like switching off a light or closing a door etc.) but I would be more interested in a sort of “Don’t” meta-command. Something like saying “Don’t scream” to someone who is about to be surprised, or saying “Don’t scan this” to the Stranger lest it triggers unwanted shenanigans.
Also interested in hearing potential ideas/puzzle we could come up with such a mechanic if you have some !
For the mechanic part of the question, I could see that in a game where NPCs automatically do things and you have to prevent some of them from doing it so that it’s done in the correct order, like in Nonverbal Communication by @Ally, where machines do their action in alphabetical order and you need to find ways to block some of them.
Of course, this runs into the problem of how to clue things in terms of how the player should know to do this before it happens (if it’s not an action that can be expected, like screaming, and the author wants to avoid learning-by-failure) and how to avoid guess-the-keyword.
I suppose one way to solve the latter problem would be just to handle it as >NPC, DON’T as stopping whatever script the NPC is currently carrying out—say, screaming—but this doesn’t work for the DON’T SCAN case.
I imagine one could develop an entire game out of telling the player what not to do, in which case, one could easily train the player to type appropriate negative commands early.
but as a one time puzzle mid game? I think that would be hard to design.
One early thing you learn when having children is not to tell them “don’t X” unless you want them to actually try doing X (if they did not think of doing it first), so it could be a reversal of the mechanic.
> l
In the living room
The child is nearing the flower pot.
> tell child don't touch flower pot
The child looks at you maliciously.
I can’t think of any games that have used negative commands, but I do recall a Speed-IF game that used “negative” objects, which I thought was very clever. The game was A Monkey Stole Your Toast by Admiral Jota (yes, he of Lost Pig fame), where you had to GET NO TOAST and GIVE NO TOAST TO MONKEY to get your toast back.
Regarding negative commands, though not to NPCs, there is famously Ad Verbum for one puzzle in particular.
A game I played recently, which is about colloquialisms and idioms, ended the game in failure if I “cry”(i)ed in the presence of spilt milk, but sadly didn’t react if I tried “don’t cry”.
About commands to NPCs, hmm, it’s an interesting idea. Most examples I can think of can also be done by actions, though, so I’d probably try those. If Space Odissey was an IF, the command HAL, STOP would be sensible (though futile), and I think “stop” would actually suffice for “don’t” in many cases.
I like the idea. The art would be in the prompting. “patient, don’t struggle”. “hostage, don’t scream”. “son, don’t let go”. All of these seem like juicy possibilities.
For “tell” syntax I would recommend allowing at least also “tell npc not to”, which may be more natural than “tell npc don’t”. The latter to me smells of a parser-formatted mind trying to express itself in a way the parser will understand, when ideally it’s the other way around: whenever reasonable, the parser should understand the player without inflicting strange syntax (give or take a few conventions inherent to IF).
EDIT - I think it’s reasonable to assume most players will fail this puzzle the first time they encounter it, so they’ll probably have to restore/undo and try again. Or be provided with a generous, thou reasonable, time limit.
