That’s true–the hardest things to deal with in this way are kinds and properties, I think, and those may not be important for these extensions. Of course, doing it with rules as you suggest can get hairy if you’ve got a lot of different options, but it probably wouldn’t be too bad. And Understand lines are actually pretty easy to take care of as long as there is a use option or global variable to use as a hook:
Understand “[noun]” as examining when the keyword-examining option is true.
Another idea: if the uber extension were to act largely as a nexus for a bunch of other extensions, making them more compatible, etc., it could be up to the user to include those extensions to turn the attendant functionality on and off. Then we’d have section-level hooks, as well as the ability to nest them. For example:
[code]Chapter - Keyword interface stuff (for use with Keyword Interface by Aaron Reed)
[…]
Section - Special functionality when used with Smarter Parser (for use with Smarter Parser by Aaron Reed)
[...]
[/code]
This kind of thing can get hairy too, but it does have advantages…
Aha! Now I see why you were asking about verbs changing their meaning depending on the actor. Just as with “sorry” and “hello,” these pseudoverbs have a habit of reversing their meaning when they are addressed to an NPC (e.g. “Phil, where is my luggage?” might get interpreted as asking Phil to request assistance about the player’s luggage).
I was thinking about this situation, and was wondering if it would be useful to maintain the notion of the narrator-character. For example, “sorry” wouldn’t be considered as asking the PC to perform the action “saying sorry,” but asking the narrator to perform the action “accepting apologies.” The narrator-character would still have to distinguish whether commands were directed at the PC or the narrator-character, but at least each individual verb would be more consistent. Maybe conversational verbs could be a third category after in-world and out-of-world, where in-world verbs are addressed to the PC by default, out-of-world verbs are addressed to the interpreter by default, and conversational verbs are addressed to the narrator by default.
Not sure if any of this is useful, I’m just brainstorming.
I am happy to bring this thread back to life with an update: I’m prepping an all-in-one newbie extension that will incorporate much of what’s been talked about above. To do so I’ve been updating my own extensions to give them a more solid testing and compatibility with each other, and working on a new extension I hope to include to improve the standard library messages.
The thought is that this compilation extension will basically copy and paste (and credit) all contributing extensions, and I’ll update it at intervals, maybe along with each new I7 build… hardcore authors can always cherry-pick the individual extensions they want or get the latest versions, but the goal is to have a single, one-click download that, especially for new authors, lets them easily and drastically improve the player experience.
More later in a new thread, hopefully-- I guess I just wanted to ping and see if anyone has been working on similar things in the usual cone of silence.
Aaron, sounds very promising, especially with updated “Neutral Library Messages”. I’m tempted to look at Ron Newcomb’s “Default Messages”, but if you create one big mega-pack maybe I can just follow whatever decisions you make.
In case you’re curious, below is the list of extensions I’m currently using in The Z-Machine Matter. (Note this also includes some minor comments to myself on things I need to investigate. Can’t say I’ve been entirely successful with Measured Liquid, Telephones or Assumed Conversers.)
As a first-time author, I greatly appreciate how much effort people have contributed to making extensions that are easy to use.
–Zack
[code]Section - Extensions
[ Requires Z8 or larger story file to compile]
Include Exit Lister by Eric Eve. [ Display exits in status bar ]
Include Keyword Interface by Aaron Reed. [ Highlight objects in text ]
Include Measured Liquid by Emily Short. [ For liquids, glasses, bottles ]
Include Telephones by George Tryfonas. [ Not fully implemented ]
Include Menus by Emily Short. [ Basic help & hint system ]
[ Extensions to help with parsing errors. They also make the game larger ]
Include Extended Grammar by Aaron Reed.
Include Small Kindnesses by Aaron Reed.
[ Source of “I didn’t understand that number” errors ]
Include Numbered Disambiguation Choices by Aaron Reed.
Include Assumed Conversers by Michael Martin. [ Ask About defaults ]
[ Though it does not disambiguate ASK ABOUT Topic with multiple NPCs ]
[ Also, it seems that this creates confusion with Inform / Quiz with objects ]
[ Doesn’t work properly with objects - possibly worth skipping ]
[ Note - Smarter Parser requires Glulx interpreter ]
Include Smarter Parser by Aaron Reed.
Include Poor Man’s Mistype by Aaron Reed.
[/code]
