Hi, I was just wondering what is the word limit allowed in Imform while wring a conversation. Thanks.
Hi Deain-- there’s no specific word limit for conversation or most anything else in I7, although if you’re trying to compile to z-code, there’s a maximum file size and relatively modest ceiling on the amount of text and other structures that can exist in your story. Most modern stories compile instead to “Glulx” which has virtually no size limitations. You can switch to Glulx on the “Settings” tab of the Inform application.
Thanks aaronius, that worked well. And I just want to ask one more thing in this code
Talking to is an action applying to one visible thing. Understand “talk to [someone]” or “converse with [someone]” as talking to.
Check talking to: say “[The noun] doesn’t reply.”
Instead of talking to the Dwarf: say "[one of]'Haha, what did I tell you?' The only too recognizable voice said.[or]'Mr Green always wins. Good rats. Good ratties.' The Madman almost crooning to the furry beasts. you groaned inwardly.[or]'What do you want from me?' You gasp slowly taking a step back.[or]'Me?' His tone is wild, insane. 'I want my wood back.' He replies saying each word slowly.[or]'Ok, I'll give you back your wood.' You say glancing to where you drop the pile when you first spotted the rats.[or]'STOP!' he bark out so loudly that you immediately stop in your tracks.[or]'You don't get the wood. You have angered me and now you have to pay.' A sudden swoosh and you find yourself caught in a fishing net.[or]'What do you mean I have to pay? It's just wood.' you say weary and frustrated at the Madman's actions.[or]'I warned you not to touch Mr green's things. I told you, I told you, I told you.' The Madman babbled excitedly repeating himself like a parrot. He starts dancing around the net looking strangely comical with his Hawaiian shirt and flowery pants.[or]'Wait.' You pleaded as he flourished a knife from out of no where. The silver flashed in the sunlight emphasizing the razor edge of the knife.[or]Stop!' A deep voice commands and held such power that even the dancing dwarf stop his dance. 'Let the kid go. Now.' You look up to see the Hermit not believing your eyes.[or]'What...how?' You stammer astonished by the turn of events.[or]The Hermit chuckled softly, his intense gaze half amused at your shock. 'Now, let the lad go.'[or]'I'm rather accomplished in the art of tracking.' He winks at you, 'Besides, I could track a wolf in the forest and your trail isn't exactly inconspicuous.'[or]'put the blade down son.' This to the dwarf who is still waving the knife around.[or]The Hermit gestured to the south 'We will continue over there.'[stopping]". The conversation worked fine, but in this code
[code]conversing to is an action applying to one visible thing. Understand “talk to [someone]” or “converse with [someone]” as talking to.
Check conversing to: say “[The noun] doesn’t reply.”
Instead of conversing to the Man’s Father: say “[one of]‘Son?’ You mouth the words in disbelief.[or]‘My son.’ The Hermit says with a sigh. The difference between father and son is nonexistent and you would have never guessed so if you were not told.[or]‘How?’ You manage to get out.[or]‘Nightshade. Makes him delusional. Racked his sense of self.’ The hermit or more correctly the Madman’s father says and refuses to say more.[or]‘Net?’ You say gesturing to the net still encasing you.[or]‘Right.’ The Hermit turned to his son. ‘Carter let the lad go. Cut the net.’[or]Reluctantly, Carter cut open the net and you got to your feet hastily.[or]‘Ship.’ One word, but you can tell it carries volumes.[or]'Thanks sir.[or]‘I owe you a trip home lad, for finding my son after he has run off.’[or]‘Where to lad?’[or]‘Kansas.’ You reply not sure how you knew, but knowing it was the right answer. Perhaps those mushroom you ate had something to do with it.[or]‘Kansas, it’s a long way.’ The Hermit say looking to the horizon.[or]You hold your breath in anticipation. Then finally,[or]‘Alright, the ship’s moored in the cove that way.’ He gestures to an out crop of rock about twenty meters away to the east. ‘Follow me, both of you. It’s time for us to head home too.’ This last sentence to his son. Silently, you and the Madman, the dwarf, the Hermit’s son, Carter trudged after the Hermit the only sound the sand underfoot and the relentless cry of the seagulls.[stopping]”.[/code]
Imform just kept saying “The man’s father doesn’t reply” What’s the problem of the second code? I done it the same as the first one. There was no error message though and everything else in the game works. Thanks.
You used “converse with” in your understand statement for the “talking to” action, but used “converse to” in the code. Also, while you defined an action called “conversing to,” you didn’t define an understand statement for that action.
Robert Rothman
The problem is that you’re conflating ‘talking to’ and ‘conversing to’. The code in the spoiler box works. More broadly, in your conversation system here you have to talk to someone to hear what they say, then talk to them again to give a response and so on. If you’re going to have a conversation system that works through sequential nuggets of text, then each of those nuggets should make sense on their own. I’ve demonstrated how that would work below.
[spoiler]Talking to is an action applying to one visible thing. Understand “talk to [someone]” or “converse with [someone]” as talking to.
Check talking to: say “[The noun] doesn’t reply.”
Instead of talking to the Hermit: say “[one of]‘Son?’ You mouth the words in disbelief.[paragraph break]‘My son.’ The Hermit says with a sigh. The difference between father and son is nonexistent and you would have never guessed so if you were not told.[or]‘How?’ You manage to get out.[paragraph break]‘Nightshade. Makes him delusional. Racked his sense of self.’ The hermit or more correctly the Madman’s father says and refuses to say more.[or]‘Net?’ You say gesturing to the net still encasing you.[paragraph break]‘Right.’ The Hermit turned to his son. ‘Carter let the lad go. Cut the net.’[or]Reluctantly, Carter cut open the net and you got to your feet hastily.[paragraph break]‘Ship.’ One word, but you can tell it carries volumes.[or]'Thanks sir.[paragraph break]‘I owe you a trip home lad, for finding my son after he has run off.’[or]‘Where to lad?’[paragraph break]‘Kansas.’ You reply not sure how you knew, but knowing it was the right answer. Perhaps those mushroom you ate had something to do with it.[paragraph break]‘Kansas, it’s a long way.’ The Hermit say looking to the horizon.[or]You hold your breath in anticipation. Then finally,[paragraph break]‘Alright, the ship’s moored in the cove that way.’ He gestures to an out crop of rock about twenty meters away to the east. ‘Follow me, both of you. It’s time for us to head home too.’ This last sentence to his son. Silently, you and the Madman, the dwarf, the Hermit’s son, Carter trudged after the Hermit the only sound the sand underfoot and the relentless cry of the seagulls.[stopping]”.
Instead of talking to the Dwarf: say “[one of]‘Haha, what did I tell you?’ The only too recognizable voice said.[paragraph break]‘Mr Green always wins. Good rats. Good ratties.’ The Madman almost crooning to the furry beasts. you groaned inwardly.[or]‘What do you want from me?’ You gasp slowly taking a step back.[paragraph break]‘Me?’ His tone is wild, insane. ‘I want my wood back.’ He replies saying each word slowly.[or]‘Ok, I’ll give you back your wood.’ You say glancing to where you drop the pile when you first spotted the rats.[or]‘STOP!’ he barks out so loudly that you immediately stop in your tracks.[paragraph break]‘You don’t get the wood. You have angered me and now you have to pay.’ A sudden swoosh and you find yourself caught in a fishing net.[or]‘What do you mean I have to pay? It’s just wood.’ you say weary and frustrated at the Madman’s actions.[paragraph break]‘I warned you not to touch Mr green’s things. I told you, I told you, I told you.’ The Madman babbled excitedly repeating himself like a parrot. He starts dancing around the net looking strangely comical with his Hawaiian shirt and flowery pants.[or]‘Wait.’ You pleaded as he flourished a knife from out of no where. The silver flashed in the sunlight emphasizing the razor edge of the knife.[paragraph break]Stop!’ A deep voice commands and held such power that even the dancing dwarf stop his dance. ‘Let the kid go. Now.’ You look up to see the Hermit not believing your eyes.[or]‘What…how?’ You stammer astonished by the turn of events.[paragraph break]The Hermit chuckled softly, his intense gaze half amused at your shock. ‘Now, let the lad go.’[or]‘I’m rather accomplished in the art of tracking.’ He winks at you, ‘Besides, I could track a wolf in the forest and your trail isn’t exactly inconspicuous.’[paragraph break]‘put the blade down son.’ This to the dwarf who is still waving the knife around.[or]The Hermit gestured to the south ‘We will continue over there.’[stopping]”.
The Test Room is a room.
The hermit is a person in the Test Room. The dwarf is a person in the Test Room.
Test one with “talk to hermit / talk to dwarf / converse with hermit / converse with dwarf”.[/spoiler]
It seem though that you really want some of this conversation stuff to happen outside of conversation (getting caught in the net, the hermit arriving and so on).
Just as a side on word limits, you ARE limited to how much text you can put in quoted text like
say: "blah blah bhah"
I found this out when coding a ‘story telling’ sequence. I had to break it up into more 'say’s.
Deain, you’ve mentioned talking to, speaking to, and conversing to, so I just have to ask:
You’re not creating a different verb for every NPC you have a conversation with, are you?
Thanks aaronius, Robert Rothman, JoeyJones, Jizaboz and katz for helping me! It’s working great now. and no Kat 
I was just wondering if it will still work or not.