Hiya!
Is there a way to count in real time actual seconds?
To award a point for doing something within a timeframe or ending a game after five minute when the bomb blows unless you disarm it or to muck with the flow of dialogue, or for various other devious purposes?
Probably not but I figured I’d ask.
If you’re using Glulx there are some extensions [1][2][3] which give you access to timers and clocks, though it isn’t supported on all interpreters. Note though that a lot of people like IF because you can take it at your own pace—if I’m relying on a screen reader that takes thirty seconds to get through the opening infodump, I’ll be pretty annoyed if the game decides I’m taking too long and jumps to the next turn during that time. So as with many things, handle with caution.
The player shouldnt be able to notice what i’m planning to use time for. 
thanks though. I’ll check those out!
would these work if the game was on www.iplayif.com ?
Sorry to drag this thing out of the mud but I want to use this one for which i need the built in GLULX entry points (which i have because it’s built in) and Fixed Points Math… Which keeps giving me errors.
Is there a working version of that extension because I’m not intelligent enough to get it to work. First i got issues with stuff Inform already seems to know so I bracketed those out but then tons more errors keep popping up, and I can’t fix them.
So… can I access the extension used to create the original so it would work?
[size=200]Please assist.[/size] Real-Time Delays would fit my needs perfectly if I understand the documentation and examples correctly.
UPDATE!
got it to work, but this bit
teletype "[one of]I think[or]I'm positive[or]I'm certain[or]I'm pretty sure[at random] something [bold type][one of]big[or]large[or]huge[or]massive[or]giant[or]colossal[at random][roman type] just [one of]tried[or]attempted[or]wanted[at random] to [one of]eat[or]take a bite out of[or]consume[or]devour[or]swallow[at random] me.[no line break]";
turns into
or something similarly broken. 
I hope I can get randomized constructions to work for teletyping. Please assist.
Does it work if you do
let teletype-text be the substituted form of "[one of]...(all your random stuff)";
teletype teletype-text;
?
My guess (without seeing the code, admittedly) is that it’s re-evaluating the randomization each time it wants to teletype a new letter; if you tell Inform to do the substitutions first, once, then it should have a fixed bit of text to work from.
Sadly it does not.
I’ll probably get around it using text objects composed of random stuff beforehand and then have it teletype it as if it were fixed.
update: NOPE. That doesn’t work either. sh–.
[code]To say weirdmessage:
teletype [your random stuff].
Every turn when the strange machine is on:
say “[weirdmessage]”.[/code]
?
But it’s Teletyping the random stuff that makes it go all wobbly. Putting it in a “to say” will just keep producing the issue and make the code needlessly more complex… won’t it?
I’m at work now so I can’t check.
Does it work if you use literal teletypes:
[code]to say Im:
let N be a random number from 1 to 4;
if N is:
– 1: teletype “I think”;
– 2: teletype “I’m positive”;
– 3: teletype “I’m certain”;
– 4: teletype “I’m pretty sure”.
to say size:
let N be a random number from 1 to 6;
if N is:
– 1: teletype “big”;
– 2: teletype “large”;
– 3: teletype “huge”;
– 4: teletype “massive”;
– 5: teletype “giant”;
– 6: teletype “colossal”.
to say tried:
Let N be a random number from 1 to 3;
if N is:
– 1: teletype “tried”;
– 2: teletype “attempted”;
– 3: teletype “wanted”.
to say consume:
Let N be a random number from 1 to 5;
if N is:
– 1: teletype “eat”;
– 2: teletype “take a bite out of”;
– 3: teletype “consume”;
– 4: teletype “devour”;
– 5: teletype “swallow”.
[/code]
Printing with:
say Im;
teletype " something ";
say "[bold type]";
say size;
say "[roman type]";
teletype " just ";
say tried;
teletype " to ";
say consume;
teletype " me.[no line break]";