investigating the cause of unintended “walls of texts” where are many items sharing the same name, and the apparent whimsical choice between giving disambiguation question or spewing walls of text, I think I have singled the cause into the automatic plural formation in both adv3 and adv3lite.
let’s not mince words, the actual case in point, as seen in The Portrait, is the behavior in handling examining bosoms:
>x bosoms
[wall of text of all four description spewed together....]
>x bosom
Which do you mean, (1) the angelic girl’s bosom, (2) the daemonic girl’s bosom, (3) your bosom, or (4) the elfin girl’s bosom?
>x all bosom
[the very same wall of text above]
>x all bosoms
[the very same wall of text above]
whose exposes (absit iniura verbis…) the parser quirk involved: the parser parse out x [plural] as “examine all singular object sharing the same plural” (x all bosom), a sensible DWIM, I admit, but in the rather stress-test case of The Portrait easily led to unintended walls of texts.
Of course, in the time alloted for the Spring Thing I can’t implement well what I wanted in handling the plural (a collectiveGroup allowing comparision between the bosoms (I don’t want to look sciovinist, but comparing female aesthetic seems the main rationale for looking at multiple bosoms at once… leading to a clue toward a major social detail on Railei, stemming from not-so-idle musing on “speculative biology”, leading to a very feminist consideration… albeit I have leaked something on this in an unwise post in past, I prefer trying to keep the wraps around this surprise…) but more on later on the issue about collectiveGroup) nor coaxing the parser into asking disambiguation on the plural.
little spoiler ahead: Many have correctly guessed that the PC’s body is the one of the elf in the portrait, but there’s also the other two NPC in the portrait, whose came into scene (and scope…) following the PC. Add to the mix that Azuj (as NPC) is rather sensual and… alluring and Miyai is outwardly “of angelical disinterest”, but inward… rather approving, so x (live or depicted) bosom(s) WILL fire funny reactions (well, funny for who know the rather elaborate Italian art of courtship and living together…) so the mess in having three depicted and three live bosoms in scope is easy to imagine (pls keep your imagination into the technical field of coding, please, pleaseeee ? ) and as noted in the dev diary, I’m “preparing the territory” for the pair of NPC, and this mess is on the top of potential source of major issues. so, the ideal solution is asking for disambiguation even of plurals and collectiveGroups (one for depicted ones, the other for live ones) but seems that the plural handling is the major obstacle here…
Another issue stems from the bosoms’s actual vocabulary: having decided to limit the synonym list to a pair of gentlemen terms (hence bosom) and no more than one, ahem, “common” term, the vocabulary (adv3Lite, of course) is:
gbosom: pComponent 'angelic girl\'s bosom; Miryarai\'s Miyai\'s abundant
angel; breast breasts; it them'
(note the presence of an legitimate ambiguouslyPlural in breast/breasts…)
Of course, the issue happens in the same manner between x breast and x breasts… whose can only confuse the player, IMVHO.
now, about the collectiveGroup:
this is the source of the lone bodypart-related collectiveGroup in The Portrait:
handsp: pComponent, CollectiveGroup 'depicted girls\'s hands; six six-finger
fingered six-fingered saluting raised held together right; hand finger;it
them'
"Albeit are held together, you notice a definitively unearthly detail: all
three hands have six digit. More specifically, a second thumb, on the inward
side of the palm, opposite the other thumb\n
<<rhands.discover()>><<ghands.discover()>><<ahands.discover()>>
Looking more carefully at these six-fingered hands, you also notice that
their pinky fingers is of the same lenght of the index fingers and the ring
fingers is the same lenght of the middle fingers, giving to these hands an
inhumane symmetrical beauty: you will never consider these six-fingered hands
'freak' ones.\n
<<if !hands.examined>><<first time>>A doubt pass on your mind, and looking
at your very hands, you are astounded in seeing that your hands now
have that very same beautiful, but <i>inhumane</i> six-finger symmetry. You
tried to move these fingers alien to you, and you're surprised that you can
naturally and instinctely all six of these fingers, included the extra thumb,
as you have always haved six fingers. A naturalness and instinctiveness whose
easily explain why you haven't noticed this major difference until now.
<<handAche.awardPointsOnce()>>
<<only>>
<i>I definitively should look in that mirror under the mezzanine...</i>"
collectiveActions = [Examine]
;
whose indeed exhibit the same problem as the breasts:
>x hand
Which do you mean, (1) the depicted girls’s hands or (2) your hands?
>x hands
your hands: Looking at what you feel off about your hands, that you’re surprised is an understatement discover that your hands has a major difference: are symmetrical, with two thumbs, one at each side of the palm, and the index and pinky fingers are of the same lenght, as also are the two longer (no more) middle and ring finger, the symmetry of these long and slender fingers gives to the hands an inhumane beautifulness to these hands; You’re sure that these fingers, and the double thumbs can be useful, definitively a golden lining in this rather unusual situation.
depicted girls’s hands: Albeit are held together, you notice a definitively unearthly detail: all three hands have six digit. More specifically, a second thumb, on the inward side of the palm, opposite the other thumb
Looking more carefully at these six-fingered hands, you also notice that their pinky fingers is of the same lenght of the index fingers and the ring fingers is the same lenght of the middle fingers, giving to these hands an inhumane symmetrical beauty: you will never consider these six-fingered hands 'freak’ ones.
(Your score has just increased by four points.)
>
(Notice also the minor point of scoring, four point, that is, one for each hand (notwithstanding that aren’t described…) and one for the collectiveGroup, consider it a free cheat mode )
That is, x hand (singular) gives correctly the disambiguation between the collectiveGroup and the other hand in scope, but X HANDS (plural) gives the wall of text formed by the description of collectiveGroup, plus the other hand(s) in scope, the PC’s bodypart. I feel that is a slight different issue re. the one above from the plural handling.
Sorry for the long and winded post, but I hope can be of interest and debate (preferably on the coding issue, NOT the bosom or other bodyparts !), and
Best regard from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.