I have the player character in a cell, separated by a locked door from an NPC in the hallway. However, the player can see out through the bars of the cell.
I’ve already set the hallway in scope, so the player can successfully EXAMINE things right outside. What I’m having trouble with is allowing the player to apply the ASK and TELL commands to the NPC (e.g., ASK GUARD ABOUT WEATHER). I’ve tried various approaches, but I just keep getting the result “You can’t reach into the Hallway.” Anyone know how to get around this?
Cell is a room. "Your plain iron cell with a [if the gate is locked]locked [end if][gate]."
After looking in Cell: say "In the corridor you can see [a list of things in the corridor]."
The gate is a locked door. The gate is north of Cell. The corridor is north of the gate.
The guard is a man in the corridor. The ficus is in the corridor.
After deciding the scope of the player in the Cell: Place the corridor in scope.
Asking is conversation. Telling is conversation.
First reaching inside rule: if the current action is conversation and the location is the cell, allow access.
I had to make the reaching inside rule “first” to get it to fire before the can’t reach inside rooms rule; the can’t reach inside rooms rule seems to be some I6 thing so I guess it might be hard to predict how it works with rule ordering.
You could also try a rule that substitutes for the can’t reach inside rooms rule, which is what example 217 “Dinner Is Served” does for a more complicated situation (it’s got a window you can reach through, but only when it’s open).
You don’t need “first” there. The can’t reach inside rooms rule is defined “last”, actually.
In 6L38 your code is wrong. (I didn’t test 6G60.) Change a couple of lines:
After deciding the scope of the player when the location is the Cell: Place the corridor in scope.
Asking someone about something is conversation. Telling is conversation.
(If you just write “Asking is…” it refers to the asking for action.) (I suppose you’d want both to be conversation, really.)
Ah, I checked telling but not asking. That may be why I thought “first” was necessary; I may have checked “ask guard about ficus,” got a failure, inserted “first,” and then checked “tell guard about ficus.” (I’m working in 6L02.)
The difference between “in the cell” and “when the location is the cell” is that “in the cell” doesn’t work when the player is on/in a supporter or container, so “when the location is the cell” is better.