If it were me I’d just freely ask away for any help I needed. I enjoy reading your posts and entertaining myself by finding possible solutions for the issues you present, but I sometimes find it difficult to decide which particular aspect of the questions you pose is your “true” focus or what the actual issue is that you’re having trouble with. Rather than be mysterious, if I were in your place I’d clearly state what I needed help with as the chances are very, very, very, low that anyone playing a game I made six months or a year from now would have their experience “ruined” because they have a photographic memory and recalled some minor discussion in the past on a message board, and my chances of getting my question directly answered would rise significantly.
I was playing around with the question you posed and came up with three distinct ways to solve the issue in addition to the several ways that Jim Aikin already proposed; perhaps one of them will be helpful to you. Between the time I started experimenting and came back to make this post, Jim made his second post so note that that the first option presented below is almost identical to an answer Jim gave above, because I was writing it as he made his post.
Choice #1
[code]The testarea is a room.
Bella is a woman. The description of Bella is “The most beautiful woman you have ever seen; her warm smile makes your knees feel wobbly.”.
Scene Y is a scene. Scene Y begins when play begins.
The player carries a quarter. The description of the quarter is “A shiny twenty-five cent coin.”. Understand “coin” as the quarter.
A jukebox is in the testarea. The description of the jukebox is “A large jukebox sits in the corner of the room, garishly lit with blue and red neon lights. According to its listings, every record in the jukebox is ‘June in January’ by Bing Crosby. A coin slot is set in the front of the jukebox, above which is a small decal that says ‘25 cents.’”. Understand “juke box” or “slot” or “coin slot” or “coinslot” as the jukebox.
Check inserting something into the jukebox:
if the noun is not the quarter:
say “That seems like a bad idea. You might jam the coin slot.” instead.
Instead of inserting the quarter into the jukebox:
remove the noun from play;
say “You slide the quarter into the coin slot, and the ineffably soothing sounds of der Bingster fill the room.”.
Scene X is a scene. Scene X begins when the quarter was off-stage for ten turns.
When Scene X begins:
move Bella to the testarea;
say “As if from nowhere, a mysterious woman appears. ‘My name is Bella,’ she says in a soothing voice. ‘Would you care to dance?’ she charmingly asks.”.[/code]
Choice #2
[code]The testarea is a room.
Bella is a woman. The description of Bella is “The most beautiful woman you have ever seen; her warm smile makes your knees feel wobbly.”.
Scene Y is a scene. Scene Y begins when play begins.
The player carries a quarter. The description of the quarter is “A shiny twenty-five cent coin.”. Understand “coin” as the quarter.
A jukebox is in the testarea. The description of the jukebox is “A large jukebox sits in the corner of the room, garishly lit with blue and red neon lights. According to its listings, every record in the jukebox is ‘June in January’ by Bing Crosby. A coin slot is set in the front of the jukebox, above which is a small decal that says ‘25 cents.’”. Understand “juke box” or “slot” or “coin slot” or “coinslot” as the jukebox.
Instead of inserting the quarter into the jukebox:
remove the noun from play;
say “You slide the quarter into the coin slot, and the ineffably soothing sounds of der Bingster fill the room.”;
Bella materializes in ten turns from now.
At the time when the Bella materializes:
move Bella to the testarea.
Scene X is a scene. Scene X begins when Bella is in the testarea for the first time.
When Scene X begins:
say “As if from nowhere, a mysterious woman appears. ‘My name is Bella,’ she says in a soothing voice. ‘Would you care to dance?’ she charmingly asks.”.[/code]
Choice #3
[code]The testarea is a room.
Bella is a woman. The description of Bella is “The most beautiful woman you have ever seen; her warm smile makes your knees feel wobbly.”.
Scene Y is a scene. Scene Y begins when play begins.
The player carries a quarter. The description of the quarter is “A shiny twenty-five cent coin.”. Understand “coin” as the quarter.
A jukebox is in the testarea. The description of the jukebox is “A large jukebox sits in the corner of the room, garishly lit with blue and red neon lights. According to its listings, every record in the jukebox is ‘June in January’ by Bing Crosby. A coin slot is set in the front of the jukebox, above which is a small decal that says ‘25 cents.’”. Understand “juke box” or “slot” or “coin slot” or “coinslot” as the jukebox.
Time1 is a number that varies. Time1 is usually 0.
Time2 is a number that varies. Time2 is usually 0.
Instead of inserting the quarter into the jukebox:
remove the noun from play;
say “You slide the quarter into the coin slot, and the ineffably soothing sounds of der Bingster fill the room.”;
let N be the turn count;
change time1 to N;
change time2 to N.
Every turn during Scene Y:
unless time2 is 0:
increase time2 by 1;
if time2 - time1 is 10:
move Bella to the testarea.
Scene X is a scene. Scene X begins when Bella is in the testarea for the first time.
When Scene X begins:
say “As if from nowhere, a mysterious woman appears. ‘My name is Bella,’ she says in a soothing voice. ‘Would you care to dance?’ she charmingly asks.”.[/code]
With what Jim wrote, that gives you five or six different ways to make a scene start ten turns after a trigger action. If none of these are applicable but you don’t want to exactly say why, please don’t hesitate to ask for more help.