Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!viewlog.viewlogic.com!allen
From: allen@viewlogic.com (Dave Allen)
Subject: Re: NPC interaction
Message-ID: <Cn0r1C.5rM@viewlogic.com>
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Organization: Viewlogic Systems Inc.
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 14:31:59 GMT
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Wes Modes (modes@admin.mport.com) wrote:
> As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong), Eliza
> and its many spin-offs did not so much parse sentences as
> respond to keywords.  (At least this is the way the BASIC
> Eliza that I typed in from Creative Computing circa 1979
> worked.)

Could you, or some other kind soul, post that code?  I'd like to see how it
works.  If you prefer, e-mail it to me.  I'll put it on the if-archive.

> Would it be possible to build an addition to the standard
> IF parser that specifically handled dialog?  It would
> mostly scan for keywords and issue canned responses (ala
> Eliza) and would remember what it already said.
> o  If we find action requests in the quote (e.g., give,
>    go, follow, take), the dialog parser could just pass the
>    sentence on to the existing parser.

I don't think you can do this with TADS.  I can't think of how, anyway.
What I think you said was the parser should understand BILL, GO NORTH
as a command, but BILL, GO TO HELL as text for an Eliza style keyword parser.
What you want is to determine, in the preparser, whether the rest of the
text will produce an error if parsed.

What you could do instead is treat text in quotes as special.  Or maybe
you could use a verb like SAY which takes up to the next period as a
special string.  That would allow:

BILL, GO NORTH  -- a command
BILL,  "GO TO HELL" -- a string for Eliza
"GO TO HELL" -- if you were already talking to Bill, or he's the only one there
SAY GO TO HELL. BILL, GO NORTH. -- "go to hell" is a string, "go north" a
   command.

Would that be good enough?  Or would the quotes be distracting?  It's kind
of like a special "conversation mode", like the directed dialog code which
was mentioned here recently.

- Dave Allen: allen@viewlogic.com
