Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: nntp.gmd.de!news.ruhr-uni-bochum.de!news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!news.dfn.de!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!usenet.ucs.indiana.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!shulick@guava.ucs.indiana.edu
From: "Sam Hulick" <shulick@guava.ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: INFORM: A SERIOUS CONSIDERATION for library 5/12
Message-ID: <1995Oct1.214346.13266@news.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Vallen Software
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 21:43:40 -0500
Lines: 43


I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'd like to see this in
5/12.. it would clear up a lot of weird stuff in Inform games.

Let there be 'units' of weight for capacities.  For example:

Object bigbag "big bag"
 with  name "bag",
       capacity 30,
       description "..."
 has   open container;

This is how my game interpreter works.  You give arbitrary units to
items.  For example, a huge barrel might have a space of 50, while a
small stone would have a space of just 1.  So the  big bag above can
hold objects totalling up to 30 space units.

Object gkey "golden key"
 with  name "gold" "golden" "key",
       space 2
 has   scored;

Object magbook "magic spell book"
 with  name "magic" "spell" "book",
       space 9
 ......

etc.  This is much more sensible, IMO.  In my interpreted game, I
actually had two fields, "space" and "weight".  Weight came more into
play with carrying objects, and space was more involved with
containers.  So, you would have a hell of a lot of trouble carrying a
stone that MAY only be one inch in diameter, but was for some reason
VERY dense and heavy.  However, it would fit just fine in the big bag
above (this heavy rock could have a 'space' of 2 and a weight of '50' or
something).  Just something to think about.  Inform games are very
limited when it comes to dealing with putting things in containers and
such.

-- 
--- Sam Hulick ------------- shulick@indiana.edu ---------------------
Systems Consultant        | Homepage:
Indiana College Placement |    http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~shulick/
  and Assessment Center   | PGP public key available on request
