Examples in Numerical Order

Chapter 1: Welcome to Inform

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* Example  About the examples
An explanation of the examples in this documentation, and the asterisks attached to them. Click the heading of the example, or the example number, to reveal the text.

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Chapter 3: Things

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* Example  Verbosity
Making rooms give full descriptions each time we enter, even if we have visited before.

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** Example  Slightly Wrong
A room whose description changes slightly after our first visit there.

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* Example  Port Royal 1
A partial implementation of Port Royal, Jamaica, set before the earthquake of 1692 demolished large portions of the city.

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** Example  Up and Up
Adding a short message as the player approaches a room, before the room description itself appears.

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*** Example  Starry Void
Creating a booth that can be seen from the outside, opened and closed, and entered as a separate room.

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* Example  Port Royal 2
Another part of Port Royal, with less typical map connections.

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* Example  The Unbuttoned Elevator Affair
A simple elevator connecting two floors which is operated simply by walking in and out, and has no buttons or fancy doors.

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* Example  Port Royal 3
Division of Port Royal into regions.

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* Example  First Name Basis
Allowing the player to use different synonyms to refer to something.

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* Example  Midsummer Day
A few sentences laying out a garden together with some things which might be found in it.

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* Example  Tamed
Examples of a container and a supporter that can be entered, as well as nested rooms.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 1
A running example in this chapter, Disenchantment Bay, involves chartering a boat. This is the first step: creating the cabin.

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* Example  Replanting
Changing the response when the player tries to take something that is scenery.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 2
Disenchantment Bay: creating some of the objects in the cabin's description.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 3
Disenchantment Bay: adding a view of the glacier.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 4
Disenchantment Bay: fleshing out the descriptions of things on the boat.

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** Example  Laura
Some general advice about creating objects with unusual or awkward names, and a discussion of the use of printed names.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 5
Disenchantment Bay: adding the door and the deck to our charter boat.

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** Example  Escape
Window that can be climbed through or looked through.

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*** Example  Garibaldi 1
Providing a security readout device by which the player can check on the status of all doors in the game.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 6
Disenchantment Bay: locking up the charter boat's fishing rods.

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** Example  Neighborhood Watch
A locked door that can be locked or unlocked without a key from one side, but not from the other.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 7
Disenchantment Bay: making the radar and instruments switch on and off.

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** Example  Down Below
A light switch which makes the room it is in dark or light.

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* Example  Peugeot
A journey from one room to another that requires the player to be on a vehicle.

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** Example  Disenchantment Bay 8
Disenchantment Bay: a pushable chest of ice for the boat.

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*** Example  Hover
Letting the player see a modified room description when he's viewing the place from inside a vehicle.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 9
Disenchantment Bay: enter the charter boat's Captain.

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* Example  Belfry
You can see a bat, a bell, some woodworm, William Snelson, the sexton's wife, a bellringer and your local vicar here.

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** Example  Gopher-wood
Changing the name of a character in the middle of play, removing the article.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 10
Disenchantment Bay: things for the player and the characters to wear and carry.

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* Example  Disenchantment Bay 11
Disenchantment Bay: making a holdall of the backpack.

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*** Example  Brown
A red sticky label which can be attached to anything in the game, or removed again.

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**** Example  Disenchantment Bay 12
A final trip to Disenchantment Bay: the scenario turned into a somewhat fuller scene, with various features that have not yet been explained.

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*** Example  Search and Seizure
A smuggler who has items, some of which are hidden.

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** Example  Van Helsing
A character who approaches the player, then follows him from room to room.

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** Example  Prisoner's Dilemma
A button that causes a previously non-existent exit to come into being.

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Chapter 4: Kinds

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** Example  Vouvray
Adding synonyms to an entire kind of thing.

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* Example  Odin
Replacing "You see nothing special..." with a different default message for looking at something nondescript.

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* Example  Something Narsty
A staircase always open and never openable.

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*** Example  Get Me to the Church on Time
Using kinds of clothing to prevent the player from wearing several pairs of trousers at the same time.

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*** Example  Early Childhood
A child's set of building blocks, which come in three different colours - red, green and blue - but which can be repainted during play.

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* Example  Being Prepared
A kind for jackets, which always includes a container called a pocket.

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** Example  Model Shop
An "on/off button" which controls whatever device it is part of.

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*** Example  The Night Before
Instructing Inform to prefer different interpretations of EXAMINE NOSE, depending on whether the player is alone, in company, or with Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

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*** Example  U-Stor-It
A "chest" kind which consists of a container which has a lid as a supporter.

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** Example  Change of Basis
Implementing sleeping and wakeful states.

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* Example  Would you...?
Adding new properties to objects, and checking for their presence.

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** Example  Straw Boater
Using text properties that apply only to some things and are not defined for others.

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* Example  The Undertomb
A small map of dead ends, in which the sound of an underground river has different strengths in different caves.

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*** Example  The Crane's Leg 1
A description text that automatically highlights the ways in which the object differs from a standard member of its kind.

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*** Example  Signs and Portents
Signpost that points to various destinations, depending on how the player has turned it.

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*** Example  Real Adventurers Need No Help
Allowing the player to turn off all access to hints for the duration of a game, in order to avoid the temptation to rely on them overmuch.

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* Example  Bic
Testing to make sure that all objects have been given descriptions.

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Chapter 5: Text

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*** Example  Ballpark
A new "to say" definition which allows the author to say "[a number in round numbers]" and get verbal descriptions like "a couple of" or "a few" as a result.

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* Example  Control Center
Objects which automatically include a description of their component parts whenever they are examined.

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** Example  Tiny Garden
A lawn made up of several rooms, with part of the description written automatically.

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* Example  When?
A door whose description says "...leads east" in one place and "...leads west" in the other.

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*** Example  Persephone
Separate the player's inventory listing into two parts, so that it says "you are carrying..." and then (if the player is wearing anything) "You are also wearing...".

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*** Example  Whence?
A kind of door that always automatically describes the direction it opens and what lies on the far side (if that other room has been visited).

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* Example  Radio Daze
A radio that produces a cycle of output using varying text.

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** Example  Camp Bethel
Creating characters who change their behavior from turn to turn, and a survey of other common uses for alternative texts.

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** Example  Beekeeper's Apprentice
Making the SEARCH command examine all the scenery in the current location.

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* Example  Garibaldi 2
Adding coloured text to the example of door-status readouts.

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* Example  Fifty Ways to Leave Your Larva
Using text substitution to make characters reply differently under the same circumstances.

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*** Example  Fifty Times Fifty Ways
Writing your own rules for how to carry out substitutions.

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*** Example  The Über-complète clavier
This example provides a fairly stringent test of exotic lettering.

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Chapter 6: Descriptions

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* Example  Finishing School
The "another" adjective for rules such as "in the presence of another person".

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*** Example  Lean and Hungry
A thief who will identify and take any valuable thing lying around that he is able to touch.

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* Example  Mistress of Animals
A person who moves randomly between rooms of the map.

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* Example  All Roads Lead to Mars
Layout where the player is allowed to wander any direction he likes, and the map will arrange itself in order so that he finds the correct "next" location.

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** Example  Hotel Stechelberg
Signposts such as those provided on hiking paths in the Swiss Alps, which show the correct direction and hiking time to all other locations.

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