Chapter 5: The Viewpoint Character
§5.1. The Human Body; §5.2. Traits Determined By the Player; §5.3. Characterization; §5.4. Background; §5.5. Memory and Knowledge; §5.6. Viewpoint
![]() | Contents of The Inform Recipe Book |
![]() | Chapter 4: Time and Plot |
![]() | Chapter 6: Commands |
![]() | Indexes of the examples |
§5.1. The Human Body
By default, Inform gives the player character (and every other person) a simple unitary body, one without hands or feet or any other defined parts. In many games this is adequate; but in others it is not enough, and we may want to endow all people with some more specific physical features, as in
A face is a kind of thing. A face is part of every person.
Once we've done this, we may invite ambiguities if the player types LOOK AT FACE; it is this challenge that is addressed in The Night Before.
rBGH gives the player a random height and then uses this to determine how the room should be described around him.
Slouching lets the player (and other characters as well) take different sitting, standing, and lying down positions.
![]() | Start of Chapter 5: The Viewpoint Character |
![]() | Back to Chapter 4: Time and Plot: §4.6. Plot Management |
![]() | Onward to §5.2. Traits Determined By the Player |
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Suppose that we're going to give every person in the game a nose, but we want references to a nose always to mean the nose of someone *else*, if the player is with one other person. Moreover, on some occasions we're going to be in sight of Rudolph, so actions directed at an unspecified nose should always prefer his. This relies on a somewhat advanced technique from the Understanding chapter, but since it may become useful with assemblies and body parts, it is worth mentioning here.
Next, we'll teach Inform some vocabulary to distinguish between the player and everyone else:
Here is the part that actually determines the preferences. "Does the player mean..." can result in five outcomes: "it is very unlikely", "it is unlikely", "it is possible" (the neutral default), "it is likely", and "it is very likely". This is discussed in greater detail in the Understanding chapter. Here, we want to discourage references to the player's own nose and encourage references to the nose of Rudolph, so:
And this part is just for decoration:
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Suppose that we're going to give every person in the game a nose, but we want references to a nose always to mean the nose of someone *else*, if the player is with one other person. Moreover, on some occasions we're going to be in sight of Rudolph, so actions directed at an unspecified nose should always prefer his. This relies on a somewhat advanced technique from the Understanding chapter, but since it may become useful with assemblies and body parts, it is worth mentioning here.
Next, we'll teach Inform some vocabulary to distinguish between the player and everyone else:
Here is the part that actually determines the preferences. "Does the player mean..." can result in five outcomes: "it is very unlikely", "it is unlikely", "it is possible" (the neutral default), "it is likely", and "it is very likely". This is discussed in greater detail in the Understanding chapter. Here, we want to discourage references to the player's own nose and encourage references to the nose of Rudolph, so:
And this part is just for decoration:
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