§10.10. Magic (Breaking the Laws of Physics)
Every previous section of this chapter has been about adding further realism constraints to Inform, to give it a more advanced understanding of physics (and chemistry). But Inform has plenty of physical laws built into it already, even if they are more mundane: inanimate objects do not spontaneously move or change, one solid object cannot pass through another, there are opaque barriers through which light cannot pass, and so on. These rules stop many attempted actions. (GO EAST - "The oak door is closed." GET EMERALD - "You can't, since the glass display case is in the way.")
In the real world, physics is not negotiable. ("Gravity: it's not just a good idea, it's the law.") But in stories, magic can sometimes happen, and in these examples some of the rules built into Inform are waived in special circumstances, which in effect cancel certain physical laws. Very many other magical tricks could be achieved: if you want to make a given command work despite realism constraints, try typing ACTIONS - a testing command which reveals what is happening behind the scenes - and then typing the command you want. This should reveal which named rule is stopping it: you can then try suspending that rule, and seeing if the effect now works.
See Magic Words for ways to create new single-word spell commands
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Suppose we want to have a machine in our game that can transmute one item into another, similar object with different properties: a bag of jelly beans into a bag of jewels, for instance. Thus each item will be associated with some number of equivalents -- the other objects it can turn into. This is a handy use for group relations:
In this example we have only defined a single set of transmutable objects, but we could easily expand to include other groups. (Thanks to Jesse McGrew for proposing this example.) |
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Suppose we want to have a machine in our game that can transmute one item into another, similar object with different properties: a bag of jelly beans into a bag of jewels, for instance. Thus each item will be associated with some number of equivalents -- the other objects it can turn into. This is a handy use for group relations:
In this example we have only defined a single set of transmutable objects, but we could easily expand to include other groups. (Thanks to Jesse McGrew for proposing this example.) |
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