8. William Tell: in his prime¶
O was an oyster girl, and went about town;P was a parson, and wore a black gown.
ur game’s action nears its climax in the town’s central square. In this chapter we define the square’s constituent rooms and deal with Wilhelm’s approach to the hat on the pole – does he salute it, or does he remain proudly defiant?
The south side of the square¶
The town square, notionally one enormous open space, is represented by three rooms. Here’s the south side:
--- T Y P E ---
Room south_square "South side of the square"
with description
"The narrow street to the south has opened onto the town square,
and resumes at the far side of this cobbled meeting place.
To continue along the street towards your destination --
Johansson's tannery -- you must walk north across the square,
in the middle of which you see Gessler's hat set on that
loathsome pole. If you go on, there's no way you can avoid
passing it. Imperial soldiers jostle rudely through the throng,
pushing, kicking and swearing loudly.",
n_to mid_square,
s_to below_square;
Prop "hat on a pole"
with name 'hat' 'pole',
before [;
default:
print_ret "You're too far away at the moment.";
],
found_in south_square north_square;
Prop "Gessler's soldiers"
with name 'soldier' 'soldiers' 'guard' 'guards',
description "They're uncouth, violent men, not from around here.",
before [;
FireAt:
print_ret "You're outnumbered many times.";
Talk:
print_ret "Such scum are beneath your contempt.";
],
found_in south_square mid_square north_square marketplace,
has animate pluralname proper;
It’s all pretty standard stuff: just a Room and two Props. The
“real” pole object is located in the mid_square room, which means that
players can’t EXAMINE it from this room (technically, it’s “not in scope”).
However, since we’re pretending that Wilhelm can see the whole of the
square from where he’s standing, we need to provide a dummy hat on a pole,
found_in both this room and the north side of the square, even if it’s
“too far away” for a detailed description.
In fact, it’s “too far away” for anything. We’ve replaced the standard
before action for the Prop class (which permits Examine,
but rejects other actions with “You don’t need to worry about...”) with one
rejecting all actions. Since Wilhelm’s hatred of the vogt’s activities
is central to our plot, a message saying “You don’t need to worry about the
hat” would be unacceptably misleading.
The obnoxious soldiers are also implemented very sketchily; they need to be
there, but they don’t do much. Their most interesting characteristic is
probably that they trap two actions – FireAt and Talk –
which are not part of the library, but instead new actions that we’ve
defined specially for this game. We’ll talk about those actions in
Verbs, verbs, verbs, at which time the role of this before property will
make more sense.
The middle of the square¶
The activities here are pivotal to the game’s plot. Wilhelm has arrived from the south side of the square, and now encounters the pole with the hat on top. He can do three things:
- Return south. That’s allowed, but all it does is waste a little time – there’s nothing else to usefully do south of here.
- Salute the pole, and then proceed to the north. That’s allowed, though it rather subverts the folk story.
- Attempt to proceed northwards without saluting the pole. Twice, a soldier will prevent this, and issue a verbal warning. On the third attempt, patience runs out, and Wilhelm is hauled off to perform his party piece.
So, there are two actions that we need to look out for: Salute
(trapped by the pole), and Go (which can be trapped by the room
itself). Go is a standard library action. Salute is one
that we’ve devised; let’s deal with it first. Here’s a first cut of the
room:
Room mid_square "Middle of the square"
with description
"There is less of a crush in the middle of the square; most
people prefer to keep as far away as possible from the pole
which towers here, topped with that absurd ceremonial hat. A
group of soldiers stands nearby, watching everyone who passes.",
n_to north_square,
s_to south_square;
and the pole:
--- T Y P E ---
Furniture pole "hat on a pole" mid_square
with name 'wooden' 'pole' 'pine' 'hat' 'black' 'red' 'brim' 'feathers',
description
"The pole, the trunk of a small pine some few inches in diameter,
stands about nine or ten feet high. Set carefully on top is
Gessler's ludicrous black and red leather hat, with a widely
curving brim and a cluster of dyed goose feathers.",
has_been_saluted false,
before [;
FireAt:
print_ret "Tempting, but you're not looking for trouble.";
Salute:
self.has_been_saluted = true;
print_ret "You salute the hat on the pole. ^^
~Why, thank you, sir,~ sneers the soldier.";
],
has scenery;
The room will need some more work in a minute, but the pole object is
complete (note that we’ve simplified matters slightly by making one object
represent both the pole and the hat which it supports). It mentions a
property which we’ve not met before: has_been_saluted. What a
remarkable coincidence: the library provides a property with a name that’s
exactly right for our game; surely not?
No, of course not. has_been_saluted isn’t a standard library
property; it’s one that we’ve just invented. Notice how easily we did it
– we simply included the line:
has_been_saluted false,
in the object definition and voilà, we’ve added our own home-made property,
and initialised it to false. To switch the state of the property,
we can simply write:
pole.has_been_saluted = true;
pole.has_been_saluted = false;
or just (within the pole object):
self.has_been_saluted = true;
self.has_been_saluted = false;
We could also test, if necessary, how the property currently fares:
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true) ...
and that is exactly what we’ll be doing in a minute to check whether Wilhelm has saluted the pole, and choose between different outcomes.
Notice that we use == (that’s two equals signs) to test for “is equal
to”; don’t confuse this usage with = (a single equals sign) which
assigns a value to a variable. Compare these examples:
| Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|
score = 10; |
score == 10; |
assigns the value 10 to score |
does nothing; score is unchanged |
if (score == 10) ... |
if (score = 10) ... |
executes the next statement only if the value of score is 10 |
assigns 10 to score, then always executes the next statement –
because score = 10 evaluates to 10, which is treated as
true, so the test is always true |
Defining a new property variable which, instead of applying to every object
in the game (as do the standard library properties), is specific only to a
class of objects or even – as here – to a single object, is a common and
powerful technique. In this game, we need a true/false variable to
show whether Wilhelm has saluted the pole or not: the clearest way is to
create one as part of the pole. So, when the pole object traps the Salute
action, we do two things: use a self.has_been_saluted = true statement
to record the fact, and then use a print_ret statement to tell players
that the salute was “gratefully” received.
Note
Creating new property variables like this – at the drop of a hat, as it were – is the recommended approach, but it isn’t the only possibility. We briefly mention some alternative approaches in Reading other people’s code.
Back to the mid_square room. We’ve said that we need to detect Wilhelm
trying to leave this room, which we can do by trapping the Go action
in a before property. Let’s sketch the coding we’ll need:
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) { Wilhelm is trying to move south }
if (noun == n_obj) { Wilhelm is trying to move north }
];
We can easily trap the Go action, but which direction is he moving?
Well, it turns out that the interpreter turns a command of GO SOUTH (or
just SOUTH) into an action of Go applied to an object s_obj.
This object is defined by the library; so why isn’t it called just
“south”? Well, because we already have another kind of south, the
property s_to used to say what lies in a southerly direction when
defining a room. To avoid confusing them, s_to means “south to”
and s_obj means “south when the player types it as the object of a
verb”.
The identity of the object which is the target of the current action is
stored in the noun variable, so we can write the statement if (noun
== s_obj) to test whether the contents of the noun variable are equal
to the ID of the s_obj object – and, if so, Wilhelm is trying to move
south. Another similar statement tests whether he’s trying to move north,
and that’s all that we’re interested in; we can let other movements take
care of themselves.
The words Wilhelm is trying to move south aren’t part of our
game; they’re just a temporary reminder that, if we need to execute any
statements in this situation, here’s the place to put them. Actually,
that’s the simpler case; it’s when Wilhelm is trying to move
north that the fun starts. We need to behave in one of two ways,
depending on whether or not he’s saluted the pole. But we know when he’s
done that; the pole’s has_been_saluted property tells us. So we can
expand our sketch like this:
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) { Wilhelm is trying to move south [1] }
if (noun == n_obj) { Wilhelm is trying to move north...
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true)
{ ...and he's saluted the pole [2] }
else { ...but he hasn't saluted the pole [3] }
}
];
Here we have one if statement nested inside another. And there’s more:
the inner if has an else clause, meaning that we can execute one
statement block when the test if (pole.has_been_saluted == true) is
true, and an alternative block when the test isn’t true. Read that again
carefully, checking how the braces {...} pair up; it’s quite complex,
and you need to understand what’s going on. One important point to
remember is that, unless you insert braces to change this, an else
clause always pairs with the most recent if. Compare these two
examples:
if (condition1) {
if (condition2) { here when condition1 is true and condition2 is true }
else { here when condition1 is true and condition2 is false }
}
if (condition1) {
if (condition2) { here when condition1 is true and condition2 is true }
}
else { here when condition1 is false }
In the first example, the else pairs with the most recent if
(condition2), whereas in the second example the revised positioning of
the braces causes the else to pair with the earlier if
(condition1).
Note
We’ve used indentation as a visual guide to how the if and else
are related. Be careful, though; the compiler matches an else to
its if purely on the basis of logical grouping, regardless of how
you’ve laid out the code.
Back to the before property. You should be able to see that the cases
marked [1], [2] and [3] correspond to the three possible
courses of action we listed at the start of this section. Let’s write the
code for those, one at a time.
Case 1: Returning south
First, Wilhelm is trying to move south; not very much to this:
warnings_count 0, ! for counting the soldier's warnings
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) {
self.warnings_count = 0;
pole.has_been_saluted = false;
}
if (noun == n_obj) {
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true)
{ moving north...and he's saluted the pole }
else { moving north...but he hasn't saluted the pole }
}
];
Wilhelm might wander into the middle of the square, take one look at the pole and promptly return south. Or, he might make one or two (but not three) attempts to move north first, and then head south. Or, he might be really perverse, salute the pole and only then head south. In all of these cases, we take him back to square one, as though he’d received no soldier’s warnings (irrespective of how many he’d actually had) and as though the pole had not been saluted (irrespective of whether it was or not). In effect, we’re pretending that the soldier has such a short memory, he’ll completely forget Wilhelm if our hero should move away from the pole.
To do all this, we’ve added a new property and two statements. The
property is warnings_count, and its value will count how many times
Wilhelm has tried to go north without saluting the pole: 0 initially, 1
after his first warning, 2 after his second warning, 3 when the soldier’s
patience finally runs out. The property warnings_count isn’t a
standard library property; like the pole’s has_been_saluted
property, it’s one that we’ve created to meet a specific need.
Our first statement is self.warnings_count = 0, which resets the value
of the warnings_count property of the current object – the
mid_square room – to 0. The second statement is
pole.has_been_saluted = false, which signifies that the pole has not be
saluted. That’s it: the soldier’s memory is erased, and Wilhelm’s actions
are forgotten.
Case 2: Moving north after saluting
Wilhelm is moving north...and he's saluted the pole; another easy
one:
warnings_count 0, ! for counting the soldier's warnings
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) {
self.warnings_count = 0;
pole.has_been_saluted = false;
}
if (noun == n_obj) {
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true) {
print "^~Be sure to have a nice day.~^";
return false;
}
else { moving north...but he hasn't saluted the pole }
}
];
All that we need do is print a sarcastic goodbye from the soldier, and then
return false. You’ll remember that doing so tells the interpreter to
continue handling the action, which in this case is an attempt to move
north. Since this is a permitted connection, Wilhelm thus ends up in the
north_square room, defined shortly.
Case 3: Moving north before saluting
So that just leaves the final case: moving north...but he hasn't
saluted the pole. This one has more to it than the others, because we
need the “three strikes and you’re out” coding. Let’s sketch a little
more:
warnings_count 0, ! for counting the soldier's warnings
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) {
self.warnings_count = 0;
pole.has_been_saluted = false;
}
if (noun == n_obj) {
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true) {
print "^~Be sure to have a nice day.~^";
return false;
}
else {
self.warnings_count = self.warnings_count + 1;
switch (self.warnings_count) {
1: First attempt at moving north
2: Second attempt at moving north
default: Final attempt at moving north
}
}
}
];
First of all, we need to count how many times he’s tried to move north.
self.warnings_count is the variable containing his current tally, so we
add 1 to whatever value it contains: self.warnings_count =
self.warnings_count + 1. Then, determined by the value of the variable,
we must decide what action to take: first attempt, second attempt, or final
confrontation. We could have used three separate if statements:
if (self.warnings_count == 1) { First attempt at moving north }
if (self.warnings_count == 2) { Second attempt at moving north }
if (self.warnings_count == 3) { Final attempt at moving north }
or a couple of nested if statements:
if (self.warnings_count == 1) { First attempt at moving north }
else {
if (self.warnings_count == 2) { Second attempt at moving north }
else { Final attempt at moving north }
}
but for a series of tests all involving the same variable, a switch
statement is usually a clearer way of achieving the same effect. The
generic syntax for a switch statement is:
switch (expression) {
value1: whatever happens when the expression evaluates to value1
value2: whatever happens when the expression evaluates to value2
...
valueN: whatever happens when the expression evaluates to valueN
default: whatever happens when the expression evaluates to something else
}
This means that, according to the current value of an expression, we can
get different outcomes. Remember that the expression may be a
Global or local variable, an object’s property, one of the variables
defined in the library, or any other expression capable of having more than
one value. You could write switch (x) if x is a defined variable,
or even, for instance, switch (x+y) if both x and y are defined
variables. Those whatever happens when... are collections of
statements which implement the desired effect for a particular value of the
switched variable.
Although a switch statement switch (expression) ... needs
that one pair of braces, it doesn’t need braces around each of the
individual “cases”, no matter how many statements each of them includes.
As it happens, case 1 and case 2 contain only a single print_ret
statement each, so we’ll move swiftly past them to the third, more
interesting, case – when self.warnings_count is 3. Again, we could
have written this:
switch (self.warnings_count) {
1: First attempt at moving north
2: Second attempt at moving north
3: Final attempt at moving north
}
but using the word default – meaning “any value not already catered
for” – is better design practice; it’s less likely to produce misleading
results if for some unforeseen reason the value of self.warnings_count
isn’t the 1, 2 or 3 you’d anticipated. Here’s the remainder of the code
(with some of the printed text omitted):
self.warnings_count = self.warnings_count + 1;
switch (self.warnings_count) {
1: print_ret "...";
2: print_ret "...";
default:
print "^~OK, ";
style underline; print "Herr"; style roman;
print " Tell, now you're in real trouble. I asked you
...
old lime tree growing in the marketplace.^";
move apple to son;
PlayerTo(marketplace);
return true;
}
The first part is really just displaying a lot of text, made slightly
messier because we’re adding emphasis to the word “Herr” by using
underlining (which actually comes out as italic type on most
interpreters). Then, we make sure that Walter has the apple (just in case
we didn’t give it to him earlier in the game), relocate to the final room
using PlayerTo(marketplace), and finally return true to tell the
interpreter that we’ve handled this part of the Go action ourselves.
And so, at long last, here’s the complete code for the mid_square, the
most complicated object in the whole game:
--- T Y P E ---
Room mid_square "Middle of the square"
with description
"There is less of a crush in the middle of the square; most
people prefer to keep as far away as possible from the pole
which towers here, topped with that absurd ceremonial hat. A
group of soldiers stands nearby, watching everyone who passes.",
n_to north_square,
s_to south_square,
warnings_count 0, ! for counting the soldier's warnings
before [;
Go:
if (noun == s_obj) {
self.warnings_count = 0;
pole.has_been_saluted = false;
}
if (noun == n_obj) {
if (pole.has_been_saluted == true) {
print "^~Be sure to have a nice day.~^";
return false;
} ! end of (pole has_been_saluted)
else {
self.warnings_count = self.warnings_count + 1;
switch (self.warnings_count) {
1: print_ret "A soldier bars your way. ^^
~Oi, you, lofty; forgot yer manners, didn't you?
How's about a nice salute for the vogt's hat?~";
2: print_ret "^~I know you, Tell, yer a troublemaker,
ain't you? Well, we don't want no bovver here,
so just be a good boy and salute the friggin'
hat. Do it now: I ain't gonna ask you again...~";
default:
print "^~OK, ";
style underline; print "Herr"; style roman;
print " Tell, now you're in real trouble. I asked you
nice, but you was too proud and too stupid. I
think it's time that the vogt had a little word
with you.~
^^
And with that the soldiers seize you and Walter
and, while the sergeant hurries off to fetch
Gessler, the rest drag you roughly towards the
old lime tree growing in the marketplace.^";
move apple to son;
PlayerTo(marketplace);
return true;
} ! end of switch
} ! end of (pole has_NOT_been_saluted)
} ! end of (noun == n_obj)
];
The north side of the square¶
The only way to get here is by saluting the pole and then moving north; not very likely, but good game design is about predicting the unpredictable.
--- T Y P E ---
Room north_square "North side of the square"
with description
"A narrow street leads north from the cobbled square. In its
centre, a little way south, you catch a last glimpse of the pole
and hat.",
n_to [;
deadflag = 3;
print_ret "With Walter at your side, you leave the square by the
north street, heading for Johansson's tannery.";
],
s_to "You hardly feel like going through all that again.";
There’s one new feature in this room: the value of the n_to property is
a routine, which the interpreter runs when Wilhelm tries to exit the square
northwards. All that the routine does is set the value of the library
variable deadflag to 3, print a confirmation message, and return
true, thus ending the action.
At this point, the interpreter notices that deadflag is no longer zero,
and terminates the game. In fact, the interpreter checks deadflag at
the end of every turn; these are the values that it’s expecting to find:
- 0 – this is the normal state; the game continues.
- 1 – the game is over. The interpreter displays “You have died”.
- 2 – the game is over. The interpreter displays “You have won”.
- any other value – the game is over, but there aren’t any appropriate
messages built into the library. Instead, the interpreter looks for an
entry point routine called
DeathMessage– which we must provide – where we can define our own tailored “end messages”.
In this game, we never set deadflag to 1, but we do use values of 2
and 3. So we’d better define a DeathMessage routine to tell players
what they’ve done:
--- T Y P E ---
[ DeathMessage; print "You have screwed up a favourite folk story"; ];
Our game has only one customised ending, so the simple DeathMessage
routine we’ve written is sufficient for our purposes. Were you to conceive
multiple endings for a game, you could specify suitable messages by
checking for the current value of the deadflag variable:
[ DeathMessage;
if (deadflag == 3) print "You leave Scarlett O'Hara for good";
if (deadflag == 4) print "You crush Scarlett with a passionate embrace";
if (deadflag == 5) print "You've managed to divorce Scarlett";
...
];
Of course, you must assign the appropriate value to deadflag at the
point when the game arrives at each of those possible endings.
We’ve nearly finished. In the concluding chapter of this game, we’ll talk about the fateful shooting of the arrow.