inform7/resources/Documentation/Examples/ExtraSupplies.txt

Example: ** Extra Supplies
Location: Removing things from play
RecipeLocation: Dispensers and Supplies of Small Objects
Index: Faux-infinite supply of red pens
Description: A supply of red pens from which the player can take another pen only if he doesn't already have one somewhere in the game world.
For: Z-Machine

Suppose we have a supply closet in our game from which the player is allowed to take red pens. To keep modeling simple, we only allow them to have one in play at a time, and we test this by seeing whether the red pen is "off-stage" before moving it to their possession.

This approach might seem no different from having a single red pen sitting in the closet, but it may be preferable, for two reasons. First, it's not very plausible for a supply closet to contain nothing but a single red pen (well, assuming a well-regulated supplier, anyway); and second, it gives the player a way to get a new red pen should the original be destroyed in a tragic handwriting accident.

	{*}"Extra Supplies"

	The Supply Closet is a room. A supply of red pens is in the Supply Closet. Understand "pen" as the supply of red pens when the red pen is not visible.

	There is a red pen.

	Instead of taking the supply of red pens:
		if the red pen is off-stage:
			move the red pen to the player;
			say "You help yourself to a fresh red pen.";
		otherwise:
			say "You're only allowed one pen at a time. The department secretary is very strict."

	South of the Supply Closet is the Furnace Room. The incinerator is a thing in the Furnace Room. It is a container. "The incinerator is here, working full blast."

	After inserting something into the incinerator:
		now the noun is nowhere;
		say "A fiery blast consumes [the noun]!"

	Test me with "get pen / i / get pen / get supply / s / put pen in incinerator / n / get pen".