"Light Switch in a Dark Room" by John Timmons

The story headline is "Providing a Light Switch Inside a Dark Room." The story description is "Finding a light switch in a dark room is a request I often hear from students. To accomplish this, we must create the 'illusion' of a dark room by creating a workaround. This example demonstrates one way to do this."

Release along with the source text and a website.

Use American dialect, the serial comma, and no scoring.

[This is our starting room.]
The Foyer is a room. "A barren room with only an exit to the north that lead to the kitchen."

[The Kitchen (which will serve as our 'fake' dark room) uses if statements in its description. One description is provided if the wall switch is switched off and another one if the wall switch is switched on. Note the use of square brackets of if, otherwise, and end if.]
The Kitchen is north of the Foyer. "[if wall switch is switched off]It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing other than a faint red glow that seems to be coming from one of the walls in here.[otherwise]It seems like a normal kitchen now that the lights are on.[end if]"

[The wall switch is created as a device, scenery, and initially switched off. It will have no location to begin.]
The wall switch is a device. It is scenery. It is switched off.

[The faint red glow is mentioned in the room description of the Kitchen when the lights are off. We create it as scenery and locate it in the kitchen room. The trick here is that the wall switch will be mentioned only when the faint red glow is examined.]
Faint red glow is scenery in the Kitchen. The description is "Upon closer inspection, the red glow is an illuminated wall switch."

[Here is the first trick: when the faint red glow is examined, we move the wall switch into the kitchen room. Now the player can turn on the switch or examine it.]
Carry out examining the faint red glow:
	now the wall switch is in the Kitchen.

[This statement overrides the default examine the wall switch action. We do this in case the player chooses to examine the wall switch before turning it on. Note the use of if statements to ensure proper descriptions depending upon whether the switch is off or on.]
Instead of examining the wall switch:
	say "[if wall switch is switched off]You carefully examine the source of the red glow and confirm that it is a switch of some kind.[otherwise]The wall switch is currently switched on.[end if]"

[This alters the 'switching on wall switch' action so the faint red glow is removed from play. It would make no sense to see a faint red glow when the lights are on. The last line displays the new room description immediately after the switch is turned on.]
After switching on the wall switch:
	remove the faint red glow from play;
	say "You switch the wall switch on.";
	try silently looking.

[Just in case the player decides to turn the wall switch off again, this will put the red glow back into the dark kitchen room.]
After switching off the wall switch:
	now the faint red glow is in the Kitchen;
	say "You switch the wall switch off.";
	try silently looking.
	
[A little message provided if the player tries to exit the room in directions that do not exist.]
Instead of going nowhere from the Kitchen when the wall switch is switched off:
    say "Stumbling around in the dark will get you nowhere."

Test me with "n / x glow / x switch / turn on switch / turn switch off / go north".