New Verbs — 1 of 0

"New Verbs" by John Timmons

The release number is 1. The story creation year is 2007. The story headline is "Creating a New Verb". The story description is "This demonstrates how we create a new verb for a game and then how to manipulate it."

Release along with the source text and a website.

The Foyer is a room. "A simple little room."

The tin can is in the Foyer. The description is "This empty old tin can is perfect for a game of 'kick the can.'"

The tennis ball is in the Foyer.

['Kick' is a verb that Inform does not understand so we need to teach Inform to understand it.]

Understand "kick [something]" as kicking. Kicking is an action applying to one thing.

[This is a default reaction when the player kicks something that doesn't need to be kicked.]

Carry out kicking:

say "Kicking [the noun] will accomplish little."

[This understand and carry out rule simply tells Inform what to do if the player only types 'kick.' By default, if there is more than one 'thing' to kick in the room, Inform will ask the player 'What do you want to kick?' You can safely leave it out if you wish.]

Understand "kick" as kick. Kick is an action applying to nothing.

Carry out kick:

say "Looking like a fool, you kick at nothing."

[Use an instead rule if you want to kick something and have a more interesting result.]

Instead of kicking the can:

say "You give the tin can a mighty kick and watch it fly across the room and bounce off the wall."

Test me with "x ball / x can / kick ball / kick can / kick".