§1.3. Disenchantment Bay

"Disenchantment Bay" is a simple work of IF used as a running example in Chapter 3 of Writing with Inform - not so much a tutorial as a convenient hook on which to hang some demonstrations of the basics. Because the resulting examples only use basic features and in the most straightforward way, they make for uninteresting "recipes" - so they are not included in the Recipe Book proper. But some readers might like to have all twelve stages of the example gathered on a single page: this is that page.


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*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 1
A running example in this chapter, Disenchantment Bay, involves chartering a boat. This is the first step: creating the cabin.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 2
Disenchantment Bay: creating some of the objects in the cabin's description.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 3
Disenchantment Bay: adding a view of the glacier.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 4
Disenchantment Bay: fleshing out the descriptions of things on the boat.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 5
Disenchantment Bay: adding the door and the deck to our charter boat.

It stands to reason that the captain wouldn't let just anyone meddle with his fishing equipment; maybe he keeps that case locked. We could replace the case description with this one, instead:

paste.png The Cabin contains a glass case. In the glass case is a collection of fishing rods. The case is closed, transparent, openable, lockable, and locked. The case is scenery. The small silver key unlocks the case.

Now there's a silver key that will unlock it -- though since we haven't said where the key is, the player will never be able to find it in the game. (If we look at the World index, we find "small silver key" right at the bottom, not inside any of the rooms. That is as good as not existing at all -- though we usually use the term "out of play" -- but as we will later see, it is possible to have things initially out of play but brought into existence later on.)

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 6
Disenchantment Bay: locking up the charter boat's fishing rods.

It stands to reason that the captain wouldn't let just anyone meddle with his fishing equipment; maybe he keeps that case locked. We could replace the case description with this one, instead:

paste.png The Cabin contains a glass case. In the glass case is a collection of fishing rods. The case is closed, transparent, openable, lockable, and locked. The case is scenery. The small silver key unlocks the case.

Now there's a silver key that will unlock it -- though since we haven't said where the key is, the player will never be able to find it in the game. (If we look at the World index, we find "small silver key" right at the bottom, not inside any of the rooms. That is as good as not existing at all -- though we usually use the term "out of play" -- but as we will later see, it is possible to have things initially out of play but brought into existence later on.)

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 7
Disenchantment Bay: making the radar and instruments switch on and off.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 9
Disenchantment Bay: enter the charter boat's Captain.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 10
Disenchantment Bay: things for the player and the characters to wear and carry.

*ExampleDisenchantment Bay 11
Disenchantment Bay: making a holdall of the backpack.

**ExampleDisenchantment Bay 8
Disenchantment Bay: a pushable chest of ice for the boat.

****ExampleDisenchantment Bay 12
A final trip to Disenchantment Bay: the scenario turned into a somewhat fuller scene, with various features that have not yet been explained.