SpeakTo stuff

So, yesterday, I was adapting John Menichelli's Hugozork to Roodylib, just because I'm always curious to see how well Roodylib plays with already-written games. Initially, there was some ParseError replacement code for the Loud Room that I was able to move to Roodylib's PreParseError routine, but I noticed that some of it didn't do the Loud Room's echo behavior quite right so I spent some time fixing that.

While testing that code, I realized that the engine-called SpeakTo was skipping all of my glorious code completely (SpeakTo is called directly both when you give characters commands, like: >CLOWN, HELLO or just when you type an object with no verb, like >ROCK).

I decided that SpeakTo should have to do location and player before checks, to better allow response configurations for situations just like the Loud Room. Here is my current SpeakTo:

replace SpeakTo(char)

{

local a, v, TryOrder, IgnoreResponse, retval, stay, same, different

#ifset USE_CHECKHELD

if verbroutine = &DoDrop_CheckHeld

verbroutine = &DoDrop

elseif verbroutine = &DoPutIn_CheckHeld

verbroutine = &DoPutIn

#endif

#ifset VERBSTUBS

if verbroutine = &DoHelpChar and object = player

{

verbroutine = &DoHelp

object = nothing

}

#endif

#ifset USE_CHECKHELD

ResetCheckHeld

#endif

#ifset DEBUG

if debug_flags & D_PARSE

{

print "\B[Speakto("; char.name;

if (debug_flags & D_OBJNUM)

print " ["; number char; "]";

print ") verbroutine="; number verbroutine;

print ", object="; object.name;

if (debug_flags & D_OBJNUM)

print " ["; number object; "]";

print ", xobject="; xobject.name;

if (debug_flags & D_OBJNUM)

print " ["; number xobject; "]";

print "]\b"

}

#endif

v = verbroutine

a = actor

actor = player

verbroutine = &SpeakTo

retval = player.before

actor = a

if retval

{

#ifset DEBUG

if debug_flags & D_PARSE

{

print "\B["; player.name;

if debug_flags & D_OBJNUM

print " ["; number player; "]";

print ".before returned "; number retval; "]\b"

}

#endif

return retval

}

retval = location.before

if retval

{

#ifset DEBUG

if debug_flags & D_PARSE

{

print "\B["; location.name;

if debug_flags & D_OBJNUM

print " ["; number location; "]";

print "before returned "; number retval; "]\b"

}

#endif

return retval

}

verbroutine = v

if char is not living

{

ParseError(6)  ! "That doesn't make any sense."

return

}

AssignPronoun(char)

! Handle player/typist-related ParseError messages:

if char = player

Message(&Speakto, 1)    ! "Stop talking to yourself..."

elseif not ObjectisKnown(object) and not FindObject(object, location)

ParseError(10, object)

else

   stay = true

if not stay

  {

  speaking = 0

  return

  }

if char is unfriendly

IgnoreResponse = true

else

{

! In the event of:  >CHARACTER, GO NORTH.  GET THE THING.  GO WEST., etc.

if not FindObject(char, location)

{

speaking = char

run char.order_response

return true

}

same = (char = speaking)

select verbroutine

case 0                  ! Just the character name is given,

! so just "X is listening."

{

if not char.order_response

Message(&Speakto, 2, char)

retval = true

}

#ifclear NO_VERBS

case &DoHello           ! Note the ampersands ('&')--or else

{                       ! the routines themselves would run

if not char.order_response

{

if char is not unfriendly

{

! "X nods hello."

Message(&Speakto, 3, char)

retval = true

}

else

{

IgnoreResponse = true

}

}

else

retval = true

}

case &DoAskQuestion

return Perform(&DoAsk, char, object)

case &DoTalk

{

if xobject

ParseError(6)

else

return Perform(&DoAsk, char, object)

}

case &DoTell

{

if object = player

return Perform(&DoAsk, char, xobject)

else

TryOrder = true

}

#endif  ! ifclear NO_VERBS

case else

{

! If the character can respond to a request, this should be dealt with by

! an order_response property routine; order_response--if it exists--should

! return false if there is no response for the given verbroutine

TryOrder = true

}

}

if TryOrder

{

if (not char.order_response)

IgnoreResponse = true

else

retval = true

}

different = (speaking ~= char)

! This same/different local variable stuff allows for certain

! orders to end conversations. If your order_response code clears

! the speaking global, this code prevents it being reset.

if retval and not (same and different)

speaking = char

if IgnoreResponse

{

if not char.ignore_response

Message(&Speakto, 4, char)      ! "X ignores you."

speaking = 0  ! clear the speaking global

}

return retval

}

Now, there are a couple problems. One, currently, both the location and player code have no idea what command the player is trying to order done, as I had to change the verbroutine to &SpeakTo for easy catching. Further complicating things, is that for the player object, I had to change the SpeakTo-determined actor global, too.

Ideally, I'll be able to figure out a way to organize all of these values so authors can have as clear an idea as possible about what was typed, and hopefully I'll be able to do it without the creation of new globals (although that isn't a big deal and I'll probably end up doing it anyway).

Also, let it be said that this new code is very lightly tested so there might be a gaping bug I haven't found yet.