§14.3. More on adapting verbs
If we need an adaptive message with a verb which doesn't belong to Inform's built-in set, all we need do is define it. In the previous chapter we defined verbs by giving them meanings, but in fact that's optional. For example:
To retrofit is a verb.
defines a verb without telling Inform what it means. Inform will throw a Problem message if we try to write text like:
Flash retrofits the meteor beam.
because, after all, it doesn't know what "retrofit" means. But it does still know how to print it, so this works:
"[The actor] [retrofit] the Mecha-Mole."
which might come out as "Dale retrofits the Mecha-Mole", or "Barin's archers retrofitted the Mecha-Mole", and so on.
This is especially neat for writing a single response to an action which works regardless of who the actor was. For example, the Standard Rules include:
say "[The actor] [put] [the noun] on [the second noun]."
And this can make either:
You put the revolver on the table.
General Lee puts the revolver on the table.
![]() | Start of Chapter 14: Adaptive Text and Responses |
![]() | Back to §14.2. Adaptive text |
![]() | Onward to §14.4. Adapting text about the player |
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