"No Muse" by "fjordfolio" for IFmonth Week3 [Buggy and incomplete etc., but thank you for playing!] [Not here yet: [fluorescent light -- add incandescent for color in the room] ] Section 1 - Pre-ludian include exit lister by Andre Kosmos. Use American dialect. [less coulourful ? ] Rule for deciding whether all includes scenery: it does not. When play begins, say "Whatever creative motivation you had, it's gone now. It's been weeks, and here you are, sleepless, hungry, painting only shells of things, shapes without meaning. You need something good and real ... to shake your soul awake. Or at least a coherent, sustainable delusion." When play begins, change list exits to no. [carry out turning exits on: change list exits to yes.] Instead of burning [anything], say "No, thanks. Somehow, it would end with the police beating the crap out of me." The disastrous-effort is portable. The description of the disastrous-effort is "There really are no words for it." The printed name of the disastrous-effort is "disastrous painting". test action with "get all / paint canvas / paint canvas / paint canvas / x canvas " Section of paint painting is an action applying to one touchable thing. understand "paint [something]" as painting. understand "paint on [something]" and "paint over [something]" as painting. understand "attack [canvas]" as painting . understand "paint it black" as singing. [more: repaint "cover with" "paint over" to blank?] check painting: if the noun is not the wall: if the noun is not a canvas, say "But -- hmm -- why? How about painting a canvas, or a wall, or something?" instead. A check painting rule: if the player does not have the paintbrush then say "You aren't going to paint without a brush. Finger painting would look like an admission of defeat at this point." instead. the wall is a backdrop. it is everywhere. [well, for now] [painting-state is a kind of value. The painting-states are blank, unfinished, progressing, complete, overworked. [The painting-states are blank, unfinished, worked-and-reworked, overworked, and completed. ] Things have a painting-state called completion . The completion is usually blank.] [*first attempts, left for later] Carry out painting the canvas: say "You slather a bit of paint on [the noun].". ; if the canvas is completed begin; change the canvas to overworked ; move the disastrous-effort to the studio ; remove the canvas from play ; end if; if the canvas is in progress, change the canvas to completed ; if the canvas is unfinished, change the canvas to in progress; if the canvas is blank, change the canvas to unfinished; say "Yeah, that ... isn't good at all.[line break]The painting is now more or less [canvas condition]." . Instead of painting the player:     say "You have enough paint on yourself already." After painting the wall:     say "Right. Revolutionary." Test me with "paint me / paint wall / paint cans / paint canvas". [To paint (target - a thing):     say "'Paint paint paint, painty painterly paintany paint. Gagh. Ugly, ugly crap.";     end the game in death.] the canvas is fixed in place. The canvas can be blank, unfinished, in progress, completed, or overworked. The canvas is blank. Instead of painting the canvas when the canvas is overworked: say "It's finished. Isn't it? Hell, this is making me crazy. You add some light brush strokes, mumbling under your breath." Before printing the name of the canvas, say "[canvas condition] ". Section 2 - Studio The studio is a room. "[if unvisited]You are in your studio. Still trying to paint, trying to not think about it. The lights are on, hot and humming. An empty canvas is in front of you. The rest of your junk takes up the back third of the room.[otherwise]You are in your personal studio. A [canvas condition] canvas sits here on your blocky easel. A single, unremarkable window gives no view. There are paint cans covering much of the small floor, with the more recently useful colors nearest to the easel.[end if]" junk is in the studio. The description of junk is "Paint cans, papers, frames, brushes, jars, and other assorted stuff that would require heroic efforts to even categorize.". junk is scenery. The view is backdrop in the studio. The description of the view is "There is no view." [ironically] understand "paper" and "papers" and "stuff" and "jars" and "jar" and "frames" and "frame" and "brushes" as junk. A window is in the studio. "The window is framed by yellow-orange curtains, halfway closed. The light from your studio reflects back in a bright blot . During the daytime, this window lets in natural light. It's night now, however, so you'll have to make do with the artificial glow and hum of the fluorescents." Instead of opening the window, say "If it weren't for the bad weather, and all the pollen and pollution floating around out there, you might definitely consider opening the window sometime." The easel is here. The canvas is on the easel. The canvas and easel are scenery. The canvas is blank. The description of the easel is "The wood is thick with a fat grain and pine-like color, but it does its job, just avoiding clumsiness. Its solidity and basic adequacy has warmed you to it, despite the fact that its ugliness is impossible to completely overlook." [Understand "painting" and "picture" as the canvas.] Understand "painting" and "disaster" as the disastrous-effort . The canvas is not portable. The description of the canvas is "[if the canvas is blank]The canvas isn't actually blank. There are scratched over, painted over, blotted out lines and shapes on its surface. You meant to draw things, and then you meant to cover them up. They didn't come out right. You might call it a palimpsest if there was anything of value under the layers, but there is not.[else if the canvas is completed]It's completed, in the sense of being a creative dead end.[otherwise]A work in progress. There is a hint of desperation to it.[end if]" The paintbrush is in the studio. Understand "brush" as the paintbrush. The description of the paintbrush is "It's a medium-sized brush, the kind you've liked using for the last couple of months." [ Still, it's just another fetish object. Something that an 'artist' uses.... ] The cans are in the studio. The cans are not portable. The cans are scenery. The window is scenery. [if the player is not holding the black-paint] Understand "paint" and "paint cans" as cans. [otherwise]understand "paint" as black-paint. [end if] . The printed name of cans is "cans of paint." The description of cans is "Several cans of paint, ranging in size from quart size to gallon size. You buy latex paint from the hardware store in town, [']cause it works and it's cheap." Instead of taking the cans for the first time: say "There's so much of it. You seriously consider trying to pick up and move your paint, either all at once, cradled in your arms, or one by one, back and forth from wherever, but logistically speaking, well, in any case at all, it just sounds really exhausting. It would be a real pain in the ass to move the paint, some open some not, none of them empty.[paragraph break]On the other hand -- just as you begin to withdraw your attention, you do notice that one of the gallons of black looks to be closed neatly, with no wet paint on the outside. Plus, it has a handle."; Move the black-paint to studio. [ ; move the black-paint to the player. ] The black-paint is a closed openable container. The black-paint contains black latex. The black latex is fixed in place. The printed name of the black-paint is a "gallon of black latex paint" . Understand "black" and "gallon" as black-paint. [Rule for writing a paragraph about the cans: if we have not examined the cans, now the black-paint is mentioned. ] The handle is part of the black-paint. The description of the handle is "It's a crappy handle -- nothing more than a curved wire, just thick enough not to cut off your hand if you carry it." Before taking the black-paint: say "The wire handle cuts into your hand as you pick it up. But there's not really anything else you're saving your hands for.". [; move the black-paint to the player. ] test paint with "x cans / take paint / take paint ". Instead of taking the black latex, say "You reconsider taking the paint out with your hands. Finger painting might be worthwhile, sometime, but definitely not right now." . ["You imagine that if your hand is irreparably damaged, you could probably duct tape a brush to your arm and do fine. Make big angry art. Stumpy is unbowed, your admirers would say, tongue in cheek, and you'd laugh knowingly with them. Big angry lines of paint that would call attention something real, the world becoming itself, rolling forward inexorably, ridiculous but implacable, alive. Ha! Or not."] [You wish you could figure out how the hell Cy Twombly worked.] ["You draw a picture of a goat. It's horrible. You cover it over with paint."] After taking the paintbrush for the first time: award one point. After examining the canvas for the first time: award one point. After taking the black-paint for the first time: award one point. After taking the disastrous-effort for the first time: award one point. After going west for the second time: award one point. [How arbitrary!] After examining the poster for the first time: award one point. The description of the player is "You've looked worse. I'm not sure if you've looked better." understand "reading [the poster]" as examining. Section of the hallway The hallway is west of the studio. "[if unvisited]It feels like you're forgetting something, but you're tired. You don't trust your memory, but you don't trust your feeling that you're forgetting something either.[otherwise]Between here and there.[end if] A set of double-doors lead out, to the world." A poster is here. It is fixed in place. The description of the poster is "Large lettering and a picture of, you guess, the Cosmos. It says, [']Let Go and Keep Your Balance.[']". double-doors are here. double-doors are scenery. understand "doors" and "door" as double-doors. Instead of going west for the first time: say "Not really even thinking about it, you [if player has the paintbrush]put down your brush and [end if]head towards the hallway. You stop for a moment, realizing just how tired you are. You push your fingers into your pockets, pause, then take them back out. West? Is that even the right direction?" ; move the paintbrush to the studio . The world is north of the hallway. "Overwhelming." every turn when the player is in the world: if the player is holding the disastrous-effort, end the game in victory. [------------------] Table 1 - Rankings Score Rank 0 "Dolt" 1 "Blinkered Ass" 2 "Jerk" 3 "[line break]Jiminy F'ing Cricket" 4 "Fraud" 5 "Hack" 6 "Poseur" 7 "Incrementalist" 8 "House-painter" 9 "Epigone" 10 "Crap Artist"