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                    JOURNAL FOR WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH, 2016
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SUBJECT: 2nd zone added, considering searchables, next prototype?
   DATE: Wed 30 Mar 22:29:41 BST 2016

The public dev branch has been updated. This time with an example of using
zone links in the form of a new zone. It is actually the zone south of Zinara,
converted and updated from the 1999 Java version of the zone :)

While editing the zone I noticed a few things I didn't like that will need
fixing at some point. For example in the forest there is some undergrowth. If
you examine the undergrowth to see if there is anything hidden in it you see:


  > examine undergrowth
  You examine some undergrowth. This undergrowth contains so many weeds and
  pests it's enough to make a grown gardener cry. It is empty.
  >_


Hrm, it is empty? That's because we are using a standard inventory which acts
more like an actual container. If there is something to be found we get:


  >exam undergrowth
  You examine some undergrowth. This undergrowth contains so many weeds and
  pests it's enough to make a grown gardener cry. It contains a small
  mushroom.
  >_


For the first example it would be nice if instead of 'It is empty.' it didn't
show anything or maybe 'You find nothing else of interest'. For the second
example it would be better to replace 'It contains a small mushroom.' with
'You find a small mushroom.' perhaps? Lastly we have the example of multiple
items:


  >exam undergrowth
  You examine some undergrowth. This undergrowth contains so many weeds and
  pests it's enough to make a grown gardener cry. It contains:
    a small mushroom
    a small red ball
  >_


I suppose we could have a searchable attribute rather than an inventory
attribute? A searchable could be just a thin wrapper around an inventory as we
would only need to update the List method. At least if you 'search' the 'You
find...' responses make sense. For searchables 'examine' should work just as
well as 'search'.

This is going to crop up again for surfaces like tables and shelves where you
can have things on or under them...

Something I need to leave for now and return to later on. What I really need
to do is add player accounts, some documentation and then finally release a
new prototype build :)

Hrm, maybe I should add coloured output before releasing the next prototype?
Otherwise the next prototype will be a step back from the previous one :(

--
Diddymus


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