I got my draft #Inform7 story tested by one of my nieces, and again by my wife.

[oblomov@sociale.network]

I got my draft #Inform7 story tested by one of my nieces, and again by my wife. There's still a few details needed to make it fully playable if you don't know the exact sequence of actions, but it's getting there. The most difficult part remains making it possible to users to go wild with their commands without being too permissive, but still accepting what makes sense. Yet even just making “use key on door” work as ”unlock door with key” when it makes sense is not trivial.

[victorgijsbers@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@oblomov There's an oft-used trick where "use" prints a generic error message like "Please type in more specific verbs; e.g., 'unlock door' instead of 'use door'." But that may not be right for your game!

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@victorgijsbers well that would be fine for me, but then my wife would get offended, so I can't do that ;-)

So I went with “implement it and inform the user about what they should have said instead”. It was a pretty interesting learning experience too. https://intfiction.org/t/using-use-rather-proud-of-myself/78504

And now the player can use the toilet in my game!

[oblomov@sociale.network]

I think I should start looking into a pseudonym for if/when I'm going to publish my first stories or extensions.

I could go with Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, I guess.