AltTopicclass

An alternative topic entry. This makes it easy to define different responses to a topic according to the game state; for example, we might want to provide a different response for a topic after some event has occurred, so that we can reflect knowledge of the event in the response.

A set of alternative topics is sort of like an inverted if-then-else. You start by defining a normal TopicEntry (an AskTopic, or an AskTellTopic, or whatever) for the basic response. Then, you add a nested AltTopic located within the base topic; you can add another AltTopic nested within the base topic, and another after that, and so on. When we need to choose one of the topics, we’ll choose the last one that indicates it’s active. So, the order of appearance is essentially an override order: the first AltTopic overrides its parent TopicEntry, and each subsequent AltTopic overrides its previous AltTopic.

+ AskTellTopic @lighthouse “It’s very tall.”;
++ AltTopic “Not really…” isActive=(…);
++ AltTopic “Well, maybe…” isActive=(…);
++ AltTopic “One more thing…” isActive=(…);

In this example, the response we’ll show for ASK ABOUT LIGHTHOUSE will always be the LAST entry of the group that’s active. For example, if all of the responses are active except for the very last one, then we’ll show the “Well, maybe” response, because it’s the last active response. If the main AskTellTopic is active, but none of the AltTopics are active, we’ll show the “It’s very tall” main response, because it’s the last element of the group that’s active.

Note that an AltTopic takes its matching information from its parent, so you don’t need to specify a matchObj or any other matching information in an AltTopic. You merely need to provide the response text and the isActive test.

class AltTopic : TopicEntry

Superclass Tree (in declaration order)

AltTopic
TopicEntry
` object`

Subclass Tree

(none)

Global Objects

(none)

Summary of Properties

altTalkCount altTopicOrder impliesGreeting includeInList isConversational

Inherited from TopicEntry :
altTopicList isActive matchObj matchScore talkCount topicGroupActive topicGroupScoreAdjustment topicResponse

Summary of Methods

checkIsActive initializeAltTopic isMatchPossible matchPreParse matchTopic noteInvocation setTopicPronouns

Inherited from TopicEntry :
addAltTopic addSuggestedTopic addTopic adjustScore anyAltIsActive breakTopicTie deferToEntry getActor getTopicOwner handleTopic initializeTopicEntry noteAltInvocation

Properties

altTalkCountOVERRIDDEN

actor.t[2756]

our AltTopic counter is the AltTopic counter for the enclosing topic

altTopicOrder

actor.t[2742]

Our relative order within our parent’s list of alternatives. By default, we simply return the source file ordering, which ensures that static AltTopic objects (i.e., those defined directly in source files, not dynamically created with ‘new’) will be ordered just as they’re laid out in the source file.

impliesGreetingOVERRIDDEN

actor.t[2730]

take our implied-greeting status from our parent

includeInListOVERRIDDEN

actor.t[2685]

include in the same lists as our parent

isConversationalOVERRIDDEN

actor.t[2733]

take our conversational status from our parent

Methods

checkIsActive ( )OVERRIDDEN

actor.t[2700]