The Best Till Last

Example 327

★★

Reordering multiple objects for dramatic effect.

If a single command asks to do many things, some dull and some exciting, we may want to save the good ones for the end.

"The Best Till Last"

The Funky Ignition Lounge is a room. "This is where all evenings end." The stick of gelignite, the solid magnesium footstool, the vetiver candle, and the vodka bottle are here.

The burn description of the vetiver candle is "It burns right down, expensively but gothically."

The player carries an inexpensive firework. The description of the firework is "It is a cardboard tube with red and green stripes along the outside, and a fuse sticking out of the end." The burn description of the firework is "It ignites gloriously! You take a few hasty steps back in order to avoid burning yourself, and not a moment too soon. Red and green sparks fly out of the tube, and there's a whistling noise punctuated by several loud cracks."

The player carries a lighter. The description of the lighter is "You don't smoke, but you like to have access to flame now and then anyway."

Burning it with is an action applying to one thing and one carried thing.

Understand "burn [things] with [something preferably held]" as burning it with.

The block burning rule is not listed in any rulebook.

A thing has some text called the burn description.

Check burning something:

if the player carries the lighter:

try burning the noun with the lighter;

else:

try burning the noun with the noun.

Check burning something with something when the second noun is not the lighter:

say "Your trusty lighter is the best flame source available to you." instead.

Check burning something with something:

if the burn description of the noun is "":

say "Best not." instead.

Carry out burning something with something:

now the noun is nowhere.

Report burning something with something:

say "[burn description of the noun][line break]".

A multiple action processing rule when the action name part of the current action is the burning it with action (this is the orderly burn rule):

let L be the multiple object list;

let dull list be a list of objects;

let fun list be a list of objects;

repeat with item running through L:

if the burn description of the item is "":

add item to dull list;

else:

add item to fun list;

let F be the dull list;

add fun list to F;

alter the multiple object list to F.

Test me with "burn all with lighter".

Funky Ignition Lounge
This is where all evenings end.

You can see a stick of gelignite, a solid magnesium footstool, a vetiver candle and a vodka bottle here.

>(Testing.)

>[1] burn all with lighter
lighter: Best not.
stick of gelignite: Best not.
solid magnesium footstool: Best not.
vodka bottle: Best not.
inexpensive firework: It ignites gloriously! You take a few hasty steps back in order to avoid burning yourself, and not a moment too soon. Red and green sparks fly out of the tube, and there's a whistling noise punctuated by several loud cracks.
vetiver candle: It burns right down, expensively but gothically.