Hi,

Vocabulary Changes in Alpha 46:
======================

TAB allows you to create more than one Long Noun and Long Verb per Vocabulary word entry.

What is a long noun?

It is a type of noun (ordinary, object or character noun) that can have extra word(s) that are joined to it using a separator symbol making the TAB parser think that it is a single word...
For this separator symbol I`ve chosen: "¯"
which can be obtained by holding down the left ALT key and typing 0,1,7,5 on the numeric keypad then releasing the ALT key to get the ¯ symbol.

Example LONG NOUN KEYWORDS:

/large¯wooden¯crate/

/tiny¯ornate¯earring/

/cracked¯decorated¯china¯pot/

As you can see long nouns are not limited to 2 words but can have more!
In practice though they will mostly consist of 2 or possibly 3 words
depending on the textual description for the normal, object or character noun.

Normally any adjectives or words describing objects had to be
placed into the Deletions list to enable these words to be understood from
the input command(s) by the parser... Now this is no longer mandatory. Very,very handy because the author may want to use some of these words for other objects in the game.

Long noun object keywords will be printed by TAB in the default system messages or for the n1 and n2 variables in "cmess" actions
eg:

"You now have the tiny ornate earring."
"You drop the gold key."
"You put the tiny ornate earring into the cracked decorated china pot."
etc.. etc..

and the long noun keywords will also be printed in the inventory listing or container contents listing too.

A long noun keyword (probably consisting of 2 or 3 words) is still a KEYWORD and must be entered properly in the RESPONSE words conditions as usual in the correct place eg:

[start]press small¯red¯button#room=1#flag3=0[acts]....etc.etc....[end]

SYNONYMS can be Long Nouns as well. I will call these LONG SYNONYMS. eg:

/tiny¯ornate¯earring/ ornate¯tiny¯earring/tiny¯earring/ornate¯ earring/earring/

/book/tattered¯black¯book/ tattered¯book/ black¯book/

/slender¯spruce¯ tree/slender¯ spruce/slender¯ tree/spruce¯ tree/spruce/ tree/

The second example (book) shows you can have long synonyms even for one word KEYWORDS.

There are a couple of important rules regarding long nouns and long synonyms:

1) Long synonyms for Long Nouns must not contain MORE words than that
contained in the long noun keyword.

Example Noun and synonyms:

/small¯pocket¯radio/small¯radio/pocket¯radio/radio/ = CORRECT FORMAT

/small¯radio/ small¯pocket¯radio/pocket¯radio/radio/ = INCORRECT FORMAT

/blue¯teacup/ blue¯cup/cup/ = CORRECT FORMAT

/decorated¯pot/ cracked¯decorated¯pot/pot/ = INCORRECT FORMAT

2) In addition to Rule 1 - Long synonyms must be entered in order by
placing the synonyms that contain the MOST words first down to the synonyms that contain the LEAST last. (descending order)

Example:
OBJECT NOUN KEYWORD: /small¯pocket¯radio/
SYNONYMS: /pocket¯radio/ small¯radio/radio/

would be entered as:

/small¯pocket¯radio/pocket¯radio/ small¯radio/radio/

If you are using a single word KEYWORD and require long synonym
alternatives then Rule 2 only applies eg:

NOUN: /book/
SYNS: /tattered¯black¯ book/tattered¯ book/black¯ book/

entered as:

/book/tattered¯black¯book/tattered¯book/black¯book/

Because of all of this inputs by the player can be substantially longer but
can still be made to be understood by TAB...

Examples:

>examine the small pocket radio then put the tiny ornate earring into the
cracked decorated china pot

>put the ornate earring into the large wooden crate then turn on the small radio

ALL the default TAB Response entries will work automatically with these
long noun combinations too - so no extra complicated coding required....

CHARACTER Nouns can be long nouns and have long syns:

/rasputin¯clever¯mad¯monk/rasputin¯ monk/mad¯monk/monk/rasputin/

Since "the" is a deletion word the following input might work:

>give the small tricorn hat to rasputin [the] clever mad monk

Incidentally, you can also have LONG VERBS and have LONG SYNS with them also!

/get/pick¯up/
/remove/take¯off/
/wear/put¯on/
/i/get¯i/inventory/
/carefully¯examine/ carefully¯exam/carefully¯x/

Regards,
catventure