Man mentation

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Synopsis

Ain Soph enables the handling of game functionality actuated by in-character mental processes; e.g. a helm which projects flames when you think a command word, a gem that heals you when you visualize a caduceus.

Files

/mod/character/mind.c
/lib/thought.h
/daemon/command/character/believe.c
/daemon/command/character/concentrate.c
/daemon/command/character/disbelieve.c
/daemon/command/character/imagine.c
/daemon/command/character/subvocalize.c
/daemon/command/character/think.c
/daemon/command/character/visualize.c
/daemon/command/character/will.c

Description

The mentation mechanism enables wizards to implement character abilities which are actuated by thought processes. Many items and organizations add various capabilities to players by using add_action() to create arbitrary command structures. Many of these capabilities are better handled through speech or thought actuation; this system covers the latter.

Thought-actuated events, or simply "thoughts", are created using the function add_thought(), which exists in all living objects. Its syntax is as follows:

mapping add_thought(mixed tag, string arg, int flags, int activity,
    closure fcan, closure fdo);

'tag' is a string or array of strings which the thought 'keys' on, or 0 to key on any string. For example, if you wanted your thought to activate when someone thought of trees, you might send a value of "trees" for 'tag'. If you wanted it to activate when they thought of either trees or bushes, you could send ({ "trees", "bushes" }). It's recommended that both specific and less specific tags be provided; e.g. you could have a power key on both "visualize a triangle" and "visualize a point-up silver triangle", possibly triggering somewhat different versions of the power. This allows the possibility of ambiguity with other powers which also involve the visualization of triangles, but also lets characters who wish to be careful in their use of thought-actuated powers avoid trouble.

'arg' can be used for thoughts which take arguments, e.g. if you wanted people to be able to do "concentrate on harming <target>". In that case you would pass "%s" as 'arg', meaning a string argument following the tag value. You can also use "%d", meaning an integer argument following the tag value.

'flags' indicates the types of mentation which the thought will key on. These are defined by the macros in /lib/thought.h, and are:

   TF_Believe              thought confirming the reality of a thing or
                           idea
   TF_Concentrate          concentration on an concept
   TF_Disbelieve           thought denying the reality of a thing or idea
   TF_Feel                 thought expressing an emotion
   TF_Imagine              thought about a sensory impression, real or
                           constructed
   TF_Subvocalize          mind-internal verbalization, "thinking words"
   TF_Think                thinking about a concept, like concentrate but
                           less intensive
   TF_Visualize            thought about a visual sensory impression,
                           real or constructed
   TF_Will                 thought oriented toward a desired effect

You can send one of these flags as your 'flags' value to key only on that type, send several joined by bitwise ORs (e.g. TF_Think|TF_Will), or use the macro TF_Any to key on any mentation type. Note that the mentation types have different default activity costs ('concentrate' takes more time thank 'think', for example) and different conditional requirements (you cannot 'concentrate' while berserk).

'activity' is the activity cost of actuating this thought. Only the highest activity cost from all thoughts triggered at once is used. If no triggered thoughts specify an activity cost, the activity cost will be the default value for the type of mentation used (in general, 2 for think, feel, subvocalize and will, 15 for the rest).

'fcan' is the function checked for whether the thought can be actuated. It is passed the following arguments:

   object who              The person performing the mentation.
   mixed val               The value obtained for the thought's arguments,
                           if any.
   string what             The string value given by the player to the
                           mentation command; e.g. for both "think about
                           beer" and "visualize beer", this value will be
                           "beer".
   int total               The total number of thoughts which are having
                           their 'fcan' functions checked for this
                           mentation event, including this one.
   int type                The appropriate thought.h macro for the type
                           of mentation actually being performed.

The return value from the 'fcan' closure may be:

   1                       Success; allow the thought to be actuated.
   0                       Failure; do not actuate this thought.
   a string                Failure; do not actuate this thought.  The
                           string returned will be shown to the person
                           performing the mentation, as an error message.
   an array                Success; allow the thought to be actuated.
                           Pass the array given to the 'fdo' function.
   a mapping               Success; allow the thought to be actuated.
                           Pass the mapping given to the 'fdo' function.
   an error descriptor     Failure; do nto actuate this thought.  The
                           message in the error descriptor returned will
                           be shown to the person performing the
                           mentation, as an error message.

'fdo' is the function called when the thought has been successfully cleared for actuation; all actual game effects should be contained in this function, while status checks and so forth should be contained in the 'fcan' function. It is passed the following arguments:

   object who              The person performing the mentation.
   mixed val               The value obtained for the thought's arguments,
                           if any.
   mixed inf               If 'fcan' returned an array or mapping value,
                           this is it.
   string what             The string value given by the player to the
                           mentation command; e.g. for both "think about
                           beer" and "visualize beer", this value will be
                           "beer".
   int total               The total number of thoughts which have had
                           their 'fcan' functions checked and are now
                           being actuated via 'fdo' functions, including
                           this one.
   int type                The appropriate thought.h macro for the type
                           of mentation actually being performed.

Example of setting up a thought:

   thought = character->add_thought(
       ({
           "a triangle",
           "a point-up silver triangle",
       }),
       0,
       TF_Visualize,
       0,
       #'can_use_healing_power,
       #'do_use_healing_power
   );

The return value of add_thought() is a mapping which contains the thought information as used internally by mind.c. You should not change the data in this mapping. What you should do with it is store it for when you want to remove the thought from the character, which is done like so:

   character->remove_thought(thought);

where 'thought' is the mapping passed back to you by add_thought().

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