the-infocom-files / ballyhoo

Ballyhoo
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"CLIMB DOWN LADDER" from the platform doesn't work in the endgame #65

Open eriktorbjorn opened 4 years ago

eriktorbjorn commented 4 years ago

At the beginning of the game, "CLIMB DOWN LADDER" works from the platform:

>LOOK
Platform
You're standing on a small, unstable platform which is suspended high above the
arena floor by guy wires converging on it from all directions. A rope ladder
dangles from the platform and the tightrope stretches east to the opposite
platform.

>CLIMB DOWN LADDER
You grasp the ladder firmly and climb down ...

Performance Ring
This is the arena's oval-shaped performance ring which is occupied by a sagging,
rectangular safety net. A rope ladder dangles to within a foot of the ground.

Just west lies the entrance to a large, round cage that completely encircles the
second of the two rings. To the south the big top's vaulted wing leads out into
the open air. The arena's rickety grandstands rise steeply north and east.

But during the endgame, this no longer works. Even though the game says you climb down the ladder if you walk down:

>CLIMB DOWN LADDER
This bit of gymnastics is beyond your talent.

>DOWN
You grasp the ladder firmly and climb down ...

Performance Ring
This is the arena's oval-shaped performance ring. The rope ladder above your
head has been tangled around the platform from which it hangs.

Just west lies the entrance to a large, round cage that completely encircles the
second of the two rings. To the south the big top's vaulted wing leads out into
the open air. The arena's rickety grandstands rise steeply north and east.

Mahler stands on the opposite platform, one of his great limbs grasping a guy
wire for balance. He is holding the limp form of a small girl under one arm.

The safety net is being held by the motley circle of Mr. Munrab, the roustabout,
and Comrade Thumb.

This is probably because of this bit in LADDER-F:

           (<AND ,END-GAME
             <EQUAL? ,HERE ,RING ,PLATFORM-1>
             <NOT <EQUAL? <LOC ,PROTAGONIST> ,STAND>>                 
             <NOT <VERB? UNTIE>>>
             <COND (<TOUCHING? ,LADDER>
                <DO-WALK ,P?UP>)
                   (<VERB? EXAMINE>
                <TANGLED-ROPE T>)>)            

"CLIMB DOWN LADDER" presumably gets caught in the <TOUCHING? ,LADDER> case. See TOUCHING-VERB?. So maybe CLIMB-DOWN should be excepted, the same way UNTIE is?

eriktorbjorn commented 4 years ago

This also seems a bit odd, and related to the same piece of code in LADDER-F:

>EXAMINE LADDER
The rope ladder above your head has been tangled around the platform from which
it hangs.

Munrab & Company, their faces anxiously upturned, are pulling the safety net
every which way, kicking sawdust from one end of the ring to the other.

>STAND ON LION STAND
You are now on the lion stand.

Munrab & Company, their faces anxiously upturned, are pulling the safety net
every which way, kicking sawdust from one end of the ring to the other.

>EXAMINE LADDER
You see nothing extraordinary about the ladder.

Munrab & Company, their faces anxiously upturned, are pulling the safety net
every which way, kicking sawdust from one end of the ring to the other.

I.e. I no longer see anything special about the ladder, just because I'm now on the lion stand.