So it looks straightforward enough. If the sphere is in a room, or in a container that is in a room, the routine returns that room. Otherwise, it returns false. The blue sphere is in a lit room, so where does it go wrong?
The problem is that unfortunately there's also a macro called ROOM?:
<DEFMAC ROOM? ("ARGS" ATMS)
<MULTIFROB HERE .ATMS>>
This is similar to VERB?, and is apparently used to test if HERE is any of a list of locations. I can't see that Zork I-III uses this macro (deliberately) anywhere. A couple of games define it, but the only game I can find that uses it is Infidel.
So we could simply remove the macro. That would make the sphere work as intended:
>LOOK IN RED SPHERE
As you peer into the sphere, a strange vision takes shape of a distant room,
which can be described clearly....
Dreary Room
This is a small and rather dreary room, eerily illuminated by a red glow
emanating from a crack in one wall. The light falls upon a dusty wooden table in
the center of the room. On the south side of the room is a massive wooden door,
which has a small window barred with iron. A formidable bolt lock is set within
the door frame. A keyhole lies within the lock. A rusty iron key is in place
within the keyhole.
The vision fades, revealing only an ordinary crystal sphere.
Though perhaps we want to change the name of the ROOM? routine instead, to avoid confusion?
Looking into the red sphere should show you the location of the blue sphere. But at the moment:
Looking at
PALANTIR-LOOK, that message is printed when:OBJis the sphere you are looking into. TheROOM?routine is defined like this:So it looks straightforward enough. If the sphere is in a room, or in a container that is in a room, the routine returns that room. Otherwise, it returns false. The blue sphere is in a lit room, so where does it go wrong?
The problem is that unfortunately there's also a macro called
ROOM?:This is similar to
VERB?, and is apparently used to test ifHEREis any of a list of locations. I can't see that Zork I-III uses this macro (deliberately) anywhere. A couple of games define it, but the only game I can find that uses it is Infidel.So we could simply remove the macro. That would make the sphere work as intended:
Though perhaps we want to change the name of the
ROOM?routine instead, to avoid confusion?