Blue Lacuna — 96 of 467

Chapter - Definitions

An episode is a kind of thing. [An episode is usually privately-named.] [Episode is the scene-equivalent. ]

The current episode is an episode that varies. The current episode is no-episode. The last episode is an episode that varies. The last episode is no-episode. no-episode is an episode. [Only one episode is running at a time.]

An episode is either one-shot or rerunnable. An episode is usually one-shot. [Episodes can either be one-time-only, or repeatable.]

[Episodic frequency is a kind of value. The episodic frequencies are ensured, likely, unlikely, and rare.] An episode has a frequency. An episode is usually common. [Ensured episodes always happen whenever they are considered. The subsequent adjectives define episodes which are decreasingly likely to be selected.]

Episodic type is a kind of value. The episodic types are rendezvous, urgent, serendipitous, or instant. An episode has an episodic type. An episode is usually serendipitous. [Episodic type specifies in general what happens when the episode begins. Rendezvous episodes involve Progue going to a certain place and waiting until the PC appears. Urgent episodes involve Progue tracking down the PC. Serendipitous episodes begin the next time they bump into each other. Instant episodes break the world model and instantly teleport Progue somewhere.]

An episode is either triggered or informal. An episode is usually informal. [Triggered episodes are checked on every turn to see if they go off. Informal episodes are only checked when the scene-daemon runs or it is time for excitement.]

An episode has a time called the expiration date. The expiration date of an episode is usually 23 hours. [Most episodes are not considered to have begun unless Progue begins the relevant conversation while they are current. If this has not happened after a certain amount of time, the episode will become expired. ]

Episodic status is a kind of value. The episodic statuses are successful, completed, failed, expired, running, and unaired. An episode has an episodic status. An episode is usually unaired. [ The state of an episode. The first three are various ways of keeping history on how episodes ended. ]

An episode has a beat called the subchange beat. The subchange beat of an episode is usually episode_subchange. An episode has a beat called the boredom beat. The boredom beat of an episode is usually episode_boredom. An episode has a beat called the bye beat. The bye beat of a episode is usually episode_bye. An episode has a beat called the abruptbye beat. The abruptbye beat is usually episode_abruptbye. [It's easy to forget the various ways a player can interfere with the flow of an episode (trying to change the subject, not speaking, saying goodbye, wandering off, or physically interacting with Progue), so we pre-define a bunch of default responses that should prevent episodes from getting off-track. Episodes can define more specific beats appropriate to the moment, or set one of these to "silence" to allow the normal behavior for the action to fire. NOTE: if we have episodes that prevent player leaving early or whatever, we MUST END THEM BY HAND, transition to a new episode, or change the various beats after a key moment; otherwise the player will never be able to end the conversation.]

An episode has a room called the meeting place. The meeting place of an episode is usually UnRoom. An episode has a beat called the icebreaker. The icebreaker of an episode is usually silence. [Some episodes begin at a certain spot, and most begin with Progue saying a certain beat.]

The episode schedule is a table-name that varies. The episode schedule is usually the Table of Off-Air. [This table lists all the episodes which it is presently okay to run, assuming their conditions are met.]

Table of Off-Air

To decide whether an episode is playing:

if current episode is no-episode, decide no;

decide yes.

To decide whether no episode is playing:

if current episode is no-episode, decide yes;

decide no.

To normalize (ep - an episode):

now the subchange beat of ep is silence;

now the boredom beat of ep is silence;

now the bye beat of ep is silence;

now the abruptbye beat of ep is silence.