Modeling discussion topics in Inform 7 [closed]

Question

I'm trying to make it so that a player can ASK [PERSON] ABOUT [TOPIC], TELL [PERSON] ABOUT [TOPIC], or THINK ABOUT [TOPIC] in Inform 7. I started like this for modeling THINK ABOUT [TOPIC]:

A topic is a kind of thing. A topic is either known or unknown. A topic is usually unknown.

Pondering is an action applying to one thing. Understand "ponder [something]" as pondering. Understand "think about [something]" as pondering.

Carry out pondering: If the noun is a topic, say "[description of noun]" instead.

But then I realized that I'd probably want the same mechanism to be used for thinking about both abstract topics and concrete things. I've also got the problem that unless the topic is a concrete thing that is present in the room, Inform considers it out of scope. I don't know how to solve that. At the same time, I do want most topic to start out as out of scope, but come into scope as they are suggested by previous topics.

In thinking about what I'm trying to accomplish, it seems rather similar to the system used by Emily Short et. al. in Alabaster. The source imports an extension called Threaded Conversation, but I don't see where that comes from.

In short, I need a conversation system which:

1. allows discussion of both objects and abstract concepts,
2. allows discussion of things not present,
3. restricts discussion to things the player is aware of, and
4. allows new topics to be brought into scope by other topics.

Answer 1

Your best bet at this point probably is to adapt Eric Eve's Conversation Package to your needs; it's found here: http://inform7.com/extensions/Eric%20Eve/Conversation%20Package/index.html.

The system Alabaster uses isn't yet released.

(also, it's pretty awesome to see I7 questions here, but if you have pressing technical questions you're probably better off at the Intfiction forums).