moments-only.js

game = {
  player: {
    starting_moment: "go home"
  },
  moments: [
    {
      title: "go home",
      image: "home.jpg",
      text: "you live here",
      // you have two clickable options: "look at all your shit.", and "text arjun about maybe having a show"
      moments: [
        {
          title: "look at all your shit.",
          // the image doesn't change.
          // this text replaces the "you live here" text.
          text: "You look at all your shit. You got all the shit.",
          // even after looking at all your shit, you can still text arjun about maybe having a show
          // we aren't defining the moment here, because you can also do it *before* "look at all your shit"
          // the game knows it's a reference to another moment cuz it's a string instead of an object.
          moments: ["home > text arjun about maybe having a show"]
        },
        {
          title: "text arjun about maybe having a show",
          text: "arjun's like 'yeah totally come over whenever'",
          moments: [
            // the moment "go to arjuntina" only shows up after deciding to have a show
            "go to arjuntina",
            // but the real question is, if someone looks at all their shit after texting arjun,
            // they still eventually need to go to Arjuntina. They shouldn't have to text arjun again, though.
            // should we add something in "look at all your shit" or here?
            "go home > look at all your shit"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    // this moment isn't under "home", so it can't inherit images or text from home either.
    // It's like a whole different location or something.
    {
      title: "go to arjuntina",
      image: "arjuntina.jpg",
      text: "this is a real fun party, no?",
      moments: [
        {
          title: "start the show",
          // once you start the show, the image changes.
          image: "shredding.jpg",
          text: "you begin to shred incredibly. It's pretty fun.",
          moments: [
            {
              title: "end your set",
              // if we didn't include an image here, it would assume "shredding.jpg"
              image: "arjuntina.jpg",
              text: "That was fun. Now it's over.",
              moments: [
                // how do we make it so that if they go home, they can't text arjun again?
                "go home"
              ]
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          title: "talk to arjun",
          // this moment doesn't define an image, so it uses "arjuntina.jpg" from the parent.
          text: "Arjun says something or whatever.",
          moments: [
            "go to arjuntina > start the show",
            {
              title: "say 'how lame!'",
              text: "Arjun scowls. It makes you sad.",
              moments: ["go to arjuntina > start the show"]
            },
            {
              title: "say 'how dope!'",
              text: "Arjun looks pleased. He gives you a certificate",
              moments: [
                "go to arjuntina > start the show",
                {
                  title: "say 'thanks for the certificate!'",
                  text: "Arjun nods.",
                  moments: ["go to arjuntina> start the show"]
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
};

all this nesting might be real cool for making things chronological but it also might be a huge unwieldy pain in the ass.

here are the main questions i see that we'd still have to answer with this approach.

1. if a moment is a child nested within a parent moment, what stuff gets inherited from the parent?
   • image if not defined in child
   • text if not defined in child, probably never irl
   • never title
   • never object gets
   • but moments lists are the tricky thing. I'm leaning towards never, but that brings us to question 2:
2. (addressed on lines 28 through 30 and on line 55) how do we deal with exceptions?
   • we could keep track of which moments have happened and add some kind of "before: moment" or "after: moment" syntax
   • I'm sure there are other solutions