Real noob here.

I'm working on the tutorial game and trying to expand it to learn more. The first hurdle I have hit is as follows:

I created a newspaper and have it sitting on a table. The newspaper is part of the scenery, so you can't see it until you look at the table. You can take the newspaper, and it is acknowledged when you do this by saying, "You take the newspaper.". Now this is the problem, when you check your inventory the newspaper is not listed, but you can still drop the newspaper!

How do I get the newspaper to show that it is in the inventory?

Thanks for your help.

Could you post your aslx file? That will help tremendously.

What does "when you check your inventory " mean? Is the newspaper invisible in the inventory pane or is it invisible, if you type "inventory"? The inventory pane should be ok but if you call the inventory via command line, scenery objects are not listed. Seems to be a bug

I believe what you have done is on the Setup tab for the newspaper object you've 'checked' it as a scenery object and made it a takeable object from the Inventory tab. So you can take it and drop it but it will always be a scenery object and it can't be seen.

Uncheck it first on the Setup tab so it's not a scenery object anymore and then click on the table's Container tab and make the table a Surface type.

Check the boxes for 'Hide Children until...' and 'List children...' The first will hide the newspaper when you enter or LOOK at the room, the second will list the contents of the table when you examine it.

This makes the table object a 'Parent'. Click and drag the newspaper object so it becomes a 'Child' for the 'Parent' table object.

So now, when you enter the room, you see a table only. EXAMINE TABLE and the newspaper is revealed.

Thanks everyone for getting back to me. cdutton184 your solution works perfectly.

I should have pointed out, that I am trying to recreate the feel and look of the first text-based games, so there are no panels to show inventory or action verbs, and there are no pictures or maps to assist you. So far so good, but I have a feeling that I will be in need of more help sooner or later.

So there is still the question, if a scenery object which is taken remains to be scenery in your inventory. Shouldn't it become a normal visible object then? Even if you drop it?

Pertex wrote:So there is still the question, if a scenery object which is taken remains to be scenery in your inventory. Shouldn't it become a normal visible object then? Even if you drop it?

I don't think it's a bug, just an overlooked problem for beginners. There's no direct link in stopping, telling or asking you if you wanted to create a scenery/take object. I guess the Drop command doesn't accommodate this issue.

As far as I'm aware, the purpose of scenery objects are to be there to be looked at, but are not meant to be taken, so if anything I would say that ticking the box to make an object scenery should automatically make the object unable to be taken. That's how scenery objects work in Inform.

I disagree. I think some items you want hidden in the description, to give some challenge to the player, but nevertheless, the can still be taken. In that case, they should drop the "scenery" flag (and the room description probably needs to change too).