e73f63b5d4
next-steps plan for cross-conversation dialogue state: WorldState as the serialized source of truth, Ink books as disposable views. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
50 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
# Dialogue consequences — next steps
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Design for dialogue trees with consequences across conversations ("talk again
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does something else", NPC A affects NPC B, dialogue opens doors). Builds on the
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existing narrator (Ink) setup — see `dialogue_manager.lua`, `dialogable.lua`.
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## Core principle
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**Books are disposable views; a global `WorldState` table is the single source
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of truth.** Each Ink book reads flags in and writes flags out; it holds no
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authority, so it can be re-`init`ed and thrown away without losing anything.
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This resolves book-per-character's weakness (book A's visit counts are invisible
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to book B) — B branches on a `WorldState` flag, not on A's runtime state.
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Mirrors the existing world-vs-room split (`world.lua`: "the world is only a
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layout; rooms own their puzzle state"). Narrative progress is a third, global
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category with its own save file.
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Keep book-per-character (`Dialogable.book`), add a stable `self.storyId`.
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## The bug to fix first
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`Dialogue.open` re-`init`s the story every bump (`dialogue_manager.lua:31-33`),
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discarding all state — so there's no "again" to hang consequences on.
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## Steps
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1. Add a global `WorldState = {}` (flags + counters).
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2. `saveProgress` / `loadProgress` → `save/progress.sav` via TSerial +
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`readFromSource` / `writeToSource` (helpers already exist, used in
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`world.lua` / `world_seed.lua`). Shape: `{ version = 1, flags = WorldState }`.
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Flat table, no per-book blobs initially.
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3. `Dialogue.bridge(story)` on open:
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- `story:bind("flag", fn)` — read a WorldState flag from Ink.
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- `story:bind("setflag", fn)` — write one back.
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- gameplay binds, e.g. `give_color` / `open_door` calling into `currentRoom`.
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4. Cache the live story per `storyId` in the Dialogue module (stop re-init'ing).
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5. Hook `saveProgress` into the existing autosave points (near `room.lua:814`).
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"Talk again does X" = increment an own `WorldState` counter (e.g.
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`sage_talk_count`) on open, branch on it in Ink. No reliance on Ink
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visit-count persistence.
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## Deferred
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Persisting `story:save_state()` (plain table, keyed by `storyId`) only buys
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in-book niceties — consumed sticky choices, resume mid-conversation across a
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hard quit. Skipped initially: it couples the save file to book structure and
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forces narrator's `migrate` hook on every `.ink` edit. `WorldState` flags don't
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— a renamed flag just reads `nil`/false.
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