Chord / Cookbook / Devices & Tools / turning

turning (a per-entity verb)

turn/rotate/twist X parse out of the box, but the platform refuses to invent what turning means (cant_turn_that, ADR-090). An entity claims the verb through the dispatch-action pattern (a define action owns the verb, a trait's on turning it clause carries the behavior), and everything else falls through to the action's own refusals, which render from plain short keys on this path.

The author writes:

define action turning
  grammar
    turn the target
    rotate the target
    twist the target
  the target must be reachable
  refuse without target: turn-what
  otherwise refuse cant-turn

  phrases en-US
    turn-what:
      Turn what?
    cant-turn:
      That isn't something you can turn.

define trait stiff-valve
  states, reversible: shut, wide-open

  phrases en-US
    valve-opened:
      The wheel gives with a squeal of rust, and water hammers through the
      pipes below.
    valve-already-open:
      It's already open as far as it goes.

  on turning it
    it must be shut: valve-already-open
    change it to wide-open
    phrase valve-opened
  end on
end trait

create the Pump Room
  a room

  Pipes crowd every wall, all of them leading to one bronze valve.

create the bronze valve
  aka valve, wheel
  stiff-valve
  scenery
  in the Pump Room

  A wheel-valve the size of a dinner plate, painted bronze.

create the workbench
  aka bench
  scenery
  in the Pump Room

  A workbench bolted to the floor.

create the player
  starts in the Pump Room

The player sees:

> turn the workbench
That isn't something you can turn.

> turn the valve
The wheel gives with a squeal of rust, and water hammers through the pipes below.

> turn the valve
It's already open as far as it goes.