Object

Object

"Everything is an object. Objects have slots. Slots hold data OR behavior." — Dave Ungar, Self: The Power of Simplicity

What Is It?

An Object is anything you can interact with in the adventure world. Keys, lamps, chests, furniture, food, tools — all objects.

Objects are the atoms of the adventure. They:

• Have an identity (id, name, description)
• Advertise their actions (The Sims style)
• Contain state (lit, fuel, uses)
• Inherit from prototypes (Self style)

The Sims Architecture

From Will Wright's SimAntics:

"The intelligence is in the objects, not the characters."

Objects advertise what they can do:

advertisements:
  LIGHT:
    description: "Light the lamp"
    score: 80
    guard: "lamp has fuel"
    effect: "Darkness retreats"

The character picks from what's advertised. No hardcoded behavior.

Self-Style Prototypes

Objects inherit from prototypes:

inherits:
  - skills/objects/light-source.yml
  - skills/objects/takeable.yml

A lamp inherits "light-source" behaviors without copying them.

Object Properties

State

Objects have mutable state:

state:
  lit: false
  fuel: 100
  uses_remaining: 3

State changes are tracked in YAML. The adventure is the save game.

Simulate — Object Update Loops

THE SIMS INSIGHT: Objects manage their own simulation!

Every object can have a simulate property — a natural language description of what happens each turn. The compiler generates a closure that receives world.

simulate: |
  if lit:
    consume_fuel(1)
    if fuel <= 0:
      extinguish()
      emit("The lamp sputters and dies!")

This compiles to:

simulate_js: (world) => {
  if (world.object.state.lit) {
    world.consume_fuel(1);
    if (world.object.state.fuel <= 0) {
      world.extinguish();
      world.emit("The lamp sputters and dies!");
    }
  }
}

Resilience — The SimCity Zone Pattern

WILL WRIGHT INSIGHT:

"SimCity zones are self-healing. If one tile burns but the center survives, the zone will eventually rebuild."

Simulation functions should be:

1. Robust — Handle Missing Data

// BAD: crashes if state is undefined
if (world.object.state.fuel > 0) { ... }

// GOOD: defensive access
if ((world.object.state?.fuel ?? 0) > 0) { ... }

2. Self-Initializing — Create Default State

simulate: |
  first ensure state.lit exists (default false)
  ensure state.fuel exists (default 100)
  then proceed with normal simulation

The compiled code initializes missing state:

simulate_js: (world) => {
  const state = world.object.state ??= {};
  state.lit ??= false;
  state.fuel ??= 100;
  // Now safe to proceed...
}

3. Self-Healing — Recover from Corruption

simulate: |
  if fuel is somehow negative, reset to 0
  if lit but fuel is 0, extinguish (inconsistent state!)
  if broken flag is set but durability is full, clear broken

The compiled code heals invalid states:

simulate_js: (world) => {
  const state = world.object.state;
  // Heal negative values
  state.fuel = Math.max(0, state.fuel);
  // Heal inconsistency
  if (state.lit && state.fuel <= 0) {
    state.lit = false;  // Self-heal
    world.emit("The lamp was somehow lit without fuel — fixed.");
  }
}

The defaults Field

Objects can declare their default state values:

object:
  id: brass-lantern
  defaults:
    lit: false
    fuel: 100
    durability: 100
  simulate: |
    ensure all defaults are initialized
    ...

The runtime merges defaults into state before simulation.

Methods — Named Behaviors

Objects can define named methods that simulate or advertisements can call. Natural language → compiled closures. 1:1 mapping!

methods:
  consume_fuel: "reduce fuel by amount, minimum 0"
  extinguish: "set lit to false, emit darkness event"
  ignite: "set lit to true if fuel > 0"

Compiles to:

methods_js: {
  consume_fuel: (world, amount) => { 
    world.object.state.fuel = Math.max(0, world.object.state.fuel - amount); 
  },
  extinguish: (world) => { 
    world.object.state.lit = false; 
    world.emit('DARKNESS'); 
  },
  ignite: (world) => { 
    if (world.object.state.fuel > 0) world.object.state.lit = true; 
  }
}

The Power of 1:1 Methods

• Method name in natural language = method name in JS/PY
• consume_fuel(1) in YAML → world.consume_fuel(1) in JS
• Methods compose — extinguish() can call other methods
• Advertisements can call methods in their effect

The Complete Pattern

Object
├── state         (mutable data)
├── simulate      (per-turn update)
├── methods       (named behaviors)
└── advertisements (player actions)

Advertisements call methods. Simulate calls methods. Methods update state.

Everything flows through compiled closures over world.

Advertisements (Actions)

Each advertisement can have:

LIGHT:
  description: "Light the lamp"           # What it does
  score: 80                               # Base attractiveness
  score_if: "player is in dark room"      # When to boost
  guard: "lamp has fuel"                  # Can you do it?
  effect: "Lamp is now lit"               # What happens

Natural language fields (score_if, guard, effect) are compiled to JS/PY.

Containers

Containers hold other objects:

container: true
contains:
  - brass-key
  - old-map
capacity: 10
locked: true

Examples

Simple Item

object:
  id: brass-key
  name: "Brass Key"
  emoji: "🔑"
  description: "A heavy brass key."
  takeable: true

Lamp with State

object:
  id: oil-lamp
  name: "Oil Lamp"
  emoji: "🪔"
  state:
    lit: false
    fuel: 100
  advertisements:
    LIGHT:
      guard: "fuel > 0 AND not lit"
      effect: "The lamp flickers to life."

Locked Chest

object:
  id: treasure-chest
  name: "Treasure Chest"
  container: true
  locked: true
  contains:
    - gold-coins
    - magic-ring
  advertisements:
    UNLOCK:
      guard: "player has chest-key"
      effect: "The lock clicks open."

Related Skills

• advertisement — How objects announce actions
• room — Where objects live
• buff — Effects objects can grant
• prototype — Inheritance system

Protocol Symbol

SIMANTICS — The Sims behavioral architecture