Kinds

object
    room [1] 
    thing [4] 
        door  
        container 
            player's holdall  
            vehicle  
        supporter 
        backdrop  
        person [3]  
            animal [2] 
            man 
            woman 
            player-character [1] 
        device [1]  
    direction [12] 
    region 
value
    number 
    time  
    text 
    snippet 
    object 
    rule 
    rulebook 
    scene 
    table-name 
    description 
    figure-name 

What are kinds? ; Kinds of value 


room (plural rooms)
Represents geographical locations, both indoor and outdoor, which are not necessarily areas in a building. A player in one room is mostly unable to sense, or interact with, anything in a different room. Rooms are arranged in a map.
Normally lighted not dark, unvisited not visited.
Can have map region (the name of something), description (some text), printed name (some text).
Grassy hills 

thing (plural things)
Represents anything interactive in the model world that is not a room. People, pieces of scenery, furniture, doors and mislaid umbrellas might all be examples, and so might more surprising things like the sound of birdsong or a shaft of sunlight.
Normally unlit not lit, inedible not edible, opaque not transparent, described not undescribed, portable not fixed in place, unmarked for listing not marked for listing.
Not normally enterable, scenery, wearable, handled, pushable between rooms, an Inform library door, an Inform library container, an Inform library supporter, an Inform library animate object, an Inform library male, mentioned not unmentioned, unmentioned not mentioned, initially carried.
Can have description (some text), printed name (some text), initial appearance (some text), printed plural name (some text), inventory listing (some text), indefinite article (some text), matching key (the name of something).

door, a kind of thing (plural doors) 
Represents a conduit joining two rooms, most often a door or gate but sometimes a plank bridge, a slide or a hatchway. Usually visible and operable from both sides (for instance if you write 'The blue door is east of the Ballroom and west of the Garden.'), but sometimes only one-way (for instance if you write 'East of the Ballroom is the long slide. Through the long slide is the cellar.').
Always an Inform library door.
Normally fixed in place not portable, closed not open, openable not unopenable, unlocked not locked.
Not normally lockable.
Never pushable between rooms.
Can have other side (the name of something).

container, a kind of thing (plural containers)
Represents something into which portable things can be put, such as a teachest or a handbag. Something with a really large immobile interior, such as the Albert Hall, had better be a room instead.
Always an Inform library container.
Normally open not closed, unopenable not openable, unlocked not locked.
Not normally lockable.
Can have carrying capacity (a number).

player's holdall, a kind of container (plural player's holdalls) 
Represents a container which the player can carry around as a sort of rucksack, into which spare items are automatically stowed away.
Always portable not fixed in place.
Normally openable not unopenable.

vehicle, a kind of container (plural vehicles) 
Always enterable.
Not normally portable not fixed in place.

supporter, a kind of thing (plural supporters)
Represents a surface on which things can be placed, such as a table.
Always transparent not opaque, an Inform library supporter.
Normally fixed in place not portable.
Can have carrying capacity (a number).

backdrop, a kind of thing (plural backdrops) 
Represents an aspect of the landscape or architecture which extends across more than one room: for instance, a stream, the sky or a long carpet.
Always fixed in place not portable.
Normally scenery.

person, a kind of thing (plural persons) 
Despite the name, not necessarily a human being, but anything animate enough to envisage having a conversation with, or bartering with.
Always an Inform library animate object.
Normally male not female.
Not normally neuter.
Can have carrying capacity (a number).

animal, a kind of person (plural animals)
Represents an animal, or at any rate a non-human living creature reasonably large and possible to interact with: a giant Venus fly-trap might qualify, but not a patch of lichen.
bird , butterfly 

man, a kind of person (plural mans)
Represents a man, boy or sometimes an animal which can be referred to as 'him'.
Always an Inform library male, male not female.
Never neuter.

woman, a kind of person (plural women)
Represents a woman, girl or sometimes an animal which can be referred to as 'her'.
Always female not male.
Never neuter.

player-character, a kind of person (plural player-characters)
Represents a body through which the game can be played. In most games there is only one of these, normally called 'yourself'.
Can have description (some text).
yourself

device, a kind of thing (plural devices) 
Represents a machine or contrivance of some kind which can be switched on or off.
Always an Inform library supporter.
Normally switched off not switched on.
laptop 

direction (plural directions)
Represents a direction of movement, such as northeast or down. At present Inform 7 does not support the creation of new directions, but it will do in the final release.
Normally unmarked for listing not marked for listing.
Can have opposite (the name of something).
north, northeast, northwest, south, southeast, southwest, east, west, up, down, inside, outside

region (plural regions)


number (plural numbers)
Whole number in the range -32768, -32767, ..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., 32767: small numbers can be written textually as 'one', 'two', 'three', ..., 'ten', 'eleven', 'twelve'.

time (plural times) 
A time of day, written in the form '2:34 AM' or '12:51 PM', or a length of time such as '10 minutes' or '3 hours 31 minutes', which must be between 0 minutes and 23 hours 59 minutes inclusive.

text (plural texts)
Some text in double quotation marks, perhaps with substitutions written in square brackets.

snippet (plural snippets)

object (plural objects)

rule (plural rules)

rulebook (plural rulebooks)

scene (plural scenes)

table-name (plural table-names)

description (plural descriptions)

figure-name (plural figure-names)


If we create a variable, by writing, for instance, 'Zero hour is a time that varies', and do not tell Inform what value it starts out with (say, adding 'Zero hour is 11:21 PM.') then Inform uses the following table to decide the initial value. The same applies if we create a property (for instance, 'A person has a number called lucky number.'). Kinds of value not included in the table cannot be used in variables and properties.

kind of valuedefault value
number  0
time  9:00 AM
text  ""
snippet  word 1 of command
object  nothing
rule  the little-used do nothing rule
rulebook  the action-processing rules
scene  the Entire Game
table-name  a table with no rows or columns
description  matching nothing
figure-name  figure of cover
thingthe player
directionnorth
other kinds of object  the first example created