Le_Dieu_du_fond_du_Jardin/docs/esc_reference.md

General

• Events:

  When a scene is loaded, it may have events. We will not cover :load as it is used only internally for save games, nor will we cover :start here.

  To initialize a room properly, you may want to use :setup like this:

:setup
teleport player door1 [eq last_exit door1]
teleport player door2 [eq last_exit door2]

It covers the fact that your player can be set anywhere in the room and be visible for just a moment before the teleport happens.

It's not mandatory, nor mutually exclusive with :setup to have a :ready event.

:ready
say player player_wants_out:"I want out! To live my life and to be free!" [want_out]

When the player interacts with an object in the game, the object receives an even. Each event executes a series of commands. Events start with the character ":" in the Events file. Example:

:use

Especially useful for fallbacks, you can give flags to events:

:use | TK
say player player_does_not_wanna:"I don't wanna."

These flags are implemented:

• TK stands for "telekinetic". It means the player won't walk over to the item to say the line.
• NO_TT stands for "No tooltip". It hides the tooltip for the duration of the event. Probably not very useful, because events having multiple say commands in them are automatically hidden.
• NO_HUD stands for "No HUD". It hides the HUD for the duration of the event. Useful when you want something to look like a cut scene but not disable input for skipping dialog.
• NO_SAVE disables saving. Use this in cut scenes and anywhere a badly-timed autosave would leave your game in a messed-up state.
• CUT_BLACK applies only to :setup. It makes the screen go black during the setup phase. You will probably see a quick black flash, so use it only if you prefer it over the standard cut.
• LEAVE_BLACK applies only to :setup. In case your :ready starts with cut_scene telon fade_in, you must apply this flag or you will see a flash of your new scene before going black again for the fade_in.

• Groups Commands can be grouped using the character ">" to start a group, and incrementing the indentation of the commands that belong to the group. Example:

>
	set_global door_open true
	animation player pick_up
# end of group

• Global flags Global flags define the state of the game, and can have a value of true, false or an integer. All commands or groups can be conditioned to the value of a global flag.

• Conditions In order to run a command conditionally dependin on the value of a flag, use [] with a list of conditions. All conditions in the list must be true. The character "!" before a flag can be used to negate it. Example:

# runs the command only if the door_open flag is true
say player "The door is open" [door_open]

# runs the group only if door_open is false and i/key is true
> [!door_open,i/key]
	say player "The door is close, maybe I can try this key in my inventory"

Additionally, there's a set of comparison operators for use with global integers: eq, gt and lt, all of which can be negated. Example:

# runs the command only if the value of pieces_of_eight is greater than 5
set_state inv_pieces_of_eight money_bag [gt pieces_of_eight 5]

• Commands Commands consist of one word followed by parameters. Parameters can be one word, or strings in quotes. A string can also be preceeded by an ID for localization and the ":" character. Example:

# one parameter "player", another parameter "hello world", with id "dialog_hello"
say player dialog_hello:"hello world"

• Global IDs All objects in the game have a global ID, which is used to identify them in commands. The ID is configured in the object's scene.

• States Each object can have a "state". The state is stored in the global state of the game, and the savegame, and it's set on the object when the scene is instanced. States can also be animations with the same name in the object's scene, in that case the animation is run when the state is set.

• Active Objects can be active or not active. Non-active objects are hidden and non clickable.

• Blocking Some commands will block execution of the event until they finish, others won't. See the command's reference for details on which commands block.

Game global state

The following values are saved in the global game state and savegames:

• Global flags
• Object's "state" values
• Object's "active" values
• Object's potisions if moved

Inventory

The inventory is handled as a special case of global flags. All flags with a name starting with "i/" are considered an inventory object, with the object's global id following. Example:

# adds the object "key" to the inventory
set_global i/key true

# removes the object "key" to the inventory
set_global i/key false

Is item active?

Item activity is also handled as a special case of global flags. If the check starts with "a/", like "a/elaine", you're checking if "elaine" is active.

:ready
> [!a/elaine]
    say player player_no_elaine_yet:"It would appear Elaine hasn't arrived yet."

Caveat: This works only when set_active has been called. Therefore if "elaine" is not set active in the editor but set_active elaine true is called later, everything works as expected. If you have an item that can be picked up, even if it's active in the editor, but its state may toggle, you must use this pattern:

:setup
set_active broom true [!i/inv_broom]

Now it has been explicitly set and it will work. The underlying technical rationale is way beyond the scope of this reference; just trust us that it's the best way to go.

Is item interactive?

If you have something that only blocks the terrain, something you can move behind, you probably don't want to hassle with interaction areas and tooltip texts. In this case, just set is_interactive to false and the item will not be checked for areas and its mouse events will not be connected.

Command list

• debug string [string2 ...] Takes 1 or more strings, prints them to the console.

• set_global name value Changes the value of the global "name" with the value. Value can be "true", "false" or an integer.

• dec_global name value Subtracts the value from global with given "name". Value and global must both be integers.

• inc_global name value Adds the value to global with given "name". Value and global must both be integers.

• set_globals pattern value Changes the value of multiple globals using a wildcard pattern. Example:

# clears the inventory
set_globals i/* false

• accept_input [ALL|NONE|SKIP] What type of input does the game accept. ALL is the default, SKIP allows skipping of dialog but nothing else, NONE denies all input. Including opening the menu etc. SKIP and NONE also disable autosaves. Note that SKIP gets reset to ALL when the event is done, but NONE persists. This allows you to create cut scenes with SKIP where the dialog can be skipped, but also initiate locked-down cutscenes with accept_input NONE in :setup and accept_input ALL later in :ready.

• set_state object state Changes the state of an object, and executes the state animation if present. The command can be used to change the appearance of an item or a player character.

When used on a player object, the command is used to dress the player in a costume identified by the state parameter. An AnimationPlayer with the given parameter should be a child of the player node, although one named "animation" is always the fallback when trying set a missing costume.

Items can also change state by playing animations from an AnimationPlayer named "animation". The AnimationPlayer is typically used to change the texture of a Sprite node, but it's also possible to add additional tracks for changing the tooltip and other properties of the item scene. By using keyframes and looping, any given state can also use multiple textures to bring more life to the item.

• set_hud_visible visible If you have a cut-scene-like sequence where the player doesn't have control, and you also have HUD elements visible, use this to hide the HUD. You want to do that because it explicitly signals the player that there is no control over the game at the moment. "visible" is true or false.

• say object text [type] [avatar] Runs the specified string as a dialog said by the object. Blocks execution until the dialog finishes playing. Optional parameters:

  • "type" determines the type of dialog UI to use. Default value is "default"
  • "avatar" determines the avatar to use for the dialog. Default value is "default"

• anim object name [reverse] [flip_x] [flip_y] Executes the animation specificed with the "name" parameter on the object, without blocking. The next command in the event will be executed immediately after. Optional parameters:

  • reverse plays the animation in reverse when true
  • flip_x flips the x axis of the object's sprites when true (object's root node needs to be Node2D)
  • flip_y flips the y axis of the object's sprites when true (object's root node needs to be Node2D)

• cut_scene object name [reverse] [flip_x] [flip_y] Executes the animation specificed with the "name" parameter on the object, blocking. The next command in the event will be executed when the animation is finished playing. Optional parameters:

  • reverse plays the animation in reverse when true
  • flip_x flips the x axis of the object's sprites when true (object's root node needs to be Node2D)
  • flip_y flips the y axis of the object's sprites when true (object's root node needs to be Node2D)

• play_snd object file [loop] Plays the sound specificed with the "file" parameter on the object, without blocking. You can play background sounds, eg. during scene changes, with play_snd bg_snd res://...

• set_active object value Changes the "active" state of the object, value can be true or false. Inactive objects are hidden in the scene.

• set_interactive object value Sets whether or not an action menu should be used, and a tooltip shown, on object. It must use the item.gd script. Value can be true or false. Useful for "soft-disabling" objects without removing them by set_active.

• wait seconds Blocks execution of the current script for a number of seconds specified by the "seconds" parameter.

• change_scene path run_events Loads a new scene, specified by "path". The run_events variable is a boolean (default true) which you never want to set manually! It's there only to benefit save games, so they don't conflict with the scene's events.

• set_speed object speed Sets how fast object moves. It must use the interactive.gd script or something extended from it. Value is an integer.

• teleport object1 object2 [angle] Sets the position of object1 to the position of object2. By default object2's interact_angle is used to turn object1, but angle will override this. Useful for doors and such with an interact_angle you don't always want to adhere to when re-entering a room.

• slide object1 object2 [speed] Moves object1 towards the position of object2, at the speed determined by object1's "speed" property, unless overridden. This command is non-blocking. It does not respect the room's navigation polygons, so you can move items where the player can't walk.

• slide_block object1 object2 [speed] Moves object1 towards the position of object2, at the speed determined by object1's "speed" propert, unless overriddeny. This command is blocking. It does not respect the room's navigation polygons, so you can move items where the player can't walk.

• walk object1 object2 [speed] Walks, using the walk animation, object1 towards the position of object2, at the speed determined by object1's "speed" property, unless overridden. This command is non-blocking.

• walk_block object1 object2 [speed] Walks, using the walk animation, object1 towards the position of object2, at the speed determined by object1's "speed" property, unless overridden. This command is blocking.

• turn_to object degrees Turns object to a degrees angle with a directions animation. 0 sets object facing forward, 90 sets it 90 degrees clockwise ("east") etc. When turning to the destination angle, animations are played if they're defined in animations. object must be player or interactive. degrees must be between [0, 360] or an error is reported.

• set_angle object degrees Turns object to a degrees angle without animations. 0 sets object facing forward, 90 sets it 90 degrees clockwise ("east") etc. When turning to the destination angle, animations are played if they're defined in animations. object must be player or interactive. degrees must be between [0, 360] or an error is reported.

• spawn path [object2] Instances a scene determined by "path", and places in the position of object2 (object2 is optional)

• stop Stops the event's execution.

• repeat Restarts the execution of the current scope at the start. A scope can be a group or an event.

• sched_event time object event Schedules the execution of an "event" found in "object" in a time in seconds. If another event is running at the time, execution starts when the running event ends. event can consist of multiple words like in sched_event 0 tow_hook use inv_rope

• custom obj func_name [params] If obj has a (Node2D) custom node, func_name will be searched for in its script and called with params. See device/contrib/custom/spine.gd for an example.

• camera_set_drag_margin_enabled h v "h" and "v" are booleans for whether or not horizontal and vertical drag margins are enabled. You will likely want to set them false for advanced camera motions and true for regular gameplay and/or tracking NPCs.

• camera_set_pos speed x y Moves the camera to a position defined by "x" and "y", at the speed defined by "speed" in pixels per second. If speed is 0, camera is teleported to the position.

• camera_set_target speed object [object2 object3 ...] Configures the camera to follow 1 or more objects, using "speed" as speed limit. This is the default behavior (default follow object is "player"). If there's more than 1 object, the camera follows the average position of all the objects specified.

-camera_set_zoom magnitude [time] Zooms the camera in/out to the desired magnitude. Values larger than 1 zooms the camera out, and smaller values zooms in, relative to the default value of 1. An optional time in seconds controls how long it takes for the camera to zoom into position.

-camera_set_zoom_height pixels [time] Similar to the command above, but uses pixel height instead of magnitude to zoom.

-camera_push target [time] [type] Push camera to target. Target must have camera_pos set. If it's of type Camera2D, its zoom will be used as well as position. type is any of the Tween.TransitionType values without the prefix, eg. LINEAR, QUART or CIRC; defaults to QUART. A time value of 0 will set the camera immediately.

-camera_shift x y [time] [type] Shift camera by x and y pixels over time seconds. type is any of the Tween.TransitionType values without the prefix, eg. LINEAR, QUART or CIRC; defaults to QUART.

• queue_resource path front_of_queue Queues the load of a resource in a background thread. The path must be a full path inside your game, for example "res://scenes/next_scene.tscn". The "front_of_queue" parameter is optional (default value false), to put the resource in the front of the queue. Queued resources are cleared when a change scene happens (but after the scene is loaded, meaning you can queue resources that belong to the next scene).

• queue_animation object animation Similar to queue_resource, queues the resources necessary to have an animation loaded on an item. The resource paths are taken from the item placeholders.

• game_over continue_enabled show_credits Ends the game. Use the "continue_enabled" parameter to enable or disable the continue button in the main menu afterwards. The "show_credits" parameter loads the ui/end_credits scene if true. You can configure it to your regular credits scene if you want.

Dialogs

To start a dialog, use the "?" character, with some parameters, followed by a list of dialog options. This hides the HUD. Each option starts with the "-" character, followed by a parameter with the text to display in the dialog interface. Inside the option, a group of commands is specified using indentation. Use "!" to signify the dialog is over and the HUD may be restored. The HUD will not be restored if the running event is flagged NO_HUD. Either way the Escoria virtual machine will know if the game is in a dialog context.

Example:

# character's "talk" event
:talk
? type avatar timeout timeout_option
	- "I'd like to buy a map." [!player_has_map]
		say player "I'd like to buy a map"
		say map_vendor "Do you know the secret code?"
		?
			- "Uncle Sven sends regards."
				say player "Uncle Sven sends regards."

				>	[player_has_money]
					say map_vendor "Here you go."
					say player "Thanks!"
					inventory_add map
					set_global player_has_map true
					stop

				>	[!player_has_money]
					say map_vendor "You can't afford it"
					say player "I'll be back"
          !
					stop

			- "Nevermind"
				say player "Nevermind"
        !
				stop
	- "Nevermind"
		say player "Nevermind"
    !
		stop
repeat

All parameters are options:

• type: (default value "default") the type of dialog menu to use. All types are in the "dd_player" scene.
• avatar: (default value "default") the avatar to use in the dialog ui.
• timeout: (default value 0) timeout to select an option. After the time has passed, the "timeout_option" will be selected automatically. If the value is 0, there's no timeout.
• timeout_option: (default value 0) option selected when timeout is reached.