General Functions
General Functions
General Functions can be inserted in any textbox, and will be evaluated before the text is output. All General Functions must be delimited by percentage (%) symbols. Parameters to General Functions must be supplied inside square brackets.
AloneWithChar
This returns the key of the character in the same location as the player.
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Always use the restriction The Player Character must be alone with any character to check if this function will return a valid result, before using the result of this function in any equation. |
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This function can be used as the %character% parameter for an Execute Task action. The executed task will then be applied to the character that is currently in the same location as the player. |
Syntax
Parameters
none |
ConvCharacter
This returns the key of the character the player is currently in conversation with.
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Always use the restriction The Player Character must be in conversation with any character to check if this function will return a valid result, before using the result of this function in any equation. |
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This function can be used as the %character% parameter for an Execute Task action. The executed task will then be applied to the character that the player is currently in conversation with. |
Syntax
Parameters
none |
LCase
This returns a text value in lower case.
Syntax
Parameters
text |
The text you wish to convert to lower case. |
Example
ListObjectsOnAndIn
Lists all the objects on the surface of a particular object.
Syntax
Parameters
key |
The key of the object you wish to list the objects on. |
It should be noted that this function is very similar to the %object%.Children(Objects).List item function. However, this function will automatically display the "Inside the" or " and on the" parts where applicable, and so there is no direct item function replacement without adding a significant amount of logic.
NumberAsText
Returns a number written out as text.
Syntax
Parameters
number |
Any non-negative integer value |
Example
PCase
Returns a string that has been converted to proper case (i.e. the first letter will be capitalised, and all other letters will be converted to lower case).
Syntax
Parameters
text |
The text you wish to convert to proper case. |
Example
Player
This function returns the key of the player character. This will normally always be known at design time, but if you switch characters during the game, it may be necessary.
Syntax
Parameters
none |
PopUpChoice
Causes an input box to pop up on the screen, displaying a short message prompt and two choices. The player chooses one of the two options and this becomes the value returned by the function. This is used in the expression field of a set variable action to allow the player to choose which of two text strings is written to the variable.
See [Ask player to enter their gender when the game starts] for an example.
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Do NOT use this function directly in a restriction. If you need to do this then call PopupChoice in an action which stores the result in a variable and then execute a system task (with another action) which checks that variable with a restriction. |
Syntax
Parameters
prompt |
An expression (typically a quoted string) to display as a message in the inputbox. |
choice1 |
An expression returned in the function if the user selects this option. |
choice2 |
An expression returned in the function if the user selects this option. |
PopUpInput
Causes an input box to pop up on the screen, displaying a short message prompt and a single-line text entry field. The player can accept the default text or enter a new line of text, then press OK. This could be used to allow the player to enter their own name, which is then used in the game. If the player presses cancel then this function will return a zero-length string. This function should be used in the expression field of either a "Variables" action or a "Set Properties" action.
See [Ask player to enter their gender when the game starts] for an example.
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Do NOT use this function directly in a restriction. If you need to do this then call PopUpInput in an action which stores the result in a variable, and then execute a system task (with another action) which checks that variable with a restriction |
Syntax
Parameters
prompt |
An expression (typically a quoted string) to display as a message in the inputbox. |
default |
Optional. An expression (typically a quoted string) to display in the text field of the inputbox. |
Example
To ask the player for their name at the start of the game we would create a system task set to run "Immediately", and add the following action to use the PopupInput function to ask them to enter it, then write the name they entered to the "Name" property of the player character.
UCase
Returns a string that has been converted to upper case.
Syntax
Parameters
text |
The text you wish to convert to upper case. |
Example
