Stage

A visual novel’s stage: a background filling its Size, and the characters inside it (each a Character) standing at its named Positions. The lines of a Dialogue direct it with tags, done as each line is said: “[background Park fade]” changes the background, “[show Ava left happy]” brings Ava on at the left looking happy (or, when she’s on already, moves her there and changes her face), “[move Ava right]” walks her over, “[hide Ava]” takes her off and “[hide all]” clears the stage; a tag can end with how it happens, cut, fade or slide. “Ava (happy): …” says a line with that expression. Whoever speaks is lit and the others on stage dimmed. Its AdvanceAction (Space, the gamepad’s A) moves the talk on as Interact and a click or tap do (finishing the line being typed first).

Part of the Visual Novels module: Visual novels: a Stage with backgrounds and the characters on it (Character), at named positions and with expressions, directed by the lines of a dialogue (“[show Ava left happy]”, “[background Park fade]”); the Visual Novel template, a short story with three endings; and Create Stage, Create Character and Create Reading Menus in the Entity menu.

A dialogue directs the stage it’s inside, or else the scene’s first. Its Background, Show, Hide, Hide All and Direct actions are there for a trigger, a wire or a script, and its Background and Speaking outputs for a text. What it shows (the background, who’s on, where and how they look, and transitions under way) is saved with the scene, so a rewind goes back to it. In a network game each machine keeps its own stage, for its own player’s reading.

Works with: Character (who stands on it, inside it); Dialogue (whose lines direct it)

Takes the player’s input only while it has focus (its Controllable): its Focus action hands it the input and takes it from everything else the same player plays.

Draws itself (its entity draws at Order -100 unless it has a Sprite, whose order counts).

In a network game, each machine keeps its own entity with this on it: it isn’t sent.

Properties

Each is listed as its key in the scene file and the MCP tools, then its kind of value, its default and what it does.

positions: lines of text: an array of strings, or one string with line breaks = [“Left: -4.5”,“Center: 0”,“Right: 4.5”]. Where characters stand, one per row: a one-word name and how far across from the stage’s middle (and, after a comma, how far up), e.g. “Left: -4.5” or “FarLeft: -7, -0.5”. Tags name them: “[show Ava left]”. (Positions, one per row: a one-word name and how far across from the stage’s middle, and after a comma how far up, e.g. “Left: -4.5” or “FarLeft: -7, -0.5”. The Inspector lists them a row each with the numbers set.) (Field: its own editor: Positions.)
backgrounds: lines of text: an array of strings, or one string with line breaks = [“Day: #8EC5FF #E8F4FF”,“Night: #0B1026 #2B3A67”]. The backgrounds it can show, one per row: a name and a picture (“Park: Backgrounds/park.png”), a color (“Night: #10183A”), or a color at the top running to another at the bottom (“Dusk: #F2A65A #3A2F5B”). Tags name them: “[background Park fade]”. (Backgrounds, one per row: a name and a picture (“Park: Backgrounds/park.png”), a color (“Night: #10183A”) or a color at the top running to another at the bottom (“Dusk: #F2A65A #3A2F5B”). The Inspector lists them a row each with the picture picked from the project’s or the colors shown.) (Field: its own editor: Backgrounds.)
background: text = “Day”. The background showing, one of Backgrounds: set it here for the one the game starts with. (Names one of its backgrounds (Backgrounds); the Inspector picks from them and flags a name that isn’t one. Empty for none.) (Field: its own editor: Choice Of.)
size: [x, y] = [16,9]. How big the background is, in world units (as much as the camera shows, for a whole screen). (Field: a vector.)
order: a whole number = -100. Where the background draws among the rest: under the characters (0) and the dialogue box. (Field: a number.)

Transitions

backgroundTransition: one of Cut, Fade, Slide = “Fade”. How backgrounds change when a tag doesn’t say: “[background Park]”. (Field: one of its values.)
characterTransition: one of Cut, Fade, Slide = “Fade”. How characters come on and go off when a tag doesn’t say: “[show Ava]”. (Field: one of its values.)
transitionTime: a number = 0.5. Seconds a fade or slide takes. (Field: a number.)
moveTime: a number = 0.4. Seconds a character takes to walk to another position. (Field: a number.)
slideDistance: a number = 3. How far a character slides in from (or out to), past their position, toward the side of the stage they’re on. (Field: a number.)

Speaking

dimOthers: a number = 0.45. How much darker the others on stage go while someone on it speaks, from 0 (not at all) to 1 (black). When nobody on stage speaks (a narrator), nobody is dimmed. (Field: a number.)

Controls

controllable: true or false = true. Takes the player’s input: off, its Advance Action doesn’t move the talk on (Interact and clicks still do). (Field: on or off.)
advanceAction: text = “Jump”. An input action that moves the talk on as well as Interact and a click: Jump is Space and the gamepad’s A. (Names an input action.) (Field: a name.)
skipAction: text = “Skip”. An input action that skips while it’s held: lines read before go by in a moment, stopping at choices and at a line not read yet (unless the player’s Skip Unread setting is on). Skip is Ctrl and the gamepad’s right trigger. (Names an input action.) (Field: a name.)
autoAction: text = “Auto”. An input action that turns reading on by itself on and off (see the player’s Auto Speed setting): Auto is A and the gamepad’s X. (Names an input action.) (Field: a name.)

State

leavingBackground: text = null. The background being changed from, while a fade or slide is under way. (Plain text: the background being left: the game sets it.) (Field: text.)
changing: one of Cut, Fade, Slide = “Cut”. How the background is changing. (Field: one of its values.)
changeLeft: a number = 0. Seconds left of the background’s change. (Field: a number.)

Actions

What anything can make it do with no code: a Trigger’s do when its message arrives, a Contraptions Wire’s input as its signal comes on, a script’s Game.Do(entity, “Name”).

Background (done with a name, its name: a trigger’s with). Changes the background to name, one of Backgrounds, as “[background Park]” does, with its BackgroundTransition.
Show (done with a name, its character: a trigger’s with). Brings the character called that on, as “[show Ava]” does: where they were last, or in the middle.
Hide (done with a name, its character: a trigger’s with). Takes the character called that off, as “[hide Ava]” does.
HideAll. Takes everyone off, as “[hide all]” does.
Direct (done with a name, its direction: a trigger’s with). Does a direction written as a dialogue tag says it, without the brackets: “show Ava left happy”, “background Night fade”.
Focus. Gives its entity the player’s input: whatever there and inside it has focus, and everything else the same player plays loses it (a platformer’s player stops on the arrow keys while a board takes them).

Outputs

What anything can read with no code: a Counter’s, Bar’s or Text’s output, a Contraptions Wire’s output as its signal; Text shows names too, the rest read numbers, true as 1.

Background (a name). The background showing, one of Backgrounds: set it here for the one the game starts with.
Speaking (a name). The name of whoever on the stage is speaking now, or empty.
OnStage (a whole number). How many characters are on it now.

While the game runs

Not saved with the scene; scripts read them, and entity_get shows them as live while the game plays.

speaking: text. The name of whoever on the stage is speaking now, or empty.
onStage: a whole number. How many characters are on it now.

Scripts use it as Stage: its methods, events and values that aren’t saved with the scene.