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Built-in Commands

Argode comes with a set of powerful, ready-to-use commands. These are the foundational tools for building your game's logic, managing variables, and creating interactive UI.

All built-in commands are automatically registered and available in your .rgd script files. They are located in the addons/argode/builtin/commands/ directory.

🕐 Timing

wait

Pauses the script execution for a specified duration. This is an asynchronous command, meaning it will not freeze the game while waiting.

Syntax 

wait <duration>

Parameters - <duration> (float): The time to wait in seconds.

Examples 

narrator "Something is about to happen..."
wait 2.5
narrator "There it is!"

🖥️ User Interface

ui

The ui command is a versatile tool for managing user interface scenes (.tscn files that have a Control node as their root). You can use it to display, hide, and manage complex UI elements like menus, HUDs, and choice buttons.

The ui command works in conjunction with the LayerManager, and it will add UI elements to the layer designated for "ui".

ui show

Loads and displays a UI scene.

Syntax 

ui show <scene_path> [at <position>] [with <transition>]

Parameters - <scene_path> (string): The full path to the .tscn file (e.g., "res://scenes/ui/my_menu.tscn"). - at <position> (string, optional): Where to place the UI. Common values are center, left, right, top, bottom. Defaults to center. - with <transition> (string, optional): A transition effect to use when showing the scene (e.g., fade, dissolve). Defaults to no transition.

Example 

# Show a status HUD at the top of the screen with a fade-in
ui show "res://ui/hud.tscn" at top with fade

ui free

Removes (frees) a previously shown UI scene.

Syntax 

ui free <scene_path>
ui free all

Parameters - <scene_path> (string): The path of the scene to remove. - all: If specified, all currently active UI scenes will be removed.

Example 

# Remove the HUD
ui free "res://ui/hud.tscn"

ui call

Displays a UI scene as a modal screen. The script will pause and wait until this screen is closed (either by the screen itself or with ui close). This is perfect for menus, confirmation dialogs, or any UI that requires user interaction before the story can proceed.

Syntax 

ui call <scene_path> [at <position>] [with <transition>]

Example 

# Show a choice menu and wait for the player to decide
ui call "res://ui/choice_menu.tscn"
# The script will only continue after the choice menu is closed.
narrator "You made a choice."

ui close

Closes a UI scene that was opened with ui call. If multiple screens were called, it will close the most recent one.

Syntax 

ui close
ui close <scene_path>

Parameters - <scene_path> (string, optional): The specific scene to close. If omitted, closes the last screen that was called.

Example 

# In your choice_menu.tscn script, when a button is pressed:
func _on_Button_pressed():
    # This will close the menu and resume the rgd script
    emit_signal("close_screen") 

# Alternatively, from another event in your script
ui close "res://ui/choice_menu.tscn"

ui list

Prints a list of all currently active UI scenes to the console. This is a useful debugging tool.

Syntax 

ui list

📦 Variable Management

These commands allow you to create and modify variables and complex data types like arrays and dictionaries directly from your scripts. They work with the VariableManager.

set

Assigns a value to a variable. Supports both basic variable assignment and dot notation for dictionary key assignment with automatic dictionary creation.

Basic Syntax 

set <variable_name> = <value>

Dot Notation Syntax 

set <dict_name>.<key> = <value>
set <dict_name>.<nested_key>.<sub_key> = <value>

Parameters - <variable_name> (string): The name of the variable to set. - <dict_name>.<key> (string): Dictionary key path using dot notation. - <value>: The value to assign (auto-detects string, number, or boolean).

Examples 

# Basic variable assignment
set player_name = "Hero"
set player_level = 1
set game_started = true

# Dot notation for dictionaries (NEW!)
set player.name = "Hero"
set player.level = 1
set player.stats.hp = 100
set player.stats.mp = 50

# Automatic nested dictionary creation
set character.inventory.weapons.sword = "Steel Sword"
set character.inventory.items.potions = 5

# Access the values
narrator "Welcome, {player.name}! Your HP: {player.stats.hp}"
narrator "Weapon: {character.inventory.weapons.sword}"

Benefits - No pre-definition required: Dictionaries are created automatically - Intuitive syntax: Natural way to assign dictionary keys - Backward compatible: Works alongside existing set_dict commands - Type detection: Automatically detects strings, numbers, and booleans

set_array

Creates or overwrites a variable with a new array. The array is defined using a Godot-like array literal format.

Syntax 

set_array <variable_name> [value1, value2, "string_value", ...]

Parameters - <variable_name> (string): The name of the variable to set (e.g., inventory, quest_flags). - The second argument must be a string literal enclosed in [] representing the array.

Example 

# Initialize an inventory for the player
set_array inventory ["sword", "shield", "potion"]

# You can then access it using standard variable syntax
narrator "You have a {inventory[0]}."

set_dict

Creates or overwrites a variable with a new dictionary. The dictionary is defined using a Godot-like dictionary literal format.

Syntax 

set_dict <variable_name> {key1: value1, "key2": "string_value", ...}

Parameters - <variable_name> (string): The name of the variable to set (e.g., player_stats, item_properties). - The second argument must be a string literal enclosed in {} representing the dictionary.

Example 

# Define stats for a character
set_dict player_stats {"name": "Yuko", "level": 5, "hp": 100, "mp": 50}

# Access the stats
narrator "Character: {player_stats.name}, Level: {player_stats.level}"

⚙️ Game Settings

These commands manage game-wide settings that persist across sessions. Settings are automatically saved to user://argode_settings.cfg.

settings

Comprehensive settings management command for configuring game preferences.

Syntax 

settings <action> [category] [key] [value]

Actions - get <category> <key> - Retrieve and display a setting value - set <category> <key> <value> - Change a setting value - reset - Reset all settings to default values - save - Save current settings to file - load - Reload settings from file - print - Display all current settings

Setting Categories - audio - Volume and sound settings - display - Screen and visual settings - text - Text display and speed settings - ui - User interface preferences - accessibility - Accessibility options - system - System and language settings

Examples 

# View and modify audio settings
settings get audio master_volume
settings set audio bgm_volume 0.7
settings set audio se_volume 0.9

# Adjust text display
settings set text text_speed 1.5
settings set text auto_play_speed 2.0

# Display settings
settings set display fullscreen true
settings set display window_size "(1920, 1080)"

# Reset everything
settings reset

volume

Quick audio volume control for common volume adjustments.

Syntax 

volume [type] [value]

Parameters - type (optional): Volume type - master, bgm, se, or voice - value (optional): Volume level (0.0-1.0)

Examples 

# Display all volume levels
volume

# Check specific volume
volume master
volume bgm

# Set volume levels
volume master 0.8
volume bgm 0.6
volume se 0.9

textspeed

Convenient text display speed adjustment.

Syntax 

textspeed [speed]

Parameters - speed (optional): Text speed multiplier (0.1-5.0) - 1.0 = Normal speed - 2.0 = Double speed - 0.5 = Half speed

Examples ```rgd

Check current text speed

textspeed

Set text speed

textspeed 1.5 # 1.5x speed textspeed 0.8 # 0.8x speed