Skip to content

Definitions Reference

Definitions in Argode allow you to pre-define various assets and entities, making them easily accessible and reusable throughout your visual novel scripts. By centralizing your definitions, you can keep your main story scripts clean and focused on the narrative flow.

Definition Files

While you can place definitions anywhere in your .rgd files, it's highly recommended to organize them into dedicated definition files within the definitions/ directory (e.g., definitions/characters.rgd, definitions/assets.rgd). Argode automatically loads all .rgd files found in this directory at startup.

Types of Definitions

Character Definitions (character)

Define your characters, including their display name and an optional default color for their dialogue.

Syntax: 

character <name> "<display_name>" [color=<hex_color>]

  • <name>: A unique identifier for the character (e.g., alice, narrator). This is what you'll use in your script.
  • <display_name>: The name that will be displayed in the dialogue box.
  • color: (Optional) A hexadecimal color code (e.g., #ff69b4) for the character's dialogue text.

Example:

character alice "Alice" color=#ff69b4
character bob "Bob" color=#87ceeb
character narrator "Narrator" color=#ffffff

Usage in Script:

alice "Hello, Bob!"
bob "Hi, Alice!"
narrator "They greeted each other."

Image Definitions (image)

Define images (backgrounds, character sprites, CGs) with a tag and a name, mapping them to their file paths. This allows you to refer to images by a simple name in your script instead of a long path.

Syntax: 

image <tag> <name> "<path_to_image>"

  • <tag>: A category for the image (e.g., bg for backgrounds, char for character sprites, cg for CGs).
  • <name>: A unique identifier for the image within its tag (e.g., forest_day, alice_happy).
  • <path_to_image>: The resource path to the image file (e.g., "res://assets/images/backgrounds/forest_day.png").

Example:

image bg forest_day "res://assets/images/backgrounds/forest_day.png"
image bg city_night "res://assets/images/backgrounds/city_night.png"
image char alice_happy "res://assets/images/characters/alice_happy.png"

Usage in Script:

scene forest_day with fade # Uses the 'bg' tag implicitly
show alice_happy at center # Uses the 'char' tag implicitly

Audio Definitions (audio)

Define audio files (music, sound effects) with a tag and a name, mapping them to their file paths. This simplifies playing audio in your script.

Syntax: 

audio <tag> <name> "<path_to_audio>"

  • <tag>: A category for the audio (e.g., music for background music, sfx for sound effects).
  • <name>: A unique identifier for the audio within its tag (e.g., peaceful, door_open).
  • <path_to_audio>: The resource path to the audio file (e.g., "res://assets/audio/music/peaceful.ogg").

Example:

audio music peaceful "res://assets/audio/music/peaceful.ogg"
audio sfx door_open "res://assets/audio/sfx/door_open.wav"

Usage in Script:

play_music peaceful
play_sound door_open

Shader Definitions (shader)

Define custom shaders that can be applied to the screen or specific layers.

Syntax: 

shader <name> "<path_to_shader>"

  • <name>: A unique identifier for the shader (e.g., blur, grayscale).
  • <path_to_shader>: The resource path to the shader file (e.g., "res://shaders/blur.gdshader").

Example:

shader blur_effect "res://shaders/blur_effect.gdshader"

Usage in Script:

screen_shader blur_effect intensity=0.5

Best Practices

  • Centralize Definitions: Keep all your definitions in the definitions/ folder for easy management and overview.
  • Consistent Naming: Use clear and consistent naming conventions for your definition names and tags.
  • Categorize with Tags: Utilize tags (for images and audio) to logically group your assets.

By effectively using definitions, you can make your Argode scripts cleaner, more readable, and easier to maintain.