Config files #

Config files are all written in yaml by default, though you can also use json (this is not encouraged).

Introduction #

A narrat game needs a few config files to function: The main config.yaml is where a lot of settings are configured, and characters.yaml is where the various characters that can speak in the game are setup. On top of that, there are config files for specific features (like items.yaml or skills.yaml).

There are example files available:

example-config.md

Editing the config #

By default config.yaml should be in public/data. If you want to change its position, edit src/index.ts to have the correct path to your new localisation

import './css/main.css';
import { startApp } from 'narrat';

window.addEventListener('load', () => {
  startApp(
    {
      charactersPath: 'data/characters.yaml',
      configPath: 'data/config.yaml',
    },
    {
      debug: true,
      logging: false,
    },
  );
});

The config.yaml file is a yaml file which should already contain everything necessary if using the template, but some optional values can be omitted. For an example config file, look at the example configs page

The various features and guides sections of this documentation can give more information about how to use each option.

Validation #

Config files are validated by the engine. This means when running the game, the engine will show error messages explaining any missing or incorrect values in config files. This ensures configuration files are always correct.

Config options #

There are many possible options in the config. They are not currently all documented, but the documentation for a specific feature often shows or explains the relevant config.

export const ObjectiveDataSchema = Type.Object({
  description: Type.String(),
  hidden: Type.Optional(Type.Boolean()),
});
export const QuestDataSchema = Type.Object({
  title: Type.String(),
  description: Type.String(),
  objectives: Type.Record(Type.String(), ObjectiveDataSchema),
});

How the config works #

The engine follows this process for loading the config:

• Each config section has a default config. This default config exists to provide default values to options that don't need to be changed by default
• The engine loads the game's config files. Those are the files coming from the game itself
• Each default config is merged with the game's config so that whatever the game customised overrides what's in the default options

Characters config #

Additionally to config.yaml, there is a separate characters.yaml file containing the config for all characters in the game.

A character's config can have the following values:

• name: The name the character will appear as
• sprites: A key-value object of pose names to the url of the picture to use for that pose. Poses are used with the talk command (the command talk player idle "A sentence" would use the character "player" with the picture for the pose named "idle")
• style: An object to customise how that character looks with the following options:
  • color: a CSS color (ie. "red", or #FFF)
  • boxCss: CSS style object for custom-styling of the box encapsulating a dialogue from that character.
  • nameCss: Same as above, but the styling will apply to the name of the character specifically
  • textCss: Same as above, but will apply to the text "spoken" by the character

Example character config file:

---
config:
  imagesPath: './img/characters/'
characters:
  game:
    name: ''
    color: white
  player:
    style:
      color: orange
    sprites:
      idle: player.webp
    name: You
  cat:
    sprites:
      idle: cat_idle.webp
    style:
      color: white
    name: Generic Cat
  shopkeeper:
    sprites:
      idle: shop_cat.webp
    style:
      color: white
    name: Shopkeeper
  helper:
    sprites:
      idle: helper_cat.webp
    style:
      color: green
    name: Helper Cat
  music_cat:
    sprites:
      idle: music_cat.webp
    style:
      color: '#7f06e2'
      boxCss:
        background-color: red
      textCss:
        color: white
        font-family: Comic Sans MS
    name: Music Cat
  inner:
    sprites:
      idle: inner_voice.webp
    style:
      color: red
    name: Inner Voice