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Jack Brett edited this page May 10, 2024 · 16 revisions

Groups collect Nodes together and apply properties to all Nodes within the Group. Subgroups can be added to existing Groups and minimised, helping to organise Nodes and tie together large concepts.

Creating and Inspecting a Group

Creating a group is a simple process:

  1. Ensure you have at least 2 Nodes in your Flow Engine (see Nodes on the basics).
  2. Using the drag rect (by holding left-click and dragging) select the Nodes you wish to group together.
  3. Right-Click on any of the selected Nodes and select Group Nodes.

groupSelect

  1. The Group Inspector Window will now be shown.

groupInspector

Customising Group Name and Description

As with Nodes, it is important to name Groups in a unique fashion to ensure minimal confusion. Adding a short description of the Group is also useful when first creating a Group. The Group Inspector inherits from the Node Inpsector so changing the name and description is the same process as it was for Nodes:

  1. Select the chosen Group you wish to change.
  2. In the inspector window for the Group, update the name and description.
  3. Observe changes in the Flow Engine window.

groupInpsectorColour

You can also change the tint for the Group in the Inspector to make it unique amongst other Groups (as seen above).

N.B: Names are shown in drop downs for selecting in various other parts of LUTE, as such you may wish to name them using categories. Placing a '/' in a Group name will result in dropdowns collecting things into categories.

In the Group Inpsector you can also change 'Target Unlock Node' (see Unlocking_Nodes) and set a Location for the Group as well as set an Event Handler for the Group (see Nodes).

Updating Nodes in a Group

One of the most powerful aspects of Groups is the ability to apply settings to all the Nodes in a given Group. This is useful for when Nodes share the same location or require the same Condition Check Order before they can execute; it is also useful for setting the Event Handler of all the Nodes in one place rather than on individual Nodes.

If you wish to apply the settings and parameters of a given Group to all the Nodes of that Group, simply:

  1. Select the Group you wish to change.
  2. Select the Update nodes in group toggle.
  3. In this section of the Group Inspector you can also remove, delete and select specific Nodes in the Group (this is also possible using context menus on the Flow Engine Window - see below).

groupNodeUpdate

Group Context Menu Items

Upon right-clicking a Group, we are offered two options:

groupContext

Ungrouping Groups

Ungrouping an entire Group will remove all of the Nodes from that Group and reset their parameters back (i.e., remove any relation they had to the Group).

groupUngroupSelect groupUngrouped

Ungrouping Individual Nodes

Sometimes we may want to remove a Node from a specific Group, to do so:

  1. Ensure you have a Group of Nodes.
  2. Right-click on the Node you wish to remove from that Group:

groupRemoveNode

  1. Select 'Ungroup' and, if required, move the Node to outside of the Group area:

groupRemovedNode

Minimising Groups

We often find ourselves with rather complex experiences which are comprised of many Nodes and Groups. Therefore, we find it useful to minimise content and we can do just this with Group minimisation:

  1. Select a Group.
  2. Select the 'Minimise' button in the Group toolbar:

groupMinimiseButton

  1. You can still drag your Group around and then maximise it again at another area of the Window:

groupDrag

  1. Select the name toolbar button to maximise the Group again:

groupsMinMax

Adding Nodes to Exisiting Groups

Groups are a great way to organise a series of Nodes on the Flow Engine Window and share data among Nodes. However, we may create an initial Group and then add new Nodes which should belong in a specific Group. To add Nodes to an exisiting Group is easy:

  1. Using left-click and drag use the select rect to select all the Nodes in a given Group PLUS the Node (s) you wish to add to this Group.
  2. Right-click on any of the Nodes (ideally the ungrouped Node) and select Add Nodes To Group.

groupAddNode

  1. The Node is now a part of the Group.

groupNewNode

Sub-Groups

When Nodes are a part of a Group, we often find that we want to group Nodes into sub-groups in a specific Group for readability and to help split logic into coherent groups. This is a great way to split conversations up into Groups or show how branching narratives work. To create sub-groups:

  1. Ensure you have a Group that has at least 3 or more Nodes in.
  2. Use left-click and drag with select rect to choose the Nodes in that group you wish to add to a sub group.
  3. Right-click any of the chosen Nodes and select Add to Inner Group:

groupInnerGroup

  1. The selected Node will now be a part of a new sub-group contained in the original Group (it is a good idea to name and describe this new Group now):

groupInnerGroups

  1. You can minimise sub-groups to help with readability:

groupInnerMin

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