getting-started.md

Keep - Getting Started

Index

• Getting Started with a simple game
• Changing Scenes
• Adding Items
• Adding NPCs
• Where to go from here

Getting Started with a simple game

To create a Game you need at least:

• A Character for your main character.
• A Scene where the game starts.

Create a main character, it requires:

• A key ("player") to identify it.
• A name to display ("you").

val mainCharacter = mainCharacter("player", "you")

Then, create a scene, it requires:

• A key ("hello-keep") to identify it.
• A title to display ("Hello Keep").
• A narration to provide context to the player.

The last argument is very important, but we won't use it for now, so we just use actions().

val scene = scene("hello-keep", "Hello Keep", "Keep is a text game engine.", actions())

Next, create a game using the previously declared objects. The last argument is the key of the initial scene.

val game = Game(mainCharacter, scenes(scene), "hello-keep")

Finally, start and run the game with:

game.start()

while (true) {
    game.draw()
}

Changing scenes

Let's add a new Scene, and actions to change between them.

val welcomeActions = actions(Goto("big-room", "Go to the big room."))
val welcome = scene("hello-keep", "Hello Keep", "Keep is a text-based game.", welcomeActions)

val roomActions = actions(Goto("hello-keep", "Go back."))
val room = scene("big-room", "Big Room", "You are on a big room.", roomActions)

val scenes = scenes(welcome, room)
val game = Game(inOut, mainCharacter, scenes, "hello-keep")

Adding items

To add items to the scene declare them using items and item.

val items = items(
    item("box", "box", "A heavy empty box."),
    item("stick", "stick", "A stick.", canBeTaken = true)
)

val actions = actions(Take(), Leave())
val room = scene("big-room", "Big Room", "You are in a big room.", actions, items)

Adding NPCs

To add NPCs to the scene, declare them using characters and npc. Using onTalk you can register whatever dialogue or custom behavior you want the character to do when talked to. Don't forget to add the characters and Talk action to the scene.

val actions = actions(Talk())

val characters = characters(
    npc("bob", "Bob", "Bob, an NPC.")
        onTalk {
            io.paragraph("${target.name}: Hello, ${game.mainCharacter.name}!.")
            io.promptContinue()
        }
    ,
    npc("alice", "Alice", "Alice, another NPC.")
        onTalk {
            io.paragraph("${target.name}: Hi, how have you been?")
            io.promptContinue()
        }
    )

val scene = scene("hello-keep", "Hello Keep", "Keep is a text game engine.",
    actions, characters = characters
)

Where to go from here

Keep can do much more to help you design your game, check the index for in-depth documentation on items, characters, dialogue, actions, and events.