Templates and the Map

Templates allow you to define all the objects (obstacles, items, characters…) in your game. Each template is represented by a character that you define (e.g., “X”, ”$”, “e”, ”#”). You can then define a set of properties for each of these templates and use them in the map.

For each template, you can define the following properties:

• sprite (optional): Defines how the object will be represented (see sprites)
• dialog (optional): Defines a message to open in the dialog box when the player interacts with this object.
• sound (optional): Defines a sound to play when the player interacts with this object (see sounds).
• solid (optional): Defines whether the player can pass through this element or not.
• visible (optional): Defines whether the element is visible or not.
• end (optional): Marks the element as a game-ending condition, triggering the end of the game when interacted with. The end property is a string representing the end message displayed to the player when they encounter the element.

createGame({
  //...
  templates: {
    R: {
      sprite: 6,
      sound: createSound('HIT', 999),
      visible: false,
      end: 'Game Over'
    },
    G: {
      sprite: 7,
      dialog: 'I am grass.',
      solid: false
    }
  }
  //...
})

Map

The map configuration defines the layout of the game world in ASCII. Each character in the map corresponds to a template defined in the templates configuration. The map represents the spatial arrangement of game elements like walls, floors, obstacles, and interactive objects.

Drawing the map is similar to drawing a sprite.

• Each character used in the templates is interpreted.
• Spaces, tabs, and empty lines are ignored.
• Any other character represents an empty tile.

createGame({
  //...
  templates: {
    X: {
      sprite: 0
    },
    G: {
      sprite: 7
    },
    R: {
      sprite: 4
    }
  },
  map: `
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    X..............X
    X...........G..X
    X..............X
    X..............X
    X....R.........X
    X..............X
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  `
  //...
})