EgoWiki . Documentation . ZippyCharacters

Once spawned, characters are represented by values that can be indexed for various fields and methods. The following table describes the special fields of the character value:

Field	Type	Meaning
latchx	number	All characters have a two-axis "virtual joystick" controlling their movements; this is the X-axis of that joystick.
latchy	number	The Y-axis of the "virtual joystick"
strength, wisdom, intelligence, dexterity (not used)
jump_power	number [0,1]	The current jumping power of the character
bump_dampen	number [0,1]	The current bump dampening of the character
dampen	number	?
max_accel	number	The maximum speed of the character
x, y, z	number	The position of the character
life_points	number	The maximum life of the character
life	number	The current life of the character (do not set! use "damage" method instead!)
hit_ready	boolean	If non-nil, the "hit_ground" alert will be called if the character hits the ground this update
alive	boolean	If non-nil, the character is alive
is_item	boolean	If non-nil, the character is an item
is_mount	boolean	If non-nil, the character is a mount
keep_action	boolean	If non-nil, the character will pause its animation at the last frame
sparkle	number	If other than 255, the character will have sparkles drawn around its icon on the status display (see #StandardColors)
attached_to	character	If the character is being held by another one, this is it
ammo	number [0, infinity]	The ammunition with the character, used by status display
ammo_known	boolean	If non-nil, the character's ammo will be displayed with its icon on the status display
angle	number (degrees)	The angle in which the character is facing
name	string	The character's name, or nil if it's unnamed
name_known	boolean	If non-nil, the character's name will be displayed on the status display
inventory	list (see ZippyLists)	The character's inventory (do not modify or replace!)
left_hand	character	The character held in the left hand of this charcter (or nil if no such character exists)
right_hand	character	The character in this one's right hand (or nil if no such character exists)
reload_time	number [0, infinity]	The number of updates before this character can be used again
target	character	See aim() below
money (as of 0.0.4)	number	The amount of money the character has
in_pack (as of 0.0.4)	boolean	If non-nil, the character is in another character's pack
team (as of 0.0.4)	see ZippyTeams	If non-nil, the team to which the character belongs
player (as of 0.0.4)	see ZippyPlayers	If non-nil, the player generating input events for this character

Character values also have the following methods:

remove(): Triggers the "remove" alert and removes the character from the game.
attach(character, grip): Puts "character" in the hand of this character specified by "grip." "grip" may be GRIP_LEFT or GRIP_RIGHT.
animate(animation): Starts the animation given by "animation" (see ?)
damage(amount): Damages the character by "amount" (any number). If the character's life goes beneath zero, it will die.
spawn_particle([position | [x, y, z], [heading, incline, velocity,] | [Vector{heading, incline, velocity}],] [vertex,] [target,] [attached_to]): Spawns a particle at the given position and velocity, starting on the given vertex, targeting the given target, and attached to the given character. Any of these parameters may be replaced by "nil" to use the default values given in the particle type (see ZippyParticles).
walk(Vector{x,y}): Starts the character walking to the position given, in map coordinates. When the character reaches its destination, the walk_movement alert is called.
jump(count): Starts the character jumping; "count", if provided, specifies the number of times the character should jump. When the character reaches the ground again, the jump_movement alert is called.
aim(Range{near, far}, fov [, only_living]): Starts the aiming process for this character (only valid for human-controlled characters). The player is allowed to cycle through all of the other characters (or only living ones if "only_living" is true) further than "near" and closer than "far," and choose a target from them. Meanwhile, the character's movement is frozen. When the player chooses a target, the done_aiming alert is called and the "target" member of the character is set to the target chosen.
set_skin(skin_name): Looks in the table of skins provided to the profile of the character and sets the skin of the the character to the one specified under "skin_name" in that table.
push_profile(profile) (EXPERIMENTAL!): Changes the profile of a character, saving the old one for future use. The new profile takes all of its unspecified fields from the previous profile. PLEASE NOTE: this function is only reliable for changing the model and skin table for a character. All other usages should be considered broken at this point.
pop_profile() (EXPERIMENTAL!): Changes the profile of the character back to the previous one, discarding the current profile. No action will be taken if the character is using the profile specified by its character type. Note again that this function carries the same disclaimer as "push_profile" above.
set_latch(latch, value): Sets the latch to the given value. In the case of LATCH_MOTION, there may be two numeric values or a single vector, and in all other cases 0 means "off" and 1 means "on". This function is only meant for non-player characters at the moment, and once a latch is set it remains at the same value until it is set again, either by this function or by one of the movement functions (walk, jump, or aim). Once a latch is set, it will generate an animation, and when this animation is finished, the latch_done alert will be called (see ZippyAlerts).
attach(object, grip): Puts object in the character's hand, the hand being specified by grip, which can either be GRIP_RIGHT or GRIP_LEFT.
detach() (as of 0.0.4): Removes the object from whatever hand it is being held by, if any.
put_away(object) (as of 0.0.4): If object is being held by the character, it is added to its inventory.
take_from_pack(grip) (as of 0.0.4): If the character has anything in its inventory, one item is taken out and put in its hand, the hand being specified by grip, which may be either GRIP_RIGHT or GRIP_LEFT.
deactivate() (as of 0.0.4): Temporarily removes the object from play. This interrupts any movements the object might be making.
respawn(team, x, y, z, angle) (as of 0.0.4): Causes the object to join "team" and join the game at the location and orientation specified. Typically, the character will have been deactivated prior to calling this function. A character may be deactivated in one module and respawned in another module.

-- ElminI - 02 Apr 2005

Topic ZippyCharacters . { Edit | Attach | Ref-By | Printable | Diffs | r1.6 | > | r1.5 | > | r1.4 | More }

Revision r1.6 - 07 Oct 2004 - 21:49 GMT - ElminI Parents: WebHome > MakingZippyObjects	Copyright © 1999-2003 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems regarding EgoWiki? Send feedback.

	EgoWiki > Documentation > MakingZippyObjects > ZippyCharacters	EgoWiki webs: Main \| TWiki \| Know \| Sandbox
	Documentation . { Changes \| Index \| Search \| Go }