UamVars

UamVars are a project to make it so that Age authors do not need to deal with all the complexities of Python and SDL. Then can do everything graphically with 3dsmax instead!

The initial release just includes 3 components, UamVar_Button, UamVar_LinkingBook, and UamVar_Journal. But these 3 components will let you make linking books and journals easily!

What is a UamVar?

A UamVar is a variable that you simply name and hook up together. Uam takes care of the rest! You do this in 3dsmax (though Blender is also possible, but more difficult) by creating dummies and attaching Logic->PythonFileMods from the component manager. Then you just fill out the fields!

Everything happens on the "edges" when these variables change. That might sound more difficult, but it's actually simpler!

UamVars can be either local or global. Local ones are only seen by the one player, whereas global ones are seen by all the players in the Age. (So global ones are like SDL variables.) You can always tell which is which by their name: If the first letter is lowercase, it is a local UamVar. If the first letter is uppercase, it is a global UamVar. (The first release only allows local UamVars, though I have global UamVars working too.)

How to use UamVars

See Dustin's UamVar Tutorial

List of UamVars

UamVar_Button

This PythonFileMod will set a UamVar from ""->"1" when a button is clicked.

• "The clickable thing": Select the Clickable item.
• "Uamvar to set": The name of the UamVar to set when clicked.

UamVar_LinkingBook

This PythonFileMod will open a linking book when the given UamVar goes from ""->"1"

• "Uamvar to trigger book": The name of the UamVar that will open the Linking Book.
• "Age name": The name of the Age.
• "Spawn point": The spawnpoint. (LinkInPointDefault is usually what you want.)

UamVar_Journal

This PythonFileMod will open a journal when the given uamVar goes from ""->"1". It will read the journal contents from a text file in Uru's folder: /ageresources/Agename--JournalName.txt, where Agename is the name of the Age and JournalName is one of the arguments you set below.

• "Uam var to trigger book": The name of the UamVar that will open the Journal.
• "Journal name": The name of the journal. E.g. "Journal1" will read the file in Uru's folder: /ageresources/Agename--Journal1.txt
• "Start opened?": Whether the journal will be opened up when shown to the player.
• "Book type": Either "Old Book" (old and brown) or "Notebook" (white lined paper).