DOCUMENTING THE REMAINING PLAYER SCRIPTS
by Hazed
As promised, I have updated the Advanced Workbench manual so it covers the remaining set of scripts which are available to players.
Variables
Three of the scripts are intended for use in puzzles, because they allow you to keep track of how far through a puzzle a player has got by assigning variables to the player. A variable is like a little sticky label which is invisible to the player, but which you can monitor using events.
You can see the effect of variables in puzzles such as the Graveyard puzzle. To start the puzzle you go and have a chat with a mobile called Puckleberry. If you have already completed the puzzle, what he says to you will be different from the conversation if you haven't started the puzzle yet. The conversation is controlled by variables.
The scripts allow you to set a variable on a player or to change an existing variable to a different value (setvariable); to clear a variable completely (clearvariable); and to check the value of a variable and vary the outcome accordingly (checkvariable).
The manual explains how variables work and gives you lots of different examples of the things you can do with them, as well as a lot of general information about how to go about constructing a puzzle.
Changing Movement Links
The final player script lets you make a change to a movement link on the map (changelink). This will affect the map itself rather than the individual player and if you change a link it will remain in its new state until either you use events to change it back, or the game resets. In a puzzle you can use this to open a secret door which will then allow general access. Combine it with a delayed event to switch the link back and you can have a door that opens temporarily and then closes again, requiring the player to demonstrate quick reflexes. You can see how this works on Titan - the storage dome uses this mechanism to control the access.
It is also used to provide moving transport such as the Earth monorail and the Venus shuttle. The manual explains how to do this using events for your planet.
