Getting Started

Note: For now, CGM Player only supports windows 10 and newer (and maybe some older versions of windows).

First, download the latest version of CGM and run "CGM Editor.exe" under the "CGM Editor folder".

To create an app, select the 'New App' button > click 'Edit' > hover over the first Node (blue box) and click 'Add' > select the newly created Node and begin typing!

Think of each Node (blue box) as it's own "Page" of a story. Pages can connect to other pages (child nodes; they are connected by a line when you click 'Add' on that node).

In-game, when a "page" ends it will continue on to the next "page" that is connected.

Formatting

Use the ENTER key (on windows) to create a new paragraph, and use the CTRL+SHIFT key (on windows) to create a new line.

Text is written as normal, however you may have a character send a message/chat using @character-id (see examples below). For stories, you may write @character-id to display text as that character's "thoughts".

Choices

When in-game, all choices will appear the same to the player. However, in the CGM Editor, there are 2 types of choices:

1. Local Choices: Written as "~Choice text here" (one "~" symbol). These are choices that are "local" only within the Node that they are written. These are currently not "nestable" and should always end with the line: ~end. For an example of this, see the "Varying Conversations" section below.

2. Node Choices: Written as "~~Choice text here" (two "~" symbols). These are choices that lead to a "node". They should be placed at the top of the node that you want to be reached when the choice is selected. Note that, anything written before the Node Choice line would be ignored as the engine will jump straight the Node Choice line - in other words, aim to put the Choice Node as the first line in the node (comments can be placed before it, as those lines are ignored by the engine anyway).

Varying Conversations

To vary conversations within a Node, use Local Choices. Below is an example:

~This is the first choice option

@kara
Kara is replying to the first option
As usual, with multiple lines allowed

@jess
Jessica can also reply
As usual, with multiple lines allowed

~Another multi choice can be added as well

@kara
Kara is replying to the first option
As usual, with multiple lines allowed

@jess
Jessica can also reply
As usual, with multiple lines allowed

~end

# You can add choices that all lead to the same outcome, like so:
~Choice
~Another choice
~Great, another choice
~end

Images

It's recommended to use at least 500x500 (pixels) images. There's no maximum really, but don't go too crazy. Images will automatically resize-to-fit where possible.

Store all images in the /images directory.

Variables

Variables may be used in your apps in the CGM Editor.

$variable represents a variable that should always appear as its updated value, compared with $$variable which only shows its value at the time it was displayed on screen. In other words, $variable will get updated everywhere in real-time as the value changes, and $$variable will not.

If Statements can use any logic that's possible in JavaScript. For example, you could write $variable === 'String' or $variable === 10. Or, you could write something like ($variable !== 'String' && $otherVariable > 10) && $anotherVariable <= $variable.

To write an if statement, you would do so like this:

*IF $day === "Monday"

@you
Great, this is a message that will only appear if $day = "Monday"

*ENDIF

Changing the result of an IF Statement:
Each line after an IF statement re-checks if the IF statement is true or false - because of this, you should aim to set variable values that will alter the IF statement's outcome right before the *ENDIF line. This behaviour was intended for this release, but future releases may address this if it becomes too problematic.

An example of this would be:

Incorrect - the popup won't show as $myVariable will be "true" when the engine checks the popup line.

*IF $myVariable === undefined
$myVariable = true
^The variable was undefined, so this popup is shown!
*ENDIF

Correct - the popup will show as $myVariable will only be true after the popup line was read by the engine.

*IF $myVariable === undefined
^The variable was undefined, so this popup is shown!
$myVariable = true
*ENDIF

If you encounter any issues with variables/if statements, please let me know.

Commands

Commands may be written into your apps in the CGM Editor to trigger different effects. For example, if you wanted to have the game display a "Restart" button, you could use the "*Restart" command. All commands start with the "*" symbol. The following commands are supported on the latest version of the CGM Editor. All commands are CASE-SENSITIVE and may not work if written incorrectly.

Reserved Characters

If you'd like to use any of the above without actually treating them as variables, add an ! symbol before it.

For example:
!@ will be treated as @
!$ = $
!# = #
!^ = ^
!~ = ~
!* = *

If you write $100, the engine will convert $100 to the value of a variable called $100 (even if it doesn't exist).

To use special characters, e.g. you want to write $100 (which normally gets treated as variable called $100), you would write !$100 instead. The same logic applies for !$$10, !@character and !@character.

Testing

Install your game into CGM Player (see the "How To Install Games.txt" file under the "CGM Player" folder). Next, run "CGM Player.html" and you should see your game along with it's logo file (if one was added to the Logo Path specified in CGM Editor). We recommend that you save your game to one directory, update it as needed, and then copy/paste the game's files into CGM Player as needed - in otherwords, don't just directly edit the copy inside CGM Player (as you may forget to update the original copy). It is also recommended that you keep multiple back-up copies of your game periodically.