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Getting Started

As explained in the Creator's Project Tree chapter, characters and items are reusable templates for certain classes of characters or items.

Characters and Items

You define them by editing their behavior and attributes:

  • Name. The name of the character or item class, such as Orc. You can change the name anytime.
  • Visual Scripting. Edit behavior using nodes in the visual scripting editor; the behavior is translated into Eldrin Script.
  • Eldrin Scripting. Edit behavior source code directly in the Eldrin Scripting language.
  • Attributes. The initial character and item attributes. Most of these can be changed later via scripting; however, some attributes define core values set during startup.

Eldrin Script drives the entire behavior system of Eldiron. Visual scripts are translated into Eldrin Script, and you can always view the current source code in the editor. Whether you use visual scripting or Eldrin scripting directly is up to you; just note that when you use visual scripting, any manual edits in the scripts will be overwritten.

Difference between Characters and Items​

Even though characters and items are very similar. There are some key differences:

  • Items cannot take damage or move and cannot die (but they can be destroyed).
  • Items are designed to be handled in inventories of characters.

Every character and item has a unique ID used to reference it.

Attributes of characters and items are set in the Attributes TOML editor.

Most important attributes:

player = true

Defines a player based character. Player input mapping is configured in Input Mapping.

You can find a complete reference of all attributes here.

Player Characters​

While all characters and items receive events, player characters additionally receive client input. Input is configured in the character data with Input Mapping, which maps keys to player actions and intents.