Nodes and jumps

Nodes

A file is a list of nodes. A node is a named piece of dialogue: it starts with := followed by its name, and ends with ---.

:= start
Alice: Hi!
---

:= shop
Merchant: Welcome.
---

A name is made of letters, digits and _, and does not start with a digit. Two nodes of a file cannot share a name, and END and RETURN are reserved.

Neither := nor --- is indented, and nothing but blank lines and comments is written outside of a node.

Jumps

=> leaves the current node for another one. The target can be declared further down the file.

:= start
Alice: Follow me.
=> shop
---

:= shop
Merchant: Welcome.
---

A node that reaches its --- without jumping ends the dialogue. => END ends it from anywhere, which is handy inside a choice or a condition:

:= start
Alice: Are you coming?
-> Yes
    Alice: Let's go.
-> No
    Alice: Too bad.
    => END
Alice: It is not far.
---

Jumping and coming back

<=> jumps to another node like => does, but comes back once that node is over: the dialogue carries on with the line that follows the <=>.

:= start
Alice: Let me ask the merchant.
<=> haggle
Alice: Right, where were we?
---

:= haggle
Merchant: Ten coins.
Alice: Five.
Merchant: Eight, and that is my last word.
---

Here Alice says Right, where were we? after the merchant’s last line. This is the way to share a piece of dialogue between several places: each of them reaches it with a <=>, and gets the dialogue back afterwards.

The node that is reached does not need to know how it was reached. Its --- comes back when a <=> led to it, and ends the dialogue otherwise.

<=> nest: a node reached with a <=> can use one itself, and each comes back to its own place. A plain => inside such a node moves on to another node without coming back to the one it left, and the <=> still waits: the dialogue comes back when that other node is over.

=> RETURN and => END

=> RETURN does what the --- of the node does, from anywhere in it: it comes back to the last <=>, or ends the dialogue when no <=> led here.

=> END ends the whole dialogue, whatever <=> are waiting.

:= start
Alice: Let me ask the merchant.
<=> haggle
Alice: Right, where were we?
---

:= haggle
Merchant: Ten coins.
-> Never mind
    => RETURN
-> I am leaving
    Merchant: Suit yourself.
    => END
-> Five
    Merchant: Eight, and that is my last word.
Merchant: A pleasure doing business.
---

With Never mind, the dialogue comes back to Alice right away. With I am leaving, it ends there and Alice says nothing more. With Five, the merchant finishes and the --- comes back to Alice.

Neither END nor RETURN is a node, so <=> END and <=> RETURN are refused.

Indentation

Blocks are nested with indentation: what belongs to a choice, an [if] or a [while] is written one level deeper than it. A level is four spaces. Tabs are refused.

Comments

// starts a comment that runs to the end of the line. A comment can stand on a line of its own or follow a statement.

:= start
// Alice is the first to speak.
Alice: Hi! // said with a smile
---