version	godot_version
v0.1	v4.0-alpha5

Sooty Visual Novel

Built on Sooty Engine, this is a template for creating simple Visual Novels.

Check out the docs.

Check out the example project.

Getting Started

• Create a res://scenes/ folder. These will be the main game scenes. They can be nested in folders.
• Create a scene like area1.tscn.
• Add a SootScene component to it.
• Create a res://dialogue/ folder. This is where all *.soot files need to be. They can be nested in folders.
• Create a script like area1.soot.

// res://dialogue/area1.soot
=== START
	Welcome to Area 1.
	
	Robot and Rabbit are here.
		- Talk to Robot. => robot
		- Talk to Rabbit.
			Rabbit tends to his carrot fields.
			p: Hey [$rabbit], what's new?
			rabbit: Not much.

=== robot
	The robot tends to it's oil fields.
	p: Hey [$robot], what's new?
	robot: Not much.

• Before testing the scene, we will create some State data.
• Create a res://states/ folder.
• Create a script like my_states.gd.

# res://states/my_states.gd
extends Node

var oil := 0
var carrots := 0

# Some character data.
var p := Character.new({name="Player", color=Color.DEEP_SKY_BLUE})
var rabbit := Character.new({name="Rabbit", color=Color.GRAY})
var robot := Character.new({name="Robot", color=Color.STEEL_BLUE})

Now play your scene and the text should appear.

Check out Writing Soot for more info on scripting.

Making a point and click scene.

Inside our scene we can add Button controls and the SceneActionButton component.
When clicked, it will run the flow in the soot file with the same name as the current scene.

Animating characters

The script Sprite2DAnimations has a bunch of tween animations for Sprite2D.

• Add it to a Sprite2D in your scene.
• Add the sprite to as many groups as you want, say my_sprite.
• In script, call @my_sprite.fade_in or @my_sprite.shake_yes or @my_sprite.talk or...

TODO

Call	Description	Args
fade_in
fade_out
white_in
from_left
from_right
talk	Bobs up and down a little.
shake_yes	Bob up and down, flashing green.
shake_no	Bob side to side, flashing red.
tilt
shake
move

Animating the camera

• Add the Camera component to your main Camera2D.
• Add the main camera to a group, like camera.

TODO

Call	Description
pan
center
zoom
tilt
shake

Creating target cameras

• Create a dummy camera.
• Add it to group camera_target_* where * is whatever id you want.
• Add the Camera component to your main Camera2D.
• Add the main camera to a group, like camera.
• Call @camera.target target_id and your camera will interpolate to the dummy cameras position, zoom, and rotation.
• Call @camera.target target_id true to snap the camera instantly to the dummy cameras position, zoom, and rotation.

Built In Flows

There are some special built in flow ids.

They are all optional.

Flow ID	Desc
init	Called when a scene is initialized. Will not run any dialogue, as it should be used for setting up a scene based on the State.
started	Called when a scene is entered.
changed:property_name	Called whenever a property is changed. Useful for changing backgrounds.

=== scene
	=== init
		{{is_night_time}}
			@bg.set_to night_time
			@ghosts.show
		{{else}}
			@bg.set_to day_time
			@ghosts.hide
	
	=== CHANGED:is_night_time
		{{is_night_time}}
			You sense spookiness.
			player: I should get home.
			@ghosts.show
			@ghosts.animate spooky_dance

You can include a MAIN.soot file, which can have:

Flow ID	Desc
START	Will be called when the game starts.
END	Will be called when any flow ends.