Parallaction/Scripts

Location (LOC) scripts specification

Level-0 simple statements:

DISK	Selects data file containing resources for this location (it used to ask the user to switch floppy in the original games). This statement appears any other resource specification.
LOCATION	Specifies location name and selects background bitmap and depth mask. It is not necessary for this statement to be the first one in the script.
LOCAFLAGS	Declares custom flags for the current location: the default value is *clear*. The flags values are retained across savegames and location switches.
FLAGS	Sets flags declared in LOCALFLAGS.
SOUND	Specifies sound effect to be looped (as it was background music).
MUSIC	Specifies background music.
ENDLOCATION	Tells the parser there is nothing more to read in this location script.

Level-0 block statements (with brief description):

ZONE	Declares interactive screen area.
ANIMATION	Declares visible animation.
COMMENT	Defines text to be displayed in a balloon when the location is accessed for the first time.
ENDCOMMENT	Special text displayed on end game. There is only one instance in the last location for Nippon Safes.
NODES	Defines points to be used as aid when computing walk paths.
COMMANDS	Defines a list of commands to be executed before COMMENT text -if any- is displayed.
ACOMMANDS	Defines a list of commands to be executed after COMMENT text -if any- is displayed.

Zone block

LIMITS	Defines rectangular interactive area on screen.
LABEL	Text to be displayed when mouse enters the area defined by LIMITS.
FLAGS	One or more among behaviour flags (*link needed*), separated by pipe character.
COMMANDS	List of commands to be executed when zone is activated.
MOVETO	Specifies position (x, y) character is set to walk to when action is triggered on this zone.
TYPE	Block defining special features of the zone (*link needed*).
ENDZONE	Marks the end of Zone definition.

Animation block

POSITION	Defines starting position (x, y, z) of the animation on the screen.
FILE	Data file holding animation frames and respective sizes.
SCRIPT	Name of script file (SCR) containing instructions to drive this animation (and possibly others).
LABEL	Text to be displayed when mouse enters the area occupied by the animation. Since animations can move, the area is computed on the fly.
FLAGS	One or more among behaviour flags (*link needed*), separated by pipe character.
COMMANDS	List of commands to be performed when execution of animation script (SCR) is over.
MOVETO	Specifies position (x, y) character is set to walk to when action is triggered on this animation (usually a non-playing character).
TYPE	Block defining special features of the animation (*link needed*).
ENDANIMATION	Marks the end of Animation definition.

Comment/Endcomment block

These blocks are made of plain text, followed by an ENDTEXT statement on its own line.

Nodes block

This block only appear once in a location file, and holds a list of screen coordinates.

COORDS	Declares one point (x, y) to be used in walk path calculation, whenever a direct path between two positions is not available.
ENDNODES	Marks the end of Nodes block.

Commands/Acommands block

This block holds a list of commands with their own parameters. With regard to the order in which commands are encountered during parsing, the execution flow is backwards.

SET	Sets a global (system) flag or a flag declared with LOCALFLAGS statement.
CLEAR	Clears a global (system) flag or a flag declared with LOCALFLAGS statement.
START	Sets kFlagsActing flag, starting animation script (SCR) execution.
STOP	Clears kFlagsActing flag, stopping animation script (SCR) execution.
SPEAK	Schedules a dialogue for execution at the beginning of the next game loop.
GET	Adds an item (Zone) to the inventory and removes it from screen, unless kFlagsFixed is set for the same Zone.
DROP	Removes an item from inventory.
LOCATION	Schedules a location switch.
OPEN	Schedules a door for opening at the next frame.
CLOSE	Schedules a door for closing at the next frame.
ON	Sets kFlagActive, this displaying a previously hidden Zone or Animation.
OFF	Sets kFlagRemove, this scheduling a visible Zone or Animation for hiding.
CALL	Calls a built-in routine for special gfx.
TOGGLE	Toggles a global (system) flag or a flag declared with LOCALFLAGS statement.
QUIT	Sets system quit flag, thus telling the engine to exit the game.
MOVE	Sets animation to be moved at the specified position.
ENDCOMMANDS	Marks the end of Commands list.