nyan

WTF?

nyan is a strongly typed hierarchical key-value database with patch functionality and inheritance.

Srsly?

Let’s create a new unit with a mod: a japanese tentacle monster.

TentacleMonster(Unit):
    name = "Splortsch"
    hp = 2000

Creation<TownCenter>():
    creates += {TentacleMonster}

TentacleMod(Mod):
    name = "Add the allmighty tentacle monster to your holy army"
    patches = {Creation}

Things like Unit and Mod are provided by the game engine, TownCenter is provided by the base game data.

When the engine activates the mod, your town center can create the new unit.

Design idea

openage requires a very complex data storage to represent the hierarchy of its objects. Research and technology affects numerous units, civilization bonuses, monk conversions and all that with the goal to be ultimatively moddable by the community:

Current data representation formats make this nearly impossible to accomplish. Readability problems or huge lexical overhead led us to design a language crafted for our needs.

Enter nyan, which is our approach to store data in a new way™.

Design goals

Requirements:

  • nyan remains a general-purpose data language

  • Data is stored in .nyan files

  • Human readable

  • Portable

  • More or less compact (readability > memory)

  • Data is stored as members of nyan::Objects

  • Data is changed by patches that change members of nyan::Objects

  • Patches can be changed by patches, that way, any mod can be created

  • Data does not contain any executed code but can specify function names and parameters. The game engine is responsible for calling those functions or redirecting to custom scripts

  • Namespaces to create a logical hierarchy of nyan::Objects

  • Some .nyan files are shipped with the game engine

    • They describe things the engine is capable of, basically the mod api

    • That way, the engine can be sure that things exist

    • The engine can access all nyan file contents with type safety

    • The data files of the game then extend and change the API nyan::Objects

  • The nyan database provides a C++ API used by the game engine

    • Can parse .nyan files and add all information to the database

    • Provides hooks so the engine can react on internal changes

Language features

  • nyan allows easy modding

    • Data packs ship configuration data and game content as .nyan files

    • Mod Packs can change and extend existing information easily, by applying data “patches”

    • Patches are applied whenever the libnyan user decides when or where to do so

  • nyan is typesafe

    • The type of a member is stored when declaring it

    • No member type casts

    • Only allowed operators for a member type can be called

  • nyan is invented here™

    • we can change the specification to our needs whenever we want

Concept:

  • The only things nyan can do: Hierarchical data declaration and patches

    • nyan::Object: In a .nyan file, you write down nyan::Objects

    • A nyan::Object has an aribitrary number of members

    • A member has a data type like int

  • nyan::Objects support a hierarchy by inheritance

    • You can fetch values from a nyan::Object and the result is determined by walking up the whole inheritance tree

    • This allows changing a value in a parent class and all childs are affected then

  • nyan::Objects are placed in namespaces to organize the directory structure

Data handling

  • nyan::Object: versatile atomic base type

    • Has named members which have a type and maybe a value

    • nyan::Objects remain abstract until all members have values

    • There exists no order of members

  • nyan::Patch: is a nyan::Object and denominates a patch

    • Patches are used to change a target nyan::Object at runtime

    • It is created for exactly one nyan::Object with PatchName<TargetObject>

    • Can modify member values of the target nyan::Object

    • Can add inheritance parents of the target nyan::Object

    • Can not add new members or remove them

    • When activated, member values are calculated by inheritance

      • The patch inherits from the target object

      • Values are calculated top-down

      • The resulting values are stored as the target object

  • A nyan::Object can inherit from an ordered set of nyan::Objects (-> from a nyan::Patch as well)

    • Members of parent objects are inherited

    • When inheriting, existing values can be modified by operators defined for the member type

    • Member values are calculated accross the inheritance upwards

      • That way, patching a parent object impacts all children

      • When a value from a nyan::Object is retrieved, walk up every time and sum up the value

    • If there is a member name clash, there can be two reasons for it

      • The member originates from a common base object (aka the diamond problem)

        • We use C3 linearization to determine the calculation order

        • Just access the member as always (member += whatever)

      • Two independent objects define the same member and you inherit from both

        • The child class must access the members by ParentObj.member

        • Further child objects must use the same explicit access

      • If both conflicts occur simultaneously (common parent defines member and another parent defines it independently)

        • C3 is applied first (unifies members by a common parent)

        • Name conflicts must then resolved by manual qualification again

Syntax

# This is an example of the nyan language
# The syntax is very much Python.
# But was enhanced to support easy hierarchical data handling.

# A nyan::Object is created easily:
ObjName():
    member : TypeName = value

    member_name : Object
    ...

Inherited(ObjName, OtherObj, ...):
    member += 10
    ObjName.member_name = "stuff"

PatchName<TargetNyanObject>[+AdditionalParent, +OtherNewParent, ...]():
    member_to_modify = absolute_value
    member_to_update += relative_value
    member_to_replace @+= relative_value
    member_to_replace_too @= absolute_value

ParentObject():
    NestedObject(Inherited):
        another_member : type = value
        ...

    some_member : Inherited = NestedObject
    ...

  • An object declares a named storage space with then has key-value pairs

  • If an object does not have a parent, it implicitly inherits from the built-in Object

  • Nested object names are prefixed the parent name, on top level their name is ParentObject.NestedObject

  • A member is created by declaring it by member_name : type

  • A member is defined by member_name = value

  • An inherited member is referenced by either member_name or ParentObject.member_name

  • The declaration and definition can be combined: member_name : type = value

  • A member can never be defined if it was not declared

  • A nyan::Object is “abstract” iff it contains at least one undefined member

  • A nyan::Object member type can never be changed once declared

  • It is a patch iff <Target> is written in the definition

    • The patch will be applied for the specified object only

    • A patch can add a new inheritance parent at the front of the parent list

      • Done with the [+AdditionalParent, AnotherParent+, ...] syntax

      • +Parent adds parent to the end, Parent+ to the front

        • Reason: the direction of the + indicates the existing list

        • If target has parents [A, B] and we apply [+C, +D, E+, B+], the result is [E, A, B, C, D]

      • The activation of this parent must not induce name clashes of members, [see below](#Multi inheritance). When the patch is loaded, this is checked.

      • This can be used to inject a “middle object” in between two inheriting objects, because the multi inheritance linearization resolves the order

        • Imagine something like TentacleMonster -> Unit

        • What we now want is TentacleMonster -> MonsterBase -> Unit

        • What we do first is create MonsterBase -> Unit

        • After applying a patch with +MonsterBase it is TentacleMonster -> MonsterBase, Unit

        • The linearization will result in TentacleMonster -> MonsterBase -> Unit

    • A patch modifies the value of the target object only

      • The target object operator will remain the same

      • The target object value will be changed according to the operation in the patch

    • A patch replaces the operator and value of a target object, if the patch operation is prefixed with an @

      • Multiple @ characters are allowed, so they are transferred into the patched object. This is only allowed for patching patches.

      • When applied, the n @ chars from the patch will result in n-1 @ chars in the patched patch. That way, operator overrides can be propagated to arbitrarily nested patches.

    • The patch will fail to be loaded if:

      • The patch target is not known

      • Any of changed members is not known in the patch target

      • Any of the added parents is not known

      • -> Blind patching is not allowed

    • The patch will succeed to load if:

      • All members of the patch are available in the patch target

      • The patch target already inherits from a parent to be added

      • -> Inheritance patching doesn’t conflict with other patches

Multi inheritance

The parents of a nyan::Object are kind of a mixin for members:

  • The child object obtains all the members from its parents

  • When a member value is requested, the value is calculated by backtracking through all the parents until the first value definition.

  • If name clashes occur, the loading will error, unless you fix them:

  • Parent member names can be qualified to fix the ambiguity:

Both Parent and Other have a member named member:

NewObj(Parent, Other):
    Parent.member = 1337
    Other.member -= 42

Children of that object must access the members with the qualified names as well to make the access clear.

Consider this case, where we have 2 conflicts.

Top():
    entry : int = 10

A(Top):
    entry += 5
    otherentry : int = 0
    specialentry : int = 42

B(Top):
    entry -= 3
    otherentry : int = 1

C():
    entry : int = 20
    otherentry : int = 2

LOLWhat(A, B, C):
    # We now have several conflicts in here!
    # How is it resolved?
    # A and B both get a member `entry` from Top
    # A and B both declare `otherentry` independently
    # C declares `entry` and `otherentry` independently
    # LOLWhat now inherits from all, so it has
    # * `entry` from Top or through A or B
    # * `entry` from C
    # * `otherentry` from A
    # * `otherentry` from B
    # * `otherentry` from C
    # ->
    # to access any of those, the name must be qualified:

    A.entry += 1     # or B.entry/Top.entry is the same!
    C.entry += 1
    A.otherentry += 1
    B.otherentry += 1
    C.otherentry += 1

    specialentry -= 42

OHNoes(LOLWhat):
    # access to qualified members remains the same
    A.entry += 1
    specialentry += 1337

The detection of the qualification requirement works as follows:

  • The inheritance list of LOLWhat determined by C3 is [A, B, Top, C]

  • When in LOLWhat the C.entry value is requested, that list is walked through until a value declaration for each member was found:

    • A declares otherentry and specialentry, it changes entry

    • B declares otherentry and changes entry

      • Here, nyan detects that otherentry was declared twice

      • If it was defined without declaration, it errors because no parent declared otherentry

      • The use of otherentry is therefore enforced to be qualified

    • Top declares entry

    • C declares entry and otherentry

      • Here, nyan detects that entry and otherentry are declared again

      • The access to entry must hence be qualified, too

  • nyan concludes that all accesses must be qualified, except to specialentry, as only one declaration was found

  • The qualification is done by prefixing the precedes a nyan::Object name which is somewhere up the hierarchy and would grant conflict-free access to that member

  • That does not mean the value somewhere up the tree is changed! The change is only defined in the current object, the qualification just ensures the correct target member is selected!

If one now has the OHNoes nyan::Object and desires to get values, the calculation is done like this:

  • Just like defining a change, the value must be queried using a distinct name, i. e. the qualification prefix.

  • In the engine, you call something like OHNoes.get("A.entry")

    • The inheritance list by C3 of OHNoes is [LOLWhat, A, B, Top, C]

    • The list is gone through until the declaration of the requested member was found

    • LOLWhat did not declare it

    • A did not declare it either, but we requested "A.entry"

    • As the qualified prefix object does not declare it, the prefix is dropped

    • The member name is now unique and can be searched for without the prefix further up the tree

    • B does not declare the entry either

    • Top does declare it, now the recursion goes back the other way

    • Top defined the value of entry to 10

    • B wants to subtract 3, so entry is 7

    • A adds 5, so entry is 12

    • LOLWhat adds 1, entry is 13

    • OHNoes adds 1 as well, and entry is returned to be 14

Types

  • Members of nyan::Object must have a type, which can be a

    • primitive type

      • text: "lol" - (duh.)

      • int: 1337 - (some number)

      • float: 42.235, inf - (some floating point number)

      • bool: true, false - (some boolean value)

      • file: "./name" - (some filename, relative to the directory the defining nyan file is located at. If absolute, the path is relative to an engine defined root directory)

    • ordered set of elements of a type: orderedset(type)

    • set of elements of a type: set(type)

    • currently, there is no list(type) specified, but may be added later if needed

    • nyan::Object, to allow arbitrary hierarchies

  • Type hierarchy

    • A nyan::Object’s type name equals its name: A() has type A

    • A nyan::Object isinstance of all the types of its parent nyan::Objects

      • Sounds complicated, but is totally easy:

      • If an object B inherits from an object A, it also has the type A

      • Just like the multi inheritance of other programming languages

      • Again, name clashes of members must be resolved to avoid the diamond problem

  • All members support the assignment operator =

  • Many other operators are defined on the primitive types

    • text: =, +=

    • int and float: =, +=, *=, -=, /=

    • bool: =, &=, |=

    • file:= "./delicious_cake.png"

    • set(type):

      • assignment: = {value, value, ...}

      • union: += {..}, |= {..} -> add values to set

      • subtract: -= {..} -> remove those values

      • intersection: &= {..} -> keep only values element of both

    • orderedset(type):

      • assignment: = o{value, value, ...}

      • append: += o{..} -> add values to the end

      • subtract: -= o{..}, -= {..} -> remove those values

      • intersection: &= o{..}, &= {..} -> keep only values element of both

    • TODO: dict(keytype, valuetype):

      • assignment: = {key: value, k: v, ...}

      • insertion of data: += {k: v, ...}, |= {..}

      • deletion of keys: -= {k, k, ...}, -= {k: v, ..}

      • keep only those keys: &= {k, k, ..}, &= {k: v, ..}

    • nyan::Object reference:

      • = NewObject set the reference to some other object. This reference must not be non-abstract (i.e. all members have a value defined). And it must be type-compatible, of course.

Namespaces, imports and forward declarations

Namespaces and imports work pretty much the same way as Python defined it. They allow to organize data in an easy hierarchical way on your file system.

Implicit namespace

A nyan file name is implies its namespace. That means the file name must not contain a . (except the .nyan) to prevent naming conflicts.

thuglife/units/backstreet.nyan

Data defined in this file is in namespace:

thuglife.units.backstreet

An object is then accessed like:

thuglife.units.backstreet.DrugDealer

Importing

A file is loaded when another file imports it. This is done by loading another namespace.

import thuglife

You can define convenience aliases of fully qualified names with the import ... (as ...) statement.

This imports the namespace with an alias (right side) which expands to the left side when used.


Frank(thuglife.units.backstreet.DrugDealer):
    speciality = "Meth"

# is the same as:

import thuglife.units.backstreet.DrugDealer as DrugDealer

Frank(DrugDealer):
    speciality = "Meth"

# which is also the same as

import thuglife.units.backstreet as thugs

Frank(thugs.DrugDealer):
    speciality = "Meth"

Cyclic dependencies

Inheritance can never be cyclic (duh). Member value usage can be cyclic.

Usage as member value can be done even though the object is not yet declared. This works as objects in member values are always “pointers”.

The compatibility for the value type is tested just when the referenced object was actually loaded. This means there are implicit forward declarations.

Example: deer death

# engine features:

Ability():
    ...

Behaviour():
    ...

Resource():
    name : text

DieAbility(Ability):
    die_animation : file
    become : Unit

Huntable(Ability):
    hunting_reaction : Behaviour

Unit():
    abilities : set(Ability)
    hp : int

ResourceAmount():
    type : Resource
    amount : float

ResourceSpot():
    resources : set(ResourceAmount)

IntelligentFlee(Behaviour):
    ...

# content pack:

Animal(Unit):
    ...

Deer(Animal):
    DeerDie(DieAbility):
        die_animation = "deer_die.png"
        become = DeadDeer

    DeerHuntable(Huntable):
        hunting_reaction = IntelligentFlee

    hp = 10
    graphic = "deer.png"
    abilities |= {DeerDie, DeerHuntable}

DeadDeer(Deer, ResourceSpot):
    DeerFood(ResourceAmount):
        type = Food
        amount = 250

    graphic = "dead_deer.png"
    resources = {DeerFood}

Forward declarations

The engine has to invoke the check whether all objects that were used as forward declaration were actually defined.

If there are dangling forward declaration objects when invoking that consistency check, a list of missing objects will be provided. These have to be provided in order for nyan to load. Otherwise the objects affected by incomplete members cannot be used.

Cyclic avoidance

If you encounter a cyclic dependency, try to redesign your data model by extracting the common part as a separate object and then use it in both old ones.

nyan interpreter

.nyan files are read by the nyan interpreter part of libnyan.

  • You feed .nyan files into the nyan::Database

  • All data is loaded and checked for validity

  • You can query any member and object of the store

  • You can hold nyan::Objects as handles

  • You can apply patches to any object at a given time, all already-applied patches after that time are undone

  • All data history is stored over time

Database views

Problem: Different players and teams have different states of the same nyan tree.

Solution: Hierarchy of state views.

A nyan::View has a parent which is either the root database or another nyan::View.

The view then stores the state for e.g. a player.

What does that mean?

  • You can create a view of the main database

  • You can create a view of a view

  • Querying values respects the view the query is executed in

  • If a patch is applied in a view, the data changes are applied in this view and all children of it. Parent view remain unaffected.

Querying data works like this:

  • nyan::Object obj = view.get(object_name)

    • The nyan::Object is just a handle which is then used for real queries

  • obj.get(member_name, time) will evaluates the member of the object at a give time

    • This returns the nyan::Value stored in the member at the given time.

Patching data works as follows:

  • Obtain a patch object from some view

    • nyan::Object patch = view.get(patch_name);

    • If it is known in the view, return it

    • Else return it from the parent view

  • Create a transaction with this Patch to change the view state at the desired time

    • nyan::Transaction tx = view.new_transaction(time);

  • Add one or more patch objects to the transaction

    • tx.add(patch); tx.add(...);

    • tx.add(another_patch, view.get(target_object_name)) is used to patch a child of the patch target.

  • Commit the transaction

    • bool success = tx.commit();

    • This triggers, for each patch in the transaction:

      • Determine the patch target object name

        • If a custom patch target was requested, check if it was a child of the default patch target at loadtime.

      • Copy the patch target object in a (new) state at time

        • Query the view of the transaction at time for the target object, this may recursively query parent views

        • If there is no state at time in the view of the transaction, create a new state

        • Copy the target object into the state at time in the view of the transaction

      • Linearize the inheritance hierary to a list of patch objects

        • e.g. if we have a SomePatch<TargetObj>() and AnotherPatch(SomePatch) and we would like to apply AnotherPatch, this will result in [SomePatch, AnotherPatch]

      • Apply the list left to right and modify the copied target object

      • Notify child views that this patch was applied, perform the patch there as well

This approach allows different views of the database state and integrates with the patch idea so e.g. team boni and player specific updates can be handled in an “easy” way.

Embedding nyan

A mod API could be implemented as follows: Create a nyan::Object named Mod that has a member with a set of patches to apply. To add new data to the engine, inherit from this Mod-object and add patches to the set. This Mod-object is registered to the engine with a mod description file.

API definition example

In practice, this could look like this:

# Engine API definition: engine.nyan

Mod():
    patches : orderedset(Patch)

Tech():
    patches : orderedset(Patch)

Unit():
    hp : int
    can_create : set(Unit) = {}
    can_research : set(Tech) = {}

CFG():
    initial_buildings : set(Unit)
    name : text

StartConfigs():
    # available start game configurations
    available : set(CFG) = {}

# Data pack: pack.nyan

import engine

Villager(engine.Unit):
    hp = 100
    can_create = {TownCenter}

Loom(Tech):
    HPBoost<Villager>():
        hp += 50

    patches = {HPBoost}

TownCenter(engine.Unit):
    hp = 1500
    can_create = {Villager}
    can_research = {Loom}

DefaultConfig(engine.CFG):
    initial_buildings = {TownCenter}
    name = "you'll start with a town center"

DefaultMod(engine.Mod):
    Activate<engine.StartConfigs>():
        available += {DefaultConfig}

    patches = {Activate}

Mod information file pack.nfo:

load: pack.nyan
mod: pack.DefaultMod
# could be extended with dependency and version information

Embedding in the engine

The mod API definitions in engine.nyan have to be designed exacly the way the C++ engine code is then using it. It sets up the type system so that the nyan C++ API can then be used to provide the correct information to the program that embeds nyan.

The load procedure and data access could be done like this:

  1. Load engine.nyan

  2. Read pack.nfo

  3. Load pack.nyan

  4. Apply “mod-activating” patches in pack.DefaultMod

  5. Let user select one of engine.StartConfigs.available

  6. Generate a map and place the CFG.initial_buildings

  7. Display creatable units for each building on that map

When the newly created villager is selected, it can build towncenters! And the towncenter can research a healthpoint-upgrade for villagers.

// callback function for reading nyan files via the engine
// we need this so nyan can access into e.g. archives of the engine.
std::string base_path = "/some/game/root";
auto file_fetcher = [base_path] (const std::string &filename) {
    return std::make_shared<File>(base_path + '/' + filename);
};

// initialization of API
auto db = std::make_shared<nyan::Database>();
db->load("engine.nyan", file_fetcher);

// load the userdata
ModInfo nfo = read_mod_file("pack.nfo");
db->load(nfo.load, file_fetcher);

// modification view: this is the changed database state
std::shared_ptr<nyan::View> root = db->new_view();

nyan::Object mod_obj = root->get(nfo.mod);
if (not mod_obj.extends("engine.Mod", 0)) { error(); }

nyan::OrderedSet mod_patches = mod_obj.get<nyan::OrderedSet>("patches", 0);

// activation of userdata (at t=0)
nyan::Transaction mod_activation = root->new_transaction(0);

for (auto &patch : mod_patches.items<nyan::Patch>()) {
    mod_activation.add(patch);
}

if (not mod_activation.commit()) { error("failed transaction"); }

// presentation of userdata (t=0)
for (auto &obj : root->get("engine.StartConfigs").get<nyan::Set>("available", 0).items<nyan::Object>()) {
    present_in_selection(obj);
}

// feedback from ui
nyan::Object selected_startconfig = ...;

// use result of ui-selection
printf("generate map with config %s", selected_startconfig.get<nyan::Text>("name", 0));
place_buildings(selected_startconfig.get<nyan::Set>("initial_buildings", 0));

// set up teams and players
auto player0 = std::make_shared<nyan::View>(root);
auto player1 = std::make_shared<nyan::View>(root);

// ====== let's assume the game runs now
run_game();

// to check if a unit is dead:
engine::Unit engine_unit = ...;
nyan::Object unit_type = engine_unit.get_type();
int max_hp = unit_type.get<nyan::Int>("hp", current_game_time);
float damage = engine_unit.current_damage();
if (damage > max_hp) {
    engine_unit.die();
}
else {
    engine_unit.update_hp_bar(max_hp - damage);
}

// to display what units a selected entity can build:
nyan::Object selected = get_selected_object_type();
if (selected.extends("engine.Unit", current_game_time)) {
    for (auto &unit : selected.get<nyan::Set>("can_create", current_game_time).items<nyan::Object>()) {
        display_creatable(unit);
    }
}

// technology research:
nyan::Object tech = get_tech_to_research();
std::shared_ptr<nyan::View> &target = target_player();
nyan::Transaction research = target.new_transaction(current_game_time);
for (auto &patch : tech.get<nyan::Orderedset>("patches", current_game_time).items<nyan::Patch>()) {
    research.add(patch);
}

if (not research.commit()) { error("failed transaction"); }

Creating a scripting API

nyan does provide any possibility to execute code. But nyan can be used as entry-point for full dynamic scripting APIs: The names of hook functions to be called are set up through nyan. The validity of code that is called that way is impossible to check, so this can lead to runtime crashes.

nyanc - the nyan compiler

nyanc can compile a .nyan file to a .h and .cpp file, this just creates a new nyan type the same way the primitive types from above are defined.

Members can then be acessed directly from C++.

The only problem still unsolved with nyanc is:

If a “non-optimized” nyan::Object has multiple parents where some of them were “optimized” and made into native code by nyanc, we can’t select which of the C++ objects to instanciate for it. And we can’t create the combined “optimized” object as the nyan::Object appeared at runtime.

This means we have to provide some kind of annotation, which of the parents should be the annotated ones.

Nevertheless, nyanc is just an optimization, and has therefore no priority until we need it.

openage specific “standard library”

nyan in openage has specific requirements how to handle patches: mods, technologies, technology-technologies.

Defined nyan::Objects

The openage engine defines a few objects to inherit from. The engine reacts differently when children of those nyan::Objects are created.

Data updates

Mod: Game mods

  • It has a member patches where you should add your patches.

  • When created, the Engine will apply the patches on load time.

Tech: Technologies

  • Has a member updates that contains the patches to apply when researched

Engine features

A game engine can only process and display things it was programmed for. That’s why those features have explicit hooks when used in nyan.

The nyan definition of objects that provide configuration of such features is thereby shipped with the engine.

A few examples

Resource: Resource types

  • The engine supports adding and removing new resources via mods

  • The GUI, statistics, game logic, … subsystems dynamically take care of the available resources

Ability: Available unit actions

  • Base object for something a unit can do

  • Movement, Gather, ResourceGenerator, ResourceSpot, … defined and implemented by engine as well

  • The engine implements all kinds of things for the abilities and also triggers actions when the ability is invoked

DropSite: Object where resources can be brought to

  • The engine movement and pathfinding system must know about dropsites

  • Configures the allowed resources

Unit: In-game objects

  • Base object for things you can see in-game

  • Provides ability member which contains a set of abilities

Many many more.

  • Your game engine may define completely different objects

  • How and when a patch is applied is completely up to the engine

  • nyan is just the tool for keeping the data store

Unit hierarchy

By using the objects defined by the engine, units can be defined in a nyan file not part of the engine, but rather a data pack for it.

Lets start with an example inheritance hierarchy:

malte23 (instance) <- Crossbowman <- Archer <- RangedUnit (engine) <- Unit (engine) <- Object (built in)

Why:

  • There’s a base nyan object, defined in the language internally

  • The engine support units that move on screen

  • The engine supports attack projectile ballistics

  • All archers may receive armor/attack bonus updates

  • Crossbowmen is an archer and can be built at the archery

malte23 walks on your screen and dies laughing. It is not a nyan::Object but rather an unit object of the game engine which references to the Crossbowman nyan::Object to get properties from. malte23 is handled in the unit movement system but the speed, healthpoints and so on are fetched for malte’s unit type, which is Crossbowman, managed by nyan.

Modding examples

New resource

Let’s create a new resource.


# Defined in the game engine:

Mod():
    name : text
    patches : set(Patch)

Building():
    name : text

Resource():
    name : text
    icon : file

DropSite():
    accepted_resources : set(Resource)

# Above are engine features.
# Lets create content in your official game data pack now:

Gold(Resource):
    name = "Bling bling"
    icon = "gold.svg"

Food(Resource):
    name = "Nom nom"
    icon = "food.svg"

TownCenter(Building, DropSite):
    name = "Town Center"
    accepted_resources = {Gold, Food}

# Now let's have a user mod that adds a new resource:

Silicon(Resource):
    name = "Silicon"

TCSilicon<TownCenter>():
    allowed_resources += {Silicon}

SiliconMod(Mod):
    name = "The modern age has started: Behold the microchips!"
    patches = {TCSilicon}

In the mod pack config file, SiliconMod is listed to be loaded. That pack config format may be a simple .conf-style file.

When those nyan files are loaded, the all the objects are added. Your game engine implements that the SiliconMod is displayed in some mod list and that all patches from activated Mods are applied at game start time.

The load order of the user supplied Mods is to be determined by the game engine. Either via some mod manager, or automatic resolution. It’s up to the engine to implement.

Patching a patch example

A user mod that patches loom to increase villager hp by 10 instead of 15.

  1. Loom is defined in the base data pack

  2. The mod defines to update the original loom tech

  3. The tech is researched, which applies the updated loom tech to the villager instance of the current player


# Game engine defines:
Tech():
    name : text
    updates : set(Patch)

Mod():
    name : text
    patches : set(Patch)

Ability():
    mouse_animation : file

Unit():
    name : text
    hp : int
    abilities : set(Ability)

Building():
    name : text
    researches : set(Tech)
    creates : set(Unit)

# Base game data defines:
Villager(Unit):
    name = "Villager"
    hp = 25

LoomVillagerHP<Villager>():
    hp += 15

Loom(Tech):
    name = "Research Loom to give villagers more HP"
    updates = {LoomVillagerHP}

TownCenter(Building):
    researches = {Loom}
    creates = {Villager}

# User mod decreases the HP amount:
BalanceHP<LoomVillagerHP>():
    hp -= 5

LoomBalance(Mod):
    name = "Balance the Loom research to give"
    patches = {BalanceHP}

# in the mod pack metadata file, LoomBalance is denoted in the index.nfo
# to be loaded into the mod list of the engine.

Creating a new ability

Now let’s create the ability to teleport for the villager.

Abilities are used as entity component system. The game engine uses sets of those to modify unit behavior.

  • Abilities can define properties like their animation

  • An ability can be added as a tech to some units at runtime (“villagers and the tentacle monster can now teleport”)

  • Behavior must be implemented in the engine

    • If custom behavior is required, it must be set up through a scripting API of the engine

    • nyan can change and updated called function names etc to activate the scripting changes, but how is up to the engine


# The engine defines:
Mod():
    name : text
    patches : set(Patch)

Ability():
    mouse_animation : file

Unit():
    name : text
    hp : int
    abilities : set(Ability)

Resource():
    name : text
    icon : file

DropSite():
    accepted_resources : set(Resource)

Animation():
    image : file
    frames : int = 1
    loop : bool = true
    speed : float = 15.0

Ability():
    animation : Animation

CooldownAbility(Ability):
    recharge_time : float

Movement(Ability):
    speed : float
    instant : bool = false
    range : float = inf

CollectResource(Movement):
    target : Resource
    collect_animation : Animation

# Base game data defines:
Wood(Resource):
    name = "chop chop"
    icon = "wood.svg"

VillagerWalking(Animation):
    image = "walking_villager.png"
    frames = 18

VillagerMovement(Movement):
    animation = VillagerWalking
    speed = 15.0

WoodTransport(Animation):
    image = "wood_transport.png"
    frames = 20

WoodChop(Animation):
    image = "wood_transport.png"
    frames = 20

CollectWood(CollectResource):
    target = Wood
    animation = WoodTransport
    collect_animation = WoodChop
    speed = 12.0

Villager(Unit):
    name = "Villager"
    hp = 25
    abilities += {VillagerMovement, CollectWood}

# Teleport mod:
TeleportBlurb(Animation):
    image = "teleport_whooosh.png"
    frames = 10
    speed = 2

Teleport(Movement, CooldownAbility):
    speed = 0.0
    instant = true
    recharge_time = 30.0
    range = 5
    animation = TeleportBlurb

EnableTeleport<Villager>():
    abilities += {Teleport}

TeleportMod(Mod):
    name = "Awesome teleport feature to sneak into bastions easily"
    patches = {EnableTeleport}

  • Why does Teleport inherit from both Movement and CooldownAbility?

    • Teleport is another movement variant, but the cooldown timer must be mixed in. After an ability was used, the engine checks if the Ability is a CooldownAbility, and then deactivates the ability for some time for that unit. When the engine checks Teleport.extends(CooldownAbility), it is true and the timer routine will run.

  • Why is there an instant member of Movement?

    • The game engine must support movement without pathfinding, otherwise even movement with infinite speed would be done by pathfinding.

This demonstrated that modding capabilities are strongly limited by the game engine, nyan just assists you in designing a mod api in an intuitive way.