Building Quickstart¶
The default command definitions coming with Evennia follows a style similar to that of MUX, so the commands should be familiar if you used any such code bases before.
Throughout the larger documentation you may come across commands prefixed with
@. This is just an optional marker used in some places to make a command stand out. Evennia defaults to ignoring the use of@in front of your command (so enteringdigis the same as entering@dig).
The default commands have the following style (where [...] marks optional parts):
command[/switch/switch...] [arguments ...]
A switch is a special, optional flag to the command to make it behave differently. It is always
put directly after the command name, and begins with a forward slash (/). The arguments are one
or more inputs to the commands. It’s common to use an equal sign (=) when assigning something to
an object.
Below are some examples of commands you can try when logged in to the game. Use help <command> for
learning more about each command and their detailed options.
Stepping Down From Godhood¶
If you just installed Evennia, your very first player account is called user #1, also known as the superuser or god user. This user is very powerful, so powerful that it will override many game restrictions such as locks. This can be useful, but it also hides some functionality that you might want to test.
To temporarily step down from your superuser position you can use the quell command in-game:
quell
This will make you start using the permission of your current character’s level instead of your
superuser level. If you didn’t change any settings your game Character should have an Developer
level permission - high as can be without bypassing locks like the superuser does. This will work
fine for the examples on this page. Use unquell to get back to superuser status again afterwards.
Creating an Object¶
Basic objects can be anything – swords, flowers and non-player characters. They are created using
the create command:
create box
This created a new ‘box’ (of the default object type) in your inventory. Use the command inventory
(or i) to see it. Now, ‘box’ is a rather short name, let’s rename it and tack on a few aliases.
name box = very large box;box;very;crate
We now renamed the box to very large box (and this is what we will see when looking at it), but we
will also recognize it by any of the other names we give - like crate or simply box as before.
We could have given these aliases directly after the name in the create command, this is true for
all creation commands - you can always tag on a list of ;-separated aliases to the name of your
new object. If you had wanted to not change the name itself, but to only add aliases, you could have
used the alias command.
We are currently carrying the box. Let’s drop it (there is also a short cut to create and drop in
one go by using the /drop switch, for example create/drop box).
drop box
Hey presto - there it is on the ground, in all its normality.
examine box
This will show some technical details about the box object. For now we will ignore what this information means.
Try to look at the box to see the (default) description.
look box
You see nothing special.
The description you get is not very exciting. Let’s add some flavor.
describe box = This is a large and very heavy box.
If you try the get command we will pick up the box. So far so good, but if we really want this to
be a large and heavy box, people should not be able to run off with it that easily. To prevent
this we need to lock it down. This is done by assigning a Lock to it. Make sure the box was
dropped in the room, then try this:
lock box = get:false()
Locks represent a rather big topic, but for now that will do what we want. This will lock the box so noone can lift it. The exception is superusers, they override all locks and will pick it up anyway. Make sure you are quelling your superuser powers and try to get the box now:
> get box
You can't get that.
Think thís default error message looks dull? The get command looks for an Attribute
named get_err_msg for returning a nicer error message (we just happen to know this, you would need
to peek into the
code for
the get command to find out.). You set attributes using the set command:
set box/get_err_msg = It's way too heavy for you to lift.
Try to get it now and you should see a nicer error message echoed back to you. To see what this message string is in the future, you can use ‘examine.’
examine box/get_err_msg
Examine will return the value of attributes, including color codes. examine here/desc would return
the raw description of your current room (including color codes), so that you can copy-and-paste to
set its description to something else.
You create new Commands (or modify existing ones) in Python outside the game. See the Adding Commands tutorial for help with creating your first own Command.
Get a Personality¶
Scripts are powerful out-of-character objects useful for many “under the hood” things.
One of their optional abilities is to do things on a timer. To try out a first script, let’s put one
on ourselves. There is an example script in evennia/contrib/tutorial_examples/bodyfunctions.py
that is called BodyFunctions. To add this to us we will use the script command:
script self = tutorial_examples.bodyfunctions.BodyFunctions
(note that you don’t have to give the full path as long as you are pointing to a place inside the
contrib directory, it’s one of the places Evennia looks for Scripts). Wait a while and you will
notice yourself starting making random observations.
script self
This will show details about scripts on yourself (also examine works). You will see how long it is
until it “fires” next. Don’t be alarmed if nothing happens when the countdown reaches zero - this
particular script has a randomizer to determine if it will say something or not. So you will not see
output every time it fires.
When you are tired of your character’s “insights”, kill the script with
script/stop self = tutorial_examples.bodyfunctions.BodyFunctions
You create your own scripts in Python, outside the game; the path you give to script is literally
the Python path to your script file. The Scripts page explains more details.
Making Yourself a House¶
The main command for shaping the game world is dig. For example, if you are standing in Limbo you
can dig a route to your new house location like this:
dig house = large red door;door;in,to the outside;out
This will create a new room named ‘house’. Spaces at the start/end of names and aliases are ignored so you could put more air if you wanted. This call will directly create an exit from your current location named ‘large red door’ and a corresponding exit named ‘to the outside’ in the house room leading back to Limbo. We also define a few aliases to those exits, so people don’t have to write the full thing all the time.
If you wanted to use normal compass directions (north, west, southwest etc), you could do that with
dig too. But Evennia also has a limited version of dig that helps for compass directions (and
also up/down and in/out). It’s called tunnel:
tunnel sw = cliff
This will create a new room “cliff” with an exit “southwest” leading there and a path “northeast” leading back from the cliff to your current location.
You can create new exits from where you are using the open command:
open north;n = house
This opens an exit north (with an alias n) to the previously created room house.
If you have many rooms named house you will get a list of matches and have to select which one you
want to link to. You can also give its database (#dbref) number, which is unique to every object.
This can be found with the examine command or by looking at the latest constructions with
objects.
Follow the north exit to your ‘house’ or teleport to it:
north
or:
teleport house
To manually open an exit back to Limbo (if you didn’t do so with the dig command):
open door = limbo
(or give limbo’s dbref which is #2)
Reshuffling the World¶
You can find things using the find command. Assuming you are back at Limbo, let’s teleport the
large box to our house.
> teleport box = house
very large box is leaving Limbo, heading for house.
Teleported very large box -> house.
We can still find the box by using find:
> find box
One Match(#1-#8):
very large box(#8) - src.objects.objects.Object
Knowing the #dbref of the box (#8 in this example), you can grab the box and get it back here
without actually yourself going to house first:
teleport #8 = here
(You can usually use here to refer to your current location. To refer to yourself you can use
self or me). The box should now be back in Limbo with you.
We are getting tired of the box. Let’s destroy it.
destroy box
You can destroy many objects in one go by giving a comma-separated list of objects (or their #dbrefs, if they are not in the same location) to the command.
Adding a Help Entry¶
An important part of building is keeping the help files updated. You can add, delete and append to
existing help entries using the sethelp command.
sethelp/add MyTopic = This help topic is about ...
Adding a World¶
After this brief introduction to building you may be ready to see a more fleshed-out example. Evennia comes with a tutorial world for you to explore.
First you need to switch back to superuser by using the unquell command. Next, place yourself in
Limbo and run the following command:
batchcommand tutorial_world.build
This will take a while (be patient and don’t re-run the command). You will see all the commands used to build the world scroll by as the world is built for you.
You will end up with a new exit from Limbo named tutorial. Apart from being a little solo- adventure in its own right, the tutorial world is a good source for learning Evennia building (and coding).
Read the batch file to see exactly how it’s built, step by step. See also more info about the tutorial world [here](Tutorial- World-Introduction).
