Game Enums

Parts that use this: Paint Gun

Some enums come from the game itself, for easing curves, brick settings and the typefaces of on-screen text. They need no enum declaration. This lesson eases a light on and off with them, and recolors the chip’s own brick.

Code
Run
Under the Hood
Brick properties
Modify
Make
Good to Know

button Held -> chip held
chip brightness -> light Brightness
switch Enabled -> light Enabled

Code

@left in held: bool
let target = if held then 100.0 else 0.0
@right out brightness: float = Tween(target, 1.0, function = EasingFunction.Bounce, direction = EasingDirection.Out)

Tween(target, 1.0, ...) is a value that moves toward target, taking one second to get there. function picks the shape of the move, and direction picks which end of it the shape applies to.

EasingFunction and EasingDirection are game enums. The compiler reads them from the game’s own lists, so they need no declaration. EasingFunction has Linear, Sine, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Quint, Expo, Circ, Back, Elastic and Bounce, and EasingDirection has In, Out and InOut.

Hold the button. How does the light come on? What does it do when you let go?

Run

Compile the chip and paste it in-game. Place a Button, a Point Light and a Switch.
Wire the Button’s Held to held, brightness to the Point Light’s Brightness, and the Switch’s Enabled to the light’s Enabled. Flip the switch on.
Hold the button. The light rises over a second and bounces as it arrives. Let go, and it falls back the same way.

Under the Hood

Open the chip. There are two gates: a Select for target, and a Tween. The Tween’s Function input has 10 typed into it, and its Direction input has 1.

Those are the game’s own numbers for Bounce and Out. EasingFunction.Bounce.Discriminant is 10. An enum you declare numbers its variants from 0 in your order. A game enum uses the numbers the game saves.

The Tween takes its function on a wire, so a variable can choose it while the circuit runs:

@left in held: bool
@left in next: exec
var style: EasingFunction = EasingFunction.Linear
@right out brightness: float = Tween(if held then 100.0 else 0.0, 1.0, function = style)
@right out name = match style {
  Linear  => "Linear",
  Bounce  => "Bounce",
  Elastic => "Elastic",
  _       => "Style ${style.Discriminant}",
}

on next {
  style = EasingFunction.FromInt((style.Discriminant + 1) % 11)
}

Each press of next moves to the next of the eleven functions, and the sign names it.

Not every gate takes its enum on a wire. The Easing gate has its function as a setting, chosen when the chip is built, so it needs a constant:

@left in t: float
var style: EasingFunction = EasingFunction.Bounce
@right out level = Easing(0.0, 100.0, t, function = style)

Error: [WS028] unknown enum member 'style' for EBREasingFunction; expected one of: Linear, Sine, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Quint, Expo, Circ, Back, Elastic, Bounce

The message reads style as a member name it does not know. The same error goes on to say that Function is a constant-only setting.

Brick properties

BrickProperty names the settings of a brick: Visible, Color, Material, the collision flags and more. This chip recolors its own brick at each press:

@left in pressed: exec
var lit: bool = false

on pressed {
  lit = !lit
  let c = if lit then Color(1.0, 0.8, 0.0) else Color(0.2, 0.2, 0.2)
  GetMicrochipBrick().SetBrickProperty(BrickProperty.Color, c)
}

GetMicrochipBrick() is the chip’s own brick. The Set Brick Property gate has the property as a setting, so BrickProperty.Color must be written out, not chosen by a variable.

Modify

Try other curves in the first chip: EasingFunction.Elastic, EasingFunction.Back, and direction = EasingDirection.InOut.
Add a second button to the styles chip that steps the direction too: var dir: EasingDirection = EasingDirection.In, passed as direction = dir, and stepped with % 3.
In the brick chip, also set BrickProperty.Material to BrickMaterial.Glow when lit and BrickMaterial.Plastic when not.

Make

Make a light show. A Clock flips the light’s target every two seconds, and on every second flip it moves to the next easing function. A sign shows the name of the curve being shown.

chip brightness -> light Brightness
chip label -> decal Text
switch Enabled -> light Enabled

Good to Know

A Tween that gets a new target part way through should head for it from where it is, so letting go early turns the light around mid-bounce.
GetMicrochipBrick() does not yet name the right brick inside a spawned prefab.

See Built-in game enums, Gate config properties and GetBrickProperty / SetBrickProperty.

Next: pick a lesson from the tree on the Learn page.

Wirescript