The preview
The preview draws your game’s screen with the line your cursor is on: the game’s room and pictures, the portrait, the text in the game’s font, and its Scribble effects. GameMaker doesn’t need to be running.
Open it
Click Show Preview at the top of the node. Click it again (Hide Preview) to close it.
The first time, Tsumugi asks for your Game Text Area size: how many lines it shows, and how wide the text is. See Settings.
Note
The preview needs a room to draw. Tsumugi uses the room your text area or your areas are in. If it can’t find one, set "preview": { "room": "rYourRoom" } in tsumugi.json.
Play
- Click the preview, or press Space or Enter, to go to the next line. A click while the text is typing finishes the line first.
- Click an option to pick it. In a game with numbered options, the number keys pick them.
- When the game asks the player to type, a box under the preview asks The player types. Click Send.
The line the preview moves to flashes in the writing.
The buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Game Text Area size | Changes the text area’s size. It shows how many lines the current line uses. |
| ? | A reminder of how the preview plays. |
| Play from the start | Plays from the game’s first node. |
| Start again | Forgets the variables, items, options picked and nodes visited. |
| Large view | A big preview, with the variables and items beside it. Esc takes it back to small. |
What it remembers
Like the game, the preview remembers what happens while you play:
- the variables each
<<set>>changes, - the items the player gets and loses,
- the nodes visited, for
visited("Node"), - the options picked, so an option with
<<if !optionChosen()>>goes away once picked, - where each hop came from, for
<<hopback>>.
Every If takes the branch its check picks. After <<random option>>, the preview picks one at random, like the game. So you can try each option and see where it leads, without GameMaker.
What it can’t do
The preview reads your game’s files. It doesn’t run your game’s code.
- A check that calls your game’s own code can’t run, so it counts as true.
- It draws your room’s pictures, but not what your game’s code draws by itself.
- To see the inventory or health hearts, tell it how under Inventory or Health hearts in Settings.
Try those parts in GameMaker. Start here makes Run start at any node: see Testing in GameMaker.