Editing .yarn as text
A .yarn file is plain text. You can always open it in VS Code’s text editor. Tsumugi helps there too, and this help stays free after the trial.
Open as text
.yarnfiles open as text unless you pick the Story Writer.- In the Story Writer, click Text to open the file beside it. A change in one shows in the other.
- Run Tsumugi: Open as Yarn Text from the Command Palette.
To go the other way, click Open in Story Writer (the book icon at the top right).
What you get
- Colours for Chatterbox: node headers, options, speakers, commands and variables. GML and GameMaker’s
.yyfiles get colours too. - Problems: the same checks as the Story Writer, as underlines and in VS Code’s Problems panel. See Problems and checks.
- Spelling: misspelt words in dialogue, narration and options.
- Outline: every node in the file, in VS Code’s Outline view and breadcrumbs.
- Go to Definition on a
<<jump>>or<<hop>>opens the node it leads to, in the same file. - Folding from a node’s
title:to its===. - Comments: ⌘ / turns a line into a
//comment and back.
Quick fixes
Click the light bulb on an underlined word or line (or press ⌘ .):
- A problem’s own fix, when it has one.
- Change to …: a spelling suggestion.
- Add … to this game’s dictionary: saved in
tsumugi.json, for your whole team. - Add … to my words (only on this computer): for every game on this computer.
Tidy style
Format Document tidies the file in Tsumugi’s style: four spaces a step, options one step in, the lines under an option one step more, and no blank lines inside a node. Only spaces and line breaks change, never what the game does.
With Auto-fix style on (the tsumugi.enforceStyle setting), the same tidy happens each time you save. The line you are typing on is left alone.
Test from here
Put the cursor inside a node, right-click, and pick Start the Game Here (when testing). See Testing in GameMaker.