Tips

Practical tips and notes for writing Stonescript effectively.

General tips

• Indentation matters. The space (indent) before a line defines what runs as a result of a ? condition (scope). Getting indentation wrong is a common source of bugs.
• The script runs 30 times per second — once per frame. Every line at the root scope executes on every frame.
• Last equip wins. If multiple equip commands are called in a single frame, whichever comes last takes effect.
• Edit mid-run. The script can be changed in the middle of a run by pressing M on your keyboard.
• Power toggle. The Power button in the top-right of the Mind Stone turns the script ON/OFF without clearing it.

Debugging

• Hold Tab in-game to see a lot of information about current game state, and a list of recent Stonescript errors.
• Use >@varName@ to print any variable value to the screen for debugging.
• Use >`0,0, for a stable screen-space position that won't move with the player.

Text editing

• For longer scripts it is strongly recommended to copy the script into an external text editor such as Notepad, VS Code, or any editor of your choice.
• Common shortcuts work: Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.
• A print command can span multiple lines using \n in the text, or using the ^ line-continuation character.

Default script

Stone Story RPG ships with this default starter script:

import UI/MindstoneButton
?hp < 7
  activate potion
?loc = caves
  equipL sword
  equipR shield
?foe = boss
  equip crossbow

It imports the MindstoneButton UI, uses a potion when health is critical, and equips a basic loadout for Caves of Fear with a crossbow swap for bosses.

See also

• Getting Started — introduction and first example
• Basics — ?, :, :?, ^, comments
• Game State — everything you can query
• Commands — everything you can do