Create a Config File

In the previous step, we set up the plugin to read its shortcuts from the game configuration: Global.read_config("cortex", "shortcuts").

Now we need to set up that configuration. All configuration files live in the aresmush/game/config folder. The name doesn’t matter, but traditionally they’re named the same as the plugin.

Configuration files use the YAML format, with a series of key/value pairs. Each plugin has its own top-level configuration section.

The create plugin script created a file named cortex.yml in aresmush/game/config, with an empty cortex section:

cortex: {}

The first thing we’ll want to add to that configuration is the list of abilities, which will vary from game to game. Cortex has several different kinds of abilities.

• Attributes have a name and description.
• Skills have a name, a description, and suggestions of specialties.
• Assets and Complications have a name, a description, and a list of available die steps.

We’ll also have some other configuration, like the number of points people start with and the shortcuts list (which we’ll just leave empty for now until we have some commands).

Put this all together and we get the following configuration:

cortex:
    starting_attribute_points: 48
    starting_skill_points: 68
    starting_trait_points: 4
    shortcuts: {}
    attributes:
    -
      name: Agility
      description: Quickness and coordination.
    - 
      name: Strength
      description: Physical brawn.
    skills:
    - 
      name: Athletics
      description: General athletic activity and sports.
      specialties: Running, Jumping, Climbing, Weight Lifting
    - 
      name: Guns
      description: Shooting firearms.
      specialties: Rifle, Energy Weapon, Pistol, Shotgun
    assets:
    - 
      name: Ambidextrous
      description: Using both hands with equal proficiency.
      steps:
      - d2
    - 
      name: Blue Blood
      description: Descended from nobility.
      steps:
      - d2
      - d4
      - d6
    complications:
    - 
      name: Allergy
      description: Allergic to something common.
      steps:
      - d2
      - d8
    -
      name: Forked Tongue
      description: Compulsive liar.
      steps:
      - d6

Obviously that’s only a tiny sampling of the abilities. In the real implementation, the configuration is broken up across several files, cortex_attributes.yml, cortex_skills.yml, etc. just to keep the data more organized. You can have multiple config files for a single plugin, as long as their configuration is under cortex:. For example:

In cortex.yml:

cortex:
    starting_attribute_points: 48
    ...
    shortcuts: {}

In cortex_attributes.yml:

cortex:
    attributes:
        - ...

And so on.