Narration

A Narration is a data structure used by Alter Ego. It represents a narration of in-game occurrences that can be communicated to multiple Players at once. Narrations are exclusively created and sent by the Game’s narration handler.

Once a Narration has been created, a Narrate Action is performed with it. A Narration object acts as a set of instructions for how the Narration should be communicated in a Narrate Action.

In general, Narrations are sent to Room channels, for all Players inside of them to see. As such, they are usually written to be somewhat generic, and not tailored to any one Player’s perspective.

Narrations are fully transient. They are only intended to exist temporarily, so they are not saved to the spreadsheet. Narrations have an extremely short life; once a Narration has been sent as a message, it disappears forever.

Narrations have a counterpart that are more tailored to individual Players: Notifications.

Attributes

Narrations have several attributes.

Message Display Type

• Class attribute: Enum (number) this.messageDisplayType

This is the message display type to use for the message that will be sent to communicate the Narration. This determines how it will be displayed. This is assigned automatically by the narration handler, and these assignments are almost all hard-coded. However, it is possible to set the message display type for Narrations written as Descriptions.

Action

• Class attribute: Action this.action

This is the Action being narrated. It is used by the Game’s communication handler to ensure that Actions are only communicated in the same channel once.

Player

• Class attribute: Player this.player

This is the Player whose Action is being narrated.

Location

• Class attribute: Room this.location

This is the Room where the Action being narrated is occurring. The Narration is usually sent to the channel of its location.

Whisper

• Class attribute: Whisper | null this.whisper

This is the Whisper where the Action being narrated is occurring. If the Action is not occurring in a Whisper, this is null. Usually, if it is occurring in a Whisper, this means that the Narration will be sent to the channel of the Whisper, instead of its location.

Content

• Class attribute: String this.content

The text content for the Narration. This is always what gets sent as a message. However, it can sometimes be altered to add contextual information before it is sent, such as where the Narration originated from if it came from another Room.

Message

• Class attribute: OmitPartialGroupDMChannel<Message> | null this.message

This is the original message that caused the Narration to be sent, if applicable. This is usually the message of the Narration’s Action. However, if the Narration didn’t originate with a message, this is null.

Attachments

• Class attribute: Collection<String, Attachment> this.attachments

This is a collection of attachments sent with the original message. These will be sent with the message communicating the Narration, and in any spectate mirrors of the Narration. If the Narration doesn’t have a message, or the message was sent with no attachments, this is an empty collection.

Embeds

• Class attribute: Array<Embed> this.embeds

This is an array of embeds sent with the original message. These will be sent with the message communicating the Narration, and in any spectate mirrors of the Narration. If the Narration doesn’t have a message, or the message was sent with no embeds, this is an empty array.

Narrator

• Class attribute: Player | Moderator | null this.narrator

This is the Player or Moderator who wrote the Narration, if applicable. A narrator is required to send a Narration with the PLAYER message display type. This is usually only set if the originating Action was a Narrate Action. However, a narrator is also set when a Gesture Action is performed. If there is no narrator, this is null.

Narrator Display Name

• Class attribute: String this.narratorDisplayName

This is the display name that will be used to represent the narrator in a webhook message—the type of message sent in the PLAYER message display type. If the narrator is a Player, this will usually be their display name. If the narrator is a Moderator, this will be their nickname in the server, or their account’s display name if they don’t have one set.

Narrator Display Icon

• Class attribute: String this.narratorDisplayIcon

This is the avatar URL that will be used to represent the narrator in a webhook message—the type of message sent in the PLAYER message display type. If the narrator is a Player, this will usually be their display icon. If the narrator is a Moderator, this will be their server avatar, or their account’s avatar if they don’t have one set.

Is OOC Message

• Class attribute: Boolean this.isOOCMessage

This Boolean value indicates whether or not the Narration is considered an out-of-character. A Narration can only be out-of-character if it has a narrator, and the content of the Narration begins with an opening parenthesis ((). If this is true, the Narration will not be mirrored in spectate channels.

Location is Surveilled

• Class attribute: Boolean this.locationIsSurveilled

This Boolean value indicates whether or not the Narration’s location has the video surveilled tag. If this is true, then the Narration will be mirrored in all Rooms with the video monitoring tag. However, if the Narration is an OOC message, this is always false.

Video Monitoring Rooms

• Class attribute: Array<Room> this.videoMonitoringRooms

This is a list of all occupied Rooms with the video monitoring tag. NPCs count as occupants. If the location doesn’t have the video surveilled tag, or if the Narration is an OOC message, this is empty.