In this documentation page, we will take a look at several properties applicable to all connections that control the resource flow in a diagram. Here are their definitions

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Labels – They describe the connection function and are purely informative;

Types – Are used to set and adjust the flow or resources, to perform conditional checks and to set the execution order of nodes

Intervals -They specifies the cadence of the flow of resources – only applicable for resource connection

Connection Labels

Labels can be applied to Nodes and Connections and are purely descriptive. Use them to organize your diagram and annotate components for better readability. Additionally, you can use labels to better identify specific components in Layers, AI Balancer window and during Collaborative Editing. They will also be listed in the exported Google Sheet when you are using the functionality to Export to Google Drive.

Connection Types

Connections Types determine the rate at which Resources flow or how the diagram. These rates can also be adjusted by controlled activations using Triggers, conditional checks using Activators or increased/decresed by creating Modifiers. All these options can be simply selected using the Connection Type dropdown on the Properties panel on the right side of the canvas.

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The Connection Type Dropdown selection is automatically updated based on the input and output connected Nodes. As such, you can be sure that only compatible types could be selected for your setup!

Resource Connections Types

Types on Resource Connections dictate how Resources flow between Nodes. These Types can range from deterministic to chance based to complete randomness. This Here are the types of Formulas supported by Resource Connections:

Types	Format	Examples

State Connections Formulas

Formulas attached to State Connections indicate the effects of state and state changes on other elements in the diagram.

Here are the Formulas types you can use, and to which types of State Connection they can be applied:

Types	Format	Examples	Applicable to
modifiers	+x; -x; +x%; -x%	+2; -0.3; +50%; -2%	value modifiers; node modifiers
interval modifiers	+xi; -xi	+2i; -1i	value modifiers
probabilities	x%; x	20%; 3	triggers after a gate
conditions	==x; !=x; >=x;	==0; !=2; >=4;	activators; triggers after a gate
range (conditions)	x..y	2..5; 4..7	activators; triggers after a gate
trigger maker	*	*	triggers
trigger maker	!	!	reverse triggers
overwrite	=	=	value modifiers; node modifiers

Overwrite with the “=” operator

Use = on a State Connection to overwrite the Formula on a State Connection or the value of a Node.

In the example above, you can experiment how changes in the input Nodes can overwrite the values of target Formulas or of target Nodes.

Formula Modifier: before hitting Play, the Formula on the Resource Connection between the Source and the Pool is 10. However, upon hitting Play, the Formula will be overwritten, and it will equal the value of the Modifier Pool.

Node Modifier: before hitting Play, there are 500 Resources in the Target Pool. After hitting Play, any change to the Interactive Register will be reflected in the number of Resources contained by the Target Pool.

The difference between the “+1” and “=” operators

In short:

Use “=” to overwrite Node values.
Use “+1” if the State Connection’s output Node needs to react to changes made by other inputs.

Here’s a diagram explaining the difference between the two operators:

Note: Click on the double-edged Drains to notice the difference in behaviour.

And a short video explaining this:

Intervals

You may want a Node in your diagram to be activated less than every Step. Use Intervals to do this, as in the example below.

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In the example above, the Source will produce 3 Resources every 2 Steps.

You can use random flow rates with Intervals.

The example above will produce between 1 and 6 Resources every 3 steps.

Intervals can be random as well.

The above setup produces 1 Resource every 3 to 6 steps.

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Random Intervals can be a good way to keep the player’s attention on the game.

You can even use a production rate of D6|D6, which indicates between 1 and 6 Resources are produced every 1 to 6 steps.

Intervals can also be modified dynamically. Formula Modifiers that have an i as a unit of their modification (for example, +1i or -3i) will change their target’s Interval.

In the example above, the Difficulty initially increases by 1 Difficulty point every 2 Steps (1|2). By adding the Interactive Register with the Formula Modifier +1i, we’re able to change the interval dynamically. Play around with the Interactive Register, to increase or decrease the interval at which Difficulty Points accumulate for our player. (Hint: watch the Steps count next to the Reset button to track changes.)

Combining Conditions

You can combine conditions and math expressions in the same formula (both for registers and for custom variables). If you want the math expression to calculate only when the condition is true you can use the * operator to combine them.

As you can see in the image above, you replace the “and” and “or” conditions using multiplication and addition, respectively.

and(largerEq(a,100),smaller(a,200)) is the same as largerEq(a,100)*smaller(a,200) just shorter.

Example 1:

largerEq(a,2)*(c+4)

In this case, (c+4) will only be calculated if a is larger than or equal to 2.
Please note that this condition will return 1 if it is true and 0 if it is false. Therefore, if the condition is false, the math expression will be multiplied by 0, returning 0 as the result.

Example 2:

largerEq(a,100)*smaller(a,200) → It is true when a is larger than or equal to 100 and smaller than 200

smaller(a,100)+larger(a,200) → It is true when a is smaller than 100 or larger than 200.

Georg Palme

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