Nodes

Nodes are the building blocks of every verb. Each node does one job: get a value and pass it along, do some arithmetic, show text, move a GameObject. There are over 150 of them; the List of All Nodes describes each one.

Node ports

Nodes have ports for passing values. Inputs are on the left side of a node, outputs on the right. Nodes connect output to input. An input port usually takes one connection, and an output port can usually feed many.

Ports are typed: each one holds a particular C# type, such as a number, a string or a list. Ports only connect when their types match, or are compatible.

Input ports of simple types, such as ints, floats and strings, usually show a field for a default value, used when nothing is connected.

Here the Enabled port is a bool and is true, because nothing is connected and the box is ticked. The Display Text port works the same way: connect something to it, or type the text into its field.

Runnable nodes

Runnable nodes make something happen in the game. The action may finish at once, take seconds or minutes, or wait for something, such as the player clicking a button.

Runnable nodes chained together run left to right, each one finishing before the next starts. In that sense a runnable node is like a state in a state machine. Narramancer saves which node is running and what it’s waiting on, so a load picks up on the same node.

Runnable nodes only work in ActionVerbs, not in ValueVerbs.

A runnable node has two special ports shaped like arrows, used to chain it into a sequence: This Node on the left and Then Run Node on the right.

The first runnable node to run in an ActionVerb is the one connected to the verb’s Root node.

Dynamically typed node ports

Some nodes work with many types. They start with no ports. Choose a type from the node’s dropdown and the matching ports are created.

Pass-through values

Many nodes, especially those that work on noun instances, pass their input values through as outputs. That way, nodes further along can use the same values without long wires crossing the graph.