UrqW Game Template

This is a template of a new game for the UrqW text-based game engine.

This template assumes the use of additional development tools such as Git and Node.js with npm. This is intended to automate routine actions.

However, game development for UrqW can be done without all of this. See the documentation of UrqW for more details.

Usage

Preliminary preparation:

1. Clone the Game Template repository:

   git clone https://github.com/urqw/game_template.git my_new_game
   cd my_new_game

2. Install all dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a manifest.json file for your new game:

   npm run manifest

   Enter the data that will be requested.
   It is recommended to use UTF-8 encoding and URQ mode urqw. These are the parameters that are set when saving manifest. A new IFID will be generated automatically (only when there is no other IFID in the manifest, so you can safely run the script several times).

Additional actions if desired:

• You can delete the .git directory and initialize the Git repository again to start your new game project from scratch.
• You can edit the package data in the package.json file to match it to your new game project.
• You can replace the license of this package with any other, as well as add or change other files.

Workflow:

1. All game data is stored in the urqw directory. This is where the game development takes place.
2. Open the UrqW documentation if needed:

   npm run docs

3. Make your first changes to the game files and build the project:

   npm run build

4. After the first build, run a local web server with an interpreter to debug the game you are developing:

   npm start

5. After significant changes to the project, rebuild it:

   npm run build

   The web server with the running interpreter will automatically track the build update and initiate a reload of the page with the new version of the game.
   At any time, you can open the menu in the interpreter interface and expand the Debugging section to see additional information about the running game. The information is constantly updated.
6. Continue developing the game and debugging it in the running interpreter. In parallel, you can use the version control system to save the development history. Binary builds of the game will not be included in the Git history.
7. At any time, you can extract the text of descriptions, actions and comments from the game's source code to proofread it separately from the programming language constructs:

   npm run extract

8. Once the game is ready to be published (or a major update), you can create (or update) an iFiction record with the game's metadata:

   npm run ifiction

   Enter the data that will be requested. See the Treaty of Babel for more details.
9. Once the game is ready, you can build the release as an archive:

   npm run release

   This archive is suitable for running in UrqW.
   Or you can add the game repository to the UrqW instance repository as a Git submodule. The template structure meets the necessary UrqW requirements for adding games as submodules.

For details, please refer to the UrqW documentation.

License

UrqW Game Template - a new game template for the UrqW text-based game engine.

Written in 2025 by Nikita Tseykovets tseikovets@rambler.ru

To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.

You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along with this software. If not, see http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/.