Tile Blocks - GlowPuff/JiMEditor GitHub Wiki

A Tile Block is a group of tiles the Companion App instructs the players to place onto the playing table. Except for the first Start Tile Block, which is automatically activated when the Scenario starts, all Tile Blocks are Triggered to make them activate. Set a Trigger in the "Triggered By" dropdown menu.

Help the Companion App lay out your Tile Blocks by marking it as Dynamic under the following condition: If the Tile block MAY or MAY NOT be activated during the Scenario. Make the Block Dynamic if, for example, it's an optional part of the map that MAY or MAY NOT get activated during a playthrough. A Block that is NOT Dynamic, but should be, could potentially make parts of the map inaccessible as the Scenario is played.

A Tile Block can have either Fixed or Random tiles. Fixed tiles are laid out in the Tile Editor and appear exactly as you design them every time the Scenario is played in the Companion App. With Random tiles, you assign a number of tiles in the Random Tile Editor, and the companion app will randomly fit them together. The layout will be different every time the Scenario is played. The Start Block cannot use randomly generated tiles - it can only use Fixed tiles. Edit tiles in the Tile Editor.

Token Interaction Groups

If a Tile Block uses Random Token Interaction Groups, it will be able to randomly choose Events from a Group you create, assign them to Tokens, and randomly place those Tokens on its tiles. This is opposed to fixed Tokens that you explicitly assign and place by hand in the Tile and Token Editors. Fixed and Random Token Interaction Groups can be used together in a Tile Block. A fixed Token uses the same position and points to the same Event every time the Scenario is played. Random Token Interaction Groups use different Events in different places on the board on every playthrough. Replaying the Scenario seems different each time its played.

Creating Token Interaction Groups

  1. When creating an Event to be placed into a Group, make sure Token Interaction is checked in its Properties.
  2. Select a Token Type (Search/Person/Threat/Darkness) for the Event.
  3. At the end of the Event Name, use "GRP#" to place it into an Interaction Group (without the quotes), where # uniquely identifies that group.
  4. Use this same GRP# naming convention to add other Token Interactions you create into this group.

For example, two Events named "light fire GRP2" and "orc squad GRP2" will put both of the Events into an Interaction Group with the name "GRP2". You can put as many Events into groups as you wish. Only Events marked as Token Interaction can be placed into a Token Interaction Group. The Events you place into a Group don't have to be the same kind of Event. They can be any combination of Event types - Text, Enemies, Stat Tests, Decisions, etc.

Now that you have some Events placed into a Group, you can make a Tile Block use that Group to randomly place Tokens representing some or all of those Events (randomly chosen) on its tiles. Use the dropdown menu to select which Group the Tile Block will use. Only Groups whose Events are ALL marked as Token Interactions will appear in the dropdown. The Editor will tell you how many Events it found in that Group. It will also tell you how many fixed Tokens you've already placed on the Block's tiles. You can only use as many fixed/random Tokens as there are spaces available on the Block's tiles.

The Editor tells you how many total spaces are available to place Tokens in the Block. It will also tell you the maximum number of Events that can be used out of the Group you've selected above. Enter a number up to the maximum. By specifying less Events than you have in the Group, players may see Events they didn't see on a previous playthrough, since Events are randomly chosen.

Detailed Example

Example: Using Tiles 201 and 202, we have 4 spaces available, and we're not using any fixed Tokens. Let's say we assign a Group to this Tile Block that has 6 different Events in it. We can use a maximum of 4 of those 6 Events because there are only 4 spaces available on the Tiles we're using. However, we only want 2 of those 6 Events to randomly spawn Tokens on these Tiles, so we enter 2 into the text box. During the game, the Companion App will randomly choose 2 Events out of the Group and randomly spawn their Token on the tiles. The other 4 Events are discarded this time - maybe they'll show up on the next playthrough!

Things To Keep In Mind

  1. Because Events are randomly chosen out of Groups, keep in mind not to place Events that are detrimental to Scenario completion into Groups since no Event is guaranteed to be used (UNLESS, of course, you are using ALL Events in the Group).
  2. If you place an Event into a Token Interaction Group, you typically don't want to use it elsewhere, whether that be in another Group or assigned to a fixed Token in the Token Editor. This isn't for a technical reason - it could be confusing to players to see the same Token/Event appear in many places. You could, of course, design an Event where this would be normal.
  3. Only Events marked as Token Interactions can be placed into a Group.
  4. If you add or remove Events from the Group assigned to this Block, you may need to revisit these settings to adjust the number of Events to use from the Group.

Flavor Text is optional story text that is shown to the players when the Block is first activated. It is only shown once.

Trigger On Exploration is an optional Trigger you can set that fires when any one of the Tile Block's tiles is first explored. It is only fired once.