Writing a Plugin

Let's get started with writing our first plugin. The gimmick method we currently have in Ichigo is nice, but we can only change one gimmick per line. Let's write a plugin that will allow us to define multiple gimmicks with one ease, and multiple gimmicks with one set.

You can find plugins for Ichigo Template here.

Create a new file called multimod.lua in the /src/plugins folder. We can create two functions to accomplish the goals of this plugin. We can name them anything that isn't taken already. Let's go with ease and set. They should take in a table, just like gimmick does.

function ease(t)
end

function set(t)
end

Let's work with ease first. We want to make this as little confusing as possible, so let's get an idea of how to use this function.

ease {0, 2, Tweens.linear, 0, 100, "flip", 0, -100, "invert"}

We have three arguments that are constant, the first three, and we have a boundless number of arguments that are variable. However, it follows a pattern. Do you notice it? Each group of three contains the following:

• A start value

• An end value

• A gimmick name

After some calculation, we can boil our table of arguments down to the following:

-- [1]: start beat
-- [2]: length (or end)
-- [3]: the ease
-- [4 + 3*n]: the source mod value
-- [5 + 3*n]: the destination mod value
-- [6 + 3*n]: the mod name

If you don't understand, it's okay. The point is that what we want to accomplish is possible. Let's fill in our ease function.

function ease(t)
    for i = 4, #t, 3 do
        gimmick {t[1], t[2], t[3], t[i], t[i + 1], t[i + 2], plr = t.plr}
    end
    return ease
end

We return the function we just created so we can chain function calls, just like gimmick. For example:

ease
  {0, 2, Tweens.linear, 0, 100, "flip", 0, -100, "invert"}
  {2, 4, Tweens.linear, 100, 0, "flip", -100, 0, "invert"}

Now with set. This one is easier.

-- [1]: start beat
-- [2 + 2*n]: the mod value
-- [3 + 2*n]: the mod name

Let's go ahead and fill in our set function with this in mind.

function set(t)
    for i = 2, #t, 2 do
        gimmick {t[1], t[i], t[i + 1], plr = t.plr}
    end
    return set
end

Great! We now have a plugin that allows us to set or ease multiple mods at once. Here's the entire code we've written so far:

-- multimod.lua
-- written by Sudospective

function ease(t)
    for i = 4, #t, 3 do
        gimmick {t[1], t[2], t[3], t[i], t[i + 1], t[i + 2], plr = t.plr}
    end
    return ease
end

function set(t)
    for i = 2, #t, 2 do
        gimmick {t[1], t[i], t[i + 1], plr = t.plr}
    end
    return set
end

Plugins can be a great way to provide easy, lightweight tools that can speed up the gimmick creation process.