Preface

This Tutorial should help beginners to create their first script with X-script. With X-script it is possible, to provide new missions for X-Force: Fight For Destiny. For the understanding of the Tutorials, program knowledge is an advantage, but not absolutely necessary. However, a systematic overview of loops, functions, etc. is not the purpose of these Tutorials. Some rather easy scripts in which the different possibilities of X-script are demonstrated will be developed in the following chapters.

X script is based on the Pascal computer language. Therefore, I would like to point you here to the Pascal-style guides, these help to write clear code which is easy to understand. You will find them at Delphi-Source (german). The Tutorial will explain the most important tips from the style guide, and only present scripts which also correspond to this style guide. Naturally you do not need the style guide to understand these Tutorials. Nevertheless, the style guide has proved itself with the programming of Pascal and therefore it cannot hurt to follow it when writing your own scripts.

If you need additional information on the syntax of Pascal, you can find it at Delphi-Source (still german). Delphi is Pascal based; therefore you can use the basic principles in X-Script. Here are some of the most interesting chapters:

Unfortunately, this help is only in german, so if you know of adequate english pages, feel free and add them here.

Articles which have been taken over from the delphi-source and adjusted to X-Script

Certainly more useful information can be pulled out of the other chapters but it would be too much to explain this here. To understand this tutorial they are helpful but not assumed.

ZI have a few more tips on the construction of these tutorials. Inexperienced programmers should work through these tutorials chapter by chapter. Whenever a new linguistic element appears in a chapter, it is emphasized in the source code in red and is explained there. In addition, a link with an explanation is offered for certain concepts. Thus the bases of X-script can be learned completely.

Because any single chapters treats a concrete play element (e.g., UFOs or news windows, etc.), the experienced programmers, who search only information on a certain subject, can jump to the suitable chapter. The missions developed there are independent scipts, and (apart from basic linguistic elements) independent from other chapters.

Dark red text is used when the text needs to be revised. This can be, e.g., the case if the text contains a reference to a chapter that is not yet available or a function that is yet to be developed in the scripting language.

If you want to take part in writing this tutorial please follow the general guidelines as well as the special ones for this tutorial.

XScript-tutorial

Chapter 1 - First Steps