Syntax

Every line (excluding empty ones) in milk is read and evaluated as a single command. A command or piece of text cannot span multiple lines.

String

Enclosed by single quotes '' or double quotes "". Using single quotes allows you to include double quotes in the string and vice versa. To use ' or " within itself you can simply escape the character using a backslash \.

$x = 'This is a "string"'
$y = "This is also a 'string'"

Number

This simply represents a number. A number can start with a minus - or + plus symbol. A number can also only include a single period ..

$x = -5
$y = +4.2

Boolean

Stores true or false. on and off, yes and no also serve as respective variants.

$happy = yes
$sad = false
$night_mode = off
$night_mode = true

Logical operations are evaluated into boolean values.

$happy = 20 > 1
$sad = 50 <= 20 and 60 == 'forty'

Objects

Objects are not supported. Take a look at accessors

Variable

Variables serve as value data storage. They are not limited by value types.

Variables must start with an underscore symbol _ or a small letter [_a-z]. After that they can contain more letters, numbers and underscore: [_a-zA-Z0-9]*. Hyphen - is not allowed within variables

Valid ✅

$my_var2 = true
$_2var = true

Invalid ❌

// Syntax highlighting fails...
$MyVar = true 
$2anotherVar = true
$normal-var = true

NB: This is a well considered design choice but is definitely open for revision

Accessors

Accessors serve as a way to read or write values into internal game variables. They may bear the same name as normal variables, but they are treated differently in the engine.

They are represented by variable_name:prop1:prop2

$jo:bra = off
$flora:title = "Flora the great!"

// This creates a separate variable named 'flora'. It will not clash with the accessor above
$flora = "Flora the great!"

Blocks

Comment

This is represented by a single line of text preceded by a double slash //.

// This is a comment

Because milk is structured only in single lines multi-lined comments are not supported.

Text

This is represent by a single line of text. Nothing more, just text.

This is a single line of text
This is another line

Section

Sections serve as reusable blocks (i.e functions)

A section ends with a <-

--- section_1 ---
<-

To call another section simply use -> section_name

-> section_1

Section names follow the same naming convention as a variable

Choice Block

This represents a decision block. When a choice block is used, the game spawns a set of options for the user to select.

Choice block must end with a <-, if not the compiler will simply read every line underneath as more content for the choice block.

*   Option 1
    // Some text here
*   Option 2
    // Some more text here
*   Option 3
    // Final option here
<-

Nesting

Each star * in an choice block represents it's nested level.

* Level 1
    // A nested choice block
    ** Level 2 (inside level one)
    ** Level 2 - option 2
    <-
* Level 1 - option 2
<-

Condition block

This works very similar to a choice block. The key difference is that it uses logical operations (like an if-else statement)

Just like a choice blocks a condition block must end with a <-.

? $happy == true and $sad == false
    // Commands here...
? $happy == false
    // Condition two
<-

To symbolize else statement i.e what to do if all the above conditions fail, Simply add a ? without any expressions following it

? $happy == true and $sad == false
    // Commands here...
?
    // Commands that happen if all else fails
<-

Nesting

Similarly to choice blocks, each ? in represents it's nested level.

? $happy == true and $sad == false
    // Level 1 - Condition 1

    // A nested condition block
    ?? 5 > 2
        // Level 2 - Condition 1
    ?? 5 <= 2
        // Level 2 - Condition 2
    <-
? $happy == false
    // Level 1 - Condition 2
<-

Accessors

Accessors work fine within condition blocks

? $flora:happy == true
    // Your commands here
<-

Statement

Statements are commands. They get things done within the game. Have a look at the api reference for more information.

Statements work mostly like functions with condition arguments @statement arg1 arg2:value arg3

@go bedroom

Modifiers

Modifiers follow statements and provide more detailed information

They are denoted by #modifier or #modifier:value. Values can range from numbers, boolean to string.

• #modifier:'some_string'
• #modifier:1
• #modifier:true
• #modifier:off

@show flora #from:left