Since everyone has read my summary of Twine's built-in macros, you'll notice that many other JavaScript operators can be used in the <<set>>, <<remember>>, <<if>> and <<print>> macros. Here is an incomplete list of a few that you may find useful. Many of these are not as "tidy" as the documented operators, and some of them are counterintuitive in their meaning. You can still use them, though, if you so wish.

Note: No greater-than signs

Before we begin, a quick reminder: the greater-than sign can't be used inside a valid macro tag - the macro will not be recognised. That's why the "gt" and "gte" operators are provided to you instead.

Setting multiple variables in one <<set>>

You can set multiple variables in a <<set>> macro if you separate their equations with a semicolon:

<<set $green = "Rice" ; $gold = "Cheese" ; $ammo = 14; $score = 0 >>

Note: you should not do this using <<remember>>: the macro only remembers the first $variable used in it.

Modifying a number variable: +=, -=, *=, /=

A commonly known programming shorthand for arithmetic operations is available. Instead of writing <<set $strength = $strength - 1>> you can just write

<<set $strength -= 1>>

This sets $strength to itself, minus 1. The other operators +=, *=, /= also work for their respective arithmetic. These can only be used in situations where the = sign would normally be used.

(Do not accidentally write <<set $strength =- 1>>, because that will set $strength to -1. The arithmetic operator goes before the equals sign.)

The ternary operator ( ? : )

The ternary operator can be used as a condensed, specific version of <<if>> <<else>> <<endif>>. Whenever a statement calls for a value, you could instead put ( [an if-macro condition] ? [a value if the condition is true] : [a value if the condition is false] ).

<<print ($ammo gt 4 ? "Ammo OK" : "Ammo low" )>>

The above line prints "Ammo OK" if $ammo is greater than 4, and "Ammo low" otherwise. If you want to make things much less readable and comprehensible, you can nest ternaries in each other:

<<print ($ammo gt 4 ? ($ammo gt 16 ? "Ammo oversupplied" : "Ammo OK") : "Ammo low" )>>

If $ammo exceeds 4, then the value of the inner ternary is printed. You can also rewrite it like this, which is slightly more readable:

<<print ($ammo gt 16? : "Ammo oversupplied" : ($ammo gt 4 ? "Ammo OK" : "Ammo low" )>>

Show all the game's variables for debug purposes

All the story variables are accessible in the JavaScript object "state.history[0].variables".

This line of code will print the variables that have currently been set:
<<print JSON.stringify(state.history[0].variables)>>

This will print something like the following:
{"meal":"Rice","snack":"Cheese","ammo":14,"score":0}
As you can see, it features pairs of values - the variable name, followed by a colon, followed by the value of the variable.

Internal links using string variables

Pointed out by one HarmlessTrouble: the <<print>> macro, if given a string containing wiki markup, will render the markup when printing it. This means that you can generate an internal link that uses string variables for its data, just by doing something like this:

<<print "[[" + $passage + "]]">>
<<print "[[" + $label + "|" + $passage + "]]">>

Remarkable! Of course, due to the No Greater-Than Signs rule, you can't do this with the <<choice>> macro, the <<display>> macro, or any macro at all.

Creating an internal link inside HTML blocks

You can do this like so:

<a href='javascript:void(0)' onclick='state.display("PassageName")' class='internalLink'>Link text</a>

PassageName is the name of the passage. You need to give it the class "internalLink" if you want the standard CSS to be applied to the link.

Alternative to the <<display>> macro that can use string variables

Since <<display>> doesn't interpret its parameter as code, you can't, for instance, specify a passage name inside a variable. Hopefully this will be fixed at some point, but until then, here's an alternative you can use right now:

<<print tale.get($variable).text>>

$variable can be any statement or valid series of operations, as long as it equals the name of one of your passages:

<<print tale.get($hp eq 0 ? "DeathEnd" : $race + "Ending").text>>

Of course, it'd be much better if you could just fix <<display>> so that you can use code in it.

Accessing information about the current passage

This could be useful if, for instance, you use <<display>> a lot, and want the displayed passage to know something about whatever's displaying it.

The JavaScript object corresponding to the current passage is accessible in state.history[0].passage. If you want to, for instance, get the title of the current passage, try:

<<set $title = state.history[0].passage.title >>

All of the tags are in the array state.history[0].passage.tags. You can use the array syntax to access them (but I do not recommend modifying them). To see if the current passage has a tag, try:

<<set $hasTheTag = (state.history[0].passage.tags.indexOf("tag") gte 0) >>

Putting non-printed space between macros

You can use the TiddlyWiki comment markers /% and %/ to prevent whatever is inside them from being printed or run. You can use this to give large blocks of macros some breathing room without having to use a <<silently>> macro.

<<set $red = 1>>/%
%/<<if $green gt 4>>/%
%/<<set $blue += 2>>/%
%/<<remember $white = 2>>/%
%/<<endif>>/%
%/Some actual passage text...

Having investigated the current Twine codebase, here's a written-up a list of built-in macros. Most are well-known, but some have different limitations than what the documentation says. Others are little-known, and often for good reason.

Having investigated the Twine engine code, I've found that the official passage syntax documentation(*) is incomplete. Here, then, is what I believe to be a complete list of Twine markup syntax. Almost all of it is derived from TiddlyWiki, and as such, some parts are not necessarily relevant to the typical Twine author. Nevertheless, they remain available.

http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/files/Twine1.3.5.MarkupSyntax_0.html

Updated 27/3/13: Added more inline image syntax examples.

Twine's engine is largely based on TiddlyWiki. The standard formatting codes are all TiddlyWiki syntax. Though, having a closer look at the engine source, I discovered a few other TiddlyWiki formatting codes are present in Jonah and Sugarcane - most interesting being Inline CSS, which ostensibly lets you apply inline styles around passage text. All you have to do is type "@@", then list CSS style attributes separated and terminated with semicolons, then put the passage text (including any other formatting and macros) ending with another "@@".

However, in the stable Twine versions of Jonah and Sugarcane, it is bugged - it will not work unless you include this code in a script passage:

String.prototype.unDash = function()
{
	var s = this.split("-");
	if(s.length > 1)
		for(var t=1; t < s.length; t++)
			s[t] = s[t].substr(0,1).toUpperCase() + s[t].substr(1);
	return s.join("");
};

If you include this code, you can use it. Here are some usage examples:

@@background-color:hsl(30,50%,50%);This text has an umber background.@@

@@color:gray;text-decoration:overline;This text is gray and has a vertical line over it.@@

@@letter-spacing: -2px;This text <<timedreplace 6>>and this macro<<endtimedreplace>> will be compressed.@@

@@text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em #333;This text will have a gray shadow.@@

@@opacity:0.5;This text and this image [img[image.png]] will be translucent.@@

You may notice that this is all functionally equivalent to simply writing raw HTML: <html><span style="background-color:hsl(30,50%,50%);">This text has an umber background.</span></html>. Except, being in HTML mode prevents you from using wiki syntax, internal links and such, so this method is both briefer and more consistent with Twine markup.

If you want to easily apply CSS to an entire group of passages without needing to copy-paste CSS code, then you can use this method and script code to do so.

So, i'm kinda looking to become better at both making trainwrecks and also at writing (specifically for Twine games).

If you have played through any/all of my silly Trainwrecks or my my singular twine game, please give me some criticism or something that can help me improve my writing and/or my general trainwrecking skills.

I haven't really made a new trainwreck in a while, but that's mainly due to an overall lack of ideas for trainwrecks, and probably a lack of motivation. Well, that, and i'm pretty much focusing entirely on getting the giant-ass-twine-game-that-i'm-making-with-candle done (which wont be done until at LEAST halfway through the year, i'd say.)

But yeah, if you can tell me either what you would improve/do at certain points in my games, or tell me what I could have done better overall, then that would be really frocking great and would help me a bunch!

<3

-Nano

Here's version 1.1.1 of some Twine macros to play sound files with HTML5 audio.

http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/files/TwineMacros-SoundMacros-1.1.1.txt

These macros accept either strings or string variables as their first argument. I recommend you set the filenames to specific variables and then use those as arguments to the macros.
<<playsound "carolofthebells.mp3" >> plays the file "carolofthebells.mp3" from the start.
<<loopsound $heartbeat >> starts playing $heartbeat, over and over. Note: currently browsers are not that good at looping audio seamlessly - brief silences between loops may occur.
<<fadeinsound $heartbeat >> is identical to loopsound, but fades in the sound over 2 seconds.
<<unloopsound $heartbeat >> makes $heartbeat no longer repeat when it finishes.
<<stopsound "birds.ogg" >> stops playing "birds.ogg". When <<playsound "birds.ogg" >> is used again, it will start from the beginning.
<<fadeoutsound "birds.ogg" >> is identical to stopsound, but fades out the sound over 2 seconds.
<<pausesound "trees.ogg" >> pauses "trees.ogg" at its current location. Use <<playsound "trees.ogg" >> to resume it.
<<stopallsound>> stops all the sounds.

Important instructions:

1. Included with the macros is a script that will preload all of the music files as soon as you begin the game. It does this by searching through all of your passages for anything that resembles a music filename - a string in either single or double quotes that ends with ".ogg", ".mp3", ".wav" or ".webm". Then, it will attempt to load that as a file. I consider this to be simpler and more desired behaviour than explicitly requiring you to put preloader macros at the start of the story, but bear this in mind when you write passages.
2. For legal and free software advocacy reasons, the Apple and Microsoft browsers (Safari, Internet Explorer) do not support OGG format, whereas the cross-platform browsers (Opera, Firefox) do not support MP3. (Google Chrome supports both.) So, you may have to include your music file in both formats. Give each of these files the same name ("ghost.mp3", "ghost.ogg") and store them in the same directory. You only need to <<playsound>> one of these files - if it can't be played, the other one will be used instead.
3. For short sound effects, it would be safe to use "wav" format for them, but be warned - Wavs don't work in Internet Explorer. So, you may need them in MP3 format too. Again, provided both are available, you only need to use one of them in your <<playsound>> macros.
4. Implementation-wise, this creates an object, "macros.playsound.soundtracks", which stores Audio objects for every found sound file. I'm not sure if this is the most usable method just yet. This may change in future versions.

There's a lot that can be done to expand on this. Something I might add is a way to bind looping sounds to a specific passage tag. So, you could perhaps write <<tagsound "trees" "Howling_Monkeys.mp3">> and then give a passage a tag of "trees", and it will keep looping "Howling_Monkeys.mp3" if you're at such a passage, and stop it when you leave. Also on the list of possibilities: support for base64-encoded sounds (which no one except me will ever use).

Note to self: fix 'd' polluting global scope.

Version history:

1. 4-3-12 - Added <<fadeinsound>> and <<fadeoutsound>>. 1.1.1 edit: No longer force-restarts or force-starts music that's already looping/stopped.
2. 15-2-12 - Now play and loop no longer explicitly reset the position to the beginning, so playing something that's already playing won't cause it to reset. (Use stopsound to do this on purpose). This also fixes a bug with the back and forward browser buttons.
3. 15-2-12 - Initial.

The Rewind menu in the Sugarcane story format only displays previously visited passages that have been given the tag "bookmark".

^{Fig. 1: Anna Anthropy's "Town" after certain passages were given the 'bookmark' tag.}

Passages in the menu are displayed as a truncated snippet of their text, in ascending order in which you visited (earliest at the top, latest at the bottom). As you can see, since I visited the plaza twice already, it appears twice in the list. (Also, if you're currently at a "bookmark" passage, it will appear at the bottom, letting you redundantly "rewind" to the present.)

Of course, since the player can already step back through their entire game history using the browser's "back" button, the utility of the Rewind menu is somewhat questionable. And, of course, games that use the <<display>> macro heavily (such as Town itself) will not benefit well from it (unless, perhaps, you use <<addtag>> in the displayed passage to add the bookmark tag to everything that displays it???).

Bug: a bug in the current version of Sugarcane means that the Rewind menu will stop working if one of the bookmarked passages has less than 7 words in it. Just so you know.

I had an idea to implement slopes in K&P and decided to make a quick .gam to test it out. Here is the result:

http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/files/slope.swf

(yes, this is the same game that im making with candle. we're still filling out a whole bunch of stuff, so i doubt it'll be released anytime soon. i'll definitely be classing this as my first PROPER vg. also for a fun thing to note: we've been writing, editing and messing about with this entire thing since november 2012!)

I have updated the code snippets for applying CSS to passages with specific tags to include being able to select the body element of the HTML document. I have also updated these tag-related macros to match.