Clock

2023-04-13T07:21:06Z

Ashh3b0oke: /* Synchronizing events with the clock */ I removed the use of two “use”.

The '''Clock''' is a system for measuring time in [[Card|Cards]]. It is useful for adding rhythmic events and logic to games, in particular when combined with the [[Music]] behavior, but it can be used by itself for anything where you need to measure time in a structured way.

== Clock units ==
The clock measures time in bars, beats, and steps. Bars are the largest unit of time, several beats make up a bar, and several steps make up a beat. By default, there are four steps to a beat, and four beats to a bar.

The clock has a tempo measured in beats per minute. By default, the clock starts at 120 bpm.

== Clock scope ==
There is one clock shared across the entire card. All of the [[Music]] across all of the [[Actor|Actors]] in the card will synchronize to the clock, and all time-related [[Rule|Rules]] in the card have the option of synchronizing to the clock.

When the player moves between cards in the same deck, the previous card's clock will finish its current bar before adopting the settings in the next card's clock. This means that if both cards share the same clock settings, any music which was already playing won't get interrupted by the navigation between cards.

== Modifying the clock ==
From the editor, press the '''Gear''' icon at the top of the screen to open the Card Settings sheet. Then navigate to the '''Clock''' tab on that sheet. From here you can change the beats per bar, steps per beat, and tempo which will be used when the card starts.

While the card is playing, you can use the '''Set clock tempo''' response inside a [[Rule]] to change the tempo. You can read the current tempo using the '''Clock tempo''' [[Expression]].

== Synchronizing events with the clock ==
If your main goal is to play music, the best approach is to use the built-in [[Music]] behavior. If you want to do something more interactive, such as synchronize in-game events with the music, or with each other, you can use the clock.

Within [[Rule|Rules]], any time-related [[Response]] can either use unstructured seconds (default) or can choose to use clock units. For example, the '''Wait''' response can '''Wait for 1 second''', but it can also '''Wait for 1 beat''' or '''Wait until the next beat'''. Similarly, the [[Repeat]] response can either '''Repeat every 1 second''', or it can '''Repeat every beat/bar/step'''.

The music-specific rule responses also contain options to synchronize with the clock. For example, you can do something like: '''Play this actor's song at the next bar'''.

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Clock