Node Groups

Learn about using node groups, which allow Yarn Spinner to choose which content to run, depending on conditions.

In Yarn Spinner, you can also create node groups. A node group is collection of nodes that share the same name that Yarn Spinner will choose from.

To create a node group, you create multiple nodes that all share the same name, and ensure that each of the nodes have at least one when: header.

The when:header tells Yarn Spinner about the conditions that must be met in order to run the node:

title: Guard
when: once
---
Guard: You there, traveller!
Player: Who, me?
Guard: Yes! Stay off the roads after dark!
===
title: Guard
when: always
---
Guard: I hear the king has a new advisor.
===
title: Guard
when: $has_sword
---
Guard: No weapons allowed in the city!
===

Node groups are combined into a single node that performs the appropriate checks and then runs one of the node group’s members. You start dialogue with a node group using its name. You can also use the jump or detour statements to run a node group from somewhere else in your Yarn scripts.

Node groups will be visualised in a box of their own in the Graph View of Yarn Spinner for Visual Studio Code:

Node groups are shown in the Graph View.

Node groups are similar to line groups in their behaviour, but give you more room to create longer passages of content. Your C# code can also check to see how many (if any) nodes can run, which is covered in the Saliency section.

You can add as many when: headers to a node as you want.