More elegant way to select a random word from an array

Question

So I have this array:

<<set setup.orcDescriptions to [
   'a foul',
   'a brutal-looking',
   'a savage',
   'an angry'
]>>

I know I can get a random one of these with the following code in a passage:

You round the corner and see <<print Array.random(setup.orcDescriptions)>> orc!

However I have an inkling that I could do this better with a macro or a widget, so that code like this would work:

You round the corner and see <<orcDescriptions>> orc!

It seems like the latter approach is better, but I don't know how to do it.  Do YOU?

Answer 1

You don't need to use the Javascript Array.random() function to return an random item from an Array, you can use SugarCube's built in <Array>.random() function instead.

You round the corner and see <<print setup.orcDescriptions.random()>> orc!

To convert the above into a <<widget>> simply do the following:

a. Add a new Passage to your story and assign it a widget tag, this can now be used to store all your story's widget definitions. The actual name of this Passage is not important, I generally name mine Widgets for convenience.

b. Add the following TwineScript to this new Passage, it defines a widget named OrcDescription which outputs a randomly selected item from the setup.orcDescriptions Array.

<<widget "OrcDescription">>\
<<= setup.orcDescriptions.random()>>\
<</widget>>

c. You can use the new <<OrcDescription>> widget like so.

You round the corner and see <<OrcDescription>> orc!

 

Comments

Perfect, thanks greyelf!