Audience: Beginner (no HTML/CSS/JS experience needed)

What this shows

Where to set up the starting values of your story’s variables so they’re ready before the player sees the first passage.

How it works

• A passage named UserScript and tagged script (written as :: UserScript[script] in a .twee file, or tagged “script” in the Twine editor) runs its JavaScript exactly once, when the story loads — before the first passage is shown.
• window.story.state is the same object as the shorthand s you use inside <% %> template tags in passages, so anything you set on it here (like window.story.state.gold = 10;) is immediately available as s.gold everywhere else in the story.

Using this in your own story

1. Create a passage named UserScript and tag it script.
2. Set your starting variables there: window.story.state.someVariable = ...;
3. Reference them anywhere else with s.someVariable inside <% %> / <%= %> tags.

Full source

:: StoryData
{
	"ifid":"A610836B-1798-438B-8042-5631E4D323D3"
}

:: StoryTitle
Initializing Story Variables in Snowman

:: UserScript[script]
/*
	Code in a passage tagged "script" only runs once, when the story starts.
	This makes it a good place to set up the starting values of your story variables.
*/
window.story.state.playerName = "Adventurer";
window.story.state.gold = 10;
window.story.state.hasMap = false;

:: Start
Welcome, <%= s.playerName %>! You start with <%= s.gold %> gold.

<% if (s.hasMap) { %>
You already have a map.
<% } else { %>
You do not have a map yet.
<% } %>

Download the .twee file

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