While I was working on my stats page, I came across a few issues with negative numbers. I’m uncertain if I’m doing something wrong or if the problem lies in ChoiceScript itself.
First off, in my startup scene, I am unable to create variables with default values below zero. For example, the following line of code:
*create pc_arcana -1
… Results in the following error:
“Invalid create instruction, value must be a a number, true/false, or a quoted string: pc_arcana -1”
Secondly, I am unable to use negative values in conditional statements, for example:
*if (pc_arcana = -1)
… Results in the error:
“Invalid expression at char 14, expected NUMBER, STRING, VAR or PARENTHETICAL, was: OPERATOR ”
I was able to circumvent both issues, but in both cases, they are less then satisfactory solutions. Any guidance is much appreciated, and thanks in advance!
Sadly, CS doesn’t register negative numbers, so you’ll have to find some way around it.
Inconvenient. I’m not planning on any extensive use of negatives however, so I will live. Thanks for the heads up!
My solution for conditionals was to do something like this:
*if ((pc_arcana + 1) = 0)
… Which is checking to see if pc_arcana = -1 in reality. Unfortunately, for creating variables, one has to set their value after creation.
Yeah - I think that’s unlikely to work well for most uses of variables, and so re-centering on (say) 50 rather than 0 is a more promising approach.
Of course it is still possible to have and use negative variables - for example, you can create a variable at 0 and then set it minus 1000. You just can’t create it as a negative number in the first place, or use it in conditional statements more precise than “*if stat < 0” (without elaborate addition setups like yours). In CoReb I’ve got several stats where you get a different effect when you go negative.
Yeah, definitely cumbersome. Luckily, I just need it as a flag to indicate the inability to use said stat. I suppose I could have just created a boolean, but oh well. I hate being a programmer sometimes 
