Rachinations

This is a port of Dr. J. Dormans' Machinations framework into Ruby.

It provides a Ruby-based DSL to enable game designers to create and also test tentative game designs and/or prototypes.

Classes to model the domain
Tests
A simple DSL (Domain-specific language) whose objective is to enable anyone to write Machinations diagrams, run them, obtain metrics, compose subdiagrams and so on.

Installation Guide

Rachinations is written in Ruby so you need to have Ruby installed on your system. You only need 5 minutes to get it to work:

Linux

The best way to install Ruby on a Linux-based machine is probably RVM. Instructions on how to install RVM on Linux here

Once Ruby is installed, you just need to install the rachinations gem. The process is straightforward:

$ gem install rachinations

Windows

Installation

On Windows, the best way to get up and running with Ruby is probably using the RubyInstaller for Windows

Please note that Rachinations requires at least Ruby version 2.1 to work.

If you have never used Ruby before, I recommend you tick the following two boxes, as per the following image:

Veryfing that the installation worked

Once Ruby is installed, open a command prompt and type ruby -v just to see if everything worked.

You should see something like this (details may vary slightly)

> ruby -v
ruby 2.1.5p273 (2014-11-13 revision 48405) [x64-mingw32]

Configuring rubygems and installing the library

Once that's done, we'll configure gem (Ruby's package manager) to address a well known problem that has to do with certificates on Windows. More info here and here.

On the command prompt, do this:

> gem sources -r https://rubygems.org

and

> gem sources -a http://rubygems.org
https://rubygems.org is recommended for security

Do you want to add this insecure source? [yn] y
http://rubygems.org added to sources

After you've done the last step (which adds a new source for gems to be fetched from), then you can install the gem proper:

> gem install rachinations

(you might see a few error messages, but don't worry)

Usage

All you need to do is write your diagram in a file whose name ends in .rb and run it using the ruby command.

Examples

Simplest possible example

require 'rachinations'

# this is a simple diagram with a single pool with
# 5 resources
d=diagram 'simplest_diagram' do
    pool initial_value: 5
end

# and execute it for 10 rounds
d.run 10

Save this code into a file (say, static_diagram.rb) and run it like this:

$ ruby static_diagram.rb

Example 1

require 'rachinations'

diagram 'example_1' do
    source 's1', :automatic
    pool 'p1'
    pool 'p2', :automatic
    edge from: 's1', to: 'p1'
    edge from: 'p1', to: 'p2'
end

Example 2

require 'rachinations'

diagram 'example_2' do
    source 's1'
    pool 'p1'
    converter 'c1', :automatic
    pool 'p2'
    pool 'p3'
    edge from: 's1', to: 'p1'
    edge from: 'p1', to: 'c1'
    edge from: 'c1', to: 'p2'
    edge from: 'c1', to: 'p3'
end

Example 3

require 'rachinations'

diagram 'example_3' do
    source 's1'
    gate 'g1', :probabilistic
    pool 'p1'
    pool 'p2'
    pool 'p3'
    sink 's2', :automatic, condition: expr{ p2.resource_count > 30 }
    edge from: 's1', to: 'g1'
    edge from: 'g1', to: 'p1'
    edge 2, from: 'g1', to: 'p2'
    edge from: 'g1', to: 'p3'
    edge from: 'p3', to: 's2'
end

Example 4 Example of :triggers construct.

require 'rachinations'

diagram 'example_4' do
    source 's1'
    pool 'p1', triggers: 's2'
    source 's2', :passive
    pool 'p2'
    edge from: 's1', to: 'p1'
    edge from: 's2', to: 'p2'
end

Example 4, alternate version

This amounts to the same diagram as the one defined in Example 4, but uses a different mechanism for defining triggers between nodes.

require 'rachinations'

diagram 'example_4_alternative' do
    source 's1'
    pool 'p1'
    source 's2', :passive, triggered_by: 'p1'
    pool 'p2'
    edge from: 's1', to: 'p1'
    edge from: 's2', to: 'p2'
end

Example 5 Using gates and fractional edges.

require 'rachinations'

# in this case, outgoing edges must add up to 1
diagram 'example_5' do
   source 's1'
   edge from: 's1', to 'g1'
   gate 'g1', :probabilistic
   # in this case, outgoing edges must add up to 1
   edge from: 'g1', to:'p1', label: 1/4
   edge from: 'g1', to:'p2', label: 1/4
   edge from: 'g1', to:'p3', label: 2/4
   pool 'p1'
   pool 'p2'
   pool 'p3'
end

Full DSL specification

Diagram creation

Supported options

name
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
mode
Optional
Supported values: :default, :silent and :verbose
Default value: :default

Pools, Sources and Sinks

Supported options

name
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
initial_value
Optional
Type: NATURAL
Default value: 0
Note: Only applicable to Pools.
mode
Optional
Supported values: :push_any, :pull_any, :push_all and :pull_all
Default value: :push_any for Sources, :pull_any for Pools and Sinks.
activation
Optional
Supported values: :passive, :automatic and :start
Default value: :automatic for Sources, :passive for Pools and Sinks.
condition
Optional
Type: EXPRESSION
Default value: expr{ true } (always evaluates to true)
triggers
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default: Nil
Note: If present, it must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.
triggered_by
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default: Nil
Note: If present, it must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.

Gates

Supported options

name
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
mode
Optional
Supported values: :probabilistic and :deterministic
Default value: :deterministic
activation
Optional
Supported values: :passive, :automatic and :start
Default value: :passive
condition
Optional
Type: EXPRESSION
Default value: expr{ true } (always evaluates to true)
triggers
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default: Nil
Note: If present, it must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.
triggered_by
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default: Nil
Note: If present, it must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.

Converters

Supported options

name
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
mode
Optional
Supported values: :push_any, :pull_any, :push_all and :pull_all
Default value: :push_all
activation
Optional
Supported values: :passive, :automatic and :start
Default value: :passive

Edges

Supported options

name
Optional
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
from
Required
Type: IDENTIFIER
Note: It must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.
to
Required
Type: IDENTIFIER
Note: It must be the name of a Diagram element that already exists or that will be added until the end of Diagram definition.
label
Optional
Type: POSITIVE REAL
Default value: 1

Stop conditions

Supported options

name
Optional if this is the only stop condition in the whole Diagram. Required otherwise.
Type: IDENTIFIER
Default value: Nil
Note: If present, this option must be the first one given.
condition
Required
Type: EXPRESSION

rachinations

Development

Runtime

Rachinations

Contents

Installation Guide

Usage

Examples

Full DSL specification

Diagram creation

Pools, Sources and Sinks

Gates

Converters

Edges

Stop conditions