Action

In ENIGMA, DND, D\&D, or Drag-n-Drop Actions, is an icon-based
sequential logistics based approached to learning game programming,
designed to make developing an understanding of code flow easier by
removing complicated syntax rules. Using DND, beginners can design
simplified scripts while gaining intuition for the layout of code. The
name refers to the way the icons are dragged from one panel which shows
the available actions, called a Library, on the
right, and dropped into a sequential list of actions that are to
actually be executed, or the Action List on the left.

As the user adds constructs such as if-else to their
program, the IDE automatically indents code, accustoming the user to
such a layout without drowning them in symbols.

Overall, DND is a powerful tool in assisting users in the transition to
programming in general, and eventually to GML,
EDL, and potentially as a launching platform into
other languages.

Users who already know how to code will usually stick with the Execute
a piece of code action, and occasionally the Execute Script and
Comment actions. All of these actions are available under the control
tab. As an added convenience, double clicking in an empty Action List in
LateralGM will create an Execute a piece of code action. This feature
is not available in Game Maker, so advanced users will tend to rearrange
the tabs to put the Control tab first (achieved by renaming the Library
files).

Library

A library is a collection of DND actions to be made available to the
user. The library defines the internal functionality or programming of
each action, abstracting it away from the user and replacing it with a
friendly set of icons, human-readable text, and input boxes, buttons,
drop-down lists, etc.

Libraries are usually constructed using a Library
Maker, which compiles them into binary data
files where they may simply be installed and uninstalled by placing them
in or out of a specified libraries folder. For convenience, a default
set of libraries is already included with your IDE.

Each installed library constitutes a tab to the rightmost section of the
Object frame. Switching to a tab causes that library's set of actions to
appear in the panel to the left.

Folder

For Game Maker, inside the directory where you installed Game Maker
exists a folder named "lib", which already contains the default set of
official libraries. Users may install libraries by placing them into
this folder, and uninstall them by removing them from this folder.

For LateralGM, this system is modularized a bit, making it a little more
complex. In the simplest sense, you would simply navigate to wherever
LateralGM is installed, and inside that directory create a folder
named "lib", and install/uninstall user libraries to that folder. The
default set of official libraries is contained inside of LateralGM's jar
(can be treated as a zip), in org/lateralgm/resources/library/lib.

The technical workings of LateralGM's library system are as follows. Two
separate library directories are defined: default (official) libraries
and user libraries. Their exact paths are set in LateralGM's
Properties file, with the default
values described in the paragraph above this one. The default libraries
are loaded first (so their tabs will appear first), and then user
libraries are loaded.

Groups

These are the groups of the main action library included in ENIGMA by
default.