Building a Simple Character

In order to build a new character for nsquared agents you will need to build a .NET 8.0 assembly that contains a class that implements the IAgent interface.

You will also need to have some images for the animated frames of the character. In this example we are using a small set of images to create a simple clippy character. These frames can be found in the sample Frames folder.

The full source code for this example

Step-by-Step creating a simple nsquared agent character

Start by creating a new C# class library project named SimpleCharacter.
```
 dotnet new classlib --name SimpleCharacter
```
This will create a new folder named SimpleCharacter containing C# project named SimpleCharacter, and a code file named Class1.cs.
Rename the file Class1.cs to Character.cs

Rename the class in the code to Character

 namespace SimpleCharacter;
 public class Character
 {

 }

In the SimpleCharacter.csproj file make sure the TargetFramework is net8.0
```
 <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
```
In the SimpleCharacter.csproj file add a TargetExt field below the TargetFramework line
```
 <TargetExt>.Agent</TargetExt>
```
Add a package reference to the nsquared.agents NuGet package, from PowerShell you can do this with the following command.
```
dotnet add package nsquared.agents.api --prerelease
```
This will add the reference to the SimpleCharacter.csproj file
```
 <ItemGroup>
   <PackageReference Include="naquared.agents.api" />
 </ItemGroup>
```
Add a package reference to the Avalonia NuGet package, from PowerShell you can do this with the following command.
```
dotnet add package Avalonia
```
This will add the reference to the SimpleCharacter.csproj file (the version might be different as it will pull the latest version.)
```
 <ItemGroup>
   <PackageReference Include="Avalonia" Version="11.2.3" />
 </ItemGroup>
```
In the SimpleCharacter folder create a new folder named Assets.
In the new Assets folder create a folder named Frames.
In the Frames folder copy the frame images from the sample Frames folder.
In the Assets folder create a file named Actions.json

Edit the Actions.json file and put the following json to define two actions and two states.

{
     "ActionItems": [
         {
             "Name": "Show",
             "Return": null,
             "Frames": [
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0000",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 }
             ],
             "Reverse": false,
             "ActionMenuSelected": null
         },
         {
             "Name": "Idle",
             "Return": null,
             "Frames": [
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0000",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0045",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0046",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": 9,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0047",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": 9,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0048",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0049",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": [
                         {
                             "BranchTo": 8,
                             "Probability": 3
                         }
                     ]
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 15,
                     "ExitBranch": 8,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0050",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": [
                         {
                             "BranchTo": 7,
                             "Probability": 98
                         },
                         {
                             "BranchTo": 6,
                             "Probability": 2
                         }
                     ]
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": 9,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0051",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0052",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0053",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 },
                 {
                     "SoundEffect": null,
                     "Duration": 10,
                     "ExitBranch": -1,
                     "Images": [
                         {
                             "Filename": "0000",
                             "OffsetX": 0,
                             "OffsetY": 0
                         }
                     ],
                     "Mouths": [],
                     "Branches": []
                 }
             ],
             "Reverse": false,
             "ActionMenuSelected": null
         }
     ],
     "States": {
         "Showing": [
             "Show"
         ],
         "IdlingLevel1": [
             "Idle"
         ]
     }
 }

More information on the schema for the Actions.json file.

In the SimpleCharacter.csproj file add the assets as Avalonia resources

 <ItemGroup>
     <AvaloniaResource Include="Assets\**" />
 </ItemGroup>

Edit the Character.cs file to implement the IAgent interface.

 using nsquared.agents;
 namespace SimpleCharacter;

 public class Character : IAgent
 {
     public string Name { get => "SimpleCharacter"; set => throw new NotImplementedException(); }
     public string AssemblyName { get => "SimpleCharacter"; set => throw new NotImplementedException(); }
     public Uri ActionsFileUri => new Uri($"avares://{AssemblyName}/Assets/Actions.json");
     public string AudioFilesPath => $"{Name}.Assets.Audio.";
     public string FrameAssetPath => $"avares://{AssemblyName}/Assets/Frames/";
     public string IconPath => $"avares://{AssemblyName}/Assets/Icon.ico";
 }

Build the SimpleCharacter project. It should build the SimpleCharacter.Agent file in a bin folder.
Run the nsquared agents application and open Settings, and then go to the Add button next to the character list
This will open a file dialog. Find the SimpleCharacter.Agent file you built.
The new SimpleCharacter will be selected

The full source code for this example