Witcher Script (.ws) is the primary scripting language for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. A very large chunk of the game's logic is written in Witcher Script. Mods can override scripts and thus can drastically change game behavior. Witcher Script is either based on or identical to ActionScript 3 (and very similar to UnrealScript).
The specification for ActionScript 3, which is also used in the Shockwave Flash file format and can be described as a dialect of ECMAScript, can be found in its official language reference (unofficially also here, here and here).
Technically, Witcher Script is a strongly-typed, class-based object-oriented programming language, though it supports functions declared outside of the scope of classes. It uses C-like control flow with a single global namespace. Functions use pass-by-value by default for native datatypes and structs, with the keyword out indicating pass-by-reference. Pass-by-reference is used for objects. Like C, Witcher Script is free form, with semi-colons serving as statement terminators and curly brackets pairs defining groups of statements as well as scope. It is pre-compiled prior to runtime though it supports line-by-line debugging.
Witcher Script doesn't appear to have function references, though it is possible to pass function names for callbacks, though this seems limited to the engine (see implementation of Initialize in W3Class CPlayerInput for example of this).
Editors
Native Datatypes
Novel Features
Some of the following information is speculation based on information in the scripts as well as information from other game engines. CDPR has been fairly mum about the inner workings of REDengine. If you know something, please edit the wiki so that the correct information is available!
Timer Functions
Timer functions are functions that are periodically called on a timer while that timer is active. They are started with the functions AddTimer and stopped with the function RemoveTimer, both member functions of W3Class CEntity. It is likely that these start and stop timer functions only work if the script is "hooked" on to a native W3Class CEntity. Timer functions always take the parameters:
deltaTime : float, id : int
deltaTime is probably the time since the last activation of the timer, while id is likely the id of the timer.
Latent Functions
Latent functions are functions that execute over more than one game tick. They use either the global functions Sleep or SleepOneTick, or call other latent functions (including native ones!) that do. These functions can only be called from inside another latent function or from a state's entry functions.
exec/storyscene/quest Functions
Global functions declared with one of these modifiers will be available to different portions of the game to execute. Generally speaking, only exec functions are interesting to modders, as it allows modders to add console commands to the game.
- exec functions are available to the debug console
- storyscene functions are likely accessible to cutscenes
- quest functions are likely accessible to quests
Editor Specific
default
This declares a default value for a class field.
editable
Likely, this means that this class field is available for editing in the REDkit 2 editor.
Statemachine Classes
Classes defined with the statemachine keyword are able to take on states, which are special kinds of classes that override behavior (i.e. functions/events) in their parent while the statemachine class in in the child state. A statemachine class transitions between states and keeps a running stack. All statemachine classes must eventually inherit from W3Class IScriptable and that class contains applicable functions.
Entry Functions
Functions within a state can be declared as entry functions. entry functions are also latent, though it isn't clear what else this denotes.
virtual_parent
In states, there is some distinction between parent and virtual_parent.
Keywords
Access Limitations
- private
- protected
- public
Control Flow
- if
- else
- for
- switch
- case
- while
- return
- break
- continue
Inheritance
- extends
- parent
- virtual_parent
- this
- super
Boolean
- true
- false
Nullability
- NULL
Declarations
- var
- enum
- struct
- function
- event
- class
Declaration Modifiers
- abstract
- statemachine
- default
- editable
- const
- import
- final
- timer
- exec
- quest
- storyscene
- saved
- out
- entry
Memory Management
- new
- delete
- in
Access Limitations
- private
- protected
- public
Control Flow
- if
- else
- for
- switch
- case
- while
- return
- break
- continue
Inheritance
- extends
- parent
- virtual_parent
- this
- super
Boolean
- true
- false
Nullability
- NULL
Declarations
- var
- enum
- struct
- function
- event
- class
Declaration Modifiers
- abstract
- statemachine
- default
- editable
- const
- import
- final
- timer
- exec
- quest
- storyscene
- saved
- out
- entry
Memory Management
- new
- delete
- in