globalVariable#

Defines a global variable that other addons can reference for mass adjustments: 10% seasonal discount, double XP on weekends, drop rate multiplier during events.

Why it matters#

Live ops designers tweak "global levers" all the time. Without this addon, you'd have to edit 50 items individually every time you run a "20% off everything" promo. Here you define item_buy_discount = 0.20, and all economyLinks that reference that variable apply it automatically — then you turn it off by changing just 1 number.

Where it usually lives#

• Blank pages dedicated to global levers (e.g. "Live Ops Variables").
• The Item wizard automatically creates 2 helper globalVariables (item_buy_discount and item_sell_markup) the first time — you reuse them for all items.

Singleton — 1 variable per page. For multiple variables, create multiple pages (or a dedicated group).

Schema#

Examples#

Global seasonal discount#

{
  "id": "var-buy-discount",
  "name": "Buy Discount",
  "key": "item_buy_discount",
  "displayName": "Buy Discount",
  "valueType": "percent",
  "defaultValue": 0,
  "scope": "global",
  "notes": "Set to 20 during Black Friday. Returns to 0 at the end of the event."
}

XP multiplier for an event#

{
  "id": "var-event-xp",
  "name": "Event XP",
  "key": "event_xp_multiplier",
  "displayName": "XP × N",
  "valueType": "multiplier",
  "defaultValue": 1.0,
  "scope": "event",
  "notes": "Set to 2.0 during the double XP event."
}

Who references globalVariable#

• economyLink.buyModifiers and economyLink.sellModifiers — refs ({refId: sectionId}) to variables that adjust prices.
• Other addons can reference it via custom integration in the engine.

Practical behavior#

The semantics live on the game engine side: the addon only describes the variable and its default value. How it's applied (multiplicative, additive, override) is the responsibility of the game's implementation. The valueType is a hint for the engine.

Recommendation: treat percent as divide by 100 (item_buy_discount: 20 → 20% off), multiplier as a direct factor (xp_multiplier: 2 → ×2), flat as a direct sum, boolean as a flag.

Wizard#

No wizard of its own. But the Item wizard (🎒 Items and ⚔️ Items with Effect) automatically creates the item_buy_discount and item_sell_markup variables the first time — in two auto-created pages called "📉 Buy Discount" and "📈 Sell Bonus".

From then on, all future economyLinks come with refs to those two variables already set.

See also#