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8. Events for other scripts

The arena should not have to know about the server’s economy, Discord or quests. Instead it announces what happened, and other scripts decide what to do about it. This chapter adds an arena:win event and a second script that rewards the winner.

mc.emit(name, ...) calls every handler of the event with the arguments you pass. Custom event names contain a :; a prefix like arena: keeps them apart from other scripts’ events.

The event fires at the end of the celebration, when the winner is back in the lobby:

-- Tell other scripts, now that the winner has their own items back.
if winner and game.players[winner.uuid] then
mc.emit("arena:win", winner, game.kills[winner.uuid] or 0)
end

Why not right away in finish? At that moment the winner still carries the kit, and restore clears the inventory before giving their own items back: a reward handed out earlier would vanish with the kit. game.players[winner.uuid] skips the event if the winner left the server during the celebration.

Create a second file, config/ignis/arena_rewards.lua. Scripts in config/ignis/ share the event bus, so it can listen to the arena’s event. Handlers of custom events get the emitted arguments as they are:

mc.on("arena:win", function(winner, kills)
winner:give("minecraft:diamond", 1 + kills)
mc.broadcast("§6" .. winner.name .. " §ewon an arena round with " .. kills .. " kills!")

The arena works without this file, and this file can be replaced by another one (coins, a quest step, a title) without touching the arena.

Event handlers run as coroutines, so they can wait for an HTTP request with async.fetch without stopping the server. With a Discord webhook URL in WEBHOOK, winners are announced on Discord too:

-- A Discord webhook URL to announce winners there, or nil to skip it.
local WEBHOOK = nil
if WEBHOOK then
local response = async.fetch({
url = WEBHOOK,
method = "POST",
json = { content = winner.name .. " won an arena round with " .. kills .. " kills" },
})
if not response.ok then
print("arena webhook failed: " .. tostring(response.error or response.status))
end
end

mc.emit returns as soon as the handler starts waiting, so the arena does not wait for Discord. print writes to the server console. See the Async API for more.

Win a round: diamonds (one plus one per kill) land in your inventory next to your own items, and everyone reads the announcement.

config/ignis/arena.lua after chapter 8
config/ignis/arena.lua
-- config/ignis/arena.lua: a last-player-standing PvP arena.
local async = require "async"
local chestgui = require "core:chestgui"
local ADMIN = "arena.admin"
local MIN_PLAYERS = 2
local COUNTDOWN = 10 -- seconds before a round starts
local ROUND_TIME = 300 -- seconds before a round ends in a draw
-- Corners, spawn points and lobby, kept across restarts by mc.data.
mc.data.arena = mc.data.arena or {}
local config = mc.data.arena
config.spawns = config.spawns or {}
-- Where a player stands, as a plain table that can be saved.
local function here(player)
local p = player.pos
return { x = p.x, y = p.y, z = p.z, world = player.world.name }
end
local function teleport(player, point)
player:teleport(point.x, point.y, point.z, point.world)
end
local region -- Region|nil, created by buildRegion() below
local function isReady()
return region ~= nil and config.lobby ~= nil and #config.spawns > 0
end
local function count(t)
local n = 0
for _ in pairs(t) do n = n + 1 end
return n
end
-- Game state. It lives only in memory: a reload starts from scratch.
local game = {
phase = "waiting", -- waiting -> countdown -> playing -> ending
players = {}, -- uuid -> Player: everyone who joined
alive = {}, -- uuid -> true: still fighting (playing phase only)
kills = {}, -- uuid -> kills this round
timer = 0, -- seconds left in the current phase
}
local function tell(text)
for _, player in pairs(game.players) do
player:sendMessage(text)
end
end
-- ── Statistics ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local function stats(player)
if not player.data.arenaStats then
player.data.arenaStats = { wins = 0, kills = 0, deaths = 0, games = 0 }
end
return player.data.arenaStats
end
-- Wins of every player who ever won, for the leaderboard (offline players too).
mc.data.arenaWins = mc.data.arenaWins or {}
local wins = mc.data.arenaWins
local leaderboard -- Hologram|nil
local function updateLeaderboard()
if not leaderboard then return end
local rows = {}
for _, entry in pairs(wins) do
rows[#rows + 1] = entry
end
table.sort(rows, function(a, b) return a.wins > b.wins end)
local lines = { "§6§lArena: top players" }
for i = 1, math.min(5, #rows) do
lines[#lines + 1] = string.format("§e%d. §f%s §7- %d", i, rows[i].name, rows[i].wins)
end
if #rows == 0 then
lines[#lines + 1] = "§7no winners yet"
end
leaderboard.lines = lines
end
local function spawnLeaderboard()
if leaderboard then leaderboard:destroy() end
leaderboard = nil
local point = config.leaderboard
if not point then return end
leaderboard = mc.world(point.world):spawnHologram(vec(point.x, point.y, point.z), "Arena")
updateLeaderboard()
end
-- ── Inventory ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-- Player inventory slots: 0-35 main, 36-39 armor, 40 offhand.
local LAST_SLOT = 40
-- Saves the player's items in player.data and empties the inventory.
local function stash(player)
local saved = {}
for slot = 0, LAST_SLOT do
local item = player:getItem(slot)
if item then
saved[tostring(slot)] = item:serialise()
end
end
player.data.arenaStash = saved
player:clear()
end
local function restore(player)
local saved = player.data.arenaStash
if not saved then return end
player:clear()
for slot, json in pairs(saved) do
player:setItem(tonumber(slot), mc.deserialise("item", json))
end
player.data.arenaStash = nil
end
-- ── Kits ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local KITS = {
{
id = "warrior", name = "§cWarrior", icon = "minecraft:iron_sword",
items = {
{ "minecraft:iron_sword", 1 }, { "minecraft:shield", 1 }, { "minecraft:cooked_beef", 8 },
},
chest = "minecraft:iron_chestplate",
},
{
id = "archer", name = "§aArcher", icon = "minecraft:bow",
items = {
{ "minecraft:bow", 1 }, { "minecraft:arrow", 32 },
{ "minecraft:stone_sword", 1 }, { "minecraft:cooked_beef", 8 },
},
chest = "minecraft:leather_chestplate",
},
{
id = "tank", name = "§9Tank", icon = "minecraft:diamond_chestplate",
items = {
{ "minecraft:wooden_sword", 1 }, { "minecraft:golden_apple", 2 },
},
chest = "minecraft:diamond_chestplate",
},
}
local function findKit(id)
for _, kit in ipairs(KITS) do
if kit.id == id then return kit end
end
return KITS[1]
end
local function giveKit(player)
local kit = findKit(player.data.arenaKit)
for _, entry in ipairs(kit.items) do
player:give(entry[1], entry[2])
end
player.chest = mc.createItem(kit.chest)
end
local kitMenu = chestgui.create(1, "Choose a kit")
for i, kit in ipairs(KITS) do
local icon = mc.createItem(kit.icon, { name = kit.name, lore = { "§7Click to choose" } })
kitMenu:set(1, i * 2 + 1, icon, function(player)
player.data.arenaKit = kit.id
player:sendMessage("Kit: " .. kit.name)
player:playSound("minecraft:ui.button.click")
return false
end)
end
-- ── Scoreboard and boss bar ────────────────────────────────────────────────
local bar = mc.createBossBar("Arena", "yellow", "progress")
local function updateUI()
local status
if game.phase == "waiting" then
status = string.format("Waiting for players: %d/%d", count(game.players), MIN_PLAYERS)
bar.progress = math.min(1, count(game.players) / MIN_PLAYERS)
elseif game.phase == "countdown" then
status = string.format("Starting in %d s", game.timer)
bar.progress = game.timer / COUNTDOWN
elseif game.phase == "playing" then
local minutes, seconds = math.floor(game.timer / 60), game.timer % 60
status = string.format("Alive: %d · %d:%02d", count(game.alive), minutes, seconds)
bar.progress = game.timer / ROUND_TIME
else
status = "Round over"
bar.progress = 1
end
bar.title = status
for uuid, player in pairs(game.players) do
local s = stats(player)
player.sidebar = {
title = "§6§lArena",
lines = {
game.alive[uuid] and "§aYou are fighting" or "§7You are watching",
"Players: §e" .. count(game.players),
"",
"Kills this round: §e" .. (game.kills[uuid] or 0),
"Wins: §e" .. s.wins,
"Kit: " .. findKit(player.data.arenaKit).name,
},
}
end
end
local function hideUI(player)
bar:removePlayer(player)
player.sidebar = nil
end
-- ── Rounds ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local function finish(winner)
game.phase = "ending"
if winner then
stats(winner).wins = stats(winner).wins + 1
wins[winner.uuid] = { name = winner.name, wins = stats(winner).wins }
updateLeaderboard()
for _, player in pairs(game.players) do
player:sendTitle("§6" .. winner.name, "wins the round!")
end
else
tell("§eThe round ended in a draw.")
end
-- Celebrate for five seconds, then send everyone back to the lobby.
mc.schedule(0, function()
for _ = 1, 5 do
if winner and game.alive[winner.uuid] then
local pos = winner.pos + vec(0, 1, 0)
winner.world:particle("minecraft:totem_of_undying", pos, { count = 40, spread = 0.5 })
winner.world:playSound("minecraft:entity.firework_rocket.launch", winner.pos)
end
async.sleep(20)
end
for uuid in pairs(game.alive) do
local player = game.players[uuid]
restore(player)
teleport(player, config.lobby)
end
game.alive = {}
game.phase = "waiting"
-- Tell other scripts, now that the winner has their own items back.
if winner and game.players[winner.uuid] then
mc.emit("arena:win", winner, game.kills[winner.uuid] or 0)
end
end)
end
local function checkWinner()
if game.phase ~= "playing" then return end
local left = count(game.alive)
if left == 1 then
finish(game.players[next(game.alive)])
elseif left == 0 then
finish(nil)
end
end
local function eliminate(player, killer)
game.alive[player.uuid] = nil
stats(player).deaths = stats(player).deaths + 1
restore(player)
teleport(player, config.lobby)
if killer and game.alive[killer.uuid] then
game.kills[killer.uuid] = (game.kills[killer.uuid] or 0) + 1
stats(killer).kills = stats(killer).kills + 1
tell("§c" .. player.name .. " §7was eliminated by §a" .. killer.name)
else
tell("§c" .. player.name .. " §7was eliminated")
end
checkWinner()
end
local function startRound()
game.phase = "playing"
game.timer = ROUND_TIME
game.alive = {}
game.kills = {}
local i = 0
for uuid, player in pairs(game.players) do
i = i + 1
local spawn = config.spawns[(i - 1) % #config.spawns + 1]
game.alive[uuid] = true
stash(player)
giveKit(player)
player.health = player.maxHealth
player.food = 20
teleport(player, spawn)
stats(player).games = stats(player).games + 1
end
tell("§aFight!")
end
-- Runs once per second and moves the game from phase to phase.
local function tick()
if game.phase == "waiting" then
if count(game.players) >= MIN_PLAYERS then
game.phase = "countdown"
game.timer = COUNTDOWN
end
elseif game.phase == "countdown" then
if count(game.players) < MIN_PLAYERS then
game.phase = "waiting"
tell("§eNot enough players, the countdown stopped.")
else
game.timer = game.timer - 1
if game.timer <= 0 then
startRound()
elseif game.timer <= 3 then
tell("§e" .. game.timer .. "...")
end
end
elseif game.phase == "playing" then
game.timer = game.timer - 1
if game.timer <= 0 then finish(nil) end
end
updateUI()
end
mc.scheduleRepeating(20, 20, tick)
-- ── Joining and leaving ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local function join(player)
if not isReady() then
player:sendMessage("§cThe arena is not set up yet.")
elseif game.players[player.uuid] then
player:sendMessage("§eYou have already joined.")
elseif game.phase == "playing" or game.phase == "ending" then
player:sendMessage("§eA round is in progress, try again in a moment.")
else
game.players[player.uuid] = player
bar:addPlayer(player)
teleport(player, config.lobby)
tell("§a" .. player.name .. " §7joined the arena (" .. count(game.players) .. ")")
updateUI()
end
end
local function leave(player)
local uuid = player.uuid
if not game.players[uuid] then return end
if game.alive[uuid] then
eliminate(player, nil)
end
game.players[uuid] = nil
game.kills[uuid] = nil
hideUI(player)
player:sendMessage("§7You left the arena.")
end
mc.on("player.leave", function(e)
leave(e.player)
end)
-- ── Fights ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-- A fatal hit knocks the player out of the round instead of killing them.
mc.on("entity.death", function(e)
local player = e.player
if not player or not game.alive[player.uuid] then return end
e:cancel()
player.health = player.maxHealth
player.fireTicks = 0
if game.phase == "playing" then
eliminate(player, e.attacker and game.players[e.attacker.uuid])
end
end, { priority = "high" })
-- No friendly hits before the round starts.
mc.on("player.attack", function(e)
if game.players[e.player.uuid] and not game.alive[e.player.uuid] then
e:cancel()
end
end)
-- ── The arena region ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local function isProtected(player, pos)
return region ~= nil and region:contains(pos) and not player:hasPermission(ADMIN)
end
mc.on("block.break", function(e)
if isProtected(e.player, e.pos) then e:cancel() end
end, { priority = "high" })
mc.on("block.place", function(e)
if isProtected(e.player, e.pos) then e:cancel() end
end, { priority = "high" })
local function buildRegion()
if region then region:destroy() end
region = nil
local a, b = config.pos1, config.pos2
if not (a and b) then return end
-- A region is a box from its min corner up to (but not including) its max
-- corner, so +1 makes the max block part of it.
region = mc.world(a.world):createRegion(
vec(math.min(a.x, b.x), math.min(a.y, b.y), math.min(a.z, b.z)),
vec(math.max(a.x, b.x) + 1, math.max(a.y, b.y) + 1, math.max(a.z, b.z) + 1)
)
-- Walking (or being knocked) out of the arena counts as losing.
region:on("leave", function(e)
if e.player and game.phase == "playing" and game.alive[e.player.uuid] then
e.player:sendMessage("§cYou left the arena!")
eliminate(e.player, nil)
end
end)
-- Nobody else walks in during a round.
region:on("enter", function(e)
local player = e.player
if player and game.phase == "playing" and not game.alive[player.uuid]
and not player:hasPermission(ADMIN) then
teleport(player, config.lobby)
player:sendMessage("§eA round is in progress.")
end
end)
end
buildRegion()
spawnLeaderboard()
-- ── Commands ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
local function corner(ctx, key)
local pos = ctx.player.pos
config[key] = {
x = math.floor(pos.x), y = math.floor(pos.y), z = math.floor(pos.z),
world = ctx.player.world.name,
}
buildRegion()
local ready = region and ", the arena region is ready." or "."
ctx.player:sendMessage("Corner " .. key .. " set" .. ready)
end
register("arena pos1", function(ctx) corner(ctx, "pos1") end, ADMIN)
register("arena pos2", function(ctx) corner(ctx, "pos2") end, ADMIN)
register("arena addspawn", function(ctx)
local spawns = config.spawns
spawns[#spawns + 1] = here(ctx.player)
ctx.player:sendMessage("Spawn point #" .. #spawns .. " added.")
end, ADMIN)
register("arena clearspawns", function(ctx)
config.spawns = {}
ctx.player:sendMessage("All spawn points removed.")
end, ADMIN)
register("arena setlobby", function(ctx)
config.lobby = here(ctx.player)
ctx.player:sendMessage("Lobby set.")
end, ADMIN)
register("arena setleaderboard", function(ctx)
config.leaderboard = here(ctx.player)
spawnLeaderboard()
ctx.player:sendMessage("Leaderboard placed.")
end, ADMIN)
register("arena join", function(ctx) join(ctx.player) end)
register("arena leave", function(ctx) leave(ctx.player) end)
register("arena kit", function(ctx) kitMenu:open(ctx.player) end)
register("arena stats [<target:player>]", function(ctx, target)
local player = target or ctx.player
local s = stats(player)
ctx.player:sendMessage(string.format(
"§6%s§7: %d wins, %d kills, %d deaths in %d games",
player.name, s.wins, s.kills, s.deaths, s.games))
end)
config/ignis/arena_rewards.lua
config/ignis/arena_rewards.lua
-- config/ignis/arena_rewards.lua: rewards for arena winners.
local async = require "async"
-- A Discord webhook URL to announce winners there, or nil to skip it.
local WEBHOOK = nil
mc.on("arena:win", function(winner, kills)
winner:give("minecraft:diamond", 1 + kills)
mc.broadcast("§6" .. winner.name .. " §ewon an arena round with " .. kills .. " kills!")
if WEBHOOK then
local response = async.fetch({
url = WEBHOOK,
method = "POST",
json = { content = winner.name .. " won an arena round with " .. kills .. " kills" },
})
if not response.ok then
print("arena webhook failed: " .. tostring(response.error or response.status))
end
end
end)

Exercise: add an arena:eliminated event, fired in eliminate with the player and the killer, and use it in arena_rewards.lua to give the killer an arrow for every knockout.