Storing story data for text adventure AS3 - arrays

Question

I've been on and off creating a text adventure using a rudimentary engine I made for about a year.
For the story, I have a object array(is that what it's called?) with various story data stuff that I parse through
I've been told that using it the way I am is stupid because it's supposed to be used for other stuff but I only use it because it was easy to learn how to parse the data since I was a beginner
It's getting tedious writing the story and doing stuff for each part (creating the backgrounds and such) since it's so long.
Is there any kind of way I can make it easier for me to write the story?
Here's the object array with a single part set up (with choices)
public static var parts:Object =
{
"0":
{
"text":"Text here",
"choices":
{
"response1":
{
"text":"Response1",
"nextPart":"1"
},
"response2":
{
"text":"Response2",
"nextPart":"2"
}
},
"background": Assets.AssetClass.Background1,
"BGM":"bg1"
},
}
Here's an example of how my engine deals with parts and changing them:
I have a input checker to check when enter is pressed and then do stuff depending on what is on the screen
public function onEnter(button:KeyboardEvent):void
{
if (button.keyCode == 32 && !Won)
{
if (Dead && textFinished && !choosing) // pressing enter while dead and the text is still writing
{
curPart = parts[curPart]["lastPart"] // lastPart will only be stored in parts that have the player die
textFinished = false
Dead = false;
myTextField.text = ""
counter = 0;
sInt = setInterval(addCharackter, textSpeed)
if (stage.getChildByName("cText"))
{
stage.removeChild(continueText)
}
if (parts[curPart].hasOwnProperty("background")) //check if the background needs to change.
{
if (stage.getChildByName("img"))
{
stage.removeChild(background)
}
background = new Background(parts[curPart], 800, 600)
stage.addChildAt(background, 0)
}
}
if (!textFinished && !choosing)// pressing enter when there's no choices on the screen and the text isn't finished and the text is still writing
{
this.myTextField.text = this.parts[this.curPart]["text"];
clearInterval(this.sInt);
this.textFinished = true;
if (parts[curPart].hasOwnProperty("choices"))
{
choosing = true
createOptions(); // function for parsing through the responses bit of that part and displaying them
}
else
{
stage.addChildAt(continueText, 2)
}
if (parts[curPart].hasOwnProperty("lastPart"))
{
Dead = true;
dead()
}
}
else if (textFinished && !choosing && !Dead) // pressing enter if there's no choices on the screen and there's no choices (it'll take you to the next part)
{
trace("Text finished!!")
curPart = parts[curPart]["nextPart"]
myTextField.text = ""
counter = 0;
sInt = setInterval(addCharackter, textSpeed)
textFinished = false;
if (parts[curPart].hasOwnProperty("background"))
{
if (stage.getChildByName("img"))
{
trace("Removed!")
stage.removeChild(background)
}
background = new Background(parts[curPart], 800, 600)
stage.addChildAt(background, 0)
}
if (parts[curPart].hasOwnProperty("BGM")) // does the current part have a new background music?
{
trace("Music!!!!")
sndBGMusic = musicArray[parts[curPart]["BGM"]]
sndBGMusicChannel.stop()
sndBGMusicChannel = sndBGMusic.play(0, 9999999999)
stage.addChildAt(background, 0)
}
stage.removeChild(continueText)
}
}
}

Answer 1

A couple ideas here. These are just things I would do differently than what you have done. I don't guarantee that they are better in any way, but see what you think.
I would have a global variable for _curPart. And I would have a custom class called Part. That class would have properties like _BGM, _bgImage etc. It could have a _choicesArray as a property as well. I'd have other global variables like _hasCandle. Or you can store items in an array and if you need the candle just check if candle is in the array. These global variables will persist from one part to the next.
Then you can access the properties of the part you are in by doing _curPart._bgImage. To me, that looks and feels cleaner.
And to create a new part it could look like (incomplete):
var p15:Part = new Part();
p15._bgImage = image15;
p15._BGM = song10;
//...
The last thing I'd recommend is to try to refactor where you can. For example, where you have //pressing enter if there's no choic... replace all of that code in that bracket with a one or a few function calls (whatever makes the most sense and allows you to reuse code). It just makes it easier to see what's going on, I think. So instead of all these if blocks, just a function like nextPart(); and then that function will have all your if blocks in it. Make sense? Personal preference, but when things are getting complicated, refactoring helps me clear out the cobwebs. Just like you do with dead() and createOptions() but I'd just take it one step further. This won't make your code more efficient, but it might make writing your code more efficient which is paramount in my book (until it's not).