Evented Attribute System

[CallMeKerrigan]

Im using the parameters in my game to keep track of my main characters stats. At the beginning I wanted a screen where the player could move keys through bars (pictures I've made) and assign points to his parameters. 


How could this be done through eventing, if possible? 

 

[Andar]

If you want to do it by eventing, make it a map with events for adding points. No background (or whatever non-map background you choose), use either the actor sprite or replace that sprite with a cursor picture, and the events should be below character and action button - if the player than stands on an event while selecting it, do whatever you want to change and then change or disable the event depending on later selection options.

 

[CallMeKerrigan]

Well the player has a pool of 10 points to choose from so all of the parameters will be on map. The problem is I don't want the cursor moving freely on the map. I want it Sims 2 style with the personality points if you've seen that game. 


As in, the cursor actually brackets or selects the event and confirms it, and can only move within the points for the parameter, or switch to another parameter. 


Edit: would it work if for each tile it activated an individual switch to allow the next tile to be confirmed? That would be a lot of switches but I think that may be the only way to do what I want. And the cursor would have to slide back to the beginning of the attribute bar to move down to the next param bar. 


Unless I can move between maps and keep track of when I get to 10 attribute points. I'm not sure how that is done. 

 

[Andar]

everything you told can be done, it just needs to be evented by a series of variables, switches, set move routes and so on. Too much to go into details, but if you start, post screenshots or specific questions on what you have done and how to make the next step, then we can help you.

 

[CallMeKerrigan]

Okay, sure but it's not impressive at all.


So I want the player to start out at this attribution screen at the beginning of the game as a cursor. I know how to do that, I just haven't gotten that part done yet. Also, ignore the HUD in the game. It won't be there when this is done.


Here's the attribution screen, I set it as the backdrop as an actual map.


Right now, when the sprite walks over the evented slots on the attribution screen, the attribution slots light up, indicating a point is chosen.


However, the sprite has free will all over the map. For aesthetics, I wanted the sprite, which would be a cursor, to just walk in one direction. either horizontally to select points, or vertically to select which attribute to distribute points to. I thought maybe I could do this by restricting which part of the map the sprite moves to, the problem is that they can assign points out of order. IE, at the end, and leave the first 5 blank. If I set the events up from blocking the player from going back, then they can't change the attribution points before starting the game.

 

[Heirukichi]

Well, if I were you I would set every tile to be unpassable and fix player direction, after that I would set the parallel process like this:


- when the player moves right or left it increases that particular stat variable (this allows you to enlight events without too much trouble)


- when the player moves up or down it increases another variable (used as an index for the stat you are increasing) and I transfer it down by 3 rows (in your case).


The only tricky part if you do it like this is that you have to check if the index variable is 0, in which case you have to transfer the player 1 square on the left when moving down, or if the index variable is 1, in which case you have to transfer the player 1 square on the right when moving up.


Of course you have to enlight your events based on their variable value (which means the first of each row sould have "variable[whatever+row_index] >= 0", the second >= 1 and so on).

 

[CallMeKerrigan]

Thank you so much! I took your advice. I did it a little differently, but I have a working attribution system!


You can see it here in this youtube video.


For anyone who wants a similar system, what you need is one variable per attribute, one variable that represents all of the attributes. In my game I have 6 attributes, totaling 7 variables (all of the attributes respectively and ParamData). I didn't even use a sprite, I evented the system just with key strokes and condition branches.


Each row of attributes also had it's own switch. As well if you hit the left arrow key to delete an attribute point.


Therefore, if the player hits the down arrow key, it triggers a switch (attribute index1) that turns on the subsequent row, overriding the top row. When attribute index1 is triggered, the cursors on the map (which are tiles) are also flipped on by the switch and appear to light up, emulating a cursor effect. You can also add a sound effect before you turn on the switch, which is what I did. 


Each page on the event had conditional branches for hitting the up, down, right or left arrow key. With the exception of the top row, and the cursors that went to the next map.


In the meantime, page 9 of this event was checking for the ParamData variable, for when it hit 10. When it hit 10, a picture popped up prompting the player to restart the attribution distribution or to start the game. 


I attempted to set it up for the player to hit backspace instead of having to restart the game entirely, but it was not working out that well. I may implement it in the future, but for now I am just happy to have a system that works. 


That leaves page 10 of this event which is "Next Page". When the player reaches the bottom cursors, she can either move up into the "Charm" attribute to distribute points there, or go to the next screen where there are 2 more attributes.


The next screen is evented the exact same way.