How do *you* deal with transitioning party "followers" to actors in cutscenes?

[werzaque]

I've just started with MZ after a long gap of not doing anything with games (the last was macromedia shockwave)... but I'm currently thinking about two methods:

1. control both player and followers directly through scripting. I'm still in the process of studying the ins and outs, and it might be quicker to just use the plugin mentioned by others, but it seems doable for small scenes. For example, only a specific member should show a heart icon upon some event:

const Actor2i = $gameActors.actor(2).index();
if (Actor2i == 0) {
$gameTemp.requestBalloon($gamePlayer,4);
} else if (Actor2i > 0) {
$gameTemp.requestBalloon($gamePlayer._followers.follower(Actor2i-1),4);
}

This works, but is admittedly a little tedious for long cutscenes, and there are pitfalls like when you want to make a certain character jump up:

const Actor2i = $gameActors.actor(2).index();
console.log($gameActors.actor(2).index())
if (Actor2i == 0) {
$gamePlayer.jump(0,0);
} else if (Actor2i > 0) {
$gamePlayer._followers.follower(Actor2i-1).jump(0,0);
}

... if the character happens to be the leader at that time, the party will gather and destroy your cutscene.

2. not have the standard caterpillar, but instead have all the party members on screen as events on all maps, set to follow the leader. This allows for triangular formation also... but is a horror to manage with copies of code all over the place.

 

[fantasyfan2035]

When I want to do a cutscene, I make a copy of the map then I fade out/in and teleport the player character, and I set him to invisible. I then make each character an event and I control them through an autorun event. When the cutscene is over, I fade out the screen, teleport player character back to the non-cut scene, and I turn off the autorun event.