How to get player action as progression in Intro Scene Event?

[Disturbed Blue]

Hello,

I'm a complete newb at this so I'm sorry if this is painfully obvious.

What I am doing:

for my game, I have an intro sequence as an event. It plays the music, shows a picture with game title or story etc, and repeats this about five times. currently, I have the pictures shown via a wait functiion.

What I want to do:

I have noticed through playtesting that for a couple of pictures, the max wait(999) is not enough to read everything on screen. What I want to do is go to the next picture when the user presses enter or space. How would I do this?

Here is what my event sequence is currently.

Spoiler

 

[Shaz]

After each Show Picture command, instead of the Wait command, you can do a Show Text command. Put it at the bottom, on a transparent background, and don't type any text.


That means it'll show the picture, show the message (which the player won't be able to see because there's nothing to show), and wait for the player to press space or enter.

 

[Disturbed Blue]

After each Show Picture command, instead of the Wait command, you can do a Show Text command. Put it at the bottom, on a transparent background, and don't type any text.

That means it'll show the picture, show the message (which the player won't be able to see because there's nothing to show), and wait for the player to press space or enter.

Ah! This works great!

Thank you so much for helping me out. :3

 

[Wavelength]

Oh, that's clever!  Didn't think to use a null text box to simulate waiting for a player's button press.

The way I did it in my last game was to use a Loop to check every fraction of a second to see whether the player was pressing a button.  I don't have the game files in front of me at the moment, but I think the event looked like this:

Show Picture(s)

Wait (x) frames [optional, to have a minimum wait time before the player proceeds]

Loop

Conditional Branch: Player Holding Button C?

(If Yes) Break Loop

End Branch

Wait (x) frames [probably 5-15 frames]

End Loop

Erase Picture(s)

There are times you'd want to use one solution or the other.  Most of the time I think either solution would work, which means you should use Shaz's because it's easier.

 

[Shaz]

I've done it that way in the past too. But then I saw some clever person explain the method I just explained. So it wasn't my idea

 

[Disturbed Blue]

Oh, that's clever!  Didn't think to use a null text box to simulate waiting for a player's button press.

The way I did it in my last game was to use a Loop to check every fraction of a second to see whether the player was pressing a button.  I don't have the game files in front of me at the moment, but I think the event looked like this:

Show Picture(s)

Wait (x) frames [optional, to have a minimum wait time before the player proceeds]

Loop

Conditional Branch: Player Holding Button C?

(If Yes) Break Loop

End Branch

Wait (x) frames [probably 5-15 frames]

End Loop

Erase Picture(s)

There are times you'd want to use one solution or the other.  Most of the time I think either solution would work, which means you should use Shaz's because it's easier.

Oh I see, would you have more than one conditional branch if you wanted to check for more than 1 button? I will keep this method in mind for future uses, but I've used the easy way for now. I like to keep notes on multiple ways to go about things. :]

 

[Shaz]

Yes, if you wanted to monitor several buttons, you'd have to use several conditional branches.

 

[Disturbed Blue]

Yes, if you wanted to monitor several buttons, you'd have to use several conditional branches.

Cool cool. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[EternalShadow]

After each Show Picture command, instead of the Wait command, you can do a Show Text command. Put it at the bottom, on a transparent background, and don't type any text.That means it'll show the picture, show the message (which the player won't be able to see because there's nothing to show), and wait for the player to press space or enter.

This gives me an idea o_o

 

[Nuclear Mosquito]

What I am doing:

for my game, I have an intro sequence as an event. It plays the music, shows a picture with game title or story etc, and repeats this about five times. currently, I have the pictures shown via a wait functiion.

What I want to do:

I have noticed through playtesting that for a couple of pictures, the max wait(999) is not enough to read everything on screen. What I want to do is go to the next picture when the user presses enter or space. How would I do this?

Ok, you already have a really good solution to the problem, but the reason I'm posting is more from a design perspective.

It seems like you're giving the player a lot to read at the start of the game. I feel that if this is purely story it might be a bit too much. There is a rather big chance that the player will get bored of the game before he even starts playing.

Is there a way you can get a player to start playing the game without bombarding him with mountains of text? Maybe split up the back story a bit so that the player can read it as he plays the game and as the information becomes relevant?

 

[ShinGamix]

If you going to have a long texted intro please do not make me have to push a button through the text!!! OMFG I hate that.

Either 

1. Let me just site back and watch and do nothing through the intro.

or

2. Let me interact and move through the intro as a playable intro.,

or

3. have it where I can pound the button and go through the whole thing obliviouldy fast!

and finally

4. make a button where I can push at any time during the intro just to skip the whole thing.

 

[Nuclear Mosquito]

If you going to have a long texted intro please do not make me have to push a button through the text!!! OMFG I hate that.

Either 

1. Let me just site back and watch and do nothing through the intro.

or

2. Let me interact and move through the intro as a playable intro.,

or

3. have it where I can pound the button and go through the whole thing obliviouldy fast!

and finally

4. make a button where I can push at any time during the intro just to skip the whole thing.

I think ShinG's idea of a playable intro is a very nice idea. I also suggest that you look at Extra Credits's videos, especially this one:

 

[Shaz]

The problem with letting you sit back and read the text, Shin, is that not everyone reads at the same speed. Some will find the text goes by too fast, some will find it agonizingly slow. What's wrong with pressing a button? You do it throughout the game - why not half a dozen times through the intro as well?


I'm going to go ahead and close this, as the OP's question has been answered, and if we start questioning every design decision and expect the developers to listen to us, no games would ever be completed.