Menu options with multiple sub-entries per-entry

dxmachina

I'm trying to do some menu-customization for the dialog list and other custom menus on my project. Specifically I'm trying to do something like this:

Basically, I want a single text/icon split into 2-6 sub-sections (here represented by blue/red). So in the case of dialogue it might represent which character in a party is speaking the line or variations on the dialogue line. In other menus it might represent the strength of an attack. Etc...

I'd also like to add some sprite animation when the user is over the menu options.

What would be the best way to accomplish this in your opinion? I haven't really been able to figure out much with the AC system. I can use grid-view, but that doesn't allow a single text entry nor are the grids variable per conversation. I've been looking into using the new Unity UI stuff for the first time - but not sure that's the best path.

Would love some advice.

Happy holidays!

ChrisIceBox

You'll definitely want to use Unity UI for this - you can easily add hover animations, for one thing.

For the separated colour effect, you could go with a non-interactible UI slider behind each button, and then change it's value either with a script or by calling an animation (you can animate Unity UIs with the Object: Animate Action).

dxmachina

Thanks, Chris...

The only thing I'm still a little unclear about is how to handle the AC Dialog choice -> Unity UI interaction. If it were a static breakup of the button that was consistent I think this would be relatively easy. However, because I need a dynamic number of choices I need a way to re-configure the UI panel based on what I'm setting up in AC per convo.

Is there a way to pass my intended structure from AC to Unity UI so that I can configure the panel appropriately? Essentially I'd need to pass the # of buttons that should be present in each row and their intended color. Perhaps set variables with AC at the beginning of the conversation - and then read those out to the Unity UI?

ChrisIceBox

You will likely have to dig around the Scripting Guide entry for the Conversation script, which provides you with functions and variables for any given conversation:

Conversation

You can access the active Conversation with:

AC.KickStarter.playerInput.activeConversation;