Interface / Action Requests

DieHappyGames

Hi, Chris. A few  feature requests for future build if you agree they're worthwhile:

- The "Face after moving" checkbox option that appears with the Player Action "Walk to" / "Walk to marker", can you please add it to the "Character: Move to point" action?

- A "Face Direction" action or direction/axis options within the existing "Face Object" action would be very useful for 2D designers, particularly for directing cutscenes without have to create a ton of extra markers to accomplish the same purpose.

- An action that modifies the existing polygon navmesh (add/remove hole) would be extremely useful for 2D. As it is, when you have objects in your scene that require holes in the navmesh but can be picked up, you have to create and swap an entirely new navmesh when that item is picked up. Suppose you have 6 objects like that in your scene, you then need almost 40 navmeshes and a series of variable checks in order to swap the appropriate navmesh, and the same goes if you want to be able to place an object that then adds a hole in the navmesh. The ability to add/remove or enable/disable holes via an action would remove this massive chore. 

I'm still very much learning Adventure Creator, so please let me know if I've misunderstood something about how the system currently works. Thanks in advance and keep up the great work!

Xidore

If the object can be picked up, is it so large that it would block a player's path?

Indeed your example of 6 objects indicates a very high number of permutations. If possible, I'd suggest streamlining your scene so that perhaps 2 at the most changes in nav-mesh would result from player actions. Make these a sequential cause-effect and you can have a few more without increasing the navmesh requirement exponentially.

I wonder, though, if a form of CSG (add/subtract geometry) which used to be used more than these days in Unreal and similar engines might achieve what you are proposing.

I really don't know if Unity has any simple type of CSG or similar boolean poly modifier potential. I can see how it has the potential to utterly crash if used improperly mind!

DieHappyGames

Xiodore, I was only giving an example of how being able to access and modify the default navmesh's array of "holes" could make things exponentially more efficient for the designer. There are many instances where it would be preferable to modify a navmesh versus have numerous variations to swap out. 

ChrisIceBox

@Xidore's points aside, I can see that being a useful feature - 6 objects being an extreme case or not.

Same goes for the face direction suggestion.  I'd considered something similar myself, but never got around to it.  Is worth pointing out, though, that with the existing ability to copy an object's rotation when facing a direction, you'd only need one marker for each direction.

Will have a look into these.

DieHappyGames

Thanks Chris, I hope you don't mind the suggestions. I'm still in the prototyping stage of my 2D adventure game and am trying to anticipate obstacles I'll come up against as part of determining whether I'm better off using AC or building everything from scratch.

ChrisIceBox

Sure thing, thanks for the clarification.  Hole swapping is confirmed for 1.37.

DieHappyGames

Hey Chris, is there a reason why the "set minimum distance" property is only available on the "walk to" Player Action and not on the "walk to marker"?

ChrisIceBox

The "Walk to" setting has a minimum distance because you don't want the player to walk to the exact position the Hotspot's on.  Without a Marker, you need to have a distance threshold so that the game knows "how close" is enough.