AC's focus on refinement and bugfixing continues, but this update still includes a few handy new features. Check them out:
Character wizard
Put this in the "long overdue" pile, but a new window available in the top toolbar allows you to quickly create a new character by choosing a sprite or model and filling in the fields. Keep in mind this is more about simplifying the component-adding process: you'll still have to assign animations, tweak collider shapes etc, but this should still make the process a lot easier - particular for newcomers.
Controls remapping
This is more of a technical feature (big thanks to
@PixelCrushers for assistance), but AC's functions used to detect input can now be overridden using delegates. In short, this allows you to remap controls in-game: whether it be using your own script, or by linking it to a third-party input manager. A tutorial on the basics
can be found here.
Relative positioning across scenes
Remember how in Kings Quest (the classics, not the reboot) the game'd remember if you were at the top or the bottom of the screen when moving to a new scene on the left or right? You can now do this by recording the relative position between the Player and a Marker. It's a little tricky to grasp, so there's
a tutorial that covers it.Runtime translations
Be sure to update your PersistentEngine prefabs! The new RuntimeLanguages script attached to it allows you to change the text within a translation (or add an entirely new one) in-game through scripting. This makes it possible to add translations to a game post-launch - just include a script in the initial release that checks for any added translation files and import them as appropriate. The scripting guide entry for this class
can be found here.
Scripting guide homepage
With all the improvements to custom scripting lately, it's important that accessing AC's scripts is as clear as possible. So, some helpful instructions have been added to the
index page of the Scripting guide.
Comments
Upgrade notes
- The maximum number of values in the “Variable: Check random number” Action is now capped at 100
- The PersistentEngine prefab has been updated - please be sure to re-import it when updating
- An issue involving Lipsync files not being read if a character has an alternative name written in their Hotspot component has been fixed
Characters- Added: Character wizard - use to quickly assign the correct tags and components to a sprite or model to convert into an AC-ready Player or NPC
- Added: Improved error messages if a Sprites Unity-based Character does not have the expected standard animations (Unity 5 only)
- Added: Option for 2D characters in 3D games to rotate according to either the camera’s facing direction, or it’s relative position to the character
- Added: Slider to Settings Manager to control how often pathfinding is recalculated (the default value of zero results in no re-calculations)
- Added: Warning message if a 2D character’s “sprite child” has a non-zero position
- Changed: “Return to Idle after?” option in Character: Animate Actions for Mecanim and Sprites Unity Complex characters has been removed, since it has no effect
- Fixed: NPCs not pathfinding their way around a scene when following another character (2D only)
- Fixed: “Turn before walking” option on Player / NPC Inspectors not affecting characters that resume moving along a Path
- Fixed: Rare issue involving NPCs facing wrong direction after loading a saved game
Custom scripting- Added: Quick-start page to the front of the Scripting Guide
- Added: Ability to use delegates to override AC’s input check functions (see tutorial on website)
- Added: ActionListAssets can now be run through script by calling their “Interact” function
- Added: Ability to call custom events when a Hotspot’s highlight effect is turned on and off
- Added: New function to PlayerMenus.cs - RebuildMenus() - use to rebuild all menus from a custom Menu Manager asset during gameplay
Scenes- Added: Option to “Engine: Change scene” Action to only preload the scene - if the same scene is then called later, loading time is reduced
- Added: Ability to constrain both horizontal and vertical scrolling with Parallax2D component
- Fixed: Error when entering an AC scene from a non-AC one when Audio Mixer Groups are used (Unity 5 only)
Speech- Added: Ability to amend or add new translations at runtime, using the new script “RuntimeLanguages”, found on the PersistentEngine
- Added: Ability to re-colour dialogue options that have already been clicked on
- Added: Ability to define the AudioSource that a character’s speech audio plays from, rather than it having to be from the root GameObject
- Added: Option to play text-scrolling audio every letter, or only when the audio has finished previously playing
- Added: Warning messages to console if lipsyncing is enabled but the required files are not found
- Added: Support for Papagayo v2 Lipsync files
- Fixed: Exported translations now convert empty strings to a single space character to aid importing into external spreadsheet tools
- Fixed: “Display speech forever until user skips it?” causing background speech to behave incorrectly
- Fixed: Lipsync files not being read if a character has an alternative name written in their Hotspot component
Cameras- Added: Option to Third-person cameras for input magnitude to affect the rotation speeds
- Added: Ability to set lower and upper limits for the influence that panning the cursor has over a GameCamera’s rotation
- Fixed: GameCamera occasionally spinning out of control if it’s rotation in the Y-axis exceed 360 degrees
- Fixed: Custom fade textures set in “Camera: Fade” Action being ignored since v1.48
- Fixed: Third-person cameras occasionally starting at incorrect rotations if the scene begins with a Cutscene
- Fixed: Cursor issues when drag-controlling a Third-person camera
Inventory- Added: Ability to define per-Hotspot unhandled Inventory interactions, which will override any defined in the Inventory Manager
Actions- Added: “Object: Call event” Action - use to select and invoke functions on an object
- Added: Ability in the Actions Manager to re-colour Actions displayed in the ActionList Editor
- Added: Button to lower-right corner of ActionList Editor window that toggles the display of an ActionList’s properties
- Added: Ability to bring up the ActionList Editor window by double-clicking on an ActionList Asset
- Added: Error messages if the copy buffer is lost when Actions are pasted into a new scene
- Changed: The maximum number of values in the “Variable: Check random number” Action is now capped at 100
- Changed: Renamed the “Engine: Pause” Action to “Engine: Wait”, to better describe it’s purpose
- Fixed: Actions in a scene-based ActionList not showing in the Inspector if the gameobject is disabled
- Fixed: Various issues with “Copy Marker” feature of “Object: Transform” Action
- Fixed: Rare issue where gameplay is blocked indefinitely if an ActionList that has not been edited is run
Hotspots- Added: Option to draw Hotspot icons in World Space, instead of Screen Space
- Added: Ability to tweak intensity and transition duration values of Highlight components
- Fixed: Disabled Hotspots highlighting or showing icons in rare circumstances
- Fixed: Hotspots being able to be detected while dragging a Third-person camera
Triggers- Added: Ability for Triggers to limit their detection to GameObjects with a specific tag
- Added: Triggers now show a red polygon instead of a cube if the Box Collider is replaced with a Polygon Collider
Player- Added: Ability to define an ActionList that runs when a Slider menu element is manipulated
- Added: Ability to define the minimum and maximum values of Slider menu elements
- Added: Improved interface for managing the pages within a Journal menu element
- Changed: Menu elements that do not need to be translated are no longer included in translation files
- Changed: If a Menu Element is duplicated, any link to a Unity UI object is now severed
- Fixed: Slider menu elements being interactive during cutscenes
- Fixed: Display issues with default “InGame” Unity UI prefab
- Fixed: Issues when copying menu elements
Cursors- Changed: Removed “show cursors side by side” option in Cursor Manger if hardware cursor rendering is selected, since it has no effect
- Fixed: Look cursor icon not always showing if hardware cursor rendering is selected
- Fixed: Cursor icons used when dragging objects not being a fixed size if Hardware cursor rendering is enabled
- Fixed: Cursor sometimes flickering when clicking on Hotspots in Context Sensitive mode
Physics- Fixed: Draggables still being interactive when a Menu should be blocking cursor clicks
- Fixed: PickUp objects flying from player’s control after they stop being rotated
Sound- Fixed: Music occasionally re-starting when the game is paused (Unity 4 only)
- Added: If a “Sound: Play” is used to play an AudioClip but no Sound object is supplied, the scene’s “Default Sound prefab” will be used instead
Other- Added: Messages sent to the Console window can now be turned off under “Debug settings” in the Settings Manager
- Added: When an ActionList asset is run, it’s temporary scene object will be placed in the “_Cutscenes” scene folder, if it exists, to reduce clutter
- Added: The Shapeable component Inspector now allows you to select Blendshapes by name, rather than index
- Changed: The PersistentEngine prefab has been updated - please be sure to re-import it when updating
- Changed: The toolbar links to load the 2D or 3D Demo managers will not be shown if the relevent demo folder is not imported into the project
- Fixed: Conflict errors if a script named “Sprite” is present in a project
- Fixed: Issues when using simulated inputs with QTE sequences
- Fixed: 3D Demo’s circular wipe transition not animating in Unity 5.2
- Fixed: Adventure Creator un-pausing the game if another script or asset is used to pause
Back up your projects, yadda yadda..Very nice!
Runtime translations : thanks a lot for this