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Version 1.46 - Save game profiles, 2.5D tutorial

edited June 2015 in Official news
With more eyes on AC since it was included in May's Madness Sale, a ton of bugs have been reported - and now fixed.  The "Upgrade notes" with this one are especially important this time around, so be sure to go over them carefully!  This isn't the most glamourous update, but it should make AC as stable as it's ever been.  Still, some major changes have been made to the save and options systems, so please report any problems that arise in this thread (general usage questions still go in Technical Q&A, mind.)  With that said:

Save game profiles
A long-needed feature of AC is now here: the ability for players to create their own save profiles, which their own set of options data and save files.  New Actions allow for the creation, naming and deletion of profiles, and the Demo_MenuManager asset now includes a "Profiles" menu that shows the basics of working with them.  To view it, you'll need to check "Use save game profiles?" at the top of the Settings Manager, and un-hide the Profiles button in the "Pause" menu.

Save game management
As part of the overhaul needed to allow for save profiles, save games themselves were updated to (finally!) allow them to be re-named and deleted.  The new "Save: Save or load" Action also allows the user to save, load, or continue a game at will.  Bear in mind that the same restrictions still apply about saving, and if any gameplay-blocking ActionList other than the one used to actually do the saving is running, then the save will file.  For that reason, the new "Save: Check" Action can be used to determine if saving is currently possible (to handle the display of "Save my game" menu buttons, for example).  A tutorial that covers extending the default Save menu with a dialogue box to enter custom save names can be found here.

New menu features
Let's say you wanted to have a "Delete" button beside each slot of a list of save games.  The "Save: Manage saves" Action allows you to delete saves by slot index, but it'd be a pain to have to create a separate ActionList for each slot, so you can now assign an Integer parameter to a button's linked ActionList - meaning you can just have one ActionList and re-use it for all buttons.  And if you link an ActionList to a SavesList, then you can automatically pass the slot index number as an Integer parameter.

The "Variable: Set" Action has also been updated, so that when working with String variables, you can now set them to the value of any menu element text - not just an Input box's contents.  And the new "Menu: Check num slots" Action can be used on elements that aren't even showing - meaning you can find out how many inventory items the player is carrying, for example, by checking the size of your Inventory box.

2.5D tutorial
This one's been in the works for a while now, but various setbacks (including missing features and more than one period of sore throat) have delayed it until now.  But the one consolation: it's (almost) 2.5 hours long!  Once again, it uses specially-made assets, so you'll need to re-download the tutorial files on the Downloads page.

Oh, and if you're wondering about what 1.46a is, I just forgot to update the changelog.  Speaking of which...
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Comments

  • edited June 2015
    Upgrade notes
    • Options data has been reset
    • To prevent 2D Characters from sliding with default values, acceleration and deceleration values are now more sensitive
    • “Drag cursor with touch?” option is removed for First Person games controlled with Touch Screen
    • Menu transition movement type “Overshoot” has been replaced with “Custom Curve”
    • Button menu elements now make use of word-wrapping
    • The maximum number of save files is now set in the Settings Manager, not in a SavesList menu element
    Save profiles
    • Added: Option in Settings Manager to enable save game profiles - each profile will have it's own save game files and options data
    • Added: “Profiles” menu to 3D Demo’s MenuManager - a simple interface to create, switch and delete save profiles.
    • Added: ProfilesList menu element - use to display a list of save profiles present in your game
    • Added: "Save: Manage profiles" Action - use to create, rename and delete save game profiles
    • Added: Ability for a Label menu element to display the name of the active save profile
    Saving and loading
    • Added: "Save: Save or load" Action - use to manually save, load or continue a game
    • Added: "Save: Manage saves" Action - use to rename and delete existing save files
    • Added: "Save: Check” Action - use to query the number of saves or profiles created, or if saving is currently possible
    • Added: Option to not perform the actual saving/loading when the user clicks on a save file, so that it's functionality can be overridden
    • Added: Option to exclude the 'New save' slot from save game lists
    • Added: Option to list save game files in order of update time
    • Added: SavesList menu elements can now be offset, if the number of save files exceeds the slot limit
    • Changed: The maximum number of save files is now set in the Settings Manager, not in a SavesList menu element
    • Fixed: Save button in Pause menu rarely being hidden when saving is still possible
    • Fixed: SavesList elements not obeying the "Time display" setting when the game is not running
    • Fixed: Inability to save option-linked variables on iOS
    • Fixed: Errors when multiple Remember scripts are placed on the same object when working on iOS
    Menus
    • Added: "Menu: Set Input Box text" Action - use to set the contents of an Input menu element
    • Added: "Menu: Check num slots" Action - use the query the number of slots on a given Menu Element
    • Added: Ability to change the mouse cursor when over Button and DialogList menu elements (per-element setting)
    • Added: Ability to control Menu transition speeds with Animation Curves
    • Added: Ability to re-order Menus and Elements to top and bottom of Menu Manager
    • Added: Option in Menu Manager to scale Menu text effects (shadows / outlines) with screen resolution
    • Added: Ability to run an ActionList when a Toggle or Cycle menu element is clicked
    • Added: The "Variable: Set" Action can now be used to set a string Variable's value from any Menu element, not just Input elements
    • Changed: The Menu button element Click type option "Offset Inventory Or Dialogue" has been renamed to "Offset Element Slot"
    • Changed: Menu transition movement type “Overshoot” has been replaced with “Custom Curve”
    • Changed: Button menu elements now make use of word-wrapping
    • Fixed: Active 'pause' Menus sometimes re-pausing game before all unfreezing ActionList assets have finished running
    • Fixed: UI-based Menus not updating during transitions if their AC equivalent has a “Transition type” of “None”
    • Fixed: Scaling issues with default Unity UI prefabs
    • Fixed: Multi-slot menu elements linked to Unity UI showing when set to be invisible
    • Fixed: ActionLists set to run when a Menu is closed firing multiple times
    • Fixed: Menu Button click textures being drawn underneath main texture
    • Fixed: Menus that pan into the game window being drawn on top of aspect-ratio borders
    Editor
    • Added: Option in Scene Manager to organise room objects without or without creating scene folders
    • Added: When the game is running, Trigger and Hotspot Inspectors will display a message if they are currently turned off
    • Changed: If a PlayerStart has no “Camera on start” defined, the Scene Manager’s “Default Camera” will be used instead
    • Changed: When organising a new scene, the Scene Manager will attempt to convert existing MainCamera to an AC one
    • Fixed: Typo in Settings Manager - “Disallow Interactions if cursor is unlocked?” is now “if cursor is locked?”
    • Fixed: ActionList assets breaking when you undo the deletion of an Action
    • Fixed: Pathfinding warnings in Scene Manager sometimes showing inappropriately if the Settings Manager asset file is replaced
    Characters
    • Added: Experimental option to attempt super-accurate movement, if “Destination accuracy” is turned all the way up to 1
    • Changed: To prevent 2D Characters from sliding with default values, acceleration and deceleration values are now more sensitive
    • Fixed: Animation issues with Mecanim characters when turning and talking at the same time
    • Fixed: Animation issues when using root motion with Point And Click movement
    • Fixed: Rare issue when restarting a game with multiple Player prefabs
    • Fixed: Inventory of an overriding Player prefab not being shared with main Player prefab if Player switching is disallowed
    Parameters
    • Added: Ability to define an integer parameter when running an ActionList from a Button menu elements
    • Added: Ability to send the clicked slot number as a parameter when running an ActionList from a SavesList menu element
    • Added: “ActionList: Check parameter” Action - use to check the value of a parameter defined in the parent ActionList
  • edited June 2015
    Hotspots
    • Added: Option to limit a Hotspot’s interactivity to a specific camera’s view
    • Added:
      Option to Hotspots for double-clicking to trigger Interactions
      instantly (Context Sensitive and single-Use Hotspots only)
    • Added: Ability to only display Hotspot icons when FlashHotspots input button is pressed
    • Added: Ability to hide Hotspot icons when an Interaction Menu is visible
    • Added: Warning messages to Detect Hotspots component if it’s expected components are not found
    • Added: Ability to cycle backwards through cursors in “Cycling Cursor And Clicking Hotspot” mode with CycleCursorsBack button
    • Fixed: Rare cursor issues when disabling Hotspot Interactions
    • Fixed: Interaction Menus not working if not positioned directly over the Hotspot they refer to
    • Fixed: Issue with using Inventory interactions on Hotspots in rare circumstances
    Speech and language
    • Added: Option to end background speech audio once non-background speech audio plays
    • Added: Improved feedback if importing a translation fails
    • Added:
      If no text is listed in the Speech Manager, the button to create a new
      translation will be replaced by a message box with instructions
    • Added: Ability to define a per-character text scroll sound
    • Fixed: Lipsync issues with Characters animated with Sprites Unity Complex
    • Fixed: “Dialogue: Start conversation” Actions breaking connections if used to override defaults when used in an ActionList
    First person
    • Added: Option in First Person games to not enforce first-person camera during Conversations
    • Changed: “Drag cursor with touch?” option is removed for First Person games controlled with Touch Screen
    • Fixed: Direct and First Person-control Players not always stopping when a Conversation begins
    2D games
    • Fixed: If a Sorting Map is set to affect Sorting Layers, the layer names are now shown in the Scene Window
    • Fixed: Bottom-most point in a SortingMap changing ever-so-slightly when moving the mouse in the Scene Window
    • Fixed: Parallax2D component not working for games that use a perspective GameCamera2D
    • Fixed:
      If a Parallax 2D component is not locked in a particular direction, it
      can not be moved manually while the game is running
    Camera
    • Added: Ability to set a collision offset distance to Third Person GameCameras
    • Added: The transition time in the Camera: Switch Action can now be set by a parameter
    • Fixed: Hotspots being selectable in the wrong camera when split-screen is enabled
    • Fixed: Custom fade textures assigned in “Camera: Fade” Action no longer having an effect
    • Fixed: Creating a split-screen effect not automatically disabling the previous one first
    • Fixed: A GameCamera2D not moving vertically correctly if it is rotation to look down the negative-Z axis
    • Fixed: Console errors if the MainCamera has no “LookAt child” assigned
    Other
    • Added: Engine: Check platform - queries the current platform to assist in platform-specific content
    • Added: Ability to replace one Inventory item with another using “Inventory: Add or remove” Action
    • Added: Ability to replace one scene object with another using “Object: Add or remove” Action
    • Added: Ability to replace one NavMesh hole with another using “Engine: Change scene setting” Action
    • Fixed: Issues when using Adventure Creator in conjunction with some assets with conflicting script names
    • Fixed: “Engine: End game” Action not showing the option to restart a scene by scene name or number
    • Fixed: Error when switching to a loading screen if a Sound object set to “Play across scenes” is present
    • Fixed: Room data not being restored when a scene is loaded due to switching Player prefab
    • Fixed: ActionLists running forever if an Action’s “After running” option is set to “Run Cutscene”, but no Cutscene is supplied
    As ever, back up your projects!
  • Outstanding!  Great work and dedication, Chris!
  • Thank you, Chris. Great work!
  • Thank you, thank you, thank you! :D :D :D
  • This has some SERIOUS upgrades in it. GREAT.
  • edited June 2015
    I've tried updating and also importing the update directly into a new project from the Asset Store and am getting the following error upon adding:

    "The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect"

    Any idea what this means?
  • edited June 2015
    @TayannaStudios: Where's that appearing?  Any more to that error message?  I haven't heard of that before, but this thread suggests that it could be a problem with the Asset Store.
  • edited June 2015
    @ChrisIceBox Yes it's a strange one. It appears after the package downloaded and I hit Import after the selection window of which assets to import. Here's the full error:

    Copying Temp/Export Package/ea0d5881f3dfad241ac37ed92b9c5ddf/bbd00bf3b3aca4a98b404a0eda78e82a/asset to Assets/AdventureCreator/Scripts/Speech/:f: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

    Is it importing fine for everyone else?
  • I have the same, asset shows Speech/f as a new file. Seems like a packaging error. I clicked cancel two times and then it works fine. Experimenting with new functions now. Totally rocks so far!
  • Yes, clicking cancel twice seems to complete the import process but I'm not sure if it's going to affect anything further down the line?
  • Impressive update, Chris...AS ALWAYS!!!  :)
  • Awesome work, Chris, as always! I already tested and confirmed those changes, all are working like a charm:
  • Who's working in Unity 4 and who's working in Unity 5?  It could be that @TayannaStudios' error is version-dependent.  If so, I'll need to know which one's faulty and re-upload it.
  • @ChrisIceBox I'm working in Unity 5 here. It does seem to work (so far) after clicking cancel a couple of times but like I said, I'm not sure if it'll cause an issue down the line.
  • Unity 5.1f2 on my side
  • edited June 2015
    Hi Chris, many thanks for this outstanding update. I'm curious to check out all of the new features and enhancements.
    I got the import failure as well. Unity 5.0.1.f1.
  • I think this has now been fixed - it took a couple of goes, so please try updating to the newest release, v1.46c.
  • With 1.46c there are no longer import issues on my side. Thank you for fast solving.
  • Unity 5.0.2, and I also saw some strange error when importing. But I just dismissed it and everything worked fine afterwards.
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