LOCKED DOORS AND VANISHING EVENTS

Ok, so I'm writing a full tutorial that should teach you everything you need to know about events to figure it out. Rather than solving this one problem for you.

I'm not writing the tutorial specifically for you, been meaning to do something like this for a while heh but I can find out how helpful it is. It's still a WIP.

Read through it and maybe you'll have your answers. If not, just wait til I'm done and I'll have some specific examples you asked for.

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Understanding Events

The purpose of this tutorial is to help newcomers understand how to do all the basic things that events can do. Everything will be accompanied by images for those who are visual learners. I will include some advanced stuff that you can skip if you don't fully understand it yet. Some of it might require more specific tutorials.



It all starts with a new project. A project is basically a database and a map tree.



The map tree is in the bottom left corner. Right click there to make a new map. I suggest getting into the habit of keeping it organized.



Use empty maps to contain and categorize all similar maps. Try not to make unnecessary long strings of a map inside a map inside a map, or randomly create new maps as you need them.

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The database is where all behind-the-scenes data is set, but also it's where you find the very important Common Events tab.



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Maps are grids where you can place events, like this one. You can only create one event per tile, but you can later move multiple events to the same tile.




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Events on a map will only work while you are on that map. When you teleport away from the map, all of the events will be reset the next time you go back. (Unless you use switches to permanently change the events.)



An event running from the Comment Events will work on every map. The way you activate them is different, you need to call them directly or use switches/variables.



Rather than create the same event on every map, you can create it once in the common area and use it on every map! Saves time and space, but you can worry about that later.

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I'll explain each area of the event.



ID - You can see this in the title bar. Each new event that is created uses the next lowest available number. If you make 10 events and delete ID4, the next event created will be ID4. ID is important when you are specifying an event using code inside of another event.

Name - It's a good habit to name your event to whatever it's function is. NPC1, Treasure4, pushrock, climbtree.... When you call on another event you need to pick it from a list of names.

Page - Each new page is represented by a tab. Click the tab to select the page. The buttons along the top affect the currently selected page.

Each page is basically a new event inside the event. Only 1 page can be active at one time during the game, and you use the Preconditions to change pages. No Preconditions means the page is always active. The page furthest to the right that has its Precondition met will be what shows in the game. If no Preconditions are met, the event will be invisible and inactive.

Preconditions - Leave this empty and the event will always be active. When you pick something from the list, that needs to be true in order for the event to activate.

If you pick two or more things, they all need to happen to trigger the page. By using multiple Preconditions, you can fit a lot of different behaviors and styles into a single NPC.

Event Commands - This is where you put all your code for this event/page. How this code triggers depends on how you set the Trigger Condition.

Event Graphic - This is where you decide the look of the NPC or visible event. Some events need to remain hidden, so you would choose something transparent. There is no "empty" choice, you need to pick something transparent.

Movement - There are some basic patterns in the list, but for more realistic NPC's it's best to create custom paths.

Speed - This controls how long it takes for the event to move to the next tile.

Movement Frequency - This controls how long the event takes to move onto the next movement command.

Animation Type - Determines the behavoir of the event graphic.

Non-Continuous will not cycle the frames while the event is standing still. When it moves the frames will cycle.

Continuous will cycle the frames all the time.

Fixed Dir / Fixed Direction means the event will not turn when going in different directions.

Fixed Graphic will never cycle the frames of the graphic. It's stuck on the the frame you choose when clicking the "Set" button to choose a graphic.

Spin Around will use only 1 frame of the animation, but it will make the event spin around all four directions. Useful for getting an extra frame of animation into a sprite.

Event Layer - There are only 3 layers, each altering the way the Trigger Conditions work. These 3 layers also apply to the tileset.

Below Hero - The player will be able to walk on top of this event. You need to be standing on top to activate the Action Key trigger, simply standing next to and facing it won't work.

Same Level as Hero - The player will not be able to walk through this event. You can stand next to and face to activate the Action Key trigger.

Above Hero - The player will be able to walk under this event. Like Below Hero, you need to occupy the same space to use the Action Key trigger.

Trigger Conditions - This dictates how the Event Commands will activate.

Action Key - The player needs to press the "talk" key on the event.

Touched by Hero - The player simply needs to walk on top of, into, or under the event.

Collision with Hero - This one is tricky and doesn't work as well as you might hope. The layer of the event plays a big part. Play around with it to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Auto-Start - This will happen right away when you teleport to the map, but it will freeze the player and other events until it is stopped. These can break the game if you're careless.

Parallel Process - This is the same as Auto-Start, except that it doesn't freeze anything. The player can move and other events can run at the same time. Even multiple Parallel Processes.

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Now that all the basic explanations are out of the way, let's start looking at practical examples.




Creating an NPC

Create a new event. Give it a name and a graphic.



This is the most basic example. This is all it takes to create something that will appear on the map. You can use the graphic of a box or a flower to create environment objects. You also can use copies of something in the tileset to create extra layers and fix map errors.

This NPC, Joey, will just be standing around. I imagine almost anyone can figure out how to use the other options to bring him to life so I won't get into that.

Using Pages

Let's say you want Joey to display a message when you talk to him.



Often times when you complete something in the story, you will want to Joey to display a different message. For this we use a Variable.

Simply put, a Variable is something you control that can hold a number. It starts at 0 and remains at 0 until you use a Variable command to change it.

So as the game goes on, let's say you beat the nearby thieves. At the end of that battle there would be a command to add 1 to a Variable we'll call "Main Story Progress". Now that I know which Variable I will be using, I can create a new page on Joey and set the Precondition.



Using Preconditions in this way, you can determine what events the player has completed in the game by tracking them with variables, then have events react based on what the variables are set to. This is an important concept to grasp for all ideas that needs to be coded in any game design program.

One way to look at page 2 is this. The Precondition is asking a basic question.

Is the Variable "Main Story Progress" equal to 1?
If Yes, then use page 2.
If No, then use page 1.

This is called logic and it's the basis of everything. If you can think a design element out using simple questions, there are commands to make it happen.



***More to come tomorrow***