CATERPILLAR SYSTEM

author=kentona
Yes, make an autostart event that moves the follower(s) to the location of the hero, and then at the end of the autostart event use the Erase Event command.

So it would be like:

<> Set Var0001 = Hero X
<> Set Var0002 = Hero Y
<> Change Event Location: Follower (var0001, var0002)
<> Erase Event

Caterpillar events are cool, but unfortunately, (1) there's the whole making offsets thing, and inevitably if you walk fast you can leave the character in the dust, (2) or they can get tangled up by obstacles, (3) or you can turn around suddenly and get stuck by the person following you, there's the whole making the character above or below you but this looks bad. (4) Lastly, the entire idea of having to import a parallel process event plus a series of other local events isn't very user friendly. (5) Awhile back, I latched on to the idea of just teleporting your follower to your position as ThisEvent: Phasing, move through you, face, then end phasing. But it just looked really terrible. So, how to get the caterpillar to only do something when you move.

And of course, we want it all on one page.

You'll need 6 variables. Basically CurrentX, CurrentY, CurrentFacing (this is important), and NewX, NewY, NewFacing. And the event in question is Same Layer and Parallel Process, and has the If Hero is in Party checked.

1)Set CurrentX, CurrentY, CurrentFacing (if you dunno how to use facing, 2=down, 4=left, 6=right,8=up)
2)Condition: If CurrentX is equal to NewX, CurrentY is equal to NewY, CurrentFacing is equal to NewFacing. Make these all nested inside each other. End Event Processing
3) Now put everything else past this. This is your "else"
4) Change Event Location, This Event (CurrentX, CurrentY). Basically, if the hero has moved or changed facing direction, teleport the follower to where you are. Because you added facing, it you turn around, you're able to walk through the follower.
5) Use Condition: Facing is the numbers listed above. Make a move event, where ThisEvent does the following: Move(the opposite direction you're facing), Face Hero and set to Ignore Impossible Moves. I originally thought you needed Phasing On and Off, but you don't, and actually shouldn't (when you turn towards your follower while facing a wall, if Phasing is On, the follower will step into the wall due to them coming out of you, without Phasing this doesn't happen).
6) Set NewX, NewY, and NewFacing then End Event Processing

Like this.



That's it. If you stop, the follower stops updating position. If you turn around, it doesn't matter that they're same layer, they move behind you. If you're near a wall, no big deal. And no getting caught or left behind.

The thing with most caterpillar things is they assume a single teleport. This always runs into problems, as you can wind up outrunning your follower, or trapping them behind obstacles.

Note: Known glitches. I haven't gotten this to work with secondary followers. The process of getting characters behind you and to reface means the second follower will constantly move. But in terms of having one companion, this is better since it constantly updates.

Thanks! This works great.

I put his frequency to normal:4 like you said, and put a move event that said to increase his move speed. He is still way too fast. Now he stays behind the hero, but it looks like he is continuously teleporting behind the hero

EDIT: I looked at your tutorial too, but I decided that since I only need this catepillar system for a few maps and with one follower that I would use this one.

Would this be "Frequency up" or "movespeed up" because when I use movespeed up just once, he's way too fast. Frequency doesn't seem to have an effect.

When I use this system the follower character is too slow compared to the hero. This leads to the follower character taking routes through objects and such. This also leads to the follower lagging behind the hero. How do I fix this?

Now, would that be a CE, or another event on every map?

I figured out how to prevent that quirky movement AND prevent you from getting blocked in a narrow path AND still have the follower(s) be 1/2 or 1/3rd transparent when walking through certain tiles (such as one the worldmap forest).

Leave the followers as Same Layer As Hero but at the start of the parallel event have a <> Move Event: This Event, Phasing Mode ON and never turn it off (remove the Phasing Mode OFF lines from the original move events). This will prevent the blocking and allow for 1/2 or 1/3 transparencies.

For the quirky movement, for the first follower you need to add a simple check to determine if the hero has changed position and only do the follower movement logic if it has.

In the autostart event I described before, add two new variables Previous_Hero_X and Previous_Hero_Y and set them to the current hero's X and Y positions.

In the follower's parallel process, add this right after the <>Variable Oper: Set, This Event Y Coord.:



With that in place, the first follower will only use his move logic if the hero has actually changed position, and since the second follower follows the first and the third follower follows the second, they won't move either unless the hero does.

One more thing. I got it working. My only problem is that the event has to run over to the hero from where they are in the map. Is there a way to fix that?