Contents
- Setting a Basic Trigger
- Setting a Camera Track Trigger & Cuts
- Setting Objective States
- Setting End Game State
- Setting Objective Win
- Setting Objective Loss
- Example Scenario
Triggers are events or actions that can be set within Scenario Editor. They can control the desired behaviours within a custom scenario to tell a story, keep score, set timed events and win or loss conditions.
Setting a Basic Trigger
This set of instructions will set a basic trigger that causes Player 1 to advance to Age V instantly.
- Press 'T' or open the Triggers Menu from Triggers then Triggers.
- Select Insert from the Trigger Editor Panel.
- Name the Trigger "P1_Age_V" in the Triggers Panel to the right.
- Next, select the radio button Condition within the Trigger Editor Panel.
- From the Conditions Panel, set the Type to Timer.
- Set the 'Seconds' to 5.
- Then, select the radio button Effects from the Trigger Editor Panel.
- Set the Type to Player : SetAge from the Effects Panel.
- Set the Age to 1 (this is Age II or Commerce Age).
- Rename this Trigger Effect to "P1_SetAge_II"
- Select Copy from the Effects Panel to duplicate the Effect.
- Set the Age to 2 (this is Age III or Fortress Age).
- Rename this Trigger Effect to "P1_SetAge_III"
- Repeat the last 3 steps until there are enough triggers to reach 'Age' = 4 (Age V/Imperial)
- Check the order of the Effects list is from Age 1 at the top to Age 4 at the bottom.
- Remember 0=Age 1. 1=Age2, 2=Age 3, 3=Age 4 & 4=Age 5
- Test the Trigger by selecting Scenario then Playtest Scenario.
Setting a Camera Track Trigger & Cuts
To create cutscenes or set intro videos for your scenarios, it is possible to set the camera to move through one or more tracks and cut between scenes. There is a Trigger Effect for this called Camera Track which allows a previously created Camera Track to be set. This trigger will play the Camera Track for it's duration, and allows a following Trigger to be set after the track is complete. This makes it simple to string multiple Camera Tracks together, so long as they are within their own Trigger groups.
To create cuts between scenes there is another Trigger Effect, Camera Cut, which captures the current view and will set the camera to that view when activated. Once the effect has been selected, the options for Set Cut and Show will be present in the Effects panel. Set Cut will capture the current camera view. Show will display the stored camera view that was set with Set Cut.
Additionally, there are effects for both Camera Track and Cut that can control individual player cameras. Player Camera Track and Player Camera Cut can be used for multiplayer scenarios where one player may see a different intro scene than the other - or the camera may cut to specific objectives for each player on certain conditions such as highlighting their next objective.
Setting Objective States
In a scenario, any number of primary and secondary objectives can be set and then referred to via Trigger Conditions and Trigger Effects.
Objective Trigger Effects:
- Objective : Complete - Marks a set Objective as completed in the HUD. Associated XP is awarded if set.
- Objective : Discover - Displays a previously hidden Objective in the HUD and it becomes active.
- Objective : Hide - Objective is hidden from HUD & deactivated.
- Objective : Incomplete - Objective is "Failed" or otherwise not completed.
- Objective : Show - Objective is shown in HUD without the "Objective Discovered" pop-up
Setting End Game State
To set an end state, we can use the Trigger Effects: You Win or You Lose.
Setting Objective Win
For this section, we can use an example. Certainly any number of objectives can be checked before a win. Example: Create a Trigger for Game_End_Win and set the Conditions Type: to All Units Dead and Player to 2. Now, when all units controlled by player 2 are defeated, the player (1) will win.
Setting Objective Loss
Using a similar example as before, create a Trigger for Game_End_Loss and se the Conditions Type: to All Units Dead and Player to 1. Now, when all units controlled by player 1 are defeated, the player (1) will lose.
Example Scenario
Attached is an example scenario with objectives set and associated to triggers which will affect their status. The scenario can also be won or lost.