how to use a cutscene multiple times?

[Bizzo]

hello all,

I'm posting in the beginner area as I'm sure this isnt difficult but i just cant seem to get it (or start it)

the scenario-- i want my character to be able to take a cab to different locations and have a brief cutscene to show the journey.  After the character selects where he wants to go via a GUI that pops up on interaction with cab, the cutscene is a top down line map with the cab represented as a dot.  the dot travels from the point which he left to the destination he clicked.

i would like the cutscene to adjust to his location and destination animations.  i.e. if he leaves from point A to point B it should show the dot move in that manner, as well as if he is leaving from point B to point C or any other combination.
i have seven points that the cab can go to at the moment.  if i had to make an animation for all possible combinations it would  generate a lot of departure and arrival cutscenes.  (too many)

I have made the GUI and am able to have it pop up like it should upon interaction with the cab, i also made what i think to be the generic cutscene.  its a seperate room with a top down map of the area and a walkable path connecting all points.  the dot is an object sitting on the path at the first possible place to catch a cab in the game.

what I'm asking for is some insight to get started with this or at least point me in the right direction.  thanks in advance.

BiZzo

[kl4Uz]

hi there! I'm a noob myself so I can't give you an exact solution.

But why don't you just creat another character (the red dot, or a cab,...) and use that in your map, or what it was supposed to be...

You could deactivate all the functions except "walk to" and everything would be fine..

[®2-D2]

you could use MoveObject to move the dot but then it just moves on a straight line.
so the best thing would be to make the taxi/dot a character, just like kl4uz mentioned, and move it with MoveCharacter so it automatically follows the "walkable area"-lines.


example:
(assuming point a is hotspot1)
moving from any point to point a:
MoveCharacterToHotspot(DOTTAXI, 1);

play around with it and/or check the manual to get a hang of it.

[Bizzo]

thanks for the replies guys, but maybe im not expressing what i want it to do correctly.

i do not want to control the dot manually.  when the destination is clicked in the GUI the cutscene should appear and the dot move to the corresponding location..  heres an example...

Character interacts with a cab a location A.    A GUI displaying a list of locations pops up.   Player has a choice of 7 different locations.   Player clicks location D.   switches to cutscene of top down map.  Red dot moves from location A to D.
the cutscene run automatically moving the dot depending on what location it was clicked from and what location it was clicked to.

in other words if the player was at location F and clicked location C, the cutscene would show the cab going from F to C.
i cannot make an animation for each one of these combinations, there would be too many.  i.e.  A to B, A to C, A to D, B to A, B to C etc etc etc


®2-D2 :  that is how i plan on moving th edot around... problem is, if player is at location C and clicks location D, i dont want the animation starting from location A.   since i first posted this, ive read up on some other uses of globalint.   i should be able to give a value to each destination and when the cutscene plays i should be able to get that value to determine where to start the dot animating. 


thanks for the advice both of you on making the dot a character...this does seem more logical.


thanks for your speedy replies!
BiZzo

[Ashen]

One way you could do it would be:
- Like ®2-D2 said, have a character to represent the dot / cab.
- Create a room for the map. Have the cab character start in this room, and the player character hidden.
- Have the GUI button set two variables, one for start location, one for destination, then send player to the map room. Note - could make your own int's or use GlobalInts.
- In the map room's 'Player enters screen - before fade in', have a series of conditionals like:
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, if (intlocation == 1) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, character[CAB].x == X1;
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, character[CAB].y == Y1;
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, }
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, else if (intlocation == 2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, character[CAB].x == X2;
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, character[CAB].y == Y2;
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, }
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, etc.
Ã,  Ã, to place the cab at the right place.
- In the map room's 'Player enters screen - after fade in', have another set of conditions to move the cab to the destination, then go to the right room.
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, if (intdestination == 1) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, MoveCharacterBlocking (CAB, X1, Y1, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, NewRoomEx (LOC1, x, y);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, }
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, else if (intdestination == 2) {
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, MoveCharacterBlocking (CAB, X2, Y2, 0);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, NewRoomEx (LOC2, x, y);
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, }
Ã,  Ã,  Ã, etc.
Ã,  Or, you could use MoveCharacerPath to set a specific route.

Basicly, use variables to set the start and end points.
Hope this makes sense, and helps.

[Bizzo]

EXCELLENT!
just what i was looking for Ashen!

thanks again!

BiZzo