Action-describing-kinda-thingie

[Parki]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before but I've read through a lot of postings and tutorials and just can't figure out the answer (which has porbably got to do with my bad english)

So here's the question:

First, how can I do an Line of text that shows the actionmode (use,look etc.) you're using and the name of the hotspot you're mouseovering (?!) ?

Further: Is it possible, if I place the GUI at the bottom of the screen, to make this action-describer fade in on the top of the screen whenever the player is right-clicking to change actions or moves his mouse over a hotspot?
Or would that make the game slower or even crash if there are more than one object or 2 hotspots in a room ?

Thanks in advance, parki

[Ishmael]

For you first question, I take it you mean the "Statusline". Look what I have made ages ago:

http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?topic=14369.0

[Scorpiorus]

Further: Is it possible, if I place the GUI at the bottom of the screen, to make this action-describer fade in on the top of the screen whenever the player is right-clicking to change actions or moves his mouse over a hotspot?

It's definitely possible, you can have two GUIs - one at the bottom of the screen (for the inventory or whatever) and the other at the top (displaying an action).

Or would that make the game slower or even crash if there are more than one object or 2 hotspots in a room ?

Don't worry about hotspots - they really don't slow a game down. As for objects - it's not the quantity but how large their graphics that impact the performance.

[Hollister Man]

Scorp, I think you missed the question on the 'slow or crashing' part.

Parki:
I don't think anyone has faded a gui like that before, at least not in a distributed game (don't kill me if I'm wrong )  Its hard to say how slow it will be.  If it were simply a persistent GUI it wouldn't be a problem, regardless of the number of objects or hotspots.  The fading could get tricky though.

[Scorpiorus]

Scorp, I think you missed the question on the 'slow or crashing' part.

Ah, it was a question to the fade in thingy, I missed 'Or would', sorry.

But still if I get it right you just want an action to appear by gradually fading in as the player changes a mode or move a cursor to a different area? That shouldn't make any significant impact on the performace in either way.