Suggeston: AC ActionList Editor QOL - Comments/groups

incommunicado

Hi Richard, wanted to ask if in your roadmap for AC, if there are any QOL enhancements for the Action List Editor, such as grouping actions into a "section" the way Unreal Blueprints let you use 'Comments' to group together nodes. This would help greatly in visually understanding logic flow for complex action lists.

Also, a "pan" tool, where if we hit space, the pointer turns to a hand and we can scroll around like in Photoshop. Right now, it's quite hard to pan around large action lists. Depressing the middle mouse button lets you do it, but it moves very fast and overshoots when we try to pan.

ChrisIceBox

Hi Richard

It's Chris.

Thanks for the suggestions - could you share a typical complex ActionList that would benefit from such a feature? I shall give it some thought - currently, the best way to compartmentalise logic is to separate it several lists and sequence them with the ActionList: Run Action.

Also, a "pan" tool,

The Unity Editor doesn't provide a very reliable way to detect mouse movement without a mouse button held, though the speed of panning while holding the middle-mouse can be set in the Actions Manager.

incommunicado

Hi Chris, apologies for addressing you as Richard, I have no idea how that got flipped in my mind

Attached is an example of a pretty basic ActionList from my game, where there are three logical sections that are executed based on variables. Looking at it like this, it's very hard to visually comprehend, at a glance, what each section does without expanding action nodes.

I've also attached an Unreal Engine blue print example of how just drawing a rectangle around a bunch of nodes let you 'comment' or label that group, and even apply different colors.

This would make it very easy to go back into an actionlist months into the long development cycle of a game and understand where to alter logic.

As for the panning speed, I've used it in the past, and although it definitely helps, it still tends to be unwieldly. I understand though that Unity has limitations in what it allows editor tools to do.

ChrisIceBox

Thanks for the details, it'll help when it comes to considering such a feature.

I'm not sure I'm able to recreate unwieldy or overshooting behaviour with the panning - is that to say its overly-sensitive, or moves more after releasing input?

incommunicado

Thanks for the response, Chris.

I would just say that it tends to overshoot and is not as convenient as a palm/drag tool that lets you drag the screen around, again ala UE Blueprints. But I understand that this would be difficult to implement.

incommunicado

Just a quick update on this Chris, by adjusting panning speed, switching the behavior or the scroll bar to zoom (instead of scroll) and then Inverting panning in the editor, it works EXACTLY like the pan tool in photoshop, which is to say it's perfect. My bad for not realizing it could be configured this way. Thank you!