Hello,
in order to illustrate my request, here is where it is coming from:
In my FirstPersonTouch adventure, I will have something like 120 scenes.
- these 120 scenes belong to 1 out of 2 player movement option categories: none | turn only
- these 120 scenes belong to 1 out of 3 scene type categories: standard | close-up | panorama
- these 120 scenes belong to 1 or 2 out of 3 activatable menu categories: inventory | journal | enhanced visuals
… and there is more to come.
Right now, I see two ways to set up every scene detail, especially when it comes to using action list assets:
- check for the scene number number by number and individually set global variables for all applicable categories of a scene in a scene's OnStart action list (which is a nightmare of an action list)
- put invisible/empty game objects into each scene that act as variable replacements and have action lists run dependent of their object: check presence result (which is much easier to handle, but somehow feels weird in terms of abusing basically useless game objects for logical processes).
How great would it be if an AC scene could be (or not) assigned to multiple tags/attributes at the scene manager level and make these tags/attributes readable by actions:
- hide menu 123 if scene carries tag A
- set movement method to FP if scene carries tag B
- lock menu 456 if scene does not carry tag C but has tag D assigned.
- show menu 789 only for scenes that carry tags A, C and E
Or, if that is easier to incorporate, add a new prefab to the scene managers' logic section that is nothing but a variable array carrying any number of user created tags.
Or, alternatively, add user creatable arrays of integers to AC like you added recipes to inventory items to allow actions like Scene : Check if scene number is in number array A.
Or, alternatively, add isLike comparisons for string variables; that'd allow for logic based on a scene's name like if Scene name contains letter Q, skip to …
Comments
I like the idea of assigning attributes to scenes in the same way that inventory items can be categorised, but I will have to investigate further before I commit to it.
It's also worth noting that AC's ActionList assets and Cutscenes are capable of being run via custom scripts. A prefab could be placed in the scene that, upon the scene beginning, runs a pre-assigned ActionList based on Inspector values, or even locks Menus / sets movement methods / etc directly. All code to do this is provided within the scripting guide - but I will certainly consider an official implementation.
This is awesome, Chris, thank you!