Hey, Lemme Try That ! Whereas some RPGMakers make use of
flags and variables, Scenario makes use of
switches, and, like a switch they only have two states,
ON or OFF. You can tell quite easily in the editor when a
switch is turned on because it will have a LitBulb |
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Scenario RPGMaker has some
pretty unique features about it, and one of which is the cryptic
Switches that you can both create and control in your
Worldbuilding.
Switches, very much like in anything, control whether something
is on or off, active or inactive, visible or invisible and
Scenario is no different.
It is important to realize that when you "flip" a
switch, you are reversing the state for the NAME of that switch
to either ON or OFF. Off being shown as a NotLitBulb 
and ON being shown as a LitBulb 
.
Let's create a simple map field to demonstrate how you can use
switches in Scenario and in the Sprite Messenger. A simple
example would be a control box that raises or lowers a bridge to
let you into another part of the map that can't be reached
without the help of the bridge.
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Notice that there is a little Pillar in the
bottom-left-hand corner of the 2nd island. This will be our
control box.
At its initial state, the bridge is lowered so you can see easily
how to cross from one part of the map to another, but now put the
cursor directly on the bridge and hit the following.
Note that the
refers to the Left Arrow and not the backspace key.
Be certain that you are zoomed to the same level as Testplay,
that is you can only see 7 tiles from top to bottom of the
screen. With these keystrokes the bridge tile should now look smeared.
What's going on here ? Well the key says that you want to INVERT this
tile where the tile beneath it swaps places with the tile above
it. Each map cel can hold two tiles and is used for showing
changes such as switches or smears where the visible tile has the
underneath tile's properties.
The or
Right-Arrow key just moves the cursor one space to the right.
Notice that the cursor does not actually move but the map moves
around it. This may take some getting used to so play around with
the arrow keys a bit now if you like until you are comfortable
with them and how they effect the positioning of the map.
Pressing tells
Scenario that you want to pick UP the tile beneath the cursor,
and make it the current paint tile. This is easier then having to
press 
and
manually pick out the tile you want every time.
With the (which is the left arrow and not the
backspace) you are going back to the bridge
which should appear shazy from hitting .
Lastly, plots
it. You will now have a smear. Anytime you smear a tile like
this, the tile that is visible in the info window will have that
definition, although in Testplay it will visually look like the
opposite tile. To reverse it, hit the once again.
You are now ready to add a switch on here which will have the
name "Bridge." Hit the following:
With the key
you tell Scenario to create or flip the status for a switch.
Since there isn't a switch here, it will ask for the name of it (up to 8 characters).
You'll find that if you press again that instead of asking for a name
like it did earlier it will FLIP the status. If it was on, it
will now be off, or if it was off, it will now be on.
If you move to a different map cel and hit , it will default
select the last switch name that was used. It is important to
remember that all switches start turned OFF when you start
a new game, so lighting up a switch should be an effect that
occurs later in the game, and only after the player has done
certain things, such as, in this case, touched the control box.
We haven't written a Sprite Message for that yet so let's do so
now.
Move the cursor on to the Pillar, and hit the
following:
.
The first shows
that you want to create either a Sprite, Critter, Warp, Treasure,
or Lock.
Pressing
forces it to the top selection of Sprite with the 2nd confirming it.
Default image is Invisible, which is not really true, it uses the
Tile image beneath the cursor, in this case, the Pillar: .
Pressing again answers YES to the next question, that you do
want to enter a Sprite Message now.
Press one more
time after having read the brief info window and you will then be
in the Sprite Messenger.
Okay ! Let's make a simple message.
Type out:
"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"
and then hit 
to
bring up the Sprite Messenger Icon list.
First look for the 
icon which is required when you change any
switches and you want to update the map display with the changes
flipping any switches have made. You'll find it 3rd from the top
and 4th from the right.
Move the cursor there and press to confirm it.
Now hit again
and look on the far left column the 3rd icon up till you see the 
. Move the cursor
there with the arrow keys and press to select that icon as well.
Now type out so you see 
Hit 
to bring up
your menu options and hit to select EXIT and hit .
Hit one more time
to confirm that YES you do want to save this message and then you
will be returned back to the editor. We're Done ! 
Hit on the
bridge map cel if it is lit so it will appear unlit and the bridge
appears as water .
If this map cel is unlit and it appears as the bridge ,
just hit one
more time to INVERT the tiles.
Now put the cursor anywhere on the first island anywhere on the
lower island in the grass and hit to enter TestPlay.
Notice that there is no bridge so you cannot cross to the upper
island. So, go to face the Pillar and
press .
You'll get the message:
"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"
And the bridge will materialize over the water !
Now you can cross to the upper island !
If you press
again while facing the Pillar you'll get the same
message:
"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"
only this time the bridge will vanish. To make it re-appear once
again, press
facing the pillar.
If you hit to
exit Testplay, return back to the Sprite Messenger and edit the
contents of the Pillar and change the instead to the icon which is just one
icon above the then it will switch it ON exclusively and
not just reverse it's status. To turn it off of course would be which is just to the
right of the icon.
Generally you would not turn off a switch but instead always want to to turn it on but there are exceptions when you are doing complex
switching and all 3 options of FLIP, ON, and OFF are available to
you.
To put a switch on a Sprite, that is where a person 
appears on that
map cel, just plot a Sprite as normal and put the Switch there.
Notice that you must have it HIDDEN by pressing 
if you initially
want it to be HIDDEN when the switch is turned off (which it would be when you start a new
game).
To make a COMPARISON for a switch inside the
Sprite Messenger, hit to bring up your list of options when you are inside
the Sprite Messenger, either move the cursor to the INQUIRY
choice or hit
until it is there and hit to confirm. It will ask for the INQUIRY for this
page.
From here, if you are checking to see if the switch is ON hit and select from the
Sprite Messenger Icon list the icon if you want to check to see if this switch is
ON, or, if you want to check to see if it is OFF select the
icon. Now type (up to
8-characters) the switch name that will
match this state and press .
Then it will ask the LABEL to GOTO if this is a TRUE statement.
The LABEL can be any word (up
to 8-characters) and it will then GOTO the
PAGE of this particular Sprite Message matching this LABEL if the
statement is TRUE. For instance, type out "HERE" and
press .
It is important to realize that an INQUIRY is NOT conducted until
the END of this Sprite Messenger page has been reached. If you
want to conduct this INQUIRY BEFORE this page is run, then you
need to do it on the prior page. If this is the first page then
you can hit 
to insert a blank
page here and then do your inquiry on the new 1st page.
Now go to the page you want this inquiry to jump to, either
before or after this inquiry page and hit to bring up your list
of options inside the Sprite Messenger like once again, and
either move the cursor to the LABEL choice or hit 
until it is there
and hit to
confirm. Then type out the LABEL name for this page, in this case
"HERE" (minus the
quotes).
Hit and either 
or to highlight the
EXIT choice, press
twice to save it, and you are done !
When you run this Sprite Message, an inquiry will be conducted
where you asked it to, and, if TRUE it will goto the Sprite
Messenger page label that matches the one you told it to. If it
is NOT true, then it will carry on to the next Sprite Messenger
page provided, of course, you did not have the TERMINATE Icon 
anywhere as part of
the message on this page.
You can also choose "Y" or "N" (minus the quotes)
for the inquiry name to ask the player a Yes or No question where
the "Y" or "N" is the answer to make this
statement TRUE and then type out the label to GOTO.
To save yourself a bit of time, you can also use (terminate Icon)
(hit and select
it, it is the far left Icon 6th down from the top) as the name
for your LABEL if you want your Sprite Message to TERMINATE here
if the statement is TRUE.
Now let's talk about another way to do
switches, with Critters.
Putting a switch on a critter can represent one of a few things.
(1) That it will not appear unless this switch is ON.
(2) That it is conducting a check to see if all
critters that match the same named switch have been defeated (and that all the switches for these are
OFF), and, if so, turn on that switch, play a
special critter-switch sound and auto-update the screen
automatically.
If you just want (1) where the critters do not
appear unless the switch is on, just make the critters as
normally and use the key to HIDE them if you want them to initially be
INACTIVE until the switch is ON.
If you want (2), make the critters as normal
ensuring they are NOT HIDDEN, and when in Testplay, the last
critter on ANY map defeated that matches the SAME switch name on
ANY map, then that switch will then be turned on.
This is useful, for instance, to make a room like Zelda where the
exit door won't open until all of the critters in this room are
defeated.
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Draw this sample room in the map editor,
complete with Critters.
Notice that we can easily exit from the bottom since it is just
an open doorway, but the top door is closed. It will not just be
a normal door but a door with a switch on it so it will not open
until the switch is set. Go to the doorway and press to invert it, to pick a new tile,
and select the open doorway
from the tile list, hit to confirm your tile choice, and then hit
to plot it so
it is smeared.
Now insert the switch with and type out for the switch name (minus the quotes) "TWOSLIME"
followed by .
Before continuing hit the key one more time to ensure that in Testplay, with
the switch turned off, it will appear as a closed door.
Then go to each Slime and press and for each of them. You should not have to type out
the switch name "TWOSLIME" again since Scenario is smart
and remembers the last switch name you entered. You should now
have three switches in this room and the switch status should be
set to OFF. The door at the top should appear closed with the switch
turned OFF. We're done !
Hit to once
again enter Testplay and go to defeat the two Slimes.
Notice that ONCE the 2nd slime is defeated that you will hear a
special Critter/Switch effect and the doorway will THEN OPEN !
It is important to see what is happening here. And that IF on any
other map there was a critter that was not defeated that had the
same name as "TWOSLIME" then the door would REMAIN
CLOSED unable to open until you also went to that map and
defeated that critter there as well.
A full check is conducted through all 16 maps to ensure there
are no survivors of the same named switch.
And, if ALL of the critters with the same name switch have been
defeated, then the switch will then and ONLY then be turned ON.
You're making good progress !
There is only one more type of switch and then you will know
everything there is to know ! 
There is one last type of switch, and it is an easy one to
understand, the Token Item switch.
If you want a switch to appear in the player's Inventory during
Testplay, just make sure the very first character in it is the
Player Icon 
.
When that switch is ON it will appear in the player's Inventory
as a 7-character item name.
(Look for advanced item
name descriptions and item images in future Scenario).
THAT'S EVERYTHING !
You may want to print out this page for future reference !
To do so, if you are using Internet Explorer, select with either
the keyboard or mouse, (F)ile , (P)rint and hit to print this page
with your default printer settings.
Refer to this page whenever you would like to make use of
switches in Scenario.
If you are still genuinely confused and the question has not yet
been asked in the Q & A Forum, you are welcome to ask me it
in there.
Click HERE to return back to Scenario's Main Homepage.