Showing/Hiding the Command Bar

mamessner
Hi there

I have my start script pretty much exactly the way I want it except for one thing: The command bar appears almost randomly throughout the timed sequence, which kind of breaks the flow.

I'm not looking for any input during the start script, and I'd like to hide the command bar throughout the script, and then have it appear at the first opportunity to type in text (the "get input" here).

SetTimeout (2) {
msg ("<br/>")
TextFX_Typewriter ("“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; Why should we let them have ideas?”", 2)
SetTimeout (5) {
msg ("<br/><b>- Joseph Stalin</b>")
}
wait {
ClearScreen
picture ("Game Cover.png")
msg ("<br/><i>How long has it been this time? An inkling of a thought passes before your mind's eye, and then escapes. Ghosts of memories dance before you, fading in and out like ephemeral wisps of smoke. Fear underlies everything, but deep down there is warmth. Warmth in the knowledge that M.O.T.H.E.R. will protect you.<br/><br/>But there is a different voice, deep down. A forbidden voice. Her voice. You struggle to remember her words. You know you are supposed to fight - to step away from M.O.T.H.E.R.'s comforting warmth. But the words escape you.</i><br/><br/>The mantra. You must remember the mantra.")
SetFontName ("'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif")
wait {
SetFontName ("'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif")
TextFX_Unscramble ("My mind is a fortress, but my heart is free.", 100, 1)
SetTimeout (7) {
SetFontName ("'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif")
mantra_function
}
}
}
}


Is that possible? I've attached my game file so you can see what I'm talking about. The "Type here..." bar appears on both screens at inappropriate times.


mamessner
Fantastic - I got it. Thanks! For anyone following at home, this did it:

request (Hide, "Command")
SetTimeout (2) {
msg ("<br/>")
TextFX_Typewriter ("“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; Why should we let them have ideas?”", 2)
SetTimeout (9) {
msg ("<br/><b>- Joseph Stalin</b><br/>")
request (Show, "Command")
wait {
request (Hide, "Command")
ClearScreen
picture ("Game Cover.png")
msg ("<br/><i>How long has it been this time? An inkling of a thought passes before your mind's eye, and then escapes. Ghosts of memories dance before you, fading in and out like ephemeral wisps of smoke. Fear underlies everything, but deep down there is warmth. Warmth in the knowledge that M.O.T.H.E.R. will protect you.<br/><br/>But there is a different voice, deep down. A forbidden voice. Her voice. You struggle to remember her words. You know you are supposed to fight - to step away from M.O.T.H.E.R.'s comforting warmth. But the words escape you.</i><br/><br/>The mantra. You must remember the mantra.")
SetFontName ("'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif")
request (Show, "Command")
wait {
request (Hide, "Command")
SetFontName ("'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif")
TextFX_Unscramble ("My mind is a fortress, but my heart is free.", 100, 1)
SetTimeout (7) {
SetFontName ("'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif")
mantra_function
request (Show, "Command")
}
}
}
}
}


The problem with hiding it is that it also hides the "Continue..." when you wait for a keypress to continue. I fixed this by quickly showing the bar right before the wait command, and then immediately hiding it. Only problem now is an annoying flash of the command bar.

I might fix this by just printing "Continue..." in blue text. My adventure isn't really clickable, so no need for the clicking functionality.

Thanks again!

Silver
I've beem meaning to get around to doing this myself so cheers for the heads up regarding it clearing the click to continue too.

There's a couple of work arounds that I can think of the first being to try and use the text processor instead of the click to continue and the second is putting the intro on a timer which automatically progresses after however many seconds. The latter might confuse the player who will still be looking for somewhere to click and think there's a bug and the overly impatient might exit the game. That can be overcome by having the words typed out so the player knows they are waiting for that to complete.

mamessner
Run my game if you get a chance. It's a combination of timeouts, typewritten text, and press a key to continue, exactly as you describe. Feel free to poach any code you like.

Silver
Cheers.

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