Pixel Crushers Forum

Hi Tony!

Thanks for your prompt reply earlier. It's a step in the direction I'm heading—and in my understanding how Lua works here.

I have a couple follow ups.
(And for anyone else who might read this later, I'll try to outline what I think might be a common setup. I want to develop a SequenceCommand flow that could be make for flexible events inside of dialogue conversation. I'd rather not use Timeline, mostly because I don't want to be managing all a huge number of TimelineManagers.)

First, I'm using a Continue button in all of my dialogues. So when we call SetDialoguePanel(false), where do I find the documentation for saying something like @Continue and not @Message(Typed)? I've looked through https://www.pixelcrushers.com/dialogue- ... mentation/ and am missing it...

I know that I can call Events on the start of a conversation Node. But how can an Event or Method be called within the Sequencer? To call/invoke a Method through the Sequencer from a GameObject (or ScriptableObject), do I need to make a custom SequencerCommand for each of these types of calls?

I guess, in short, I'm really looking for a way to be able to tie calling Events directly into the Sequencer. The following isn't proper Lua, but in the end something like:

[End of First node of dialogue]
SetDialoguePanel(false)@Continue
Delay(2)
SceneEvent(OfMyChoice)
Delay(5)
AnimatorPlay()
AudioSourcePlay()
Delay(1)
SetDialoguePanel(True)
[Second node of dialogue]

Is this possible?

Thanks for the help!
Patrick

Hi Patrick,

To simulate a continue button click, use the Continue() sequencer command. Example: To continue 2 seconds after the typewriter has finished: To run arbitrary an arbitrary method in a sequence, you can write a custom sequencer command (tutorial) or use the SendMessage() sequencer command. The SendMessage() command is equivalent to Unity's GameObject.SendMessage() method. It can pass a string parameter or no parameter. For example, if a GameObject named "Bomb" that has a script with a method named "Explode()", you can call it like this: Note the two commas between Explode and Bomb. That's for the optional string parameter, which in this case I'm omitting because the method doesn't accept a string parameter.

Your sequence might look something like:

Node 1:

• Dialogue Text: "I'm going to take a long pause."

Node 2:

• Dialogue Text: (blank)
• Sequence:

  Code: Select all

  SetDialoguePanel(false);
  SendMessage(YourMethod,,YourGameObject);
  Delay(5)->Message(Animate);
  
  AnimatorPlay(someAnimation)@Message(Animate);
  Audio(someAudio)@Message(Animate);
  Delay(1)@Message(Animate)->Message(AllDone);
  
  required SetDialoguePanel(true)@Message(AllDone);
  Continue()@Message(AllDone);

Node 3:

• Dialogue Text: "Here's my next line"

A few notes:

• I added the "required" keyword in front of SetDialoguePanel(true) to make absolutely sure it runs that command at the end.
• AnimatorPlay() and Audio() are run-and-forget commands. They don't wait for the animation or audio to finish. If you want to wait for them to finish, use AnimatorPlayWait() and AudioPlayWait().

Thanks Tony! That's helpful and I'll keep working with it.

For anyone else reading this, another option I'm using until I totally grasp the Sequencer is to use empty notes as Event nodes. It calls the Event at the beginning of the Node, then each of these Nodes has a Delay() call of an appropriate length and a Continue() call.