Flexible Arrow Key Movement System

[RazorbladeRay]

Hello!

I'm new to this site but I was thinking I would make a tutorial of the system I'm currently working on for Role Playing Games (RPG's).

It's probably one of the few more complicated ones.
The only problem is the attack function. It doesn't work because of the movement. Though, I'm sure a skilled triggerer could bypass that limitation with a little work and effort.

First of all I'm going through the cameras. Then the movement and the last thing will be additions (sounds).

Cameras

Variables needed:

Angle - Real
Animation Speed (For Animations) - Real
Speed (For movement speed of the unit.) - Real
Unit [Or any other name] - Unit

The "Angle" variable is for the angle of the camera.
"Animation Speed" is for the speed of the animation the unit is performing.
"Speed" is of course for the movement speed of the target unit.
"Unit" is of course for the unit of the aim.


This first Trigger called "Initialization" is for the initialization of the camera at the start of the game. It's quite simple really.

• Initialization
  • Events
    • Map initialization
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set Angle = 0.00
    • Set AnimationSpeed = 0.00
    • Set Speed = 0.00
    • Set Unit = Your selected unit.

Simple wasn't it?

Next part is the "Camera" Trigger.

Variables:

Location [Array; Size 3] - Point Array
Heigth - Real

The "Location" Variable is for the location of the unit in aim.
The "Heigth" Variable is for use in a custom script (I'll get to that later.)

I'm not sure if the heigth trigger is needed now because I'm not the best in custom scripts but I'd suggest making it now.

Here come the trigger. Two Custom Script actions are used in this trigger:

• Camera
  • Events
    • Time - Every 0.01 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
    • CameraSwitch Equal to False
  • Actions
    • Set Location[3] = (Position of Unit)
    • Custom script: set udg_Height=GetLocationZ(udg_Location[3])
    • Camera - Lock camera target for Player 1 (Red) to Footman 0001 <gen>, offset by (0.00, 0.00) using Default rotation
    • Camera - Set Player 1 (Red)'s camera Distance to target to 170.00 over 0.10 seconds
    • Camera - Set Player 1 (Red)'s camera Angle of attack to 345.00 over 0.01 seconds
    • Camera - Set Player 1 (Red)'s camera Field of view to 1000.00 over 0.01 seconds
    • Camera - Set Player 1 (Red)'s camera Height Offset to (Height + 100.00) over 0.10 seconds
    • Camera - Set Player 1 (Red)'s camera Rotation to (Facing of Footman 0001 <gen>) over 0.10 seconds
    • Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_Location[3])

• Custom script: set udg_Height=GetLocationZ(udg_Location[3])

Additional Information:

Distance: This is the distance to the target you want to have a camera attached to. Lower numbers: Smaller Distance.

Angle of Attack: This is the upwards or downwards angle of the camera. If you move the camera to lesser angles then it will go closer to the ground and if you want to move it further up, type a higher number. The highest amount functioning would obviously be 360* as with any other angle.

Height: This is the height of the camera, further up or lower to the ground. This one must be executed based on where the camera shall be positioned as to in the units field of view, higher than the units field of view or lower than the units field of view.

Field Of View: This is a zoom function. If you want to see units closer or further away then this is the setting to change.

Rotation: This changes the angle your camera is constantly redirected to while using the custom camera values. (Facing of Footman 0001) for an example will change the rotation value to the facing of the unit which sight you want to recreate.

This part is used to set the heigth of the camera. The other actions are found in the "Camera" sections in "Actions".

P.S The Camera Settings such as Angle Of Attack and Distance To Target can be changed to whatever you desire. I use Second Person camera though.

Movement

Now these first parts have been easy but now come the tricky parts. Time for the movement.

Variables needed:

UpTrue - Boolean
DownTrue - Boolean
LeftTrue - Boolean
RightTrue - Boolean

• Up Press
  • Events
    • Player - Owner of unit:(Unit) Presses the Up Arrow key
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set UpTrue = True

That's easy really. That turns on a variable we'll need for

• Up Release
  • Events
    • Player - Owner of unit:(Unit) Releases the Up Arrow key
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set UpTrue = False

That turns of the effect which will eventually make the unit stop.

Now we create the exact same thing with all the arrow keys (Boolean Variables we've just created.)

When we're done with that we'll create the animation triggers.

• AnimationRun
  • Events
    • Time - Every 0.50 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 6)
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)

Now let's approach this for what it is. It's actually two pretty simple scripts. The first thing is no need to go through.

• AnimationRun
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 6)

This script activates animation 6 in the Animation Index for this unit. In my case a footman. Anyhow, the animation index 6 will make the unit run.

• AnimationRun
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)

This will just use the time scale the animation is using. In this case the speed of the animation being used. Here is where we need the AnimationSpee variable.

I'll fill in all the animation triggers just for the cause:

• AnimationStand
  • AnimationStand
  • Events
    • Time - Every 1 Seconds of Game Time
    • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 1)
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)

Now this one is a tricky one because it will make the units head constantly and instantly jump back and forward in animation order. The only way to solve it is to start a timer (I just tried this myself and it works.) and after that every 10000000 seconds or something restart the animation.
Example:

• AnimationStand
  • Events
    • Time - Every 10000000.00 seconds of game time
    • Time - AnimationStandTimer expires
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 1)
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)

A really easy trigger with great animation results.

• AnimationAttack
  • Events
    • Time - Every 3.00 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 5)
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)
    • Trigger - Turn off AnimationRun <gen>
    • Trigger - Turn off AnimationStand <gen>

This is one that I am not using. "Why not?"

Because it is difficult to match the time scale perfectly. The problem here is that if you stand and keep pushing the hotkey or using a spell manually you will kill anything within seconds. That is not good. That's why this is hard to match with the time scale.

Now comes the last step (almost except for additions such as sounds.); Moving and Turning.

The first one is like this:

• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
  • If - Conditions
    • UpTrue Equal to True
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Location[2] = ((Position of Unit) offset by Speed towards Angle degrees)
    • Unit - Move Unit instantly to Location[2]
    • Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_Location[2])
    • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
      • If - Conditions
        • Speed Less than 1.00
      • Then - Actions
        • Set Speed = (Speed + 0.02)
        • Set AnimationSpeed = (Speed + 0.02)
      • Else - Actions
  • Else - Actions

This probably looks very strange at first but we'll process it piece by piece.

• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
  • If - Conditions
    • UpTrue Equal to True
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Location[2] = ((Position of Unit) offset by Speed towards Angle degrees)

Speed will actually also determine if the unit that we're moving around will move forward or be sliding backwards.Next process piece will show what I mean.

Angle is the angle the unit is directing towards.

Next piece:

• Unit - Move Unit instantly to Location[2]
• Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_Location[2])
• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)

What we're doing here is moving the unit to Location[2] which was offset by Speed towards Angle. Once we're done with that we remove Location[2] By doing this we are allowing further movement.

Next Piece:

• If - Conditions
  • Speed Less than 1.00
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Speed = (Speed + 0.02)
    • Set AnimationSpeed = (Speed + 0.02)
  • Else - Actions

What we're doing here is adjusting the speed of the unit. This is a cool feature the allows the unit to slowly speed up. This function is not necessary to speed the unit up while time goes but you need this function for the unit to be moving forward.

AnimationSpeed is needed to determine the speed of the animation which in this case is Index 6.

That's forward movement.

• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
  • If - Conditions
    • UpTrue Equal to False
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Location[2] = ((Position of Unit) offset by Speed towards Angle degrees)
    • Unit - Move Unit instantly to Location[2]
    • Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_Location[2])
    • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
      • If - Conditions
        • Speed Greater than 0.00
      • Then - Actions
        • Set Speed = (Speed - 0.02)
        • Set AnimationSpeed = (AnimationSpeed - 0.01)
      • Else - Actions
  • Else - Actions

This is just the same but the reversed way. In this one you reduce the speed aswell as doing the same thing with the location until the speed reaches 0.

In this next part we'll be moving to the left. What's good about this system is that it will allow you to move in any angle from 0-360 Degrees by ones. Most system go 90 degrees from each step. This one does not. It goes manually in any angle!

Anyway here is left moving:

• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
  • If - Conditions
    • LeftTrue Equal to True
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Angle = (Angle + 1.00)
    • Unit - Make Unit face Angle over 0.10 seconds
  • Else - Actions

What we're doing here is moving to the left of course. The angle is on a curve as usual from 0 to 360. When we're adding (+) step by step the angle will change and when we move forward of course we will move to the current "Angle".

Right moving is almost the same:

• If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
  • If - Conditions
    • RightTrue Equal to True
  • Then - Actions
    • Set Angle = (Angle - 1.00)
    • Unit - Make Unit face Angle over 0.10 seconds
  • Else - Actions

The only difference here is that we're moving backwards the degrees scale. That means will subtract (-) This allows us to move right which works just the same as left.

For right nor left we will never be using any animations besides the Index 1 (Stand) animation. When moving forward we will be using Index 6 Animation, (Run) and for Down arrow key we'll be using the animation Index 1 (Stand).

I haven't made a trigger for death animation yet but I will soon.

• AnimationRun
  • Events
    • Time - Every 0.50 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 6)
    • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)

Back to these ones. As we move forward we will not just do it in the UpTrue Trigger. We will make it in a separate trigger. The thing with these ones and the reason I'm going back to this subject is that they will be Initially Off at Map Initialization, and later activated once we press up or down key. I haven't covered down key yet but I will get to that soon.
Anyway when we activate the animation triggers we go into the: UpPress trigger:

• Up Press
  • Events
    • Player - Owner us unit <Unit> Presses the Up Arrow key
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set UpTrue = True
    • Trigger - Turn on AnimationRun <gen>
    • Trigger - Turn off AnimationStand <gen>

This is how it should look. Simple isn't it? As you can see here we will turn on the AnimationRun trigger and Turn off AnimationStand.

• Down Press
  • Events
    • Player - Owner of unit <Unit> Presses the Down Arrow key
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set DownTrue = True
    • Trigger - Turn off AnimationRun <gen>
    • Trigger - Turn on AnimationStand <gen>

When we press The Down Arrow key we start this effect. It will turn on the AnimationStand and will stop any forward movement except the turning. I would advice to actually use this on the Up Release trigger aswell. Double effects are better than one even if they're the same. I think I covered it all now except the additions such as sounds.

Sounds

A really nice effect to add for a more reality kind of a feeling is to add movement sounds. I would use the Hero Movement Sounds 1 and 3 but 2,4, and the step <gen> works aswell.

• StepSound
  • Events
    • Time - Every 2.00 seconds of game time
    • Time - SoundInstantTimer expires
  • Conditions
    • SoundOkay Equal to True
  • Actions
    • Sound - Play Step001[1] at 100.00% volume, attached to <Unit>
    • Wait 0.50 seconds
    • Sound - Play Step001[3] at 100.00% volume, attached to <Unit>
    • Wait 0.50 seconds
    • Sound - Play Step001[3] at 100.00% volume, attached to <Unit>
    • Wait 0.50 seconds
    • Sound - Play Step001[1] at 100.00% volume, attached to <Unit>
    • Wait 0.50 seconds

That's my trigger for it. To activate the trigger you of course place another function in the Up Press trigger.

• Up Press
  • Events
    • Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Up Arrow key
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set UpTrue = True
    • Set SoundOkay = True
    • Trigger - Turn on AnimationRun <gen>
    • Trigger - Turn off AnimationStand <gen>
    • Trigger - Turn on StepSound <gen>
    • Countdown Timer - Start SoundInstantTimer as a One-shot timer that will expire in 0.01 seconds

What you first need to do is import the sounds from Sound Editor. Mark the desired sound and right click on it. Once you've done that you press: Use as Sound. That is my tutorial. Any questions about it send me a mail on [email protected] or [email protected] . I'd suggest you send it to [email protected] since I'm rarely on [email protected] .

Thank You

About the attack-problems:

The problems with this function is the only real issue with the system. If anyone is interested in taking a look at my trigger for it then here it is. Sadly it doesn't work and it uses a spell for attack. I was thinking that maybe someone better than me at this kind of triggers would have use for it.

• Attack
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
      • If - Conditions
        • (Ability being cast) Equal to Attack (Neutral Hostile)
        • (Owner of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Player001[(Player number of (Owner of (Triggering unit)))]
      • Then - Actions
        • Set Creep001[(Player number of (Owner of (Casting unit)))] = (Target unit of ability being cast)
        • Selection - Select Creep001[(Player number of (Owner of (Casting unit)))] for Player001[(Player number of (Owner of (Casting unit)))]
        • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units currently selected by (Owner of (Casting unit))) and do (Actions)
          • Loop - Actions
            • Custom script: call SetUnitAnimationByIndex(udg_Unit, 5)
            • Custom script: call SetUnitTimeScale(udg_Unit, udg_AnimationSpeed)
            • Sound - Play MetalHeavySliceFlesh1 <gen> at 100.00% volume, attached to (Target unit of ability being cast)
            • Unit - Cause (Casting unit) to damage Creep001[(Player number of (Owner of (Casting unit)))], dealing 12.00 damage of attack type Normal and damage type Normal
            • Wait 0.20 seconds
            • Unit - Wake up Creep001[(Player number of (Owner of (Casting unit)))]
      • Else - Actions

Thank you for your time reading and I hope this proved useful to you. If I missed something then send me a complain. Sorry for the different uses of the owner of a unit. It's supposed to be: Owner of Unit. Hope you understand all of this. It's a good camera system. Hope I can help people with alot of new games by spreading this on here. I've also added a file so you can take a look at the system. The attack spell won't work so no use in trying it.

/Rasmus

 

[PurgeandFire]

A well-done tutorial. Yeah, there are some problems but at least it is told what the problems are. This is definitely useful though for those who want to know how to make a simple arrow key system involving speed increases and decreases rather than abrupt movement.

~Approved.

 

[Spectre4802]

I have a problem with my map.

For some reason, it throws up an error whenever I try to run it and insists the fault lies with 'AnimationRun' and 'AnimationStand'.

The map's included - I was hoping you could tell me what's wrong with it.

 

[Shadow_Hunteur]

Ho.... as you may imagine, is really difficult to find the fault for us, who are front of our computer !!

I advise you to disable, but not delete, any function and try. Until it work.
You can do it with a right click on the function, and disable function.

When you find which is wrong, you can say this here and so maybe we can help you.

Is the better advice I can give to you.

 

[ekman70]

how do the custom scripts work it's jus a error on my computer and it disabel itself plzz help me

 

[bobojoto]

lack of detail

 

[defskull]

A very nice tutorial !!!
My trigger lack of this technique which is far more advance than mine
This is my Key Movement System
Btw, I am new to GUI and thanks for this tutorial, I'm gonna do better than my old one !

 

[RazorbladeRay]

I have a problem with my map.

For some reason, it throws up an error whenever I try to run it and insists the fault lies with 'AnimationRun' and 'AnimationStand'.

The map's included - I was hoping you could tell me what's wrong with it.

Move the unit away from cliffs. Tiny map, tiny clicking area.

Ekman70 stop sobbing and post the file on here.

 

[Cihparg]

You've typed udg_AnimationSpeed wrong, it is udg_Animation_Speed.
Change it to AnimationSpeed.

 

[RazorbladeRay]

No, it's not because whenever I run his or my own maps, they work fine.

EDIT: You're a genius! It works now =D Thanks for your help. +Reputation for you. The strange thing however is that I used AnimationSpeed on my map and it worked fine.

 

[xorkatoss]

dude im too lazy to read all of that..
if you have a map the arrows movement system can you pls upload it here?
becase i already found one arrow movement system but it's optimized and when i copy to my map it gets error and i have no idea how to fix so can you pls upoad it here?
that would be great

EDIT : lol sry i didn't noticed that you posted the map here xD
btw i noticed that the unit cannot attack why?
can you fix that pls?