Opening sequence

In my attempt to make a game, I would like an opening sequence. As in characters moving about and speaking. The question is how do I start this without making an actor start an event?

Autorun event or parallel process event.

Also, the topic is in the wrong section. Which system is this for, XP? VX?

Its VX. And I'm sorry I didn't get the right forum out of 80.

No need for the sarcasm. We just updated our forums to be easier to find and search through. I moved it to the correct location anyways. It's easier to move now that this forum encompasses all makers and not specific makers.

Either way, Zylos is right; turn the trigger to parallel process or autorun. I've attached a screenshot of where it is.

I apologize. And thank you, I figured it out. I even made the actor's sprite invisible to be changed after the opening. Unless that seems unwise?

Whatever gets the job done. lol. You could do 2 things, either faze him out with the opacity set to 0% or just make the actor's graphic non-existent until you want there to be one then change the actor graphic at the right moment. There's probably other ways. There's no real right or wrong way.

To be honest, I understand what autorun does - automatically run something the moment you step into the area - but what about parallel process? Is it easier to make cutscenes/opening sequences with?

parallel process allows other events to run at the same time, whereas autorun will prevent other events (and the player!) from updating. So, it depends. Generally for cutscenes, I prefer autorun because then there is no chance of parallel process events interfering and the player can't move his character. But when I am just doing something in the background, like updating a variable or something, then I would use parallel process so that it doesn't freeze everything else in the game.

One More question, if you please. Is there a way to put a text box on a timer? For say, 180 frames, and then it advances automatically?

Oh shoot. I think that \^ makes the text box close itself when it's finished loading and then \. is like a 1/2 pause ...and there's another one too. I might have them mixed up. In the help document in VX, it tells you. You'd have to search under the different commands you can use in text messages.

Yeah;

\! - insert pause, so requires user input to go past this point
\^ - Skips Pause, so doesn't require user input to close
\. - 1/4 second pause
\| - 1 second pause


So, for 180 frames, you'd want to go \|\|\|

parallel process allows other events to run at the same time, whereas autorun will prevent other events (and the player!) from updating. So, it depends. Generally for cutscenes, I prefer autorun because then there is no chance of parallel process events interfering and the player can't move his character. But when I am just doing something in the background, like updating a variable or something, then I would use parallel process so that it doesn't freeze everything else in the game.

So, parallel process works essentially like the cutscenes in Assassin's Creed?

Yeah;

\! - insert pause, so requires user input to go past this point
\^ - Skips Pause, so doesn't require user input to close
\. - 1/4 second pause
\| - 1 second pause


So, for 180 frames, you'd want to go \|\|\|

Sorry for intruding here, but do I put those symbols in the text box?

EDIT: Okay, figured it out. Nevermind.

... You type them.

That's something I figured out two seconds after asking...I feel silly now.

HEY YOU! .\..\..\..\! I have a quest for you.

Code: [Select]

.\..\..\..

This appears as just  "..." but instead of having VX writing it lightning fast, it pauses 1/4 a second between dots. the \. is invisible, so if you want a period, you have to write it 2 times like this \..

All of these appear invisible in the message window.

Code: [Select]

\!


That at the middle of my example just means that the player has to press the action button to continue to read the rest of the message. The message box will stop writing text when it comes to that symbol until the player does something, then it will continue with the message until it's done or if there's another \!

So all in all, my example will read like

HEY YOU! ...

(user presses action button)

HEY YOU! ... I have a quest for you.

Yeah, I figured that much out Now...how do I stop it from LOOPING the text?

at the end of the event, create a self-switch and a new event page and continue the rest of the event on the new page.

Thanks! Wow, this is going to take me a while to make a proper game if I'm having problems with text... :p

Oh well, I'll learn.