Difference between revisions of "Connecting locations using the Map"

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Each anchor corresponds to one of the compass directions listed on the directions tab of the location, with north at the top.
 
Each anchor corresponds to one of the compass directions listed on the directions tab of the location, with north at the top.
  
If you click the right-hand anchor then it creates a link heading east from that location.
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If you double-click the right-hand anchor then it creates a link heading east from that location.
  
 
This is shown as an arrow pointing away from the location:
 
This is shown as an arrow pointing away from the location:

Latest revision as of 03:47, 10 February 2018

The quickest and easiest way to start building your game is to draw all of the locations you need, and the connections between them, directly onto the map at the top of the screen.

Projector.gifWatch a video demonstration of the ADRIFT map (on youtube).

For a list of the controls to use in the map, click Map.

Creating Locations

If you double-click anywhere on the map then a new location will be created:

FirstLocation.jpg

You can now type the name of the location directly into the box.

  • You must do this immediately, before moving the location to the wanted position on the map. If you press a mouse button before entering the name then you will need to right-click on the location and select rename from the context menu.

Moving and re-sizing Locations

If you click the mouse in the middle of a location on the map, then it selects it, changing its color to yellow.

The location can now be dragged to a different position on the map, or deleted with the Delete key on the keyboard.

The eight anchor points that appear as small orange boxes around the edge are used to resize the location rectangle.

If you move the mouse over one of the anchors, it will change to a double-headed resize arrow, and you can hold down the left mouse button to drag that edge or corner, changing the size of the location rectangle.

MapResize.jpg

Click on the map background to de-select the location.

Location Context Menu

If you right-click in the middle of a location on the map, then this context menu pops up:

MapLocationMenu.jpg

  • Edit Location - Opens the Location dialog. The same as double-clicking the Location.
  • Rename Location - Lets you edit the name of the Location in the rectangle.
  • Delete Location - Deletes this Location completely.
  • Move to page - If you have multiple map pages then this lets you select which one to move it to.

IconWarning.png YOU MUST REMOVE ALL OF ITS LINKS TO OTHER LOCATIONS BEFORE YOU MOVE IT!

  • Move Up - The ADRIFT map is 3-dimensional. This moves the Location upwards (towards you when map is in plan view).
  • Move Down - Move Location downwards (away from you)

Connecting Locations

If you move the mouse to the position of one of the anchors, then that one box becomes visible.

MapMouseOnAnchor.jpg

You can't use it to resize the rectangle for a location thats not selected, but you can double-click on it to create a new link.

Each anchor corresponds to one of the compass directions listed on the directions tab of the location, with north at the top.

If you double-click the right-hand anchor then it creates a link heading east from that location.

This is shown as an arrow pointing away from the location:

MapDblClkOnAnchor.jpg

Notice that when you move the mouse that the end of the link follows it:

MapLinkDrag.jpg

Move the end of the link to the wanted direction on the location you want to link to.

Here we have moved the mouse over the left side of the location until the anchor appears (so we are joining to its west direction).

MapLinkJoin.jpg

Clicking in the anchor joins the link to it and the line color will change from orange to grey.

This creates the appropriate entries on the direction tabs of both locations:

MapLinkResult.jpg

The player will now be able to walk east from the TV room into the Lounge and west from the Lounge to the TV room.

If we drag either location, the link says attached at both ends and will stretch and bend as required.

MapLocationMove.jpg

It is not necessary to always connect west to east, you can create a curved link that goes north from one location and enters the second location from the west:

MapLinkCurved.jpg

Link Menu

If you move the mouse over either end of a link then the anchor's at both ends will become visible.

Right-click on an anchor to display the context menu:

MapLinkMenu.jpg

  • Edit Link - Not functional in current version. Double click Location & go to Directions tab to edit link.
  • One-way Link - Makes link one-way. The player will only be able to move in the direction in which the link was originally drawn.
  • Add Restrictions - Not functional in current version. Go to Direction tab of Location to add restrictions. Links with restrictions are shown as a dotted line.
  • Delete Link - Completely removes the link from both locations.
  • Add Anchor - Allows the path of the link to be altered to go around obstacles.

A one-way link will be shown on the map as an arrow indicating the direction of possible travel:

MapLinkOneWay.jpg

Extra anchors are used when you have links that cross-over other locations or are hard to follow:

MapLinkOverlap.jpg

If you select "Add Anchor" from the context menu, then an anchor will be added halfway along the link.

By dragging this anchor with the mouse, the curve of the link can be altered to go around the obstruction:

MapLinkExtraAnchor.jpg

You can add as many anchors as you want, so quite complex paths are possible:

MapLinkComplexCurve.jpg

  • You can only right-click on one of the end anchors, not one of the new anchors.
  • Anchors are added along the link in the reverse direction to which the link was drawn, so start at the end that was attached last, create an anchor, move it into position, then do the next anchor working back towards the start.

Restrictions

If a connection between two locations can only be used by the player if certain conditions are met, then you need to add a restriction to that connection. Restrictions are added to an exit from a location on the Directions page of a Location. These restrictions only prevent the player from leaving the room by that exit. They can still come back the other way unless you also add the restriction to the corresponding exit from the adjacent room.

Connections that change

If you want to do something more complex, such as changing the location that a particular exit leads to or having something special happen if you try to move in that direction, then instead of linking that exit to another location, you can have it run a task instead.

The first thing we will do is add an arrow to the SOUTH exit so that the player can see that they can go that way. To do that all we need to do is connect the location back to itself as shown here:

DirectionsLoopback.jpg

IconWarning.png The "copy reciprocal links" setting in the General Settings must be set to "Never" or "Prompt" to prevent ADRIFT adding an extra unwanted exit when connecting a location back to itself!

Now we need to create a new task, a specific task that overrides the player movement task for the SOUTH direction only:

  • Don't forget to tick the "Task is Repeatable" box if you want to be able to use this exit more than once.

TaskSpecificDirection.jpg

We need to restrict the task so that it only executes when the player is outside the building:

RestrictionOutsideLocation.jpg

Then create two actions, one to move the player inside the building and the other to execute the "Look" task to show its description:

ActionMovePlayer.jpg

Other actions can then be added to, for example, steal something from their inventory, start a character moving towards them, or start an Event.

To have the exit take us to different destinations at different times, all you need to do is add more of these specific tasks. Whichever task passes it's restrictions controls what happens to the player.

  • If you want something to happen when the player enters a particular location from ANY connection, then use a system task set to execute when they enter that location.

For more information on using the map, see The Map.


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