Mini map / full map?

starcat

im just doing the tutorials on game salad now.. but planning ahead, is it possible to do a Minimap or a full screen map? like solomons keep or something? im trying to imagine how that would happen.. because it would be like a layer. but not really.

lets say i wanna make a castlevania type game and track where i've been.. how would i do that? or is such a thing not possible on gs?

Photics

Yes, it's possible.

The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook shows how to create a radar for a space shooter. Also, if you wanted to keep track of where a player has been, that can be done. It's just a lot of boolean attributes.

starcat

im still making my way through your epic book, but im not talking about a Radar to detect enemies. im talking about lets say im running through a cave and i wanna see where im at. i press start to see the minimap (or some version of it)

Photics

A map like in The Legend of Zelda or Super Metroid is also possible. That's what the boolean attributes are about.

Create invisible sensors (Actors) in your map.
Create boolean attributes for those actors

So... if the player crosses invisible actor 1, the attribute is triggered. It's basically a combination of rules, attributes and saving/loading those attributes.

If overlaps or collides with Player
Then change attribute game.Sensor#1 to true.

Then, create a map that is sliced into little pieces. Those pieces light up when their attribute is true.

Here's a more visual way to see it...
http://photics.com/bot-preview-screenshots

In the equipment menu screenshot, there are lots of empty boxes. Those boxes are lit when the player acquires the corresponding item. The same technique can be applied to a map.

starcat

ok thanks. its really hard to think like gamesalad when you are new. im sure ill get the hang of it once i understand all the ins and outs of all the attributes and behaviors.

so if i make a super wide area, like a cavern, the second the player walks through the door i should have an invisible actor that triggers that section of the map or something of that nature.

ok thanks a lot man.

JPickard

I just stumbled on this in the wiki:

http://gamesalad.com/wiki/how_tos:create_a_minimap?rev=1258723850

starcat

oooh. it doesnt make sense to me yet cause im still noob but im sure i will when i understand all that stuff thanks pickard.

i wonder if the same rules can be applied for a Start button minimap. like. theres the mini map /radar then theres the full screen map when you hit start kind of thing. im sure the same rules can be applied somehow. damn game salad is awesome.