Pressing Buttons Combinations in a Specific Order in GS

thilanwij

Hi everyone,

I am working on a runner game idea where if you get in a certain distance of an enemy, and once you are in that distance, a button combination will pop up on the screen. You have limited time to input this sort of combination (using available buttons) in order to pass that enemy successfully. If you mess up on the order of the button, it resets and you have to do it again. How would I able to pull this off in Gamesalad? If you need any more clearance, let me know!

Example:
an enemy appears. As soon as you are within 100 pixels of it, a combination of buttons will appear BIG on-screen, and you must input that same combination before you run into the enemy. If you did it, the enemy will disappear. If not, then you will run into it and game over.

tatiang

Have each button add a value to a sum and then check the sum. So if you have button A worth 1, button B worth 2, and button C worth 4, you can then get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 as possible sums for pressing the buttons.

*Make sure the values are powers of 2 (2^0, 2^1, 2^2, 2^3, etc. = 1, 2, 4, 8, etc.).

thilanwij

Have each button add a value to a sum and then check the sum. So if you have button A worth 1, button B worth 2, and button C worth 4, you can then get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 as possible sums for pressing the buttons.

*Make sure the values are powers of 2 (2^0, 2^1, 2^2, 2^3, etc. = 1, 2, 4, 8, etc.).

Thanks! But i have another question from that. How would it know immediately if they got the second button press wrong if it checks the sum after the buttons are pressed?

thilanwij

Still having trouble finding out a good logic for the idea

Thinking that tables are a good use for this?

thilanwij

Tables as you said. Each value stored in a cell. So if button press 1 is not equal to tablecellvalue 1,1 then the user has to start over.

@uptimistik I was able to do this but something is off with the numbers matching I'll keep trying and figure this out!

Donaldouk

Hi thilanwij,

Im also very interested to know how you get on with that.

I am a newbie(3months) to gamesalad so are limited to the tool. I am getting the idea of it now. i currently making a game where when the actor is in the air they can execute stunt by a series of commands.

how was the table method? im trying to work out where to start. lol

cheers

Don

The_Gamesalad_Guru

This is pretty easy Logic. Think logic.

Create game level integer call Button.total and to put a time frame on the button presses add a REAL game level attribute called ButtonTime

RULE (1st button in sequense)

when touch is pressed and game.buttontotal = 0

Change Attribute Game.ButtonTime to Self.Time

Change Attribute game.buttontotal to game.buttontotal+1



OTHERWISE

Timer after .2sec

Change Attribute game.button to 0



New RULE inside (1st Button actor not inside above rule)

When Attribute Game.Buttontotal (Doesn't = 3) and Self.time > Game.buttonTime+5

Change Attribute Game.Buttontotal to 0



RULE (2st button in sequense)

when touch is pressed and game.buttontotal = 1

Change Attribute game.buttontotal to game.buttontotal+1

OTHERWISE

Timer after .2sec

Change Attribute game.button to 0



RULE (3st button in sequense)

when touch is pressed and game.buttontotal = 2

Change Attribute game.buttontotal to game.buttontotal+1

OTHEZRWISE

Timer after .2sec

Change Attribute game.button to 0

Repeat to add more buttons. Easy beans!

CodeMonkey

I use this method or something similar in Shred Neffland.
Make a game attribute that is a text attribute for input.
Make another attribute with the keyword.
Have a rule that checks if game.keyword begins with the game.input,
---When game.keyword is game.input pattern achieved.
Otherwise (This is if keyword doesn't start with input)
---Reset the game.input (Change Attribute game.input to )

When each button is pressed concatenate the key ID to the game.input
Change Attribute game.input = game.input..self.ID

tatiang

Here's how I'd do it (open the Log Debugger window to see the results).

Donaldouk

thanks a lot guys, i will give each a go and see which is better. cheers

Donaldouk

@tatiang i loaded the debugger and preview the code. nothing seem to happen? not a message.

Am I doing something wrong?

tatiang

You should see something like this (assuming you pressed A then C then :

Log(Actor: button): Correct combo entry… continue
Log(Actor: button): Correct combo entry… continue
Log(Actor: button): Wrong combo entry… STOP!

Donaldouk

@tatiang I have tried again and its working perfect. Don't why it didn't work yesterday.
Thanks a lot, its exactly how I want it.

Cheers

tatiang

@Donaldouk You're welcome!

Donaldouk

@tatiang Im at the stage of implementing the code for my game. I have encounter few issues and I was wondering if you can show me the light.

so my problem is,

I have 4 buttons and 4 combos.

the patterns are:

combo A: 1 2 3 4
combo B: 2 3 4 1
combo C: 3 4 1 2
combo 4 1 2 3

so executing the combo with the correct sequence works fine however, when I enter
1 1 1 1 Combo A also execute. I understand thats because theres a 1 in every col.

my code is basically same as yours but in the otherwise I have the same rules but searching row 2....then in that otherwise same rules but searching row 3 and same for 4.

this sounds quite a easy fix but I spent the last 3 hours on it and no luck.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Don't use otherwise and let them stand as individual rules. By putting them in otherwise you telling the software if not then do this.

Donaldouk

thanks for the reply @fryingBaconStudio

I have taken out the otherwise and has them as individual rules, but still no luck.

Im assuming I need it to read the first input and and see which combo matches and eliminate the one that doesn't.

will keep trying.

RThurman

With the way you want things set up, will probably be much easier to do it the way @CodeMonkey suggests.

Donaldouk

thank you very much RThuman. I will add that to my game as it works out brilliantly. I have spent at least 7 hours trying to figure it out. (

but every step is a learning curve. What would i do without this community. =D>

As being a newbie I must have misunderstood CodeMonkeys method. Thanks @CodeMonkey


Cheers

RThurman

@Donaldouk -- glad it will work for you.

We all learn from each other. I always look very carefully at @Tatiang's and @CodeMonkey's suggestions. They are always spot on.

Here is my little mantra:
When in doubt -- let CodeMonkey spell it out!

Donaldouk

@RThurman

I have a problem. In your rules for 'Display' you set a timer after 1sec to change input to ""

Well I added a display text to see the input and it works fine.

but on mine after 1sec the input display "" before I press any number. I changed the rules to 'change input to (*blank took out the "")' and it seem to work. Will that be a problem?

RThurman

Its probably OK. Test it out a few times until you are confident its working the way you want.