When will we be able to make better cut-scenes?

[Marby]

Whenever I have a look at the RPG Makers and fool around with its capabilities I wonder how long it will take to have a proper cut-scene functionality for RPG Playground. …since this is the engine I really WANT to complete a game for publishing.

Perhaps we should have a complete list of functionalities on Trello, which would help us to make good cut-scenes. Some single tickets are already there. However, I think to connect them somehow together could shorten the time until we also can create really good cut-scenes with RPG Playground. If I considering cut-scene stuff the following comes to my mind:

• move actors simultaneousely using screenplay (the RPG Makers are very good at this and RPG Playground should support this at any rate)
• let actors turn in the direction we want
• stop actors’ movement or even the whole gameplay for the amont of time we want
• deactivate and reactivate player input in order not accidentally to disturb the cut-scene
• a skip handler for cut-scenes (not even the RPG Makers have it out of the box!)
• move the camera using screenplay
• animated balloon over the characters’ heads (bulp, heart, drop of sweat, thundercloud etc.) in order to express feelings

If someone can enrich this list to make cut-scenes even better go on.

[Marby]

I forgot a neccessary point, which is (as far as I remember) already available as a single ticket, but belongs to that list:
Making the hero visible/unvisible using screenplay.

Could we stick those ticket somehow together and create the missing ones?

[Deluxe]

I would like to also be able to disable and enable the inventory, for a more interactive cutscene or games that are just interactive cutscenes (A.K.A Ace Attorney)

[Macmor]

Changing character direction and the ability to disable/enable the transition effect are what I want.

Moving actors simultaneously *CAN* be done for cut scenes. You can stack multiple invisible tiles and have each one associated to a npc. It takes A LOT of testing but you can use the invisibility trick on a npc, stick them at the top of the map and have them work as a timer. Then you can use the timer to coordinate the movements for multiple npc’s. Dialogue will pause the movements, but they will return to moving when the box is closed. It’s so much work I don’t recommend doing it unless you really have the patience for it lol.

Camera movement is also *POSSIBLE*. Using the invisibility trick on the Hero, you can use the script to move the camera as it is always centered on the hero. Only issue is that the hero needs a clear path to the destination.

 

[Marby]

Yes, I know there are some workarounds especially to get the hero as well as monsters invisible. But the “invisible trick” is undefined behavior. deWiTTERS already stated that it even could break our games in the future. And there are further downsides. You can hear the hero’s steps while walking and you cannot move the camera that way if it means that the hero must pass impassable terrain.

The workaround to move characters simultaneously is indeed new to me. Congrats for finding out!
However, I rather prefer to have proper functionalities for cut-scenes than workarounds, which are quite hard to predict or even might break the game. Therefore, I started this thread.

[Macmor]

I wouldn’t mind something simple like doors that face and open in all 4 directions. Also, the ability to use the script to have the door open and close when npc’s enter/leave.

[deWiTTERS]

Wow, lots of suggestions in here :).

I added a new ticket at https://trello.com/c/GdyF6GgA, with all individual suggestions as todo items. Some contain the reference to the relevant ticket. I can always start splitting these todo items into real tickets. But for now I think it’s nice they are all bundled in this 1 feature request, so we can keep track.

[Author]

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