4 Days? Did you miss me?
Hello Peeps, it’s been 4 days since my last post, i’ve been pretty busy, DESTRESSING (Hanging Out), and of course i was still developing the engine, amongst all the fun
Well i’m going to update on the final build of the Cutscene Engine for our Game, take note though, i plan to expand A WHOLE LOT MORE, since my team is short on time,I’ve only added added a shake function!.
I used XNA’s CONTENT PIPELINE, to load the XML script in. So in total i have
1.PageReader
2.PageWriter
3.Page
4.Cutscene
5.CutsceneHelper ( This is dependent on the project )
1.PageReader, reads the binary and converts them into pages.
2.PageWriter, converts the XML file into XNA’s XNB format (BINARY).
3.Page, is the data structure used to store the info, it also has the update and draw functions, all page effects are also stored here, for instance, tinting, shaking and Warp effects.
4.Cutscene, holds the different pages, and does the animation, and apply transitions effects. It also stores the current cutscene’s state.
5.CutsceneHelper, for my case i use it to manage all possible, cutscenes found in the game. If there is a cutscene playing, i know throughout the Solution if it’s ended. It will update and draw all possible cutscenes that are playing. It can also abruptly stop any and all cutscenes.
Well with this, i’ve just added CutsceneHelper.ShowScene(“IntroScene”), into my code, and it will play that cutscene, if there is a cutscene playing the rest of the game does not update, or draw. Then after the cutscene finishes,the game resumes.
So I’ve added all the possible cutscenes in the game, before the level starts, and after it finishes.And now all my designer has to do, is to tweak the XML files, add more pages, and tweak variables to make it longer, shorter, or more interesting, all without changing code!
So a cutscene can be one hour long, and it won’t disturb anything, it’s like playing a movie, except with lots of pictures, just like an animated sprite.
A little insight, i’ve actually done the flipping transition effect, it looks good, but i think i need to make it look a lot more smoother, maybe add deceleration to make things look a whole more natural.
Well peeps, its gonna be a long 16 days left till Release, it’s going to be so worth it, I’ll share more game info after our release date. I’ll also start diving into the different functions, and classes!
Cheerios Peeps,
Ikhwan
