Help with RPG Menu System

[darkwolf7786]

Hello. I'm new to this, and want to know if i'm going in the right direction for this:

I started making an attempt at a menu for a typical RPG game. It would be an overlay over the current game screen, disabling the action of the character to focus on the menu to do its actions.

Now to start, I was able to get it to open the menu buttons as i wanted, and go from game screen to menu and back by disabling/enabling event groups. The problem i'm foreseeing is that if I do it this way, I would have to create the same scenario in every other frame that uses the menu, duplicating the code and assets for them all, which seems quite redundant.

I tried looking for an alternative and thought of using a frame within a frame using the sub-application object where the sub-application would be a menu frame which handles all the menu functions. It would be located on a layer above the game screen acting as an overlay.

Attempting to do it this way, i'm finding issues getting the game to focus on the menu when it is called. I'm also having issues with the fact that the sub-application is not transparent in any way, so it overlays with a completely white screen with my menu objects on it (which remain static instead of where the selected options were animated).

What I am asking for assistance with is is there a proper way to control focus within these two frames. Currently, when it calls up the menu (by activating and showing the sub-application where my attempt to put the menu is) it pulls it up, but the entire area is white (besides the two buttons i've set up so far), and the program does nothing further from there. Also, there is no way for me to close that frame and get back to my original frame. Also, I am looking to see if this would be a proper way to do this or if there are better controls that i'm not aware of that can handle this better.

Thanks for the assistance.

[casleziro]

Every time you call the menu, pause everything that moves and then use the screen capture extension to take a snapshot of the frame area. After doing that, you can drop a picture extension into the subapp menu frame and load your snapshot, so it fixes your white screen by replacing it with a still of the main game.

As to not being able to do anything when the subapplication is up: you need to put your events in the frame the subapp is referring to to handle things like global values or a global array (for changing data and having it carry over), then set a value somewhere that will destroy the sub-application in the first frame (I would use a global value) and resume all object movement:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a9d5gorbz8...ample.rar?dl=0

using the subapplication for something like this isn't a method I would advise, but neither is using multiple frames for gameplay. If you're willing to rework your entire project, I recommend looking into some level editors and handling gameplay with a single frame by loading separate levels via array/ini for more control, and you would be able to build the menu inside the frame like you were going to originally.

[darkwolf7786]

Thanks for your example, I can at least see how this should be attained. I'm not sure if creating an image file and such is entirely the greatest way, but the option is there.

I assumed the simple way to do it would have been to make each area its own frame, such as towns, battle areas, etc. Its design is of a more simpler classic SRPG, currently in the vein of the old Shining Force games, so most everything would've been already pre-determined, though things like party characters and such, I wasn't sure if i would've needed to put all their assets in each battle into every battle frame or if i'd be able to call them into play based on the current party makeup but that's another issue for a later time, just trying to do basic "in-town" actions currently. I can at least walk on a grid and can set up non-walkable areas, so that's good so far.

Anyway, a basic menu was next on my list. Putting my entire game into one frame changes the "use multiple frames" strategy into using one for everything that handles any and all transitions. I don't know anything about these level editors, but i'm assuming i create areas, save them to a file, then transition via fading out and reloading a new "level" so to speak and fading back in on the same frame once everything changed. I don't even have a clear idea on how events should be handled (by that i mean in game events), if i'm able to call in game events somewhere else, or create them all in this "single frame" you're suggesting I try. Would that mean i have all my RPG-related cutscenes and events in a huge list of events in the event editor along with everything else? I don't know if I can bring these up from anywhere else, though it might not be so bad with event grouping (such as a Town A Event Group being active while i'm on Town A, etc).

I don't know if I want to use an .ini file to handle my gameplay. Don't .ini files just sit in the folder and are generally easy to modify, or is this something different in Fusion that I just don't know about yet, but I'll look into that when I have more time. I mean if the ini can be private within the game's file I suppose that's fine.

I suppose I need to think more about which of these would be better for my game.

The first way was simply to have all menu controls for every frame that uses a menu, but copying all the menu events and images to every frame that used that menu seemed like a poor use of resources and very redundant.

When I tried your example, from the point the menu button is pressed and it takes the screenshot and then displays the sub-application, it took a short amount of time, like a quarter second or so. While I do think having another frame to handle my menus would be somewhat easier for me to do, and I would only have to create the menu once, i'm not sure about this delay, and might make it seem not as smooth getting into the menu.

The third way is to have me use one frame, have the mapfiles all laid out and then load up each map as i get to them in a single frame. This would require (to my understanding) to make my own "level editor", create my areas within it using my tilesets, etc, save it in a way my game would understand and then call those map files whenever I need to load a new area. This seems like a complicated to start, but better in the end method of going about it, where once I get it right for the first map, doing it for the next 100 maps would be a piece of cake.

I'll have to look into this more to see how I can make this work. It is turning out more complicated than originally imagined based on how fast getting my grid and collision to work, but all these things take time I suppose. Thanks for the help so far, I will at least continue looking into how loading areas via arrays/inis work as while it seems harder to get into, it might be better in the long run.

[casleziro]

The reason it takes a half second or so to bring up the menu is because the screen capture object takes a while to actually capture the screen and save it to a file, unfortunately. The subapplication menu method is popular because of its simplicity but I feel it can be very restrictive/not that good of an idea when you could have a simpler menu in-game using group activation/deactivation. In the end it's all up to you to decide whether or not making your game all in one frame is worth the effort vs just dealing with object and group duplication using multiple frames, but a lot of people will recommend learning the more efficient way first, since it can make development MUCH easier in the long run.

Once you actually begin to go through them, using arrays and ini files are quite simple, but require a bit of planning on your part. the array object is generally going to be faster and more efficient than an ini, but ini can still have uses (most people use them to save lists of items in inventory/settings, and use the array for the actual world data such as tiles/enemies/etc). You're right about how you would use map files and call them to load levels by creating/destroying objects and tiles, and you can even manage to fit all your 'levels' into one array file! The more complicated parts would be setting unique tiles to spawn the player, enemies and items, but with some tinkering around you should get the hang of that as well.

There are some good examples to look through in the file archive, such as:
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/88885-Quick-Level-Editor-Example
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/82582-Array-Level-Builder-%28variation-on-my-old-editor-that-used-ini%29
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/80833-Level-editor-that-uses-MMF2-s-own-frame-editor (the same as the second link, only using ini. useful to read through the thread because the creator of the example elaborates on the methods used)
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/73722-MMF2-with-Tiled-map-editor (this editor uses an extension to be compatible with the third-party level editor application TILED, pretty neat)

and also Marv's site, which has over 380 different fusion related examples:
http://www.castles-of-britain.com/mmf2examples.htm

thumb through here for useful articles: http://www.create-games.com/articles.asp

for your movement you could try
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/52915-RPG-Movement-Widget for cell-based movement

and https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8eyh5jmpm...%2010.mfa?dl=0 by forum member Nifflas for smooth sub-pixel movement. (check the player object's behavior in properties > events tab)