Customising Scenes

Overview

A Scene is a section of a Chapter. It can be used to tell the story and describe what the player should see and hear.

Setting the name

A Scene has a name. This can be useful for referencing it and depending on the engine implementation may be displayed when the scene is executed.

val scene = scene {
    this name "In the Mansion"
}

Setting the background

A Scene has a background. There a lots of ways backgrounds can be specified, and the Background interface adds extensibility if required.

Backgrounds can be specified from a path to a file.

val mansion = backgroundFromFile("mansion.jpg")
val scene = scene {
    this background mansion
}

Backgrounds can be specified from a resource key.

val mansion = backgroundFromResource("mansion.jpg")
val scene = scene {
    this background mansion
}

Simple solid color backgrounds can also be used.

val black = backgroundFromColor(Color.BLACK)
val scene = scene {
    this background black
}

Setting the music

Each Scene can have background music.

Audio can be specified from files.

val mansionTheme = trackFromFile("mansion.wav")
val scene = scene {
    this music mansionTheme
}

Audio can be specified from resources.

val mansionTheme = trackFromResource("mansion.wav")
val scene = scene {
    this music mansionTheme
}

And silence can be used when no music should play.

val scene = scene {
    this music silence
}

Transitions

Transitions can be applied to a Scene. Transitions allow fade ins and fade outs etc. The SceneTransition interface provides extensibility if required.

Here a fade in from black over 250ms has been specified.

val scene = scene {
    this transitionIn FadeIn(Color.BLACK, 250L)
}

Here a fade out to black over 250ms has been specified.

val scene = scene {
    this transitionOut FadeOut(Color.BLACK, 250L)
}

Layout

Layout specifies how Characters are positioned for a scene, and how they move between positions.

A layout must be created and configured so that it can interact with the GameEngine.

val configuration = DynamicGameConfiguration()
val scene = scene {
    this layout createLayout {
        this configure configuration.gameAdapter.layoutAdapter
    }
}

The transition keyword specifies how characters should move around the layout. Here a Slide transition has been specified with a duration of 100ms. The LayoutTransition interface adds extensibility if required.

val scene = scene {
    this layout createLayout {
        this transition Slide(100L)
    }
}

Characters can be added to a layout. In this example the character has been added to the left of the screen. The character is not visible as it is off of the screen, but is ready to be pulled in to view when required.

val configuration = DynamicGameConfiguration()
val ben = Character("Ben", configuration.gameAdapter.characterAdapter)
val scene = scene {
    this layout createLayout {
        this addLeftOf ben
    }
}

Characters can then move in a layout. The above examples can be combined to slide a character from the outside of the left hand side of the screen to the center.

val configuration = DynamicGameConfiguration()
val ben = Character("Ben", configuration.gameAdapter.characterAdapter)
val scene = scene {
    this layout createLayout {
        this configure configuration.gameAdapter.layoutAdapter
        this transition Slide(100L)
        this addLeftOf ben
        this moveCenter ben
    }
}