Goals Triggers and Regions

Objective

The goal of this guide is to introduce you to the basic of Goals, Triggers, and Regions. These are key for creating story elements and interactions. We will create a goal for the scene created in A Simple Shootout and add some narration text upon entering a room. This guide will go over:

1. Creating Goals
2. Creating Regions
3. Creating Triggers
4. Applying Triggers to Goals/Regions

Creating a Goal

First off we'll setup an objective for the scene. Goal, along with trigger, can be created in the Scene Data window and modified in the Properties window.

1. Right-Click Goals -> Select Create Scene Goal
2. Select New Scene Goal
3. Set a name for your Goal in the Properties window. (e.g. "Kill all Lonestar")
4. Change Default Status from Hidden to Started

Creating a Trigger

Without some way of tracking what the player has done, the Goal cannot do anything. We'll create a trigger that sets the goal status to "Success" once all of the Lonestar have been taken care of.

1. Right-Click Triggers -> Select Create Trigger
2. Select NewTrigger
3. Double-Click NewTrigger to rename it (e.g. "g_KillLonestar")

When

A When Statement is used to define when the Trigger will fire off. When a new When Statement is created it will default its condition to When combat enters a new Round. These can be changed by Right-Clicking the statement and selecting from a list of new ones.

1. Click to add a new When Statement
2. Right-Click the Statement -> Select On Actor Death

The statement should read:

When (Triggering Actor) kills (Triggering Target Actor)

This means the trigger only fires off when an Actor dies.

If

If Statements are used to define more conditions that need to be met before a Trigger fires off. We will set the trigger to only fire off if the Actor that dies is on the Lonestar team.

1. Click to add a new If Statement
2. Right-Click No Condition -> Select Compare Actor Team
3. Right-Click Triggering Actor -> Under Functions Select Triggering Target Actor
4. Right-Click Shadowrunners -> Under Preset Values Select Lonestar

Almost there, we need one more if statement, otherwise trigger would go off every time a Lonestar Actor died. To avoid this we'll create a check that checks for the remaining number of Lonestar members"

1. Click to add a new If Statement
2. Right-Click No Condition -> Select Evaluate Team Survival
3. Right-Click (0) -> Input 100
4. Right-Click Shadowrunners -> Under Preset Values Select Lonestar

Do

Now that the trigger is setup with the appropriate conditions what do we do? We create a new Do Statement that sets the Goal status to Success.

1. Click to add a new Do Statement
2. Right-Click No effect -> Under Gameplay Select Set Goal Status
3. Right-Click Hidden -> Under Preset Values Select Success

By default Set Goal Status uses the first goal in the scene. Since we only have one goal, the option defaulted to the one we created.

Narration Pop-Up

To give the player a specific experience when one of their characters enters a part of the map, we want to create a Region that covers that part of the map. We will then create a trigger that does something once the region has been entered.

Creating a Region

A Region is a way of defining an area for a different kinds of triggers. Regions are found in the Scene Contents window along with Actors, Interactable Props, and Paths.

1. Right-Click Region -> Select Add New Region
2. Resize and Position the Region
   • The region indicator defines the Regions origin while the gear lets you resize it.
3. Set a name for the Region in the Properties window (e.g. "Enter Room")

Setting up a Trigger

Now that the region is defined lets set what happens when it is interacted with.

1. Right-Click Triggers -> Select Create Trigger
2. Select NewTrigger
3. Double-Click NewTrigger to rename it (e.g. "rgn_EnterRoom")

When

1. Click to add a new Statement
2. Right-Click the Statement -> Select On Region Enter

Similar to Get Goal Status, the On Region Enter statement defaults to the first Region. The statement should read "When an Actor enters a the Region" meaning this trigger fires when an Actor enters the new region.

If

The default Compare Actor Team statement will handle our needs.

1. Click to add a new If Statement
2. Right-Click No Condition -> Select Compare Actor Team

This trigger will now only fire if the Actor is a member of team Shadowrunners.

Do

1. Click to add a new Do Statement
2. Right-Click No effect -> Under Dialogue Select Display Text over Actor
3. Right-Click Triggering Actor -> Under Existing Actors select a Lonestar Member
4. Right-Click (Text) -> Select Click to Enter Text (e.g. "I hear something")

Lets add one more Do Statement.

Do

1. Click to add a new Do Statement
2. Right-Click No effect -> Under Dialogue Select Display Text at Screen Position
3. Right-Click (Text) -> Select Click to Enter Text (e.g. "You hear the distinctive sounds of guns being readied for action.")

Testing the Scene

With everything in place it is time to test the scene. This requires the game client to be running with the content menu open.

1. Select Tools -> Test Scene
2. Select Hire Main Character from the Main Character Override drop down
3. Click the Test Scene Green Arrow
4. Switch focus to the Shadowrun Returns game client
5. Click Continue when the scene has finished loading