Scenes

A scene is an EVT script that takes control from the player to tell part of the story: NPCs move and talk, and the camera moves to show them. This example plays the first time the player enters a map. An NPC walks up to the player while the camera follows, says a message, and the scene saves a game flag so it never plays again.

The example uses Goompa's sprite and a message from the base game. NPC_Goompa is an NPC you add to the map, as NPCs describes, and GF_KMR99_MetGoompa is a game flag you add, as Saved flags and bytes describes.

Writing a scene

EvtScript EVS_Scene_MeetGoompa = {
    Call(DisablePlayerInput, true)
    Wait(10)
    // the camera moves to where Goompa will stop, while he walks there
    Thread
        Call(UseSettingsFrom, CAM_DEFAULT, 60, 0, 0)
        Call(SetPanTarget, CAM_DEFAULT, 60, 0, 0)
        Call(SetCamDistance, CAM_DEFAULT, 300.0)
        Call(SetCamSpeed, CAM_DEFAULT, 2.0)
        Call(PanToTarget, CAM_DEFAULT, 0, true)
    EndThread
    Call(SetNpcAnimation, NPC_Goompa, ANIM_Goompa_Walk)
    Call(SetNpcSpeed, NPC_Goompa, 2.0)
    Call(NpcMoveTo, NPC_Goompa, 60, 0, 0)
    Call(SetNpcAnimation, NPC_Goompa, ANIM_Goompa_Idle)
    Call(WaitForCam, CAM_DEFAULT, 1.0)
    // talk
    Call(PlayerFaceNpc, NPC_Goompa, 0)
    Call(SpeakToPlayer, NPC_Goompa, ANIM_Goompa_Talk, ANIM_Goompa_Idle, 0, MSG_CH0_001C)
    // give the camera back
    Call(ResetCam, CAM_DEFAULT, 4.0)
    Set(GF_KMR99_MetGoompa, true)
    Call(DisablePlayerInput, false)
    Return
    End
};

Step by step, the scene:

1. Stops the player from moving with DisablePlayerInput, so they can't walk away or open menus during the scene.
2. Starts the camera panning in a Thread, so it moves while Goompa walks. To do more things at once, see Threads.
3. Walks Goompa to a point with NpcMoveTo, which takes an X and Z position, and how many frames the walk takes. With 0 frames, Goompa walks at the speed from SetNpcSpeed. Moving an NPC doesn't change its animation, so the scene sets his walking animation before the walk and his idle animation after it.
4. Waits until the camera arrives with WaitForCam.
5. Turns the player to face Goompa, and has Goompa speak with SpeakToPlayer, which waits until the player closes the message. For more ways to show messages, see Speech.
6. Pans the camera back to the player and gives it back to the map's zones with ResetCam. For more about moving the camera, see Camera.
7. Sets the game flag, then gives control back to the player.

Playing the scene when the player enters the map

Start the scene after the player walks in, if the flag isn't set:

EvtScript EVS_EnterMap = {
    Set(LVar0, EVS_BindExitTriggers)
    ExecWait(EnterWalk)
    IfEq(GF_KMR99_MetGoompa, false)
        Exec(EVS_Scene_MeetGoompa)
    EndIf
    Return
    End
};

In EVS_Main, replace the Set(LVar0, EVS_BindExitTriggers) and Exec(EnterWalk) lines with Exec(EVS_EnterMap). ExecWait waits until the player has walked in, so the scene doesn't start while they're still walking. For more about entering a map, see Entries and exits.

If the scene is part of the main story, check and set GB_StoryProgress instead of a flag of its own, as Saved flags and bytes describes.

Testing the scene

With the map's main.c open, select Game > Play. The scene plays unless the save you play from already has the flag set, such as when you saved after the scene played.