Editing and making your own campaigns Getting Started, |
Creating Menus with $Menu |
Ahh, young StormRider, you seek the knowledge of the Ancients? You seek divine inspiration for your campaigns? You seek the wisdom of the Furies? If so, read on. The $Menu event is a new and powerful way to allow more selection in your campaigns (and it looks neat, too!).
So, how do we use it? It's easy! The syntax goes like this:
$Menu=description,command,command extension
The description is what the player will see inside the menu box. Command is just any $Button keyword that you're familiar with, such as MissionBegin, MissionFork, MissionAbort, MissionRestart, MissionReview or MissionEnd. Or command can be such things as Tell, ShowTechnology, or GetTechnology. Command extension deals with the command you use, and may either be a number (for commands such as ShowTechnology or GetTechnology), or an english file name (with MissionBegin or MissionFork commands).
Don't fear! An example is here!
So, what good is the command? It's great! Take a look at the example below and see for yourself. Say, for example you want the player to select the weapon they're going to use at the start of a scenario. It's easy with the $Menu event:
[Options]<br>
[A.]<br>
<h2>~oDECISIONS! DECISIONS!~.</h2><br>
The Furies grant you a ~ygift~w<br>
Pick wisely, or <i>DIE</i>!
$Menu=~[IrainCannon.3]rain,GetTechnology,129
$Menu=~[IsunCannon.3]sun,GetTechnology,128
$Menu=~[IwindArcher.34]wind,GetTechnology,140
$Menu=~[IthunderCannon.9]thunder,GetTechnology,131
Here's what the example would look like at the beginning of the scenario:
Now, the player can pick the Tech he/she wants from a menu, and the game will start with that Tech added to their arsenal.
If you have more stuff to add to the Menu, just keep on adding $Menu=... lines (however, be careful, if you add too many, the menu will extend beyond the screen).
Remember, you can use the $Menu command with any of the other $Button keywords. Try different things out!