The Choice Dialog Trick: A guide
From AgeofWiki
Author: Dr Nick
Summary : How do you let the player chose between many different sets of choices?
The Guide
Okay, this is a pretty simple trick, but it seems to me that not many people know about/understand it so I decided to make a guide.
Basically, the problem is this: How do you let the player chose between many different sets of choices?
The solution most people have found is similar to what I call the "blood" (or "Shilmalista") method. While this solution is very creative it isn't very intuative. A better solution would be to use a dialog box.
Luckily, AoE3 comes equipped with the effect "choice dialog". This effect will display a dialog with two choices and then fire another trigger based on the choice the user selects.
This is fine if there are only two choices, but what if there are more? Well the solution is suprisingly simple. Here is the trigger setup for three choices:
Trigger 1
Condition:
- Set this up to fire when you want the choice to be made.
Effect:
Trigger: Trigger 2
Trigger 2
- Active: Disabled
- Loop : Disabled
- R. I. :X , Priority: High
Condition:
Effect:
Options: Main Text: "Put a description of the choice here." Choice 1: "Put a description of the first choice here." Trigger 1: Put the trigger that will fire if the first choice is chosen. Choice 2: "More..." <-- Put more or something similar Trigger 2: Trigger 3
Trigger 3
- Active: Disabled
- Loop : Disabled
- R. I. :X , Priority: High
Condition:
Effect:
Options: Main Text: "Put THE SAME description here as in Trigger 2" Choice 1: "Put a description of the second choice here." Trigger 1: Put the trigger that will fire if the second choice is chosen. Choice 2: "More..." <---or whatever you put in trigger 2. Trigger 2: Trigger 4
Trigger 4
- Active: Disabled
- Loop : Disabled
- R. I. :X , Priority: High
Condition:
Effect:
Options: Main Text: "You get the picture by now." Choice 2: "Put a description of the third choice here." Trigger 1: Put the trigger that will fire if the third choice is chosen. Choice 2: "More..." Trigger 2: Trigger 2
Notes
So basically, what your doing is linking as many "Choice Dialog" effects together as you have choices. The most important thing to remember is the "loop" aspect. When the end of the choice dialog chain is reached, they can still click "More..." and go to the first choice. The first trigger fires the loop (so you can put a condition on it).
Anyway, that's the guide. I know its a simple concept, but I'm kind of tired of "moving the old man to the statue" or "clicking on the pillar" or whatever. ;)
