Ask for a response¶
Rules describe what could happen. Run Story Director asks which one should happen now.
Add it to a Game Creator instruction sequence wherever a story response belongs: when the player interacts, enters an area, makes a choice or changes an important fact.
Choose a category¶
Set Category to the group of responses you want to consider. A request for Companion/Hint checks Rules in that category and any global Rules.
Leave the field empty only when you want the request to consider all active Rules. For a first lesson this can be convenient; for a larger scene, a clear category helps keep requests focused.
Decide what happens if a Rule is busy¶
A Rule set to One at a time cannot start another copy while its previous response is still running.
| If Busy setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Try Another | If the chosen Rule is busy, the Director tries another matching Rule |
| Reject | The new request is rejected. The response already running continues |
Use Reject when another response would compete for the same conversation or camera. Use Try Another when a suitable alternative would be welcome.
Wait for the response when you need to¶
With Wait For Rule To Finish enabled, the surrounding instruction sequence waits for the response started by that request. With it disabled, the surrounding sequence continues.
For example, a sequence that must wait for a story reaction before opening a menu should use Wait. A zone that can accept independent later visits may be better with Wait off.
A Trigger can also be busy
With Wait on, Game Creator keeps that Trigger busy until its instruction sequence finishes. Further activations may be ignored before reaching the Story Director. Changing the Rule's run mode does not change the Trigger's own behavior.
Allow independent overlapping responses¶
A Rule's Multiple in parallel run mode allows separate requests to start independent copies of its instruction sequence. It can suit effects or ambient responses that safely overlap.
The copies still affect the same scene objects and variables. Avoid this mode for two responses that would both control the same camera, dialogue panel or character movement. One at a time is the default for a reason.
Use a StoryZone¶
The package includes StoryZone_Box and StoryZone_Sphere in Assets/GC2StoryEngine/Prefabs.
Place a prefab in your scene, size its trigger area and configure Run Story Director in its Game Creator Trigger. The category starts empty, If Busy starts at Try Another, and Wait starts off.
The translucent child is called Visual - safe to hide or delete. It helps you place the zone and is excluded from the player. Hiding or deleting that child does not change the trigger area.
A StoryZone does not add play-once or cooldown behavior. Put those choices in the Rules' history criteria.
Keep chains finite¶
A Rule can ask the Director for another response, but a chain must move forward. Change the relevant facts first so a different Rule can be selected.
Story Engine stops a request that would loop back into a Rule already in the same logical chain. Rule Trace labels this Rejected (loop). For repeated interactions, let the next player event make a fresh request.