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PlayMaker - Visual Scripting for Unity

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by Alex-Chouls, Dec 31, 2010.

  1. tomato_comet

    tomato_comet

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    I just purchased Playmaker because of the big sale and its good reputation. I have no experience with it at all. I first planned to use it for enemy AI. But I now have a different initial goal in mind. One question to get started.

    I am working on an open world game. Very early. I realize I don't know how to create the "start" of the game. Meaning, how to create the specific spawn point of the player at very start of the game after the opening cinematic scene (yet to be created). Open world games don't have "scenes" or "levels" to call upon to load, at least in the way I define "scenes". Now I am realizing I don't know how to organize this into a game with a specific starting location when the player pushes "start". I'm hoping Playmaker works well with player save/spawn points in an open world setting.

    So my question: Can Playmaker be used in an open world game to easily setup the player's initial starting/spawn point and/or any save point added to the terrain?

    Thank you very much.
     
  2. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    You could use empty GameObjects with a SpawnPoint Tag and then Find Game Object with that tag. For save points you should look into the Player Prefs actions. These let you easily save information about the game state.

    Also if you start a thread on the Playmaker Forums I'm sure other people will share their experiences making open world games with Playmaker :)
     
  3. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Check out this interview with Will O'Neill
    Out Of Darkness: Actual Sunlight‘s Journey From Personal Game To Product:
    http://indiestatik.com/2013/11/08/pe...-game-product/

    We're thrilled that Playmaker can help people realize their deeply personal projects:

    After some trial-and-error with a couple of different systems, I stumbled onto a really great extension for Unity called PlayMaker; it really made it possible for somebody like me who is not a coder to work in the Unity environment.

     
  4. atmuc

    atmuc

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    Alex do you plan to add 2D collision, trigger events?
     
  5. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  6. atmuc

    atmuc

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    you are great! also it is with full source code, you surprised me :) this is different then your 3d listeners. you add them dynamically as a separate inspector hidden component. in 2d you added all in a single component. which architecture is better? do you plan to take them to your core?

    Edit: 2D Events look global events, not a system event.aren't they system event like 3d collision enter?

    i think you did this as addon because being compatible with 4.2 and 4.3. no source code, yes restrictions. :)

    please think release source code and make it easy for both you and us. :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2013
  7. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Actually the 3d physics collision listeners are also added dynamically as hidden components - it's just done transparently by Playmaker. We moved to this architecture for performance reasons. Otherwise every PlayMakerFSM component would incur the cost of handling every physics event etc. Empty event handlers weren't super expensive, but the cost added up... adding separate listener components only for the needed events is a lot more efficient!

    Yeah we're definitely moving towards more source code releases - it makes it a lot easier to handle differences between unity versions. So expect to see more of this in the future :)
     
  8. atmuc

    atmuc

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    is this future close or far :) converting dll used projects to source code projects is easy. i did it several times. i can say i have the best playmaker version that works for all platforms with itween :) when you release it with source code, i will not spend time to track changes.
     
  9. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    I'm not sure :p I don't want to make any promises! Huge parts of Playmaker are already available as source: all the actions, third party integrations, most add-ons... but we're looking into where it makes sense to release more (e.g., to make it easier to support multiple versions and platforms).

    Thanks for your offer to help! :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2013
  10. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    The latest Playmaker update is in the store. Release notes here:
    https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W311

    This release fixes some issues with the new Unity 4.3 update as well as some other bugs.

    The next release will iron out any remaining 4.3 hitches. For example, the Action Browser search field doesn't consistently focus in 4.3

    We will also integrate the latest version of Photon, and hopefully release Windows 8 Store support, which has been in beta for a while now...

    EDIT: As always, please BACKUP projects before importing updates!!
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2013
  11. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  12. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Cyber monday 80% off sale!! 24 hours only!
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2013
  13. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    PlayMaker Tip: PlayMaker lets you include new behaviors in Asset Bundles! Normally it's quite difficult to include scripts in Asset Bundles, but with PlayMaker it's easy!
     
  14. theBrandonWu

    theBrandonWu

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    That is a Brilliant idea! I totally missed this when I was looking into options to stream new interactions into games. Good stuff!
     
  15. Mikie

    Mikie

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    Alex, did a draw debug line. In the scene view it shows up, but not in the game view. Is it possible to see it in the game view? You have moved to Boston.
     
  16. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Do you have Gizmos enabled in the Game View?
     
  17. TokyoDan

    TokyoDan

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    Is Playmaker suited for making scripted tutorials of how to play games?
     
  18. BTStone

    BTStone

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    Yes, it is :)
     
  19. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Yeah, Playmaker is very well suited to controlling the flow of a tutorial. You can set up clearly defined states and events and watch the flow at runtime, letting you debug quicker.
     
  20. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  21. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  22. Play_Edu

    Play_Edu

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  23. gautsch

    gautsch

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    Just a quick plug for our first course - using Playmaker to build an FPS in 4 weeks!

    It will be taught by Christopher Orth, the man behind the excellent Playmaker tutorials and is starting 6 Jan 2014.

    I posted the details in the 'Teaching' sub-forum here.
     
  24. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Last edited: Dec 22, 2013
  25. DigiLusionist

    DigiLusionist

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    Ooooh. Getting that book!
     
  26. gautsch

    gautsch

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    If you get it directly from the publisher, it's only $5 until 3 Jan :)

    See my blog post about the sale here
     
  27. gautsch

    gautsch

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    We're running a little contest to celebrate the launch of our course next week.

    We’re giving away 5 spots on our Unity + Playmaker = FPS course! All you have to do is suggest your original FPS game idea in the comments on our blog, and we’ll pick the five we most want to see made. See this post for details.
     
  28. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  29. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    We're very excited by the number of third party assets shipping with Playmaker support:
    Add-ons Wiki: https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W714
    Asset Store: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/search/playmaker

    Some recent additions:

    Dialogue System for Unity has built in support for Playmaker:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/11672
    $9d04655f-beed-48ea-8e75-9c5f5eb76e5e_scaled.jpg

    Squarebite Inventory System:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/13203
    $88d30655-9732-41fb-be83-4b110443c6f7_scaled.jpg

    Master Audio ships with complete Playmaker support:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/5607

    Post FX Studio lets you trigger custom effects using Playmaker Actions:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/13919

    Mad Level Manager is a highly customizable level selector and manager:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/10070

    Quickly add slot machine bonus games to your project:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/7044
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2014
  30. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  31. josemoreira

    josemoreira

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    Hi Alex, any news on the Playmaker 2.0? I was hopping to see some new features and improved performance on this great tool.

    Recently Unity announced Vita support. I don't have license as Sony developer obviously, but i do own a license as a PlayStation Mobile developer which will support unity as well, in fact they are accepting now candidates to their beta.

    I think it would be very cool if Playmaker and Unity Vita were compatible.
     
  32. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    We're not ready to announce anything with Playmaker 2.0 yet. In the meantime rest assured we'll continue to add features and improve 1.x...

    The next update will work with PS Vita - some beta testers are using it now :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2014
  33. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    As huge fans of the Longest Journey series, we’re super thrilled that Red Thread Games is using Playmaker in the development of Dreamfall Chapters, the long awaited next installment in the award winning series.

    $DreamfallThumb.jpg

    Check out http://redthreadgames.com/games/chapters/ for the latest Dreamfall Chapters news!
     
  34. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Dreamfall Chapters Teaser:
     
  35. Teila

    Teila

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    My son is looking for tutorials on using Mecanim with Playmaker. Is there anything out there? Thank you.

    The current demo does not work with Unity 4.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2014
  36. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Have you downloaded the latest Mecanim addon and demo here:
    https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W1031


    EDIT: Actually the Mecanim API changed quite a bit with Unity 4.3 and we're still updating the demo. You could download Unity 4.2 to play with the old demo (you can install multiple versions of Unity on the same machine), or join the Playmaker Forums to get more help...
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2014
  37. Teila

    Teila

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    Thanks for the info. I will let him know. I did try your forums, but was too lazy to look up the keystrokes in order to search for mecanim. :) I don't use keystrokes. I will make my son look for them.

    Do you know when the demo will be updated? He is working on a project using 4.3.
     
  38. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    I'll check with Jean about the demo and post an update on the forums.

    In the meantime he should be able to make progress asking specific questions on the forums as he works on the project... we have a very helpful community :)
     
  39. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  40. Play_Edu

    Play_Edu

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    OMG
     
  41. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    :)
     
  42. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Get Playmaker for $25 for the next 24 hours!
     
  43. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  44. Concepts2Assets

    Concepts2Assets

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    I've been eyeing Playmaker for a while and immediately purchased a copy the moment it went on sale. Thanks!
     
  45. DarkSlash

    DarkSlash

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    If I use playmaker can I build android/iOS/MAc/Linux?
     
  46. LaneFox

    LaneFox

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    yup
     
  47. DarkSlash

    DarkSlash

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    bought it ;)
     
  48. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Thanks! By popular demand the sale has been extended 24 hours, until February 1st !
     
  49. Statik3

    Statik3

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    Bought it! Amazing tool for the price. This might be a redundant question but from where should i start learning this tool.. Any pointers?
    thanks!
     
  50. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Thanks!

    Start with the Core Concepts page in the manual:
    https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W133

    This really breaks Playmaker down for you...
    $default.asp?pg=pgDownload&pgType=pgWikiAttachment&ixAttachment=483&sFileName=FsmDiagram.png

    Return to the manual as you get deeper into Playmaker.
    Actions also have a Help button that links to their description in the manual.

    Next check out the Playmaker YouTube Channel:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/HutongGamesLLC

    Most people start with the Game Design with Playmaker and Unity series.
    The Basic Tutorials are also good starters...

    Also be sure to download the sample scenes:
    http://www.hutonggames.com/tutorials_game_design_with_playmaker.php

    And join the Playmaker Forums!
    We have a great community to help with getting started questions :)
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2014