Comments

• ChrisIceBox

  September 2017

  Welcome to the forum, @norfor.
  
  It should be said that AC is intended for traditional, non-combatative adventure games.  Things like enemies and complex AI would have to be added on separately, as that is beyond the product's scope.  I can try to give a more thorough opinion if you would like to share more details about the game you wish to make, but I can't say with surety that AC is the best tool for the job in this case.
  
  However, in answer to your questions:
  
  

  Is it possible to use 2D tilemaps and is your asset pack compatible with tilemap assets found on the Unity Store in general?
  

  
  So far as background graphics go, AC doesn't generally touch them.  You'll need to ensure that they can be rendered in the correct order against Unity's regular sprites, but other than that you should be fine.
  
  

  Is it compatible with the asset pack called Behavior Designer also found on the Unity Store? What's the scope of your pathfinding feature and what it includes (regarding 2D space)? What about compatibility with 2DxFx asset?
  

  
  There is no integration with Behavior Designer - at least not from the AC side of things.
  
  Regarding 2D pathfinding, AC relies on user-built Polygon Collider 2D shapes to mark out the walkable area.  The performance is geared towards traditional 2D scenes, though, rather than huge tilemaps - so if your scene is very large, and the NavMesh has many vertices, you may see some slowdown.  Can't say for sure though without seeing a typical scene you have in mind, though.  NavMeshes can be broken down into smaller sub-meshes, however.
  
  Also note that pathfinding is not used by the player character if you are moving in "Direct" control - as in, keyboard arrows and not pointing-and-clicking.  If a NavMesh is not incorporated, characters can still move - but only in a straight line or along pre-defined paths.  The 2D Tutorial video covers the workflow for 2D games.  I would recommend going through the 3D tutorial as well, which covers many systems and features that can be used across all game types.
  
  There is no official compatibility with 2DxFX - but as it just affects sprite display I shouldn't think there'd be an issue.  Again, AC doesn't do anything special for rendering - it relies on Unity's own rendering engine.
  
  

  Is it possible to expand the assets with RPG functionalities? (quest logs and so on)
  

  
  AC has a basic journal feature, but this is more of a case of adding pages of text to a book as you progress.  Anything more complex like a quest log would have to be added on.  Player stats like health etc can be recorded as AC Global Variables, and these'll be saved automatically.  You may wish to rely on your own if there are many such stats to keep track of, however.  The key thing then would be making sure they are still saved - a tutorial on saving custom global data can be found here.
  
  Section 12 of the Manual covers the various approaches you can take to integrate new code - you can read it all before purchase and see if it suits.
  
  

  How difficult would be to implement multiple story endings into the game while using your asset pack? Does your dialogue system supports branching dialouges?
  

  
  Not difficult at all, that's something AC is geared specifically towards.  AC's variable system is key to tracking player choices and progress.  You can read and write to them at any time, and ActionLists (AC's visual scripting system) can branch out according to their values easily.  More on Variables and Actions can be found in the Manual.
  
  So far as branching dialogues goes, AC's Conversation system incorporates the ActionList system.  When the player chooses an option, it runs a new chain of Actions - which can finish either by changing the state of that Conversation's option, or running a new Conversation, or ending it.  Some tutorials on Conversations can be found here.  AC is also compatible with Dialogue System.
  
• hightreason

  September 2017

  As someone who regularly includes non-adventure gamey elements in my adventure games (and adventure gamey in my non-adventure games too) I can say that AC pretty much works well alongside most things. If you don't want AC to handle something and instead have that thing handled by another asset or your own code, AC tends to be good at staying out of the way. It only does what you tell it to do. And with the ability to script custom actions and call functions in scripts within AC's actionlists, it's easy to integrate most things as long as you have a reasonable skill level with Unity in general and at times a bit of creative problem solving ability.
  
• ChrisIceBox

  September 2017 edited September 2017

  Certainly it's feasible to add almost anything on with the correct coding, but I wouldn't recommend making large changes / additions from the get-go.
  
  What I suggest to people planning on integrating their own systems is to first become familiar with the way that AC is "supposed" to be used by watching the tutorial videos.  Even if you end up disabling half of it and only using a portion, it's still important to understand how AC works and what each system does.  It then becomes much easier to know what to take out, add on, etc.
  
• norfor

  October 2017

  Hello,

  
  

  Thank you for the clear answers.

  To possibly describe our idea of a game in a bit more detail, let's say that we are planning on creating an atmospheric top-down 2D pixel art horror adventure. The game itself would include interacting with the environment and some smaller portions of action elements (running from enemies, random/scripted wild animal attacks and occasional shooting), while the main game mechanic would revolve around simpler puzzle missions.

  If this adds any more insight into our idea, please do add your comments on the usability of AC in our project.

  
  

  Also:

  1. How does AC's camera handle pixel art and PPU scale. The goal is to achieve the pixel perfect case (https://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/06/19/pixel-perfect-2d/)
  2. Since you stated that there is no integration with Behavior Designer, can you state some other package or method in AC which would do well with handling an AI follower/companion which would follow the playable character using a sort of path finding, wander around while idle and respond to interactions with it from the player character. A dog companion would serve as a good example of our idea. We also noticed that Behavior Designer is stating AC as a third-party integration pack possibility: https://www.opsive.com/assets/BehaviorDesigner/
  3. We would also include other AI characters (friendly and enemy) which would both have a predefined path and find a path between obstacles.
  4. Would you say that AC is sufficient for creating and managing 2D cutscenes in such a game or would you recommend using an additional asset package like https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/19779 ?
  5. Is using a dialogue system like https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11672 preferred or would you call AC's dialogue managing system sufficient?

  Thank you in advance for your time.
• ChrisIceBox

  October 2017 edited October 2017

  When you first mentioned "survival game" I pictured the enemies / shooting mechanics you envisage, so my initial point still stands - AC isn't intended for combatative games.
  
  If encounters are heavily controlled (i.e. reduced to tightly-scripted events), then that makes it easier for AC to manage alone.  For example, if the player has to shoot at one given moment, then you could give him a "gun" inventory item that can be selected - and shooting enemies would then be a case of "using" that gun item on the enemy Hotspot in the same way that a more traditional game would have the player give an item to an NPC.
  
  Triggers are a way of having game logic run when a pre-defined object (such as the player) enters their boundary, so they can feasibly be added to e.g. an enemy so that the player plays a "take damage" animation when they get too close.
  
  AC is also extensible through scripting - particularly custom Actions and events.  A custom script could feasibly have an NPC move between different random points in a scene (by calling the MoveToPoint function).
  
  The player too can be completely controlled through a custom motion controller script if necessary - and only give control back to AC when desired..
  
  Essentially: a lot of AC can be custom tailored through scripting or smart use of Actions to behave in a way that it isn't strictly intended for.  However, I think you do reach a point where you end up changing so much that it just makes more sense to use a more dedicated and focused asset instead.  Where that point lies, though, is different for every case and totally dependent on each game's needs.  What I always recommend is for people to study the tutorials and get to grips with the way AC is "supposed" to work, before trying anything that goes outside of that behaviour.
  
  We can, however, arrange for a single-license refund if you'd like to buy once merely to give it a try and see how suitable it is - and then find that it isn't.
  
  In answer to your questions:

  1. 2D cameras have a "grid snapping" feature but it's fairly basic as it doesn't account for any PPU value.  Custom camera scripts, however, can be integrated into AC by attaching AC's own "_Camera" component to your custom camera so that it is visible to AC's interface.
  2. AC has it's own NPC-following feature, but doesn't have its own integration with any other such AI package.  Like I said, Behavior Designer's integration is not from the AC side and is not offically supported here.  If you'd like to know more about that asset's integration with AC, you'll need to contact that asset's developers.
  3. AC has both Character: Move along path and Character: Move to point Actions.  If you were to build your AI characters as AC NPCs you could make use of them.
  4. Using AC for cutscenes is a perfectly viable option.  It doesn't come with a Timeline like a more dedicated asset like Cinema Director has, but AC does have a Third Party: Cinema Director Action to play CD Cutscenes should you prefer to.
  5. It's certainly my intention for AC to be self-sufficent when it comes to managing dialogue and conversations, though Dialogue System is an excellent tool.  I would recommend using Dialogue System if you want better external control over dialogue, e.g. via articy:draft.