Lesson 6: Hidden Object -style Game

What Youll Learn

Resizing the gameplay area
Visibility
Strings
Countdown timer
Image-maps for buttons
Ill no longer be providing asset lists or pseudocode--try to wor these out on your own and chec the
!"# files for assets$
Title and End Frames
!ae two end frames% one for win and one for lose$
&he lose frame will display the high scores$
&he win frame will display the time in which the player finished the game$
!ae a title page with instructions$
'eve inserted buttons and used eys to clic to start a game( but what if we want to have a special menu
system( or round buttons)
'e can import a graphic as an active ob*ect--import menu$gif for this e+ample$ ,yes( I now mine is a
very ugly menu-. 'e want to mae an image-map using / and 0 coordinates so the user can clic on an
area of the frame$
1nder events( set a condition for the mouse2 1ser Clics 'ithin a 3one$ &his will bring up a zone-bo+
that we can drag over our word 4start5$
6o the same for the 4high scores5 part of the menu$
#nd select 4ne+t frame5 as the action for start( and 4*ump to 75 for the high scores-
Gameplay Frame
8ets first change the size of our game$ 1nder our 'orspace &oolbar( clic on the frame for our
gameplay and the properties will display: we can ad*ust size here$ 8ets change to 9::+;::$ Change the
size of the whole game( as well as the frame ,depending on which word youve cliced on above--our
game title( 4<idden5( or our level( 4gameplay5$
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
A
Choose a photo for the bacground by inserting an ob*ect2 bacground 2 active Picture$ Ive grabbed
one off bigfoto$com$ 'e can ad*ust the size *ust lie we did with the frame size$ 8oc it in place and name
it bacground$
6rop a Buicbacdrop and drag it across the bottom of the screen for our list of ob*ects ,mine is the large
grey space below the photo.$
Insert a score counter$ 'rite beside it with a formatted te+t ob*ect that says 4Score5
Cow import the ten images as active ob*ects that will be 4hidden5 in our game$ Dive them all appropriate
names and then hide them in the screen image$ I havent hidden them yet in the image below:
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
>
# string is a series of characters that could represent numbers( words( and so on$ 'ell insert A: string
ob*ects in our space along the bottom$ 1nder their properties enter a name for each$ Ive used 4t+tname5
as my string ob*ect names$ "or each one( deselect the 4display as bacground5 bo+$ &his is to combat a
4bug5 in the program whereby te+t ob*ects go funny if they are displayed as bacground-
Cow we want to be able to say( 4when the user clics on an ob*ect( if the te+t for that ob*ect e+ists ,is
visible. in the game( and the user clics that ob*ect( mae the te+t invisible( delete the ob*ect( and add A:
to the score$
Condition: 1ser clics on an ob*ect with the left button of the mouse$ #nd the te+t for that ob*ect is
visible$
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
7
#ction: destroy the ob*ect( mae the string invisible( add A: to score$
6o this for every ob*ect$
Cow we want an action for what happens if a user clics an ob*ect and that ob*ect is not visible( or if they
randomly clic the bacground( what will happen$ 'e will penalize their timer$ "irst( however( we need
to mae a timer$
&here is no cloc countdown ob*ect for us to display but we can mae one Buite easily:
!ae a counter ob*ect$ In the event editor( when the frame loads( set the counter to ;:$ 'rite ne+t to it
4time5 so the player nows what it is-
Cow use the condition of the timer: every A second( subtract one from the counter$
Cow( when the counter reaches :( go to the game over frame( but because we may be subtracting five
from our counter ,see below.( we need to have this condition read ,eBual or lower than :.$

Eay( now for when the player maes wrong clics: if the player clics the bacground ,active ob*ect.(
then A should be subtracted from the counter$
If the player clics an ob*ect and the te+t for that ob*ect is ICVISIF8G( then A should be subtracted from
the counter$ Hust lie the conditions for the visible te+t( set a condition for each ob*ect where if the ob*ect
is left-clic and the te+t for the ob*ect is not visible( thenI subtract A from timer counter
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
J
&est that out and youll see it wors fine$ &he trouble is( however( that all the te+t is always visible ,unless
weve already destroyed the ob*ect.I so we need to randomly choose five string ob*ects to mae visible(
and five to mae invisible at the load of the frame$ "irst( align the string ob*ects to the top in two rows$
!y top row of five strings all have a 0 co-ordinate of K:L$ !y bottom row aligns at KJ?$
Cow were going to set the strings to randomly display in the top or bottom row$ So( *ust lie with our
Arkanoid brics( select the event editors special icon( and choose repeat K times$ Swap the ob*ects with
each other ,under the string ob*ect( position2 swap.$
Cow all we need to do is test to see if the ob*ects 0 co-ordinate is K:L( and if it is not( mae it invisible$
Ive made this into a separate event group *ust for claritys sae$
Condition: string ob*ect: Compare 0 position : if 0 position is greater than or eBual to KJK ,*ust to give us
a little grace if weve missed an e+act placement.( then mae it invisible$ If 0 position is less than or
eBual to KJJ( mae the ob*ect reappear$
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
K

If we have gained a score of K: ,A: + K ob*ects.( then we should 4win5 and be taen to win screen$
,condition is Mlayer Enes score is eBual to value of K:. action is *ump to frame J ,win.$ 'e could easily
alter this game so that another level is played after player reaches K:$
8ets do one final thing: store the value of the counter at the end of the game if they win( and load it in the
final win frame$ In order to store a value across frames( we need to use a D8EF#8 value$
1nder our properties for our counter( chec the Dlobal value bo+ in the Runtime Eptions$
In the event editor( set the condition for the Gnd of "rameI so when the game is over( we want to set the
global value # to the value of the counter$ 1nder the special icon( we want to set global value # to
,retrieve current value from counter.$ Cow weve stored our value$
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
;
In the final frame( drop in a counter and write some te+t that says 4Congratulations( you finished in5 and
then insert the counter( then another te+t that says 4seconds5( so it should read( 4Congratulations( you
finished in NcounterO seconds5$
Cow we need to retrieve the value for the counter$ #t the Start of "rame( counter set2 global value2
retrieve global value #$

Additional Eercises
A$ #dd sounds for interesting events$
>$ Mlay a brief 4bling5 animation when the player clics on the right ob*ect$
7$ See if you can discover other ways to program the random aspect( instead of the way Ive set it up
here$
J$ !ae some more levels$
=>::? @aren Collins www$gamessound$com
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