Smart Triggers

Welcome to another lesson, Code Ninjas! This time I'll be demonstrating a game design concept, and not actual code. It's pretty simple, actually, but it requires a bit of backstory.

In The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker for the Gamecube, you can target enemies with the L trigger. They call this L-Targeting. In the options menu of the game, you can change the behaviour of the L-Targeting. The two settings are Switch and Hold. The difference between them is thus: In Switch Mode, you begin targeting by pressing and releasing the L trigger once. You then stop targeting by pressing and releasing the L trigger again. In Hold Mode, you begin targeting by pressing and holding the L trigger down, and you stop targetting by releasing the L trigger.

Now, this option is an important one. I use Hold Mode, myself, and play miserably in Switch Mode. Some of my friends, however, use Switch Mode, and perform admirably. One mode isn't really better than the other. It all depends on the type of player.

However, when using either mode, sometimes things still don't work out so well. For instance, in Hold Mode, during long battles against one enemy, your finger can get tired out squeezing the trigger the whole time. In Switch Mode, in battles with many enemies, pressing the L trigger again sometimes cycles to the next enemy instead of ceasing to target altogether. This makes terminating a confrontation and retreating a confusing process. Continually switching between modes through the option menu would be tedious, though, so a player tends to pick one mode and stick with it, warts and all.

While thinking about these issues, I thought of a simple third setting, which I called Smart Mode. Perhaps it does not solve all of the problems, and I can't quite test it out in Windwaker, but here is how it would work.

Basically, when a press of the L trigger is detected, a timer begins. In Game Maker, you would use an alarm event, or increase a variable every step. Anyway, then when a release of the L trigger is detected, one of two things would happen:

1 - If the timer was below a certain time (say two-thirds of a second, about), you wouldn't stop targeting. It's rare that a player would want to target something for so short a time. At this point, it would require another press of L to cease targeting.

2 - If the timer was above that time, then you would cease targeting. In this way, a natural quick press and release of the trigger would enter Switch Mode, and pressing and holding down the trigger would enter Hold Mode. In a way, both modes would be available to you at any time, without having to change anything in the options menu. The computer could detect which you wanted it to be based on how you pressed the button. It is for this reason that I call it Smart Mode. It's like the computer knows what you're thinking.

This "smart toggling" system could be used for anything. It doesn't have to be targeting in a 3D adventure game. It could be used for opening and dismissing a Seiken Densetsu style menu ring, or activating a protective shield, or even for changing between two different weapon types in an action sidescroller.

And I'm sure that you Code Ninjas could think of many more applications that I couldn't. So, think about how you might add "smart" triggers or toggles to your game. It might make it a little more user-friendly.

Happy coding!