Linking & Triggering Basics
- tr3lon1st
- 18. Juli 2016
- 2 Min. Lesezeit
Landmark offers a variety of tools that allow players to breathe life into their creations. But before we go further into detail. Let's cover the absolute basic: What is Linking & Triggering?
Linking & Triggering is a game mechanic that allows players to set up connections between props that are ultimately influenced by player behavior. That covers players triggering NPCs to turn into enemies, NPCs triggering a door to unlock or simply text to appear on screen or in an NPC's speech bubble. Players have taken this system far beyond what the basics can cover, which is why I decided to make tutorials on how to use them in order to break down this entrance barrier.
Linking & Triggering works on a fairly simple principle. You require an action to cause a reaction. For example, a player walking into an area (action) can trigger a light to go out (reaction). Each prop has a set of possible connectors that allow you to trigger specific variations.
The action of a switch, for example, can be to trigger something when it is clicked on, turned on or off or whenever it switches between on and off. When it's triggered it can be turned on, off or it can alternate between both of those states. Simplified, this means that props can trigger with a specific set of actions and can be triggered with another set of reactions.
Not all props can be used to link or trigger something. However, this is not set in stone. As the game keeps progressing, more items are being introduced that are part of the Link & Triggering system. A crate, for example, cannot be linked to or cannot trigger something at this point in time. Who's to say that it won't be possible in the future. Clicking on a crate might make a player to mimic the looting of the crate.
A special category of the Linking & Triggering props are the Dungeon Master tools. These props are specifically designed to enhance the game experience for players. An overview and explanation of every single one of them would exceed this blog entry and will follow soon after!