Title screen demos

[Zachary-Rude]

I'm currently working on a fan game using this engine, and I would like to know how to set up the demos/attract mode found in the official Genesis Sonic games where if you wait too long on the title screen, it shows a self-playing gameplay demo of a level within the game. I know how to disable player control and programmatically set the player inputs, but I don't know how to properly time it or only have that code affect the level during the demos and not during regular gameplay. Thanks in advance!

[Raptorq1]

Here's this

Global.music.stream = music
Global.music.play()
await Global.music.finished
Global.main.change_scene_to_file(video,"FadeOut","FadeOut",1)

or you could take the approach that sonic 2 retold does

if $TitleBanner.global_position.x >= 4600 and !titleEnd:
menuActive = false
titleEnd = true
Global.main.change_scene_to_file(returnScene,"FadeOut","FadeOut",1)

[Caverns4]

I would not recommend doing a title Screen Transition the way I did in Sonic 2: Retold.
What I did certainly works, you CAN do that, but when I made the Title Screen initially I didn't understand Godot as well as a I do now.
I would recommend using an Await for the Global music to finish, and then, if needed, run a time in the scene after that that waits as long as you need before using a signal to start the fadeout.

[DimensionWarped]

I don't know how to properly time it

A very tricky problem, especially when you consider that there are frequently ways that the demo actually fails within similar attract reels. I'd suggest you don't worry too much about properly timing it, focus instead on making it just work well enough. Attract modes don't need to be perfect. Besides, it's almost impossible to make this work in games that have elements of framerate independence.

Best trick you can use here would be to look at how Tails' botted controls work. Turn off player input, instead have a series of timed events inject input for the player. Try to find stretches where you can make the player just hold right most of the time. Used a stepped function of time to do something like...

0s <= t < 5s : controls = [🠞]              ; run forward
5s <= t < 5.5s: controls = [🠞A]            ; jump while continuing to hold forward
5.5s <= t < 7s: controls = [🠞]             ; continue forward for a bit
7s <= t < 7.25s: controls = [🠜]            ; brake
7s <= t < 7.7s: controls []                ; let the braking complete
7.7s <= t < 8s: controls [🠟]               ; duck
8s <= t <= 8.1s: controls [🠟A]             ; charge spindash once
8.1s <= t < 8.2s: controls [🠟B]            ; charge spindash second time
8.2s <= t <= 8.3s: controls [🠟A]           ; charge spindash third time
8s <= t <= 8.1s: controls []               ; let her rip

and you just check your relative time against your step function here to decide what the input should be going into any frame. If you want to get really clever about it, you can make a method of recording these sequences by having something monitor the player's inputs and create a new element in an array with a time stamp and a set of inputs every time the player's input changes between frames. To cap it all off, you can add initialization data and a stop time to the specific attract real so that you make them start in a place that you want and end when you want them to as well.

I hope that's enough to get you started with... attract reels are conceptually simple, but you can implement them in many ways.

[Zachary-Rude]

Thank you! I'll try this soon and let you know when I'm finished!

[Caverns4]

In regards tho this, it IS possible to, in a script, change the framerate of your project.
In the Ready() script when playing a level in demo mode, you would simply need to do something like:

if Global.yourDemoVar:
     Engine.set_target_fps(60)

This should address any timing issues, and in theory, will make the game playback consistent every time, though you DO want to watch out for any objects in your that use random numbers. Also, at the end of the demo, don't forget to reset from framerate to 0 so the framerate will be uncapped in the actual game.

It may also be possible to write some function in the engine itself to record yourself playing demos. All you'd really need to do is copy the Player Inputs into an array, and print that array for player 1 only, at the end of the demo, and then copy the newly printed array (It would be HUGE though).
From there, I'm not entirely sure what to do though. How to inject that giant array back into the game, in any intuitive way since I made a cutscene that kind of negates the need for an Attract Mode in Sonic 2 Retold.

[Raptorq1]

@Caverns4 is it okay if I commit a edit for sonic 2 retolds special stage rings

[Caverns4]

That is not a conversation for this forum, and no. If there's a bug you want to report, post it Issues in the Sonic 2 Retold repo.