Hey, Lemme Try That ! Whereas some RPGMakers make use of flags and variables, Scenario makes use of switches, and, like a switch they only have two states, ON or OFF. You can tell quite easily in the editor when a switch is turned on because it will have a LitBulb icon and if not, it will be a NotLitBulb icon. Switches control more then just changing the map but can be looked for and acted upon being lit or not being lit in the Sprite Messenger. Detailed instructions follow.

Scenario RPGMaker has some pretty unique features about it, and one of which is the cryptic Switches that you can both create and control in your Worldbuilding.

Switches, very much like in anything, control whether something is on or off, active or inactive, visible or invisible and Scenario is no different.

It is important to realize that when you "flip" a switch, you are reversing the state for the NAME of that switch to either ON or OFF. Off being shown as a NotLitBulb and ON being shown as a LitBulb .

Let's create a simple map field to demonstrate how you can use switches in Scenario and in the Sprite Messenger. A simple example would be a control box that raises or lowers a bridge to let you into another part of the map that can't be reached without the help of the bridge.

Notice that there is a little Pillar in the bottom-left-hand corner of the 2nd island. This will be our control box.
At its initial state, the bridge is lowered so you can see easily how to cross from one part of the map to another, but now put the cursor directly on the bridge and hit the following.

Note that the refers to the Left Arrow and not the backspace key.

Be certain that you are zoomed to the same level as Testplay, that is you can only see 7 tiles from top to bottom of the screen. With these keystrokes the bridge tile should now look smeared.

What's going on here ? Well the key says that you want to INVERT this tile where the tile beneath it swaps places with the tile above it. Each map cel can hold two tiles and is used for showing changes such as switches or smears where the visible tile has the underneath tile's properties.

The or Right-Arrow key just moves the cursor one space to the right. Notice that the cursor does not actually move but the map moves around it. This may take some getting used to so play around with the arrow keys a bit now if you like until you are comfortable with them and how they effect the positioning of the map.

Pressing tells Scenario that you want to pick UP the tile beneath the cursor, and make it the current paint tile. This is easier then having to press and manually pick out the tile you want every time.

With the (which is the left arrow and not the backspace) you are going back to the bridge which should appear shazy from hitting .

Lastly, plots it. You will now have a smear. Anytime you smear a tile like this, the tile that is visible in the info window will have that definition, although in Testplay it will visually look like the opposite tile. To reverse it, hit the once again.

You are now ready to add a switch on here which will have the name "Bridge." Hit the following:

With the key you tell Scenario to create or flip the status for a switch. Since there isn't a switch here, it will ask for the name of it (up to 8 characters).

You'll find that if you press again that instead of asking for a name like it did earlier it will FLIP the status. If it was on, it will now be off, or if it was off, it will now be on.

If you move to a different map cel and hit , it will default select the last switch name that was used. It is important to remember that all switches start turned OFF when you start a new game, so lighting up a switch should be an effect that occurs later in the game, and only after the player has done certain things, such as, in this case, touched the control box.

We haven't written a Sprite Message for that yet so let's do so now.
Move the cursor on to the Pillar, and hit the following:
.

The first shows that you want to create either a Sprite, Critter, Warp, Treasure, or Lock.
Pressing forces it to the top selection of Sprite with the 2nd confirming it.
Default image is Invisible, which is not really true, it uses the Tile image beneath the cursor, in this case, the Pillar: .
Pressing again answers YES to the next question, that you do want to enter a Sprite Message now.
Press one more time after having read the brief info window and you will then be in the Sprite Messenger.

Okay ! Let's make a simple message.
Type out:

"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"
and then hit to bring up the Sprite Messenger Icon list.
First look for the icon which is required when you change any switches and you want to update the map display with the changes flipping any switches have made. You'll find it 3rd from the top and 4th from the right.
Move the cursor there and press to confirm it.

Now hit again and look on the far left column the 3rd icon up till you see the . Move the cursor there with the arrow keys and press to select that icon as well.
Now type out so you see

Hit to bring up your menu options and hit to select EXIT and hit .
Hit one more time to confirm that YES you do want to save this message and then you will be returned back to the editor. We're Done !

Hit on the bridge map cel if it is lit so it will appear unlit and the bridge appears as water .
If this map cel is unlit and it appears as the bridge , just hit one more time to INVERT the tiles.
Now put the cursor anywhere on the first island anywhere on the lower island in the grass and hit to enter TestPlay.

Notice that there is no bridge so you cannot cross to the upper island. So, go to face the Pillar and press .

You'll get the message:

"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"

And the bridge will materialize over the water !
Now you can cross to the upper island !
If you press again while facing the Pillar you'll get the same message:

"YOU FLIPPED THE SWITCH"

only this time the bridge will vanish. To make it re-appear once again, press facing the pillar.

If you hit to exit Testplay, return back to the Sprite Messenger and edit the contents of the Pillar and change the instead to the icon which is just one icon above the then it will switch it ON exclusively and not just reverse it's status. To turn it off of course would be which is just to the right of the icon.

Generally you would not turn off a switch but instead always want to to turn it on but there are exceptions when you are doing complex switching and all 3 options of FLIP, ON, and OFF are available to you.

To put a switch on a Sprite, that is where a person appears on that map cel, just plot a Sprite as normal and put the Switch there. Notice that you must have it HIDDEN by pressing if you initially want it to be HIDDEN when the switch is turned off (which it would be when you start a new game).

To make a COMPARISON for a switch inside the Sprite Messenger, hit to bring up your list of options when you are inside the Sprite Messenger, either move the cursor to the INQUIRY choice or hit until it is there and hit to confirm. It will ask for the INQUIRY for this page.

From here, if you are checking to see if the switch is ON hit and select from the Sprite Messenger Icon list the icon if you want to check to see if this switch is ON, or, if you want to check to see if it is OFF select the icon. Now type (up to 8-characters) the switch name that will match this state and press .

Then it will ask the LABEL to GOTO if this is a TRUE statement. The LABEL can be any word (up to 8-characters) and it will then GOTO the PAGE of this particular Sprite Message matching this LABEL if the statement is TRUE. For instance, type out "HERE" and press .

It is important to realize that an INQUIRY is NOT conducted until the END of this Sprite Messenger page has been reached. If you want to conduct this INQUIRY BEFORE this page is run, then you need to do it on the prior page. If this is the first page then you can hit to insert a blank page here and then do your inquiry on the new 1st page.

Now go to the page you want this inquiry to jump to, either before or after this inquiry page and hit to bring up your list of options inside the Sprite Messenger like once again, and either move the cursor to the LABEL choice or hit until it is there and hit to confirm. Then type out the LABEL name for this page, in this case "HERE" (minus the quotes).

Hit and either or to highlight the EXIT choice, press twice to save it, and you are done !


When you run this Sprite Message, an inquiry will be conducted where you asked it to, and, if TRUE it will goto the Sprite Messenger page label that matches the one you told it to. If it is NOT true, then it will carry on to the next Sprite Messenger page provided, of course, you did not have the TERMINATE Icon anywhere as part of the message on this page.

You can also choose "Y" or "N" (minus the quotes) for the inquiry name to ask the player a Yes or No question where the "Y" or "N" is the answer to make this statement TRUE and then type out the label to GOTO.

To save yourself a bit of time, you can also use (terminate Icon) (hit and select it, it is the far left Icon 6th down from the top) as the name for your LABEL if you want your Sprite Message to TERMINATE here if the statement is TRUE.

Now let's talk about another way to do switches, with Critters.
Putting a switch on a critter can represent one of a few things.

(1) That it will not appear unless this switch is ON.
(2) That it is conducting a check to see if all critters that match the same named switch have been defeated (and that all the switches for these are OFF), and, if so, turn on that switch, play a special critter-switch sound and auto-update the screen automatically.

If you just want (1) where the critters do not appear unless the switch is on, just make the critters as normally and use the key to HIDE them if you want them to initially be INACTIVE until the switch is ON.

If you want (2), make the critters as normal ensuring they are NOT HIDDEN, and when in Testplay, the last critter on ANY map defeated that matches the SAME switch name on ANY map, then that switch will then be turned on.
This is useful, for instance, to make a room like Zelda where the exit door won't open until all of the critters in this room are defeated.

Draw this sample room in the map editor, complete with Critters.
Notice that we can easily exit from the bottom since it is just an open doorway, but the top door is closed. It will not just be a normal door but a door with a switch on it so it will not open until the switch is set. Go to the doorway and press to invert it, to pick a new tile, and select the open doorway
from the tile list, hit to confirm your tile choice, and then hit to plot it so it is smeared.

Now insert the switch with and type out for the switch name (minus the quotes) "TWOSLIME" followed by . Before continuing hit the key one more time to ensure that in Testplay, with the switch turned off, it will appear as a closed door.
Then go to each Slime and press and for each of them. You should not have to type out the switch name "TWOSLIME" again since Scenario is smart and remembers the last switch name you entered. You should now have three switches in this room and the switch status should be set to OFF. The door at the top should appear closed with the switch turned OFF. We're done !

Hit to once again enter Testplay and go to defeat the two Slimes.
Notice that ONCE the 2nd slime is defeated that you will hear a special Critter/Switch effect and the doorway will THEN OPEN !

It is important to see what is happening here. And that IF on any other map there was a critter that was not defeated that had the same name as "TWOSLIME" then the door would REMAIN CLOSED unable to open until you also went to that map and defeated that critter there as well.

A full check is conducted through all 16 maps to ensure there are no survivors of the same named switch.

And, if ALL of the critters with the same name switch have been defeated, then the switch will then and ONLY then be turned ON.

You're making good progress !
There is only one more type of switch and then you will know everything there is to know !

There is one last type of switch, and it is an easy one to understand, the Token Item switch.
If you want a switch to appear in the player's Inventory during Testplay, just make sure the very first character in it is the Player Icon . When that switch is ON it will appear in the player's Inventory as a 7-character item name.
(Look for advanced item name descriptions and item images in future Scenario).

THAT'S EVERYTHING !

You may want to print out this page for future reference !
To do so, if you are using Internet Explorer, select with either the keyboard or mouse, (F)ile , (P)rint and hit to print this page with your default printer settings.

Refer to this page whenever you would like to make use of switches in Scenario.

If you are still genuinely confused and the question has not yet been asked in the Q & A Forum, you are welcome to ask me it in there.

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