Tutorial Arrow Key Movement / Camera

[OneEight7eve]

This has been done before but i didn't really like any of the others ones so i made one myself. The difference in this one (from the ones i have tried ) is that its smoother and reacts faster.

Arrow Key Movement

1.0
1) Create 3 Variables , named "Up", "Right" , "Left". Make those 3 Boolean arrays for the type and make a new variable called Players_Hero with type Unit Array. and another variable named TempPoint and its type point array.

2) Create a map init trigger and set some unit into the Players_Hero variable

3) Create a new trigger named "Up Pressed"

4) add this event to the trigger : Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Up Arrow key

5) add the variable up in the actions part and make it look like this
Set Up[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = True

6) Make that for all the arrow keys except for down.
Example:

Spoiler

Up Press
    Events
        Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 2 (Blue) Presses the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 3 (Teal) Presses the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 4 (Purple) Presses the Up Arrow key
    Conditions
    Actions
        Set Up[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = True

Right Press
    Events
        Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Right Arrow key
        Player - Player 2 (Blue) Presses the Right Arrow key
        Player - Player 3 (Teal) Presses the Right Arrow key
    Conditions
    Actions
        Set Right[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = True

Left Press
    Events
        Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Left Arrow key
        Player - Player 2 (Blue) Presses the Left Arrow key
        Player - Player 3 (Teal) Presses the Left Arrow key
        Player - Player 4 (Purple) Presses the Left Arrow key
    Conditions
    Actions
        Set Left[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = True

1.1
Now we are going to create the "release triggers" you will basically be doing the same thing as the pressed ones but like this

Up Release
    Events
        Player - Player 1 (Red) Releases the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 2 (Blue) Releases the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 3 (Teal) Releases the Up Arrow key
        Player - Player 4 (Purple) Releases the Up Arrow key
    Conditions
    Actions
        Set Up[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = False
        Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Triggering player))] to Stop

Now do that for all the arrow keys. except don't add the Unit - Order Stop action in any of the other ones.

2.0
Create a new trigger named Movement. this trigger will be detecting the variables to order a unit to move. for example :
if the variable Up is = True then it will move that unit up.
1) create the event Time - Every 0.25 seconds of game time

2) add the action Player Group - Pick all players and do actions
Loop actions

3) in the loop actions part create an If/Then/Else action. so far it should look like this :

Untitled Trigger 001
    Events
        Time - Every 0.25 seconds of game time
    Conditions
    Actions
        Player Group - Pick every player in (All players) and do (Actions)
            Loop - Actions
                If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                    If - Conditions
                    Then - Actions
                    Else - Actions

in the If - Conditions part of the trigger add these conditions

Up[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
Left[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to False
Right[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to False

.

4) after that , create under the Then -Actions part the variable TempPoint like this

Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = (Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))])

after that action were going to add the moving part of it it should look like this

Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] to Move To (TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] offset by 90.00 towards (Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) degrees)

Now do the same thing in more loops for all the variables. it should look like this at the end :

Spoiler

Movement
    Events
        Time - Every 0.25 seconds of game time
    Conditions
    Actions
        Player Group - Pick every player in (All players) and do (Actions)
            Loop - Actions
                If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                    If - Conditions
                        Up[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                        Left[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to False
                        Right[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to False
                    Then - Actions
                        Animation - Change PlayersHero[(Player number of (Triggering player))]'s animation speed to 50.00% of its original speed
                        Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                        Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = (Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))])
                        Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] to Move To (TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] offset by 90.00 towards (Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) degrees)
                        Custom script:   call RemoveLocation (udg_TempPoint[GetConvertedPlayerId(GetEnumPlayer())])
                    Else - Actions
                        If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                            If - Conditions
                                Right[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                            Then - Actions
                                Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                                Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = (Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))])
                                Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] to Move To (TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] offset by 90.00 towards ((Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) + -90.00) degrees)
                                Custom script:   call RemoveLocation (udg_TempPoint[GetConvertedPlayerId(GetEnumPlayer())])
                            Else - Actions
                                If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                                    If - Conditions
                                        Left[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                                    Then - Actions
                                        Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                                        Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = (Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))])
                                        Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] to Move To (TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] offset by 90.00 towards ((Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) + 90.00) degrees)
                                        Custom script:   call RemoveLocation (udg_TempPoint[GetConvertedPlayerId(GetEnumPlayer())])
                                    Else - Actions
                                        If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                                            If - Conditions
                                                Down[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                                            Then - Actions
                                                Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                                                Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = (Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))])
                                                Unit - Order PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] to Move To (TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] offset by -75.00 towards ((Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) + 0.00) degrees)
                                                Custom script:   call RemoveLocation (udg_TempPoint[GetConvertedPlayerId(GetEnumPlayer())])
                                            Else - Actions

your still not done. now for the diagonal movement part. we wont be actually ordering the unit to move diaganol we will move him instantly to point. this is pretty simple so im just going to post the trigger for diagonals.

Stop Turn
    Events
        Time - Every 0.30 seconds of game time
    Conditions
    Actions
        Player Group - Pick every player in (All players) and do (Actions)
            Loop - Actions
                If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                    If - Conditions
                        Up[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                        Left[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                    Then - Actions
                        Unit - Make PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] face ((Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) + 65.00) over 0.10 seconds
                        Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = ((Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) offset by 10.00 towards (Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) degrees)
                        Unit - Move PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] instantly to TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))]
                        Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                    Else - Actions
                        If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
                            If - Conditions
                                Up[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                                Right[(Player number of (Picked player))] Equal to True
                            Then - Actions
                                Unit - Make PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] face ((Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) + -65.00) over 0.10 seconds
                                Set TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))] = ((Position of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) offset by -10.00 towards (Facing of PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]) degrees)
                                Unit - Move PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))] instantly to TempPoint[(Player number of (Picked player))]
                                Animation - Play PlayersHero[(Player number of (Picked player))]'s walk animation
                            Else - Actions

There you go you made an arrow key movement system. in case you didn't understand it or i didn't explain well take a look at the triggers your self in the demo map (Camera system is in demo map also). . idk if im good or not at explaining things either soooo

 

[chovynz]

LEAKS!

Fix the leaks and I'll take that off. If you don't know how to check for leaks, here is a tutorial.

Other than the leaks, it looks....large. GJ

After testing...it works quite well, however:
The turning increment of the left and right keys are too large. Make it smaller. Its very difficult to do smaller turns as it currently is. Note that there is a large delay from when someone presses the key to when it moves. I don't know how this would react on BNET but i suspect it will be slow. People will compensate for it of course, but I wouldn't advise putting this system on a maze map.

Are you going to put in commands for the down buttons also? It would be great to have the unit reverse while facing forward. (i.e run backwards.) Here's something that might help to that end.

I believe it would be GREAT in an RPG or something like that. Maybe also a unique twist to a TD?

If anyone could be bothered to, this would be excellent turned into jass or structs and optimized.

 

[Sim]

What does this arrow key movement system offers that is different from the others?

We already have a ton and you know it.

 

[chovynz]

Have you tried it? It is different to the others. (well the ones I've tried anyway.)

 

[Sim]

> im pretty sure i spelled alot of things wrong so dont tell me about it.

No, I tell you: It is not accepted. Fix the spelling and grammar mistakes.

> im pretty sure i spelled alot of things wrong so dont tell me about it.

He has to state in which way in his tutorial, otherwise anybody reading this will think it is just the same as the others.

 

[chovynz]

Okiedokie

> im pretty sure i spelled alot of things wrong so dont tell me about it.

That isn't acceptable in a tutorial. Like Dax said, you will need to be explicit in your spelling and grammer as well as the leak checking.

 

[OneEight7eve]

ok i fixed most spelling and added version 1.1

VERSION UPDATES: 1.1
.Units react faster when pushing "up" Key
.made more smooth (you can change this to w/e u want to get different looks)
.made multi-player
.Fixed leaks (i think)

 

[Sim]

> system. in case you didn't understand it or i didn't explain well take a look at the triggers your self in the demo map (Camera system is in demo map also). . idk if im good or not at explaining things either soooo

Sentences start with a capitalized letter. "I", not "i". Yourself, not your self. Don't end sentences with 2 dots. I don't know, not idk.

These are just examples of the numerous errors throughout the tutorial.

> Every 0.30 seconds of game-time

It might not be smooth enough. Did you try with a lower number? Such as every 0.05 seconds or something?

Do you ever remove TempPoint?

 

[OneEight7eve]

yes i remove temppoint with custom script (fixed that) , if u did every 0.05 seconds of game time the hero would "twitch" not finishing his walk animation so it would look wierd. i will fix spelling later i gtg soon.

 

[Sim]

As long as it looks smooth in-game it's ok

Mind posting the whole (or new) code then? Because the TempPoints don't get removed at the moment.

 

[OneEight7eve]

Version 1.2 is out , the only thing i changed is i made it alot smoother.

 

[Argentine]

tested and retested....

I have tested this arrow key movement following the tutorial exactly and then I tried changing around animation speeds and the trigger check intervals(a.k.a. time elapsed) and to be honest this is one of the slowest responding arrow key movement triggers I have ever seen.

If you fancy a good arrow key movement system blizzard has one in their "death sheep" map that only moves left and right, you can use that system and pretty much figure out how to copy a trigger and change the variables for moving forward.

In my opinion this tutorial should be either removed or fixed (i doubt after 3 years sitting in the graveyard it will be fixed, but a direct link to this tutorial still comes up on google searches as fairly relevant to "wc3 arrow key movement") :thdown:

 

[HydraRancher]

By the way, it may help to place the code in [noparse]

[/noparse] tags.

Also, I'd be unhappy to play Player 4, because he's missing a "Player presses the right arrow key" event in your example.