[CGMZ] Controls Window (Patreon)

This plugin adds a small window to each scene where you can let the player know the controls for the scene.

! SEE BOTTOM OF POST FOR UPDATES !

Hi all, introducing [CGMZ] Controls Window!

This plugin allows you to add a small window to each scene of yours letting the player know what the controls are. You can customize the window for each scene, although there is a set of fallback settings which will be used if no preset exists for a given scene.

This plugin also changes what is displayed based on the player's last input. For example, perhaps they start out using the keyboard and see OK: Z in the window, and then later they change to a controller they will then see OK: A (for the A button on the controller). It looks something like this:

Text codes are supported in the window, so you can also have it display icons representing keys or gamepad buttons.

This plugin is pretty simple, but there are some things I want to add before the plugin reaches beta stage. Mostly, I want to add more customization options for the window. Currently, you can set the window x/y/width/height, text alignment, font face and font size, and what text displays for keyboard or gamepad inputs. Additional settings might be things like adding options to have a different window background style, windowskin, windowskin tone, etc.

Do you have a feature you'd love to see added too? Let me know in the comments down below or in the #suggestions channel of my Discord!

Happy RPG Making!

This update adds a lot of new options to change the display of the controls window to hopefully help it fit into any scene better. You can now change the windowskin of the window, or make it a dim or transparent window. You can also control the tone of the window, which is the color the window will appear. Window padding and back opacity were also added as options. Padding determines how close the text will appear to the edge of the window, and back opacity determines the transparency of the window's background.

This update adds an option to use an alternate line height calculation, which will allow it to blend in much better with windows in certain scenes (such as the menu).

This update also adds the option to draw a background image to the window. Now you can have an image behind the control text. Along with this, there is an option to report the size of the window to the dev tools console so you can get width and height dimensions expected for your images.

This update is focused on providing an easier way for [CGMZ] and other plugins to integrate with this one. For this, a new preset parameter was added where you can fill out a preset without needing to know the scene's constructor. Instead, you simply assign it an ID and the other plugin will need to load the proper preset. Documentation has been added for how to do this.

Along with these new presets, you can also use them in your own custom JavaScript parameters in other plugins. This can be used to load a new control window preset or hide the window if the scene changes. For example if the player selects an entry in a list window and the controls would change, now you can have the window update with relevant controls if those would change during the scene. This can also completely change the location of the window mid-scene if needed. The documentation has been updated for how to do this as well.

This version adds [CGMZ] Window Backgrounds integration, so your control window can also easily have a background image in the window which includes animated scrolling background images.

This version added an integration with [CGMZ] Window Settings, which is where you will control the windowskin, tone, style, etc. of the controls window.

This version adds the option to flash different text in an interval set by you. This can allow you to change your control icon from an unpressed to a pressed version and back again, or even to periodically show different controls if your scene has a lot of controls that do not fit easily into a small controls window. This is of course optional and you do not need to use the flash functionality. See below gif for how it can look:

This update also added a debug feature that will report scene constructor names in the dev tools console, so you will not need to look through any JS code to find the scene constructor of the scene you want to add your controls window preset to.

This version adds different controller texts for the three major controller brands - xbox, playstation, and nintendo. The game will detect if you are using a branded controller and show different buttons for that controller. For example, you may show A / B on xbox but X / O for a playstation controller. If not set up or brand cannot be detected, it will fall back to showing the default controls which are the xbox gamepad buttons. See below gif for how it can look:

The constructor name info is now logged with blue text, making it stand out a bit more as informational text.

This version fixes a small bug when trying to use the fall back settings with playstation or nintendo controls where you could get a preset undefined error.