2.9 SHOW types

The SHOW tag is used in definitions of ITEMS and CHARACTERS to define how they should appear on the game screen. Here is the SHOW tag syntax:

 

2.9.1    showMode

showMode can take one of the following values:

 

OFFSCREEN	Specifies that the object is shown as an icon in the icons panel, outside the scene picture. This is the default behaviour for ITEMS. If an IMAGE is specified for the object, it can be seen when the player looks at the object. Note: (corresponds to object.showmode=0)
ONSCREEN	Specifies that the object is shown by its IMAGE on the scene picture. This is the default behaviour for CHARACTERS. Note: (corresponds to object.showmode=1)
ICON	Specifies that the object is shown as an icon on the scene picture. Note: (corresponds to object.showmode=2)

 

2.9.2    showX, showY

A pair of co-ordinates can be also specified, indicating the position in the scene picture where the lower-left corner of the image/icon should appear.

 

Notes

• The lower-left corner of the picture is co-ordinates (0,0).
• If unspecified, the position is automatically determined at random and by considering the scene pictures’ SHOWAREA.
• If co-ordinates are not valid, they are automatically ignored and replaced by a valid random value.
• Currently, LINKS objects always show OFFSCREEN so if you would like to change their on-screen appearence (an open/closed door for instance), you should change programmatically the scene’s picture.

 

2.9.3    showFor

If a FOR tag is specified, the object is shown using the specified co-ordinates only if the scene image’s URL matches the provided one. In other words, showFor is an URL that locks the object’s image to a specific scene image.