Crowd Events

A behaviour for creating multiplayer collaborative objectives.

WHAT IS IT?

This Behavior can be used to start a Multiplayer Event, which can be completed by reaching a certain amount of points.

Points are received when players perform specific actions, and the progress of the event is tracked using a bar at the top of the screen.

When using this Behaviour, creators can define the:

Goal - Amount of points to reach to win.

Target - Who will be able to participate in the Behaviour

Reward - The VFX participants will receive if the goal is reached.

Point Sources - The actions that generate points triggered by messages or emotes.

Because this Behaviour can be used with Emotes and Messages, it’s a diverse tool for creating multiplayer objectives from collector quests, races, and dance battles to puzzles.

A MULTI-PLAYER BEHAVIOUR

Crowd Events are a Multiplayer (MP) Behaviour, and as a result, the messages and notifications sent by the Behaviour will affect the experience for ALL players.

This also means that ALL players will be able to see points and rewards being triggered by surrounding players, and the actions of ALL players in a range of the Crowd Event will contribute to the event's progress.

PARAMETERS

Display Title

When set to 'TRUE', the Event Title for the Crowd Event will display for ALL players in range when it is initially triggered.

The TITLE diaplyed at the start of a Crowd Event if Display Toggle is set to TRUE.

When set to 'FALSE', the Event Title will be skipped, and the progress bar for the Event will start straight away.

Event Target

This parameter defines who can see, contribute to, and receive rewards from the active Crowd Event.

Edit Logic must be clicked for this Parameter to be visible in the Properties Panel.

Selecting ‘Experience’ makes the Crowd Event visible and available to ALL players in the experience instance. All players can receive points and contribute to the event's progress no matter where they are.

Choosing ‘Everyone in Range’ will open a slider with a range between 1 - 100. If a player leaves this range, the Crowd Event will fade out for that player, and their actions will no longer contribute to the event's progress.

Moving in and out of a Crowd Event set to 'Everyone In Range'.

Leaving the range of a Crowd Event doesn’t cancel the event for the leaving player. If the player re-enters the range before it ends, they can continue participating.

Message to Start

Use this message to trigger the Crowd Event.

You can use an [MP] Asker on an NPC to trigger an event once a certain answer is given.

Message to Cancel:

This parameter will only be visible in the Properties Panel once Edit Logic has been clicked.

The message entered here will end the event for ALL players, and all progress for the event will be lost.

This will cancel the event for ALL players.

Total Points

This is the total amount of points needed to complete the Crowd Event.

The speed at which this goal can be reached will be defined by the points rewarded for certain actions and the number of players involved.

Auto Progression

This parameter defines if the progress bar for the event will automatically add points or not.

When toggled OFF, progress for the Crowd event can only be achieved through the actions of players.

When toggled ON, this parameter will give a second field to define how many points will be added to the progress bar every 5 seconds.

UI Style

This parameter is a cosmetic option and doesn’t change the timing or points for the event. Currently, the UI style can be set to ‘Default’ or ‘Music’.

Choosing ‘Default’ will add white cubes around the opening event title and provide a clear event progress tracker.

Choosing ‘Music’ will add musical notes to the opening event title and a sound bar to the top of the event progress tracker.

COLOUR

This variable will only be available if Display Title has been set to TRUE'

Click on the colour bar in the Properties Panel to open the colour picker to make a selection. This will change the colour of the initial title when the event is triggered.

Success Message

This is the Logic message sent when 100% of the progress bar has been completed, and Edit Logic needs to have been clicked to see this option in the Properties Panel.

To select an existing message, click the drop-down list and scroll to find the required message, or type a new message and hit ‘enter’.

There currently isn’t a way to change the UI display upon completion.

Failed Message

This is the Logic message sent when the progress bar has not been completed before the timer to the left of the screen runs out.

Edit Logic needs to have been clicked to see this option in the Properties Panel.

If the time runs out, the Crowd Event will disappear. There is no User Interface display indicating that the Crowd Event has failed.

Reward VFX

The Reward VFX is the Visual Effect that will be applied to participating player Avatars upon completion of the Crowd Event.

To choose a Reward VFX, navigate to the Reward VFX parameter, click it, and choose one to suit your needs from the pop-up window.

Apply VFX to Participants

Toggling this parameter TRUE will apply the chosen VFX to any player who contributed to the successful completion of the Crowd Event.

Apply VFX in Range

Toggling this parameter to TRUE will apply the chosen VFX to ANY player in range of the Crowd Event, even if they didn't participate in the completion of the event.

VFX Duration

This variable defines the amount of time, in seconds, the chosen VFX will remain on the player's Avatar.

Offset and Rotation

The location of the VFX in relation to the Avatar can be customised by adjusting the Offset and Rotation using the X, Y, and Z coordinates.

Setting Offset to X-0, Y-0, and Z-0 will place the VFX at the Avatar's feet. While setting Offset to X-0, Y-2, and Z-0 will place the VFX just above the Avatar's head.

Emote Point Sources

This tab is a drop-down that reveals or hides all of the actions players can use to trigger points. Each Element has variables that define the Type of action, the number of Points the action will trigger, how Frequently points will be given, and how long a source of point will be active.

Element 1

Element 1 is a container used to define exactly what a player needs to do to contribute to the event.

This can be set by establishing the Instructions, Source Type, Points, Frequency, and Duration of the action.

More Elements can be added by clicking ADD EMOTE POINT SOURCE + at the bottom of the Properties Panel.

Instructions

Use this text field to let players know exactly what they need to do to receive points.

This text will be displayed underneath the progress bar to let players know what is required at each event stage.

Source Type

If Emote is selected, an ‘Emote’ drop-down menu will be displayed. Clicking the drop-down will display a list of all available Emotes players can perform.

Selecting Message as a Source Type will then display a field that can be used to choose an existing message or create a new one.

If you’re creating a concert event, you can utilise the dance Emotes to get the crowd dancing in sync and reward them with a VFX at key moments during the performance.

Points

This variable defines how many points will be triggered by the player and added to the Crowd Event progress bar.

Currently, the style of the numbers and the words that appear above an Avatar when a point is received can’t be customized.

Consider the Total Points (Goal), as well as how many players might be active at any one time when selecting an appropriate amount of points for each action.

Frequency (Emotes)

Frequency is only available when Emotes is set as the Source Type, as it’s used to define how often a point is awarded per second.

This is useful when a player is using a looping Emote like dancing so that the rate at which points are acquired can be controlled.

Duration

Duration is used to establish how long the Element will be active as a source of Points. This will be visually displayed to players in the top left corner of the screen and is calculated in seconds.

Once the Duration is over, the next Element will become active, or if there aren’t any more Elements, the Crowd Event will end.

The DURATION timer in the top left corner shows how long the player has to perform the required action.

If the Crowd Event ends and the progress bar hasn’t been filled, this can be used to trigger the 'Failed Message' parameter.

ADD EMOTE POINT SOURCE +

Element 1 will be visible by default, but clicking Add Emote Point Source will create a new Element with its own set of variables.

These Elements can be stacked to create a variety of actions or Objectives players can perform to complete the Crowd Event.

The Elements will appear in the order they are created, and the total Duration of the Crowd Event is defined by the combined duration of each Element.