How to Set Components

Learn how to add Components to an object in your scene.

Adding Components to Objects

Components are quick and easy to set up but don't let that deceive you, they are also powerful tools, the complexity, and creativity with which you can implement them is totally up to you.

Pick Your Target

To get started, pick the object you want to add a Component to. This will allow you to access the Properties Panel on the right side of the screen.

Select the Object you want to add a Component to.

Choosing Your Component

Next, scroll down the Properties Panel until you get to Components, just below Behaviours, and click in the box with the golden plus (+) that says ‘Add Component’.

A new ‘Select Component’ window will pop up displaying the range of available Components to choose from.

Now select the Component you wish to apply to your Object. For this example, we will choose the Indicator.

Click Add Component then choose from the Select Component list.

Component Variables

Once selected you will see the Properties Panel will update displaying the selected Component along with the variables for that Component beneath it.

Your selected Component will be added to the Properties Panel

The variety of customizations you can see underneath the Component is dependent on two things; what options you have selected, and if you are in the Default View or in the Edit Logic view.

Default View

By default, you are in the, erm, default view, which will display the key options for changing the parameters of your Component. But you should also be aware that the options you select or leave unchecked, will also change what you see in the Properties panel. Often activating one option will lead to further options for defining the parameters for that line of logic.

Activating a variable can reveal further options for the Component.

In this example, using the ‘Indicator Component’, you can see that ‘Quest Cursors’ gives the choice between False and True.

If False is selected then there are no further options to customize. However, if True is selected, then the Properties Panel will populate with further variables to define.

Edit Logic

Further options can also be made visible using the Edit Logic button.

Clicking Edit Logic, the big blue button underneath Add Component will open up a whole other set of variables for the Components and Behaviours you have attached to the Object you are working on.

Edit Logic opens up even more options for adjusting each Component.

As you can see here, by clicking Edit Logic our Indicator Component now displays an extra set of options to help further refine how our object will function in our experience.

Revert to Default View

If you need to change the view back to default you can click the ‘X’ next to LOGIC at the top of the Properties Panel, which will take you back to the default view. But don't worry, this only changes the view. The options you may have edited will remain intact.

You can open and close the advance Edit Logic options at any time.

Multiple Components

Where Behaviours only allow one (1) Behavior to be chosen per Object, it is possible to have multiple Components on one Object.

For example, it is possible to add the Health component to the object along with the Indicator component we already have.

You can add more than one Component to an Object.

This can be used to help guide your players through your experience, letting them know what objects can be interacted with.

You could then take this further by adding a third component, like the Drop Component, so you not only guide the user to the object but that destroying the object will then drop something for the user and adding to the sense of discovery and progression in your experience.

Components work well together to deepen the complexity of your experiences.

The choice is yours, and the combinations you choose are dependant on the outcome you wish to achieve and the interactions you want to provide.

Now that you have an idea of what a Component is and how to add one to your objects, it's time to find out more about each of the different Component Types, which you can check out on the following pages.