Actions
Do this. Do this. Do this. Complete!
Actions are one of the core features behind Game Creator. They allow to animate characters, activate interruptors, move objects, and a long etcetera.
Creating an Action
To create an Action, right click on the Hierarchy Panel and select Game Creator → Actions. Alternatively you can also add the Actions component to any Game Object or click on the Actions button from the Game Creator Toolbar.
Anatomy of an Action
An Action is a single instruction that when executed "does something". For example, the action Wait puts the execution on hold for a number of seconds.
Here's an example of an action called Play Sound.
When an Action is executed in runtime it will be highlighted in light blue. This is very useful when you want to track which instruction is being executed.
To add a new Action click on the Add Action button. A categorized dropdown window will appear. You can navigate using your mouse or the keyboard.
Select which action you want to add and it will automatically be added at the end of the list.
Behavior Options
You can configure the behavior of an Action at the end of the component.
Run in Background
When the Run in background checkbox is marked the Action will always be executed when called. If the checkbox is left unmarked, if another Actions object is being executed and is set to run in the foreground, the first one won't be executed.
In other words, two Actions can't be executed at the same time if they both have the Run in background checkbox unmarked.
Destroy After Finishing
Game Creator is all about fast development. If you want to destroy an Actions object after all its instructions have been executed, mark this checkbox.
You can accomplish the same behavior using the Destroy action at the end of the container of Actions., though it's faster this way.
You can add an Actions component below a Trigger component and let the Destroy After Finishing option destroy both the Actions and the Trigger. Useful if you want to execute it only once, for example, when picking an item.
Available Actions
Game Creator comes with a wide variety of pre-made Actions that will help you kickstart your project right away. Here's the complete list of Actions that Game Creator comes with.
If you find an Action that is not documented here, please send us a message at hello@catsoft-studios.com and we'll include it.
Camera
Action Name | Description |
Adventure Camera Settings | Change the settings of an Adventure Camera Motor |
Change Camera | Changes the currently active camera motor |
Culling Mask | Changes the Culling Mask of the main camera |
Camera Damping | Changes the smoothness in which the camera follows its target destination |
Shake Burst | Shakes the camera for a limited time |
Shake Sustain | Keeps the camera shaking for an unspecified time |
Fixed Camera Settings | Changes the settings of a Fixed Camera motor |
Follow Camera Settings | Changes the settings of a Follow Camera motor |
FPS Camera Settings | Changes the settings of a FPS Camera motor |
Railway Camera Settings | Changes the settings of a Railway Camera motor |
Target Camera Settings | Changes the settings of a Target Camera motor |
Change FOV | Changes the Field of View of the current main camera |
Character
Action Name | Description |
Character Attachment | Attaches a prefab instance to a character bone or removes an attachment |
Character Dash | Make a Character move towards a position. The gradient falloff can be customized as well as its initial velocity |
Character Blendshapes | Animate transitioning a Character's Blend-Shapes. Very useful for creating expressive characters. |
Character Mount | Sets the Character in Mount Mode. In this mode, the character can't be controlled and collisions are ignored |
Character Direction | Changes the direction in which the character looks while idle, walking or running |
Character Follow | Makes a Character follow a target keeping a distance within a min and max radius |
Character Gesture | Plays an animation on a Character once. For more information on Gestures, click here. |
Character Hand | Makes a Character hand reach for a target using Inverse Kinematics |
Inverse Kinematics | Changes the Inverse Kinematics settings of a Character |
Character Jump | Makes a Character Jump |
Character Model | Changes the 3D model of a Character, retargeting all bones to the new ones |
Move Character | Makes a Character move towards a certain position using the Navigation Mesh, if any. |
Change Property | Change a Character property, such as Height, Is Controllable, Radius, ... |
Character Ragdoll | Changes the ragdoll state of the character |
Character State | Changes or resets the State of a Character. For more information on States click here. |
Character State Weight | Change a Character's State weight or influence |
Character Stop Gesture | Forces a Character to stop the Gesture that it is currently being played |
Teleport | Instantaneously moves a Character from its position to a new one |
Head Track | Makes a Character's head look at a target using Inverse Kinematics |
Player Movement Input | Changes the input scheme of the Player |
Character Rotate Towards | Pivot a Character around itself towards a target, using its angular speed |
Set Character default State | Sets the Character's default State |
Application
Action Name | Description |
Cursor | Changes the Cursor image, lock state and visibility |
Open URL | Opens the web browser and a specific webpage |
Quality Settings | Changes the quality settings of the game |
Quit Game | Exits the Application |
Audio
Game Creator comes with an optimized Audio Manager that reuses audio sources in a ring-buffer so your game doesn't experience hiccups when playing many sound effects at a time. Audio is divided in 2 categories
Music: Background music set in a loop. You can change it by cross-fading between multiple tracks.
Sounds: Or Sound Effects. These are small sounds that are played only once.
Action Name | Description |
Pause Audio | Pauses all audio effects |
Play Music | Plays a music track allowing you to fade it in |
Play Sound | Plays a single sound shot |
Play Sound 3D | Similar to Play Sound but allowing you to specify the source of the sound |
Stop Music | Stops the background music, allowing you to fade it out |
Stop Sound | Force a sound effect currently being played to stop |
Change Volume | Changes the volume of the background music, sound effects or both of them |
Debug
These Actions allow to easily test your game and spot errors. These won't have any impact on your final game build.
Action Name | Description |
Debug Break | Pauses the Editor |
Debug Message | Write a text message in the Console, using a Warning, Information or Error flags |
Debug Name | Prints the name of a Game Object through the Console |
Debug Variable | Prints the value of a Variable through the Console |
Debug Beep | Plays a Beep sound effect generated by the OS (Only works in the Editor) |
General
Action Name | Description |
Execute Actions | Execute an Actions object and allows you to either continue the execution or wait till these Actions are finished to resume |
Cancel Actions | Cancels the execution of an Actions object |
Change Language | Changes the language of the game. All localized strings will be automatically updated |
Comment | This Action does nothing and only serves to write down a note for the developer |
Call Conditions | Executes a Conditions object, allowing you to continue the execution of wait till the Conditions are finished and resume |
Dispatch Event | Dispatches a named event. More information about Event Dispatchers here. |
Gravity | Change the general gravity |
Call Methods | Allows you to call any method from any component as long as it has zero or one parameter |
Restart Actions | Restarts the execution of the current Actions object |
Time Scale | Changes the time scale as well as the fixed time scale. Useful for pausing the game or making a slow-motion effect. |
Wait | Waits some seconds before jumping to the next instruction |
Render Reflection Probe | Manually renders a Reflection Probe. Bear in mind that reflection probes might not be active due to quality settings |
Store Mouse World Position | Raycasts from the Camera to where the mouse points at and stores the result (game object and point) in a Local, Global or List Variable |
Object
Action Name | Description |
Add Component | Adds a Component to a target |
Animate | Sends a Trigger, Bool, Integer or String parameter to an Animator |
Animator Layer | Changes the Animator Layer properties of a given Animator |
Change Material | Change the Material of a Game Object |
Change Texture | Changes the Texture of a Material. By default it changes the Albedo texture but can also modify any input texture |
Change Color | Changes the Color of a Material |
Destroy | Destroys a target Game Object |
Enable Component | Enables or Disables a game object component |
Instantiate | Creates an instance of a prefab or another game object and places it at a certain position and rotation |
Instantiate from Pool | Creates an instance of a prefab and generates a pool system from it to be reused. See Pooling for more information. |
Light | Changes the Light properties of a Game Object |
Look At | Makes a Game Object face at a target. The Z axis will be aligned towards the target |
Nearest with Component | Stores in a variable the nearest (if any) Game Object with a certain component within a certain radius |
Nearest in LayerMask | Stores in a variable the nearest (if any) Game Object within a certain radius that belongs to a layer mask |
Nearest with Tag | Stores in a variable the nearest (if any) Game Object within a certain radius that has a specific tag |
Physics | Apply forces to any Game Object with a Rigidbody |
Send Message | Call a method from any component using the SendMessage API |
Set Active | Enables or disables a Game Object |
Timeline | Plays a Timeline object |
Transform | Changes the Transform properties of Game Object, such as the scale, position, rotation and parent |
Transform Move | Smoothly moves an object from A to B at a specified duration |
Transform Rotate | Smoothly rotates an object to match an Euler rotation |
Transform Rotate Towards | Smoothly rotates an object to face a given target |
Trigger | Executes a Trigger object |
Explosion Force | Adds gradient force from a position that affects all objects within a radius and pushes them outwards |
Save & Load
Game Creator has a robust built-in save system that keeps track of most important information in order to safely restore the state of a game when loading a previous game.
Each game save is stored in a slot. Each slot is called Profile and you can store up to 99 different game saves.
For example, if you save the game at a given point in Profile 3, you can later on reload the game loading the Profile 3.
Action Name | Description |
Current Profile | Changes the current active profile |
Delete Profile | Deletes a Profile along with all its saved data |
Load Game | Loads the game (either using the current profile or a specified one) |
Load Last Game | Loads the last saved game from any profile. Useful when having a "Continue" button in your main menu |
Save Game | Saves the game content at the current profile location or a specified one |
Scene
Action Name | Description |
Load Scene | Loads a scene by name. A scene can be loaded as a single instance or additively. Click here for more information. |
Load Scene with Player | Similar to Load Scene but also allows to make the Player start a a given location. Useful when a scene can be entered from multiple points |
Unload Scene Async | Unloads an additive scene asynchronously and reports complete when the scene is unloaded |
UI
UI Actions allow Game Creator to interact with UI elements and even create small but useful animations.
Action Name | Description |
Canvas Group | Changes the settings of a Canvas Group over time. Useful for fading in and out entire UI Panels. |
Change Font Size | Changes the font size of a Text component |
Change Text | Changes the text of a Text component |
Graphic Color | Changes the tint color of either a Text or an Image |
Image Sprite | Changes the sprite of an Image component |
Messages
Messages section is a work in progress Actions list that will allow you to display information on screen.
Action Name | Description |
Simple Message | Displays a simple message on top of a UI element. Useful for prototyping conversations |
Floating Message | Displays a floating message on top of an object with a certain offset. Useful to display multiple conversations simultaneously |
Variables
There are mainly three types of Variables:
Global Variables
Local Variables
List Variables
When referring to either Global Variables, Local Variables and List Variables we'll use the term "Variables" with capital L.
How Game Creator interacts with them is done through the use of the following Actions. For more information about Variables click here.
Action Name | Description |
Add to List Variables | Adds a new element to a List Variables object |
Clear List Variables | Removes all element from a List Variables |
List Variables Loop | Execute an Action having as Invoker each of the different elements of the List Variables |
List Variables Iterator | Changes the iterator pointer of a List Variables |
Remove from List Variables | Remove an element from a List Variables |
List Variables Select | Picks an element from the List Variables and store it in a Local or Global Variable |
Gather Components by Distance | Fills a List Variable with a collection of objects with a certain component. The list is sorted by their distance to a source |
Variable Random | Generates a random value between min and max and stores it in a Variable |
Variable Bool | Assign a value of true or false to a Variable |
Toggle Variable Bool | Toggles (true to false and false to true) a boolean variable |
Variable Color | Assign a Color value to a Variable |
Variable Game Object | Assign a Game Object value to a Variable |
Variable Number | Assign a numeric value to a Variable |
Variable Sprite | Assign a Sprite value to a Variable |
Variable String | Assign a text value to a Variable |
Variable Texture2D | Assign a Texture2D value to a Variable |
Variable Vector2 | Assign a Vector2 value to a Variable |
Variable Vector3 | Assign a Vector3 value to a Variable |
Variable Reset | Reverts to the default value of a Variable |
Variable Add | Add a value to a numeric Variable |
Variable Divide | Divides the value of a Variable for a certain value |
Variable Math | Allows to perform a Math operation using a string-based formula |
Variable Multiply | Multiplies the Variable value by another value |
Variable Subtract | Subtracts the Variable value with another one |
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