Tutorial: Display Repeating Goal Messages so players knows what to do

Tutorial: Display Repeating Goal Messages so players knows what to do

Why is this important?
Not all players in your map are starting from the beginning of your map.
Especially on dedicated servers, new players may join 60% into your map, so even if you as a mapper, have provided a briefing file (.BIN file) along with you map, so you can see the overall briefing – they don’t have a way of knowing how far down the goals list they have come.
This is true especially in maps made with NILE mapmaker editor, as NILE does not provide an option like MED, to have the famous “G” button goals list that can be updated during the map, as goals are completed.
Sometimes a map has been played and abandonded by the players who started it, so if new players join the map they can’t ask anyone either.
They are forced to start from scratch trying to figure out where a map went wrong, running around from spawnpoint A to maybe spawnpoint F and solve it.
This is not a good experience. As a mapper, you want your players to keep momentum and stay in the fun player zone so players feel they are progressing all the time. This keeps them engaged and makes them enjoy the map.

Therefore here I’m going to give you an example I have used, that works very well for NILE maps, but I also think it works for MED maps too.
The idea behind it, is to always display what is the next goal to be completed.
This text will show to all players everyone 60s so everyone know what to do.

Let’s say we have 3 objectives/goals to be completed. This is what you write in the WAC file.

if never() then // Set 3 variables on start of map
  set(v1,0)
  set(v2,0)
  set(v3,0)
endif

if eq(v1,1) and past(60) and elapse(60) then // OBJECTIVE 1 Showing.
  consol("OBJECTIVE: Destroy All Radio & Satellite Equipment At B.")
endif

if eq(v2,1) and past(60) and elapse(60) then // OBJECTIVE 2 Showing.
  consol("OBJECTIVE: Destroy All Radio & Satellite Equipment At D.")
endif

if eq(v3,1) and past(60) and elapse(60) then // OBJECTIVE 3 Showing.
  consol("OBJECTIVE: Destroy Weapon Supply & Technicals At Point F")
endif

// Increase 1st variable afters 60 seconds so the 1st objective will start to show every 60 seconds
if never() and Past(60) then 
  inc(v1)
endif

// Radio equipment is destroyed in 1st objective so I let the players know that they have completed their 1st objective and now we reset the 1st variable so it will not show anymore and we increase 2nd variable so the 2nd objective will start to show every 60 seconds

if never() and (ssndead(132126) and ssndead(132109))  then  
  wave("happy1.wav")
  consol("OBJECTIVE COMPLETED!")
  text("Equipment Destroyed At Point B")
  set(v1,0)
  inc(v2)
endif

// Same idea as above, where the 2nd objective is completed and now we reset the 2st variable and increase 3nd variable so the 3nd objective will start to show every 60 seconds
if never and (ssndead(132346) and ssndead(132345) and ssndead(66815)) then 
  consol("OBJECTIVE COMPLETED!")
  wave("happy1.wav")
  text("Equipment Destroyed At Point D")
  set(v2,0)
  inc(v3)
endif

// Same idea as above, where the 3nd objective is completed. This is the last objective so we just reset the variable
if never and (ssndead(132647) and ssndead(132648) and ssndead(66948) ) then 
  wave("happy1.wav")
  consol("OBJECTIVE COMPLETED!")
  text("Weapon Supply & Technicals Destroyed At Point F")
  set(v3,0)
endif

Nice to know: There is a limit to the amount of text you can show in one console message line, so sometimes you need to create 2 consol messages to break it into two lines. You can check it for yourself if you need to, when you test your own testing of your map.

You can modify this example to fit exactly your goals list for your map.

This will make a massive difference if players will enjoy your map as they no longer need to start from scratch trying to figure out where a map went wrong, running around from spawnpoint A to spawnpoint F – going through every building and every room.

Now they can simply join the map and pick up exactly from where the map currently is and carry on, being engaged with the current objective.

This is awesome and helpfull material. Thank you so much, Captain