HeroBlade and World Builder Training

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1 Getting Started
2 HeroBlade Icon Bar and Camera Movement
3 HeroBlade Panels
4 Creating an Area
5 Creating an Area Instance
6 Editing Height Map Terrain in an Area
7 Creating Additional Height Map Terrain
8 Editing Height Map Terrain in an Area (continued)
9 Environment Panel
10 Asset Library
11 Parenting
12 Rooming
13 Nodes
14 Action Mark Node
15 Audio Node
16 Billboard Node
17 Bone Tracker Node
18 Flare Node
19 Light Node
20 Assets Panel
21 Path Node
22 Path Follower Node
23 Pathing and Initial Area Entry
24 Physics Joint Node
25 Region Node
26 Path Finding Panel
27 Path Finding Node
28 Trigger Node
29 Using the Area State System to Create a Stateful Object
30 Creating a Stateful Object that can be Instanced from the Asset Library
31 Lightning Node
32 Particle Node
33 FX System
34 Hero's Journey Quest System
35 Animation System

This information assumes you have already installed HeroBlade and received a login for your HeroEngine system.

Getting Started

Run HeroBlade
Login
Select a HeroEngine world
Hit the Play button to enter the world
Create a new character, or select an existing character if one already exists

HeroBlade Icon Bar and Camera Movement

HeroBlade displays a comprehensive editing environment that wraps around the actual player client
Control+g toggles the game UI on or off
Main icons are presented in icon bars across the top of HeroBlade
- Each has a tool tip which is displayed when you hover over it
- Each icon also maps to a shortcut number key, which is shown in the tool tip
Character mode (person icon)
- Press to jump back to your character and run around in the world
Camera /fly mode (camera icon)
- Allows free camera movement in all directions
Camera controls
- Uses standard WASD keys, or arrow keys for movement
- Z, X decreases camera movement speed
- C, V increases camera movement speed
- R, F move the camera up and down
- Q, E turn the camera left and right
- Pressing right mouse button and dragging mouse also controls camera turning
- Mouse wheel zooms in and out
- Holding both left and right mouse buttons and dragging the mouse pans
In camera mode, you can't select anything
Basic selection mode (arrow icon)
- Left mouse button to select objects
- Holding the SHIFT key while repeatedly pressing the left mouse button cycles through multiple objects under the mouse cursor in depth order
- Holding the CONTROL key, you can use the left mouse button to select multiple, individual objects
- Holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse will select multiple objects
Selection lock toggle
- Located in the bottom left of the UI
- Prevents the current selection from changing
- And, prevents you from selecting anything else
Select and translate/ transform/ move tool (icon)
- Selects an object to be moved using the gizmo
- Selected axis, or axes, are highlighted in yellow
- CONTROL key shows movement snap grid
  - Defaults to global grid
  - Artists can create asset specific grid in Max or Maya
- Objects can be translated in either world space or local space
- Multiple objects can be selected and moved at once
Select and rotate tool (icon)
- Selects an object to be rotated using the gizmo
- Selected axis, or axes, are highlighted in yellow
- CONTROL key shows rotation snap grid
  - Defaults to global grid
  - Artists can create asset specific grid in Max or Maya
- Objects can be rotated in either world space or local space
- Multiple objects can be selected and moved at once
  - In world space, multiple objects rotate about the center of the volume of objects
  - In local space, each object rotates about its own center
CONTROL+D duplicates an object, and automatically selects the new object
DELETE key deletes the selected object
Select and scale tool (icon)
- Works like translate and rotate tools
- Don't use scale tools to fix very badly sized source assets as this may distort the pixel/screen ration (e.g.: stretch textures). Go fix the source art asset
CONTROL+Z (undo) undoes the last operation
SHIFT+CONTROL+Z (redo) redoes the last operation
Select and dynamic place tool (target icon)
- Takes whatever is selected and allows it to be dragged with the mouse, using the left mouse button
Bounds tool, width/height/depth tool (icon)
Filter dropdown
- Toggles selectability and visibility of objects
- Clicking on label toggles both at once
- Reset to default values on exit

HeroBlade Panels

Panels can be docked inside the HeroBlade window, or free floating outside the HeroEngine window
- Helpers allow you to dock panels inside the HeroBlade window
- Each tab can be undocked or redocked
- Panel positions are stored in an XML file
- Scene analysis and performance panels have a high impact on framerate due to amount of information and data probes in use
  - Close them before looking at frame rate (fps)

Creating an Area

Go to the Panels menu, and choose Organizer
Create New Area button
- You can also create areas from script
Name the area and create it
- The new area appears in the Organizer
Create a folder
- Drag & drop moves the area into the folder
- CONTROL + drag & drop creates a shortcut to the area in the folder
Remove only removes the area from the Organizer list, it does not delete it
Add re-adds the removed area to the Organizer

Creating an Area Instance

Double click on an area
Two types of area instances
- Edit instances
- Play instances
Can edit in both instances
Only edit instances persist their changes (or edits) and are saved
Edit instances are written to the repository as .dat files
A play instance is a copy of an edit instance (.dat file) at the time the play instance is created
Changes to play instances are not saved
If there are changes to a play instance while it is running, they are sent to clients as they join
- Changes are coalesced to reduce the number of updates

Editing Height Map Terrain in an Area

Double click on an area
Choose Edit and Goto Area
Bottom right corner of HeroBlade shows "Edit" if editing, or play instance number if in a play instance
- Make sure you are in an edit instance, so that your changes will be saved
- Right clicking on the indicator allows you to travel between play instances, or go to an edit instance
Select the camera (icon) or selection tool (icon) to change to free mode
Select the Height Map Tool (terrain icon)
- Displays height map terrain panel
Make sure height map selection is enabled on the filter dropdown
Select height map (displayed as a checkerboard)
- Bounds tool (icon ribbon) can be used to expand height map area
  - For larger areas, create multiple height maps in a tiling pattern to help performance
- Height maps are natural occluders, e.g.: items hidden behind a hill will not be drawn
Edit height (top tool on panel)
- Brush shows influence on terrain wireframe
- Mouse wheel changes brush size
- CONTROL + mouse wheel changes strength
- Holding the left mouse button and dragging the mouse moves the vertices in the height map up or down
Additional options
- Falloff tools control brush influence
- Brush shape controls shape of brush
Raise/ lower tool
- Use left mouse button to raise terrain
- Use right mouse button to lower terrain
Level tool
- Levels terrain to the vertex under the brush when you hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse
- Ability to make ramps and angled leveling, instead of horizontal levels
  - SHIFT + mouse wheel displays leveling grid and allows rotation around horizontal axis
  - SHIFT + CONTROL + mouse wheel displays leveling grid and allows rotation around vertical axis
ALT + left mouse button changes entire height map to the level where button is clicked
- Effectively, flood fills terrain to single level
Soften tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag mouse to erode and soften terrain
- Multiple styles of erosion
- SHIFT + left mouse button and dragging makes terrain spiky
  - Unspike selection checkbox can be used to smooth out spikes without completely smoothing terrain
Holding CONTROL key temporarily stops terrain modification
- For example, use soften tool, hold left mouse button and drag around to terrain to smooth, then hold CONTROL down when you reach terrain you want to skip softening. Release CONTROL key to continue softening
Edit height tool
- Brush pattern selector
  - Nothing - effects all vertices under brush
  - Gaussian - effects vertices under brush as determined by strength and pattern of Gaussian noise
  - Noise texture - effects vertices under brush as determined by strength and pattern of noise texture
- Gaussian brush pattern
  - Holding the left mouse button and dragging the mouse applies the pattern to the terrain
  - SHIFT + mouse wheel scales the pattern
  - CONTROL + mouse wheel changes the strength of the pattern
  - SHIFT + CONTROL + mouse wheel rotates the pattern
- Texture brush pattern
  - Use any texture as a brush
  - "stamp" by pressing and releasing the left mouse button on the terrain
  - Holding the left mouse button and dragging the mouse applies the pattern to the terrain

Creating Additional Height Map Terrain

Create Height Map button
Visualizer shows if new terrain overlaps existing terrain
Move terrain so it is next to existing terrain
All terrain tools work seamlessly across terrain boundaries

Editing Height Map Terrain in an Area (continued)

Stitch Edges tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag brush over abutted terrain to automatically seam and repair edges
Limiter control box
- Can limit actions to selected terrain
- Can limit actions to selected vertices
- Can limit actions to terrain height or altitude
- Can limit actions to terrain slope or angle
- Right click in limiter control box to reset
- Right click on end point to invert limits
Scissor tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag mouse to cut holes in terrain
- Pressing SHIFT while holding left mouse button and dragging will undo the cuts
Split height map tool
- Cuts height map into two pieces based on mouse cursor position
- Mouse wheel rotates the cutting plane
Billboard tool
- Draws line of billboard textures
- Typically used for distant objects, e.g.: distant tree line
- Click on box with 'x'
  - Browse for billboard texture in repository
  - Choose billboard texture
- Limited to one terrain; each additional terrain requires its own billboard line
- Every left mouse click places a new billboard
- Holding CONTROL while left mouse clicking deletes a point
Texture tool (checkerboard icon)
- Scroll down to lower part of panel
- Click on 'x' in box to add texture
  - Browse in repository for texture
  - Choose texture
- Textures are arranged in up to 4 layers, with up to 256 textures per layer
- Paint texture on terrain
- Click on Add button to add a new texture to the first layer
- Works with brush patterns
  - For example, use Gaussian brush pattern to paint random texture pattern to breakup tiling
- Scroll to layer 2
  - Add channel
  - Add texture
  - Paint with texture
  - Note that this layer paints over the first layer
- Many options per layer: UV tiling, rotation, etc
- Normal map can be locked to the texture, or independent
- Specular and normal maps are per channel
Vertex color tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag to paint
- Can use with pattern brushes
- Holding SHIFT key while painting will erase
Dynamic detail tool
- Ability to paint non-colliding flora, etc
- Click on 'x' in box
- Choose detail texture from browser
  - Appropriately set tiling of flora: 1x1, 4x4, or 1x2
- Hold left mouse button and drag to paint detail
- Many options including density, height, color, etc
- Holding SHIFT while painting erases the detail
- Change to Mesh tab
  - Add a mesh by clicking on the 'x' and selecting one from the repository, e.g.: mushroom
  - Meshes are painted just like texture dynamic details
  - Defaults to randomized x, y, and z rotation - disable y rotation for objects which have orientation, like mushrooms
Clone tool
- Hold CONTROL key and left click to sample terrain area: all textures, dynamic detail, etc
- Hold left mouse button and drag mouse to paint cloned textures, dynamic detail, etc
- Options to filter and limit what can be cloned
Erase tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag mouse to erase everything under brush
- Options to filter and limit what can be erased
Select vertex tool
- Hold left mouse button and drag mouse to select vertices
- Selected vertices can be used as mask for terrain editing, texture painting, etc
Create Height Map Grid tool
- Creates two dimensional array of height map terrain pieces
- Height map vertex poles are 2 meters apart

Environment Panel

Panel menu, select Environment panel
Set light color
Defaults to 3 point lighting
- Ambient / diffuse lighting doesn't support normal maps
Dynamic Sky checkbox
- Time of day timeline
- Click on timeline to add keys
- Timeline starts at 6 a.m., not midnight
Cloud layers
- Supports multiple layers
Environment schemes
- Arbitrary number of environment schemes can be created and saved
- Environment schemes can be turned into Global Environment Schemes and shared amongst areas
- Environment schemes support blending between schemes, e.g.: fair weather into storm
Wind
- Effects SpeedTrees and dynamic details
- Can adjust speed and other options
Rain
Ability to change star map

Asset Library

Library button on HeroBlade icon ribbon
Organizer of all game content
Select asset, e.g.: wall section
Double click on asset to add to world
- Or, select and press Add button
Depending on the placement mode, giant objects may be created enclosing your camera
- Causes other world items to be culled (not drawn)
- F2 toggles whether the camera collides with objects
- Change selection to place at selection or use dynamic placement to place on terrain
Create library (button)
- Create a new folder
Select object in world
Right click in library and choose 'add selected' to add selected object to library
- Multiple objects can be selected and added as a single pre-fab
  - "No Icon" by default
    - Several ways to create icon on right click menu: snapshot, thumbnail, etc
Can use libraries as selection sets in order to build areas faster

Parenting

Find, or place, two objects in the world
Right click on the top HeroBlade frame menu and display the Parenting toolbar
Click Parent, and choose the parent object in the world
Select the parent, hit Child, and choose the child object in the world
Adding either asset to the Asset Library will add both, and keep them parented

Rooming

Rooming is a broad-phase culling solution
- HeroEngine also supports occlusion culling
Can assign environment schemes to rooms
By default, everything is in the 'default room'
Create 3 height maps, arrange them in "L" shape, e.g.:

 1
 2 3

Select terrain 1
Go to Rooms on HeroBlade ribbon bar, and click Add; type 'Room 1'
Terrain 1 will disappear because it is now in Room 1
Click on Visibility and add 'Room 1' to default room, and Terrain 1 will reappear
Select terrain 2
Go to Rooms on HeroBlade ribbon bar, and click Add; type 'Room 2'
Terrain 2 will disappear because it is now in Room 2
Click on Visibility and add 'Room 2' to default room, and Terrain 2 will reappear
Select terrain 3
Go to Rooms on HeroBlade ribbon bar, and click Add; type 'Room 3'
Terrain 3 will disappear because it is now in Room 3
Click the Select and Modify Room Visibility button
- Yellow is currently active room
- Left click on default room
- Hold CONTROL key and left click on Room 3 to make it visible to default room
Same functionality for room visibility is available on the area panel
Go to terrain 1, and switch to character mode (icon)
- Notice that you can't see Room 2 or Room 3, and the terrain they contain
Walk to Room 2, and notice that you can't see Rooms 1 or 3, and the terrain they contain
Add Room 1 to Room 2's visibility
- Note that you can see Room 1 when standing in Room 2, but that you still cannot see Room 2 when standing in Room 1
- Need to add Room 2 to Room 1's visibility
Add object to Room 1 that is on terrain 1, and a second object that is on terrain 2
- Notice that even though the second object is on Terrain 2, it belongs to Room 1
Select the object placed on terrain 2
Go to Panels, and choose the Asset Panel
Change the selected objects room from Room 1 to Room 2

Nodes

All objects are nodes
All nodes are creatable from the HeroBlade GUI (Create -> ) or from HeroScript (HSL)
All nodes are accessible from script
Any node can be parented to any other node; conversely, any node can be a child of any node
Make sure that you have visibility and/or selectability of the node you are interested in checked in the HeroBlade Filters dropdown
Property panel (Panels -> Property Panel)
- Shows configurable properties and parameters of selected node or nodes
- If multiple nodes are selected, only properties common to all the nodes are displayed

Action Mark Node

- Action marks are helper objects which help to align characters with interactions
- Example
  - Find and place the lever from the asset library into the world
  - Lever is actually a pre-fab which includes an action mark to align character with lever
  - Action mark is parented to level
- Create an action mark (Create -> Action Mark)
- Select the action mark, and display the property panel if it isn't already
- Several built-in types of action marks: generic, chair, climb down, etc; and, you can create your own as well
- Action marks have adjustable width and depth
  - Adjust from property panel or gizmo
- Cue - where character needs to reach, and is an oriented ray
- CueDepth - adjusts the placement of the cue in relation to the area of the action mark
- DeadZone - perpendicular to the cue, is the proximity the character needs to be in to activate the cue
- Adjust CueDepth and DeadZone to align character with the desired interaction

Audio Node

Places audio
Examples
- Place in environment for ambient sound
- Group torch, flame particles, and burning sound into parent/child pre-fab and store in asset library for easy, repeated placement
Default audio system utilizes DirectMusic, while other options are available

Billboard Node

Allow placement of interactive GUI in world space
Example
- Parent to a computer console to provide an interactive display

Bone Tracker Node

Used to track a bone in any mesh asset with a root bone (e.g.: anything which uses Granny/ gr2)
Set the targetInstance to the ID of the character to track
Set boneName to the name of the bone on the character
Examples
- Attach a light node or backpack to a character via a bone tracker

Flare Node

Multiple styles of lens flare
Placement either in camera space (normal), or from sun

Light Node

Various types of lights
Most properties can be singletons (e.g.: single color) or variable (e.g.: timeline)
Use limiters to restrict what lights effect for aesthetic or performance reasons
On the Render panel (Panels -> Render)
- Isolate Light - shows exactly what a selected light is effecting

== Mirror / Water Node

Mirrors and various types of water
Can be single or double sided
Can use a cubic environment map, or reflect the actual environment
Water can have depth, which can be used to trigger character actions such as swimming on entering the water volume
Environment schemes can be assigned to water volumes so that the environment changes (e.g.: blue or green) when the camera enters the water volume (i.e.:"goes underwater")
Several water types, and water shapes
Ribbon water provides gizmo's for extending the ribbon along a spline path
CONTROL+W toggles wireframe display
Ribbon water can change in x, y, or z, and the whole node can be moved by holding SHIFT and left mouse button and dragging

Assets Panel

Lists all assets in the area
Assets shown in light gray are not in the current room
- May be in other rooms
- May not be used in the area at all
Asset menu
- Remove assets with no instances in the area to cleanup unused assets

Path Node

Easier to use Path Panel to create and manipulate instead of using the Create -> Path Node menu
Path is an arbitrary of set of points (waypoints) with position and orientation
Use add button or gizmo to add new points
Waypoint orientation only matters if you have a script that utilizes it
Waypoints can have arbitrary data associated with them

Path Follower Node

On the Path Panel, select path, then Create Follower
Path Followers have script callbacks which are activated when they hit a waypoint
Examples:
- Attach camera to path follower node for cinematic
- Attach NPC to path follower to patrol along path

Pathing and Initial Area Entry

On initial area entry, the player character is placed at the origin
If an Arrival Path exists (Path Panel -> Create Arrival Path), the player character is placed there
- Should be in a valid spot, not necessarily a valid gameplay spot
- Place above ground, not in or below the ground or else the character may become stuck
Player character's position can also be set from HSL

Physics Joint Node

Uses Nvidia PhysX to create joints

Region Node

Arbitrary area of space
Convex or concave in x, z
Specified height, or depth, in y

Path Finding Panel

Path planning shows process of navigation mesh generation
Visualizes navigation mesh
Navigation mesh is updated in realtime in both edit and play instances as pathability changes

Path Finding Node

Only needed for specific effects since path generation is automatic and realtime
Allows region to be marked as active or inactive for pathing
- Can override basic pathing system
- Can adjust cost so that AI is more or less likely to choose one path over another
Example: use to disallow pathing through a door until the door is unlocked and opened

Trigger Node

Activated by player, NPC, or camera, movement into, out of, inside, or through a space
Arbitrary name and user data string accessible from script
Events generated to script on entry, exit, inside, etc
Period specifies how often it checks for event conditions
Available on both client and server
- Used on client for visual events that have no gameplay or security implication

Using the Area State System to Create a Stateful Object

Find asset in library (e.g.: door with origin point, or pivot, at corner) and place it in the world
- Select the door if it's not selected
Task: make the door rotate open and closed
Example:
- In the asset library find the Chomper Gate under Cleandemo
- Hover over it with the mouse and notice the giant tooltip
- Tooltip shows assets included in this prefab and where they are in the repository
- Also shows stateful command for its opening and closing behavior
- Right click, edit command, shows stateful command and allows it to be edited
SHIFT+F1 displays the utility menu
- On the Tools tab, select Area State Editor
How area states work

 Current State           States            State Transitions                     Action Lists (what to do)
 =============           ======            =================                     ============
 CLOSED                  OPEN              OPEN -> CLOSED :: closing             closing
                         CLOSED            CLOSED -> OPEN :: opening             opening
                         NOTSET
                         *

NOTSET specifies that the current state is not set
"*" is a wildcard that allows you to map from any state to a specific state
On the Area State Editor
- Select the Values tab
  - Add -> Opened -> OK
  - Add -> Closed -> OK
- Select the Action Lists tab
  - Add -> Opening -> OK. Close the action list editor popup
  - Add -> Closing -> OK. Close the action list editor popup
- Select the Transitions tab
  - Add -> From: Closed, To: Open, Action List: opening -> OK
  - Add -> From: Open, To: Closed, Action List: closing -> OK
- Select the Action Lists tab again
  - Double-click on opening
    - Add Actions (extensible system with several built-in types)
    - Set Action to Transform
      - TargetNode: the object that is the target of the transformation
        Select the door you placed in the world
        Press the green 'Grab Selected Node' button which will use information from the door
      - TransformInterval: 3 seconds
      - RotationalOffset: (0, 90, 0)
        To rotate 90 degrees about y axis
      - ReverseAtEnd: false
      - OK
    - OK
  - Double-click on closing
    - Add a transform action (as above)
    - Set the target node (as above)
    - TransitionInterval: 3 seconds
    - OK
  - OK
- Select the Property Sheet tab
  - Value: CLOSED
  - Default: CLOSED
  - Press green button to apply change
  - Select the door if it's not already selected
  - Press the link button to link the door to the state
  - If you change the Value property to OPEN, the door will now open
You can link multiple nodes to one state system

Creating a Stateful Object that can be Instanced from the Asset Library

Similar to creating a single stateful object, but allows it to be stored and instanced
SHIFT+F1 to display the Utilities menu
Select the Tools tab
Under Spec Oracle, select Stateful Objects
Look at the existing _DOOR for an example of what we're going to do
- Edit _DOOR
  - Go to the Tokens tab
    1. and ? are prefixes that are used to replace parameters when working with different objects
Add button
- _StatefulObjectCategory -> door (this is an arbitrary text string used for sorting)
- displayName -> SwingDoor
- _StatefulObjecDefaultValue -> CLOSED
- Values tab
  - Add -> CLOSED
  - Add -> OPENED
- Action Lists tab
  - Add -> OPENING
    - Add Transform
      - TargetNode -> ?statefulObject
      - RotationalOffset -> #rotationalOffset
      - TransformIntervale -> #transformDuration
      - OK
  - Add -> CLOSING
    - - OK
      - There is no need to add anything to the CLOSING action list, because you're just returning it to its original state
- Tokens tab
  - Add
    - tokenName -> #transformDuration
    - _StatefulObjectTokenHint -> #transformDuration = '00:00:05:00'
  - Add
    - tokenName -> #rotationalOffset
    - _StatefulObjectTokenHint -> rotationalOffset='(0,0,0)'
- Tokens tab
  - LIB CMD button shows library command that is stored
    - Copy the displayed command
Select door which was placed in the world, or place out and select it
Right click in the Asset Library and choose Add Selected to add the door to the library
Right click on the door in the library and edit it
Paste in the command you previously copied from the library command button
- Change the rotation from (0,0,0) to (0,90,0)
Save
Placing a new door from the library will now have the state attached to it

Lightning Node

Two end points with polygonal lightning between them
In the Asset Panel, this is the zip.zap under the Lightning group

Particle Node

To prevent accidental changes to particle systems, they can only be modified in the area they are created in
Suggest a dedicated area, or areas, for particle system editing
Create -> Particle -> New Particle Spec -> Local
- Name -> MyParticle
- Type -> Billboard Point
- Texture -> click option button and browse in repository for textures
  - Sample particle textures are in Engine\Clean Game\Global Particles\Textures
Particle appears in Asset Panel in two places
- Under emitter group: MyParticle_
- Under particle group: MyParticle_p.prt
Select emitter
- Press Instances menu, choose Add Emitter
Property Panel has three tabs
- Emitter: master emitter, changes all instances of this emitter
- MyParticle_.prt: this instance of the emitter
- MyParticel_p.prt: particles emitted by this instance
Typical settings
- Particle tab
  - Texture: Select a texture from the repository
  - Buoyancy: < 1 sinks, 1 nuetral, > 1 rises
    - Pressing option box (ellipsis) allows you to change between single value and Gaussian distribution which can provide more variability
  - Lifespan: value or Gaussian distribution
  - Diffuse Color
    - Defaults particles to black when opened
    - Can use value or timeline
    - On a timeline, use the Link to Particle Spec option to link to the particle's Lifespan
    - Also controls alpha for transparency
- Instance Emitter tab
  - Set Rate of Particle Emission
Other interesting settings
- Particle tab
  - Motion -> Wind Multiplier (react to environment wind)
  - Motion -> Collision Response
    - Ignore is default, and very inexpensive
    - Collide and die takes more CPU
  - Trails - creates ribbon of polygons behind each particle
  - Emit at Death Spec - instantiates a new emitter of the specified type when a particle dies

FX System

Event-based sequencer for audio and visual effects
Visual effects can use any node
SHIFT+F1 to display the Utilities menu
Tools tab, under FX, choose FXSpecOracleEditor
- Add
  - Select object to attach the effect to
  - Name -> MyEffect
  - FX Task Browser
    - Drag effects from toolbar to task list
    - You can create new or specialized effects from script as well
  - FX Emitter Properties
    - Set name, when to start, start location, and target
  - Preview Panel
    - Used to preview the effect
- FX Event section of node controls when effect fires

Hero's Journey Quest System

Example of advanced HeroScript Language (HSL) functionality
Built completely in HSL
Used to build complex, component-based quests
Provided as part of Hero's Journey Reference
SHIFT+F1 to display Utilities menu
- Tools tab, under Quests, choose Quest Browser
Quest Browser tabs
- Info: Information about the quest
- Areas: Areas the quest can be found
- Prerequisites: Requirements to get the quest
- Goals: What's required to complete the quest
- Conditionals: Conditional changes during the execution of the quest
- Drops: Items, etc that parts of the quest can drop
- Speakers: NPCs interacted with for quest start, quest completion, and each quest stage
- Rewards: What player receives for completing the quest
- Checklist
  - Validates all the quest components before saving
  - Flags errors and warning with suggestions on how and what to fix

Animation System

More complete discussion during Art Training

                  HSL <--->  Advanced Customizable Character Controller (ACCC)
                                               |
                                               |  Behavior
                                              \|/
Animation Agent Script (AAS) File <----> Animation Agent
                                               |
                                               |
                                              \|/
                                        Animation Mixer <---- Animation Sequence (ASQ) File

Animation Panel
- Select Character
- Review animations
More information at ASQ