Action! v1.0 Documentation This program uses text format, scene descriptions to present pictures, sounds and speech simultainiously. Pictures are displayed in 32 colors with color cycle animation. Sounds may be played in stereo or assigned to individual channels. Multiline speeches may be used to provide detailed narration. All of these features may be combined to produce sequential 'Video Movies'. Additionaly, user interactivity, through keyboard function keys, makes possible the construction of tutorials and 'Adventure' games. To view the 'Action!' default scene, simply use the mouse pointer to 'Double Left Click' the 'Action!' tool icon or type 'Action!' at the CLI command prompt. This will cause the disk to be searched for a directory named 'Scenes' and if found the scene named 'Action!' will be loaded. If no 'Scenes' directory is found, an attempt will be made to load a scene named 'Action!.scene'. To view a specific scene you may either 'Single Left Click' the scene's project icon then 'Shift Double Left Click' the 'Action!' tool icon or, from CLI type 'Action!' followed by the name of the scene to be loaded (e.g. Action! Scenes/Education). Alternativly the scene's project icon may be altered to indicate 'Action!' as the default tool, then simply 'Double Left Click' the project icon. Scene descriptions and speeches may be written using Amiga's 'Notepad' or other simple text editors (e.g. Ed or Edit). Speeches are written in phonetic text as described in the 'SoftTalk' chapters of the 'Amiga ROM Kernel Manual Volume 1' and Microsoft's 'Amiga Basic'. Scene descriptions consist of one or more lines of 'Action!' commands and parameters as described below. I use 'Electronic Arts Deluxe Paint' for my graphics, but other programs that save pictures in IFF ILBM format should work also (don't know about color cycling though). Sounds must be in either IFF 8SVX oneshot format or 'Applied Visions FutureSound' jukebox format. Action! Commands: All commands consist of two capitalized characters. Most commands are followed by one or more parameters. In the following text, each parameter is indicated as one or more words surrounded by 'Less Than' and 'Greater Than' characters. Optional parameters are additionaly surrounded by square bracket characters. Pictures: DP [] This is currently the only command available for picture manipulation, the indicated file will be loaded and displayed with color cycling. The picture file name may include device and directory specifications. Cycle speed percentage is optional and will default to 100. This parameter may be set to zero to indicate no color cycling. Speech: ST [[[[[[] ] ] ] ] ] This command will load a speech file of up to 40 lines of 255 phonetic characters, then send one line at a time to the narrator until all lines have been sent. The speech file name may include device and directory specifications. Pitch, period, sex, rate, mode and volume are optional and will default to the narrator devices normal defaults. Detailed descriptions of these parameters may be found within Amiga documentation. NOTE: The narrator device is mostly implemented in software and can be CPU intensive. Color cycling causes some degradition of the narrators voice when using the default settings. Use of lower periods or rates can eliminate this effect. Alternatively you could set the cycle speed percentage, mentioned above, to zero which would turn off cycling. CT This command's only function is to close any speech in progress and release the phonetic text from memory. As speech will normaly continue from one scene to another this command is the only way to interrupt the narrator. This command has no parameters. Sounds: BS [[] ] This command will load and continualy play the indicated file through a pair of stereo (one left, one right) audio channels. The sound file name may include device and directory specifications. Period and volume are optional and will default to the files settings (maximum volume will be used for JukeBox format file). The minimum acceptable value for period is 124. Volume may range from 1 to 64. SS [[[] ] ] This command will load and play the indicated file, through a pair of stereo audio channels. The sound file name, period, and volume parameters are specified in the same manner as for the BS command. The cycle count parameter is optional and will default to one playing. If the cycle count is given, the sound will be repeated that number of times. If the cycle count is set to zero the sound will be repeated endlessly (same as BS command). SL [[[] ] ] This command is identical to the SS command, with the exception that only the left audio channel will be used for playback. SR [[[] ] ] This command is identical to the SS command, with the exception that only the right audio channel will be used for playback. CS This command will close one or more audio channels and free the sound from memory. Channel is optional and will default to stereo. A channel specification of zero will close only the left audio channel, channel one will close only the right channel. Control: NN [] This command will push a scene onto the 'Node Stack' (a list of scene names to be loaded). Repeated use of this command is permited and can be used to build a scene sequence. As the 'Node Stack' is processed in a 'Last in First Out' methode, the last NN command will be processed first followed by the NN command prior to it, and so on. When the current node 'Times out' the next scene on the stack will be loaded and performed. The scene file name may include device and directory specifications. Seconds wait time is optional and will default to 60 seconds. If wait time is set to zero seconds, there will be no delay between the processing of the current scene and the next scene on the stack. WT [] This command sets the number of seconds to wait befor this scene 'Times out'. If no scenes remain on the 'Node Stack' the 'Action!' program will terminate operation. The seconds parameter is specified in the same manner as for the NN command. N1 This command is used to indicate the name of a scene to be loaded if the keyboard function key F1 is pressed. The scene file name may include device and directory specifications. N2 This command functions identicaly to the N1 command with the exception that the F2 key is tested. N3 This command functions identicaly to the N1 command with the exception that the F3 key is tested. N4 This command functions identicaly to the N1 command with the exception that the F4 key is tested. N5 This command functions identicaly to the N1 command with the exception that the F5 key is tested. Animation: Not yet implemented. Music: Not yet implemented. Well thats it for now, I hope you find 'Action!' useful and entertaining. I belive that all 'Bees and Spiders' have been exterminated, but I make no guarantees (those little creatures hide in the darndest places)! Some scenes may work in 256K of memory but I recomend 512K. If you recieve messages of insufficent memory, try closing windows and using the CT, CS commands to free speech and sound memory when not being used. If you are intersted in receiving the latest version software, documentation and examples, please 'Support the Arts' by sending donations, disks, software (programs, graphics, sound), pictures of your girl friend, or whatever to: Peter L. Dunlap Mountain Micro Guild of Colorado P.O. Box 444 Indian Hills, CO 80454 or Mountain Micro Guild of California 33637 Windmill Rd. Lake Elsinore, CA 92330