In this brief tutorial, a variety of ways to plan (or not) a NIS are presented. Feel free to experiment – but remember that NISLets are a good way to hammer down story and make vital plot points without player interference.
This method is best done for testing only, or a very short campaign or mission. Doing the text/speech and actions on the fly of making a map is a good method for trying things out, but can lead to many mistakes and inconsitencies, for example, using different ways of using the camera part way through a cutscene.
Remember to include comments and reasons – which is true for all of these – to remember what you've changed and why, unless you're confident, or don't like comments:
-- Make the commander speek:
-- 100: "Brothers, do not quell your fear!"
-- Changed to:
-- 100: "My brothers, let us not stay here in fear!"
CTRL.Actor_PlaySpeech( ACT.Gabriel, 100)
CTRL.WAIT()
-- Now follow the eldar
-- (do not follow space marines moving away now)
CPath_CutToPoint("canim_NINT_eldar", "start")
-- Movement of the Eldar
-- Note: Camera now pointing on them right!
Cmd_MoveToMarker("sg_NINT_eldar", "mk_NINT_eldar1")Too many are, of course, a hinderence, but like any script or screenplay, being able to make sense of a line of code is paramount to having the code all nicely laid out!
This is something you can do if you have no real speech people, as it means all of your NIS work is contained within the file it is used in. Comments don't add to run time execution or problems, so it is alright.
Use this generally if only you will use the file – and you also don't mind not having it properly formatted.
It is best to follow these points:
This is an example from a starting mission with Space Marines against Orks, but note this has no briefing screen and plays a movie instead. It also includes no Intel Events (although these are less scripted anyway):
------------------------------------------------- -- TITLE: Final Liberation Mission 1: Zhukov ------------------------------------------------- -- Finaldeath 2005 ------------------------------------------------- --[[ Cutscene file. In Final Liberation, these explain mission objectives, after battle reports and so on. No briefing (because the movies play really well in these cutscenes!). Identifiers: NINT - Introduction cutscene NEND - End of Level cutscene N001 - A cutscene of some kind sometime in-game Mission 1: Zhukov. ----------------------------------------- Opening: ----------------------------------------- Play movie: SCENE1. Shots of Ork Structures in the area, as the commander speaks. Space marine captain explains about current forces, and plan: CAPTAIN: We have arrived overhead of Zhukov plane. Reports from the Planet say that Ork infighting has occured here, due to numerous clans wanting to be the first to the area, and thusly has relatively few Orks left. Those that remain are Skroll's scouts and patrols, and more are arriving every hour. Being the furthest place away from the Lutov's Wastes, where the Orks initially landed, the forces are weaker then anywhere else on the planet. We must strike now with what we have to make way for the Imperial Guard. SPACE MARINE: Sir, we have our squads ready for thunderhawk insertion. Armor will be ready soon. Jump to shot of bridge (Orks running across it). Space marine captain reports the bridge must be taken, and held, and the Orks purged from the area. CAPTAIN: Very well. We will bombard an area and land, and move toward the single bridge in the area. If we can hold that, victory is assured. We must land away from the bridge area lest we destroy it accidentally. Shot of mekshop CAPTAIN: The Ork wartrak has also built Mekshops in the area, producing vehicles. We must use our own tanks to shatter them. Jump to shots of Orks running up hills. CAPTAIN: This hill is well protected on three sides and will allow good access for Thunderhawk dropships. Prepare the Orbital Bombardment, location vector ZD-543273, and fire at will! Orbital bombardments hit the hill. CAPTAIN: Thunderhawks Gunships, move in and unload. Thunderhawks land, fly off. Troops get out. Faces down hill, towards mekshop. CAPTAIN: Before we can deploy armor, we must destroy that mekshop to assure our tanks have no problems landing. Follow me brothers! End cutscene. ----------------------------------------- Predators land: ----------------------------------------- (Note: this won't interrupt play. No camera movement) CAPTAIN: The firepower of our predator tanks will allow us to pierce the defenses surrounding the bridge. Once we take the bridge, our Whirlwinds should be ready for deployment. Thunderhawks fly off, predators appear. (Note: turn on player 2 and 3 AI, so they fight back right. Start patrols.) ----------------------------------------- Whirlwinds land: ----------------------------------------- (Note: this won't interrupt play. No camera movement) CAPTAIN: These whirlwinds will make assaulting the Ork encampment on the road futher ahead much easier. We must destroy the Ork base to allow Imperial regiments to land here. Top down shot of Ork base. Thunderhawks fly off. (Note: turn on player 4, base, AI) ----------------------------------------- Closing: ----------------------------------------- (Note: Despawn things). Similar hill to what the movie is on. Thunderhawks land in the area. Fade. Imperial guard come out, and space marines join them. Shot of the hill. Holt walks up the hill to meet Agrippa. Play movie: SCENE1. Fade to imperial troops (guardsmen) marching to the edge of the map where the road led, and Holt watching. Fade out. ----------------------------------------- Special: Loss ----------------------------------------- Play losing movie, SCENE20. Show Orks doing victory things. Fade out, end mission. ]] -- NIS Code starts here
The final main way is to do it all in a seperate file. You can do it like movie writers, but its up to you for the style. If you plan on doing voice acting, this might be the best way as if the script is in a seperate file, you can print it out or share it on the internet easier.
In a group editing environment, if anyone is working on NIS content seperately, get them to do it in a proper text editor so everyone knows what is meant. There is nothing worse then a brilliant story bogged down by problems with the script!
It also allows you to format it (possibly even with pictures of the NIS actors) and add extra emphisis a normal text file doesn't allow – like italics and bold.
Remember, try and include these things:
An example screenplay is below. It is important to remember any Intel Events if you plan to add them, they might otherwise be left forgotten in the NIS file itself.
Example of screenplay.
Download of screenplay.
Working out your script to fit the story is an important issue and if planned ahead, can help with map design among other things.
Hopefully, the above examples will at least provide an example of how to plan your Non Interactive Sequences and get the most out of the cinimatic experience Dawn of War offers!