Completing a cartridge

[Firemeboy]

I feel like I should be able to figure this out, but can't. I am updating a walking tour. I'd like the cartridge to be complete once a user has visited every area. I have created a checklist that marks off each area, but can't seem to find an easy way to tell the cartridge to mark itself as complete once all of the tasks have been completed.

 

Anybody know of an easy way to do this? Or is it even important to have the cartridge end up 'complete'?

[+MountainRacer]

I did this exact thing, modeling it off the 'Russian Hill' cartridge. (I even e-mailed the builders for a little help; they were very positive in offering their assistance.) The way I structured it is that, at each point of interest, I set up a zone; entering a zone triggers an event that pops up an informative message about the place and also increases a 'total' variable by one. When that variable is increased enough so that it equals the total number of zones, it pops up a congratulatory message and sets the cartridge to complete. (There is an explicit command for that in the builder.) The complicated part was the mechanism to avoid counting the zones more than once; I had to set up a specific variable for each zone, set them all to false, set the zone-message-pop-and-'total'-variable-increase to only fire if the specific zone variable equals false, and have entering a zone trigger the zone's specific variable to flip to 'true', thus precluding it from firing a second time. Sorry it sounds so arcane; it's easier when you see it laid out in the Builder.

Edited February 26, 2008 by MountainRacer

[Firemeboy]

You just described my plan B. The plan I would do if I couldn't figure out an easier way.

 

So I would need to put a script in each zone that 'checks to see if you've been there, increases the variable by one, checks to see if the variable is equal to the total number of zones, and if so, marks the cartridge as complete.

 

I guess I better get working.

[Firemeboy]

You just described my plan B. The plan I would do if I couldn't figure out an easier way.

 

So I would need to put a script in each zone that 'checks to see if you've been there, increases the variable by one, checks to see if the variable is equal to the total number of zones, and if so, marks the cartridge as complete.

 

I guess I better get working.

[+MountainRacer]

You just described my plan B. The plan I would do if I couldn't figure out an easier way.

 

So I would need to put a script in each zone that 'checks to see if you've been there, increases the variable by one, checks to see if the variable is equal to the total number of zones, and if so, marks the cartridge as complete.

 

I guess I better get working.

You got it. That was the part that took me, by far, the most time. Granted, I was using the Builder instead of copying and pasting the code in Notepad, and I was a little paranoid about backing up the files on my flashdrive, but that general process was the way both I and my inspiratory program (Russian Hill) did it. Of course, that only applies to non-sequential tours; if you set your tour to follow a single track, so that only one zone is available at the beginning, entering it opens up the next zone and causes the prior one to be re-hidden, and so forth, then you'd only have to code the completion message on the final stage.

[+kazuma]

I did this exact thing, [...]

 

Without reading your message first, I started developing a "Tour" cartridge inside a Park in Milan, Italy. I have designed a few (!) zones but to follow up the completition of the cartridge, I have worked in a different way, creating a task for each zone. The player starts and it will see only the first zone and the task to reach that zone. Once the zone is reached, I will mark the task completed, deactivate and hide it. I will the activate and show the second zone and the second task... and so on.

 

The completition of the cartridge happens only when the player answers (correctly) to a question (the answer is located somewhere in the final zone) and all tasks are marked completed.

 

Does this make sense? Or I am doing a sort of useless work?

I have set up a scheleton that could be the base for other "tour" cache... maybe if this works, I can post it somewhere...

 

Kazuma, geocaching-italia.com

[Firemeboy]

I did this exact thing, [...]

 

Does this make sense? Or I am doing a sort of useless work?

I have set up a scheleton that could be the base for other "tour" cache... maybe if this works, I can post it somewhere...

 

Kazuma, geocaching-italia.com

 

I'd love to see your skeleton tour, if you do it. I think that could be helpful.

[Firemeboy]

I found another way to do this, but I can't decide if it's better or not.

 

The two tours I created were 'open ended', meaning you can see all the locations, and just pick and choose where you want to go. In other words it's not linear.

 

Because of this, I had to have a 'close' in every zone. If that zone happens to be the last zone they enter, then a message pops up telling them they are done and marks the cartridge complete.

 

This was a pain to add to all 8-9 zones. Each zone I had to check to see if a player had a token, increase the variable, give the player a token, mark the token as visible, then program the entire 'end game'.

 

This time I have 7 zones. I've made one really big zone that encompasses all of the other zones. When the player enters this big zone (invisible), a welcome message is displayed. As the players visit the zones they are checked off on the task list. Once they are all done, there is no closing message, but when they leave the larger zone the cartridge is marked complete, and they are shown a message.

 

The down side, of course, is that once they are done, they have to actually exit the larger zone. It doesn't tell them right away they are done, only after they have left the area. I also don't know what happens if they turn the gps off before leaving. Does the message just appear after they turn it on in a different place?

 

Still, it's much nicer to have your closing sequence in one place instead of 8-9 places. I'll post if there are any problems.

[Ranger Fox]

I can't help but think you could have accomplished that with a custom user function call. Handle the tokens in the zone function, then call your user function for all the duplicate code.

 

That would, of course, require editing the code directly.

[Firemeboy]

That would, of course, require editing the code directly.

 

There is the kicker. I can read the code and kind of understand what it's doing, but I can't write it on my own.