Components

This is a brief overview of each component included with Creatures Module. You'll learn how to use them and where to put them more specifically later!

Character Components

Creature Belt - A necessary component for the system to work right. Usually you'll want this on a Player game object or as a child of the player. This is what Creature objects will be parented to in the hierarchy when "returned" to your player from Battles or Summary screens (or anywhere else you'll be deploying creatures).

Creature Graphics Controller - This component sends information to the sprite or model in order to display the correct creature state, skin, and visual effects. It also will automatically set the designated sprite or model graphics active or inactive based on certain conditions (such as whether the creature is being sent out or not). This should be placed on a the root of a creature's Main Prefab.

Follower Root - Attach this to a GameObject to parent Following creatures to it. This is usually best set up on an empty GameObject that is a set to behind the player, and as a child of the player. This allows the follower to move smoothly behind the player at all times.

Tamer - An obviously very important component to place on any character that can own creatures. This registers them internally as a Tamer (provides an ID and assigns their name and ID to owned creatures) and allows you to customize them, such as giving them an Inventory (Bag) to use in battles, and providing them with sprites or prefabs to show during battles.

Battle-Specific Components

Battle Component - This is how you'll be setting up Battles for your game! It has many different options and settings, and can be placed directly on an enemy GameObject or a child of it.

Battle Grid - Whether or not you're doing actual "grid" battles, you'll want a battle grid somewhere in your battle scene(s), as this contains other logic even for 1v1 battles, such as static battle spots.

Battle Spot - This is any area where a creature can be deployed, and is contained within a Battle Grid.

Turn Manager - This is a core part of battles, and should be added to each battle scene. It's different instruction trees will trigger at specific points during a battle based on player choices or automatically during a round.

Dex-Specific Components

Dex Creature Progress and Overall Progress UIs - These are placed on a UI setup to display either collection progress for a specific creature, or the entire Dex.

Dex Graphics Skin Controller and Skin View - The Controller allows you to designate a Skin View GameObject and scroll through seen or unseen (silhouetted) skins for a creature. The Skin View GameObject should be a dedicated Prefab of a creature for viewing (see Creature Prefabs).

Dex List UI & Dex Slot UI - The Dex List will automatically instantiate Dex Slots for each creature in the Dex.

Dex Details UI and Dex Entry UI - Dex Details UI will automatically instantiate Dex Entries for the selected Creature in the Dex.

Storage-Specific Components

Storage Box, Storage Slots, & Slot Details - These are where your extra (non-party) creatures will be stored! The Box will automatically instantiate Slots for you based on your settings, and when hovered over (or selected) will show Details in the Details panel.

Storage Animator - Allows the Storage Box to animate pick ups, placements, and back animations instead of having it snap!

Storage Box Cursor - An optional component to be placed on a GameObject you would like to act as a navigation cursor for the storage system. This can also be animated!

Storage Organizer - Should be placed on the same object as your Storage Box and Storage Animator. This allows showing a pickup "ghost" when moving creatures and customizing some animations.

Storage Party UI & Party Slot UI - Displays a Party List UI (automatically instantiates a Party Slot for each creature in your party).

UI Components

The UI components in Creatures Module are built like most other UI components in GC2. You'll be placing them on objects and dragging in child references to display them. I won't go over each one here, they're pretty straight forward by name and will also be described later in this documentation/given a tutorial. Below are a few specific components to be noted.

Attribute Preview Components - These components, when set up correctly, will allow for "previews" of Attribute changes, such as how much energy a move will cost, or how much damage it's projected to do.

Creature UI Sprite - This will assign a creature sprite to a designated image, and optionally auto-animate it on enable based on prefixes within the Creature Editor's Sprites section (animations will be based on prefix and number, so for example Party_0, Party_1, and Party_2 would play a 3 frame animation if the UI Sprite Component is told to use a Party prefix).

Formula UI Animated - Mainly used for EXP bars. This was a workaround I had to do to actually show (and hold for a second or two) a full EXP bar, run Instructions, then continue filling on overflow. To work properly, it requires references to a fill image, and two TMP components; one for the current amount of EXP, and one for maximum amount of EXP. These can be the same TMP references (and should be) as what's hooked into your regular Formula UI from GC2. What it's basically doing is relying on internal logic to hold a specific number for a moment at full, run logic, then continue on overflow. GC2 doesn't natively support this; it will just snap to whatever the new value for a number is without stopping to show a filled bar.