Having a clock tell the time in your game

[Eyesore]

==This tutorial requires a semi-decent knowledge of variables and conditional branches==

Now it's probably impossible to get a clock to accurately tell what the real time is where the player lives, or even where you live [unless it's by accident], although to tell the time in a game is actually relatively simple. NOTE: It's really good to pair this with a day/night system so that the time makes sense.

Keep in mind I work with a semi-badly translated version of rm2k3, so if there's any problems with the language I use, just use the rm2k/rmxp equivalent of it. Conditional Branches are FORK CONDITIONS by the way.

Preliminary steps:

-Create three variables, one called "Hours" and another called "Minutes", as well as another called "PMHours". It's important to note that minutes will only last a second, so your day is going to be twenty four MINUTES long. You can make it realistic, but keep in mind that your whole game will probably average about 25 hours, 200 at the very very most, so the best case scenario is that your game only lasts eight days... not very realistic.

-Create three common events, one called "Minutes", the next called "Hours", and the last called "New Day".
Minutes should be written as such:
"PARALELL PROCESS"

Variable "MINUTES" +1
Wait 1.0 seconds"

Hours should be written like so:
"PARALELL PROCESS:

Branch if Variable "MINUTES" equals 60:
Variable "HOURS" +1
Variable "MINUTES", set to 0

Else: [blank]"

And new day...:
"PARALELL PROCESS:
Branch if "HOURS" equals 25
Variable "HOURS", set to 0

Else: [blank]"

Okay, now your game is counting the time. If you want, you can start the game at 10 in the morning or something realistic.

HOW TO MAKE A CLOCK TELL THE TIME:

You could have it so that once you press the action key on a clock, it says "The current time is \v[HOURS(must be numbered)]:\v[MINUTES]" which would tell the time like a digital clock. However there's a problem... if you're at nine minutes past six o clock in the afternoon for example, it will only say "6:9". You would want "6:09 PM". So here's how we expand on this, NO THIS IS NOT A COMMON EVENT:

"Action Key, Same Layer as Hero:

<>Branch if Var[HOURS] is less than 12:
..<>Branch if Var[MINUTES] is less than 10:
....<>Message: The current time is \v[HOURS]:0\v[MINUTES] AM
....<>
..Else:
....<>Message: The current time is \v[HOURS]:\v[MINUTES] AM
....<>END
Else:
..<>Branch if Var[HOURS] is 24
....<>Branch if Var[MINUTES] is less than ten
......<>Var[PMHours] Set to [HOURS]
......<>Var[PMHours] -12
......<>Message: The current time is
\v[PMHours]:0\v[MINUTES] AM
....<>Else:
......<>Var[PMHours] Set to [HOURS]
......<>Var[PMHours] -12
......<>Message: The current time is
\v[PMHours]:\v[MINUTES] AM
....<>END
....Else:
....<>Branch if Var[HOURS] equals 12
......<>Branch if Var[MINUTES] is less than 10
........<>Message:\v[HOURS]:0\v[MINUTES] PM
......Else:
........<>Message:\v[HOURS]:\v[MINUTES] PM
........<>END
......Else:
......<>Branch if Var[MINUTES] is less than 10
........<>Var[PMHours] Set to [HOURS]
........<>Var[PMHours] -12
........<>Message:The current time is \v[PMHours]:0\v[Minutes] PM
........Else:
........<>Var[PMHours] Set to [HOURS]
........<>Var[PMHours] -12
........<>Message:The current time is \v[PMHours]:\v[Minutes] PM
........<>END
......<>END
....<>END
..<>END"

[KuneTear]

Thnx this is what i needed

[Eyesore]

You can understand it?!? I barely can and I fuckin' wrote it!

[KuneTear]

no i havent looked at it yet ;D

[sobe]

BE WARNED: LONG POST


I have been to many game sites, and have over time created one that is a mix of those that I have found. If you guys want to look at it and tell me what you think, be my guest. I am not trying to take away from Eyesore's setup at all. I just want to see what people say about the one I have here.


So anyway, here is mine.

What you need: 1 common event
6 variables
1 switch


I am doing this in rm2k3 for reference to command names. Anyway, we start a common event from the database, and set it to parallel process.

I will use default names, so we will name the common event "Timer".

The first thing to do is to create a setup to will make 1 day go by. Start with a wait (you can set it to whatever you want. My default is 2.0 sec) and then make variable 1. We will call this "minutes". Have it add 1 each time. Now have a fork if minutes is 60 or above, then add 1 to variable 2 (which we will call "hours"). Then have "minutes" set to 0.

This is what you should see:

<>wait: 1.0s
<>variable Oper: [0001:minutes]+,1
<>Branch if Var [0001:minutes]is 60 or more
<>variable Oper: [0002:hours]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0001:minutes]set,0
<>
: End


When you have this, we will move on.

Anyway, before we get to the hours to days and so on, lets look at day and night. If you are making a game that does not need day and night, please skip this section.

So obviously the sky gets darker at night then it does in the day. We will tint the screen. But it doesn't just go *POOF* dark, it is a gradual thing. So this is how we are going to do it:

We start by making a fork that says if "hours" is equal to 17 (5 pm, you can set to whatever you want) then the screen will darken. Night just doesn't go black either. A sunset usually holds hints of red, so we will set the numbers of the tint accordingly. You can experiment, but I will just list the numbers I use. So now we create:

<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 18
<>Tint Screen: (R100,G070,B040,S120), 5.0 sec
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

Notice that it says 5.0 secs. This adds a slight dramatic effect over 1.0 sec. We now do the same thing with a later hour and a darker tint. Like I said, the sky would not be black, so we will try a more blue look:

<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 20
<>Tint Screen: (R020,G040,B080,S120), 5.0 sec
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

So now we have that it gets dark. But it won't get lighter. For that we have to, you guessed it, create more forks. This time we will start with, 5 am. Sounds like a dawn time to me. So we set up the same fork as before with ' if...is 5' and the tint looking a little brighter and fuller in color. Like this:

<>Branch if Var [xxxx:hours] is 5
<>Tint Screen: (R070,G070,B70,S090), 5.0 sec
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

And the same with the next time, about 7 am, with a little bit brighter than before:

<>Branch if Var [xxxx:hours] is 7
<>Tint Screen: (R080,G080,B100,S100), 5.0 sec
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

Now we add one more to make it back to normal daylight. I set mine to 9 am:

<>Branch if Var [xxxx:hours] is 9
<>Tint Screen: (R100,G100,B100,S100), 1.0 sec
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

And that is all for the day/night system. Now back to time.


Coming back to where we left off, it is time to make days out of hours. So we make a variable called "days" and have 1 day added for every 24 hours, like so:

<>Branch if Var [0002:hours]is 24 or more
<>variable Oper: [0003:days]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0002:hours]set,0
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

And the same thing with a variable called "months". It is considerably pointless to make every other month 30 and 31 respectively, as that would take more switches and variables and I doubt the gamer would notice. So the default is 30 days or whatever your game calls for:

<>Branch if Var [0003:days]is 30 or more
<>variable Oper: [0004:months]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0003:days]set,0
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

And lastly to make a complete calendar, you have "years":

<>Branch if Var [0004:months]is 12 or more
<>variable Oper: [0005:years]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0004:months]set,0
<>
: End

When you have this, we will move on.

You put the if as greater than or equal to, instead of just equal to, just in case something every made the number jump. Now here is what you should have if you have done it right:

<>wait: 1.0s
<>variable Oper: [0001:minutes]+,1
<>Branch if Var [0001:minutes]is 60 or more
<>variable Oper: [0002:hours]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0001:minutes]set,0
<>
: End
<>Comment: #### next part creates night ####
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 18
<>Tint Screen: (R100,G070,B040,S120), 5.0 sec
<>
: End
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 20
<>Tint Screen: (R020,G040,B080,S120), 5.0 sec
<>
: End
<>Comment: #### this part creates day ####
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 5
<>Tint Screen: (R070,G070,B70,S090), 5.0 sec
<>
: End
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 7
<>Tint Screen: (R080,G080,B100,S100), 5.0 sec
<>
: End
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 9
<>Tint Screen: (R100,G100,B100,S100), 1.0 sec
<>
: End
<>Comment: #### end day/night system ####
<>Branch if Var [0002:hours]is 24 or more
<>variable Oper: [0003:days]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0002:hours]set,0
<>
: End
<>Branch if Var [0003:days]is 30 or more
<>variable Oper: [0004:months]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0003:days]set,0
<>
: End
<>Branch if Var [0004:months]is 12 or more
<>variable Oper: [0005:years]+,1
<>variable Oper: [0004:months]set,0
<>
: End
<>

Okay now to make a clock that tells time...and date.

Make the event on a spot that you want to be able to do that, like a clock image or something to the effect.

Now remember when I said we need 6 variables? where is the last one? Name the sixth variable "hoursPM" or something you will recognize.

Now this will take a main fork determining between am and pm, and then a fork to determine whether it needs that 0 before the minutes or not.

We start with the fork 'if "hours" is greater than 12 (meaning 13-24) then we set the value of "hourspm" to equal "hours". Then we take have 12 taken away from the value of "hourspm". We do all this, because, if we take 12 away from the value of "hours" the day would never pass 12 pm and the date would never change. We set 12 because, well, if you can't figure that out, maybe you shouldn't be reading this.

So now, we input the fork to decide if it needs to have the zero added (if minutes is less than 10) and put this message:

Time: \v[0002:hourspm]:0\v[0001:minutes] PM
Date: \v[0004:months]/\v[0003:days]/\v[0005:years]
NOTE THE ZERO IN BLUE. On the fork condition where the minutes are above 10, remove the zero and put the same message.

Now we deal with the ELSE case for the original fork. Since AM numbers are already 1-12, we just insert the fork for minutes again. This is done the same way as above with the same message, EXCEPT instead of PM, you will write AM, and instead of using "hourspm", we will use "hours"

Confusing? I know it can seem that way. Here is what it will look like when you finish it right:

<>Branch if Var [0002:hours] is 12 greater
<>Variable Oper: [0006:hourspm]Set, Var[0002:hours]'s value
<>Variable Oper: [0006:hourspm]-, 12
<>Branch if Var [0001:minutes]is 10 less
<>Message: "Time: \v[0006:hourspm]:0\v[0001:minutes] PM
: Date: \v[0004:months]/\v[0003:days]/\v[0005:years]"
<>
: Else Handle
<>Message: "Time: \v[0006:hourspm]:\v[0001:minutes] PM
: Date: \v[0004:months]/\v[0003:days]/\v[0005:years]"
<>
: End
: Else Handler
<>Branch if Var [0001:minutes]is 10 less
<>Message: "Time: \v[0002:hours]:0\v[0001:minutes] AM
: Date: \v[0004:months]/\v[0003:days]/\v[0005:years]"
<>
: Else Handler
<>Message: "Time: \v[0002:hours]:\v[0001:minutes] AM
: Date: \v[0004:months]/\v[0003:days]/\v[0005:years]"
<>
: End
<>
: End
<>




TO START WITH A SPECIFIC DATE/TIME:

Make an auto start event above player on the first map. On the page set each variable
min 1-59
hours1-24 (13-24 being later in the day)
days 1-30
months 1-12
years whatever you want
After you set the 5 variables make a switch. Have the switch turn on and make that a requirement for page 2 of the same event. Leave page 2 blank. Do not do anything else. This is where that switch I mentioned earlier comes from.




Well, there you have it, all rolled into one common event and waiting for comments and critiques.
You can take any part out just by finding the branch associated with that part and removing.
So now you all have Sobe's day/night/time/date system. I like a credit, but not needed since it was inspired by others. Sorry if I intruded on this topic. let me know if this is the case and I will not do it again.

*Edit*Now that I look, it seems a lot like Eyesore's anyway. I guess it would make sense just to stick with his.

Anyway, Cheers mates.