Random & Advanced Random

Guide info#

Tiny: 2-4 minutes

• Summary

• • Two triggers control randomness; the Random and Advanced Random triggers.

• • The Random trigger works with two groups, while Advanced Random can use multiple when it works. Both can double as Toggle or Spawn triggers.

• • It’s best to make your randomness function fairly if it has to affect gameplay at all.

1: Random Trigger

The default random trigger uses two groups and a single slider. This Chance slider determines the likelihood that Group 1 toggles; a chance of 90% means the first group will be toggled nine times out of ten.

You can use the Activate Group checkbox to toggle the groups on. This can also double as a Spawn trigger.

2: Advanced Random Trigger

The Advanced Random (or AdvRand) trigger adds more functionality than the default Random trigger. You’ll have to type in a Group ID, a number for “chance”, and then press the Add button.

Chance is not percentage, although it is similar; a group with a larger chance number is more likely to activate. If you have one group with 100 chance, another with 80, and a third with 20, then their chances of activating are 50%, 40%, and 10%.

Once again, the Activate Group checkbox lets you toggle groups on.

Selecting multiple AdvRand triggers may change the color of each group, just like in the Edit Group menu. A blue button means not all the triggers target that group. Orange ??? text means the group is targeted by multiple triggers, but with different chance values.

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3: Best Practices

Randomness is quite a dangerous tool to play with. Use it incorrectly and you’ll likely ruin your level. Here are some important things you should remember when using it in your levels.

• Don’t let random events occur on-screen if they affect gameplay. Give the player time to react to anything that occurs.

• Similarly, make sure you indicate when something random happens, regardless of how much time the player has to react. A player should know what to do next.

• Don’t rely on players to gain muscle memory now. If your level’s changing on each attempt, learning it will be much more difficult, so your gameplay will need to reflect that.

• Finally, make sure gameplay is balanced even with randomness. Don’t put a random triple spike at the end of your level, or make two different segments with vastly different difficulty.

A good tip is to get playtesters for your level; if they get annoyed with the randomness, you might want to adjust your gameplay accordingly.

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