Cutscenes

Intro

This article discusses the use of cameras and conversations to create map cutscenes.

Though information on these topics already exists (see Resources below), there isn't a single place that shows you how to create a scene using these technologies.

Hopefully, the following will fill in that gap.

The information is presented in 5 parts:

Part 1 - Camera creation, pointing the camera, starting the scene, changing cameras, ending the scene, and the infamous "cinematic" spawnflag

Part 2 - Splines, camera movement

Part 3 - Conversation, vocals, camera position, lighting, where to place the player

Part 4 - Animation, triggers, sound effects, objectives

Part 5 - A step-by-step breakdown of the Somewhere Above the City cutscene

Each part includes a (small) map which you can edit to test things.

The Scene

In the scene we'll be creating, a City Watch guard is meeting an informant to hear about an upcoming bank heist. The script is simple: the two actors walk onstage, talk, and depart. The map is called Snitch.

Part 1

The Map

Download the test map snitch1.pk4. This provides a dressed set, the two actors, a player start near some handy buttons, and a script to run the scene.

Camera Creation

Open the map snitch1.map in Dark Radiant. In this map, center stage is the billboard on the north wall (+Y direction) of the courtyard. The two actors wait offstage, the guard at the end of a hallway to the NE, the informant on a porch to the West.

Let's add the first of four cameras. Add the entity darkmod->func->func_cameraview and move it so its origin is 32 units over the top of the bush in the SE corner. func_cameraview is the camera. Give it the following key/value pairs:

"name" "Camera1" (for unique identification)

"trigger" "1" (this camera will work when triggered)

"cinematic" "1" (this entity will move during filming)

When setting up any scene, you should first present a Master Shot to give the player a sense of where the scene is taking place. Is it in a dining room, in an alley, on the roof of a Builder cathedral? Camera1 will be our Master Shot camera, pulled back enough to present the courtyard and show where our scene is taking place.