M.A.S.H. in Storyline 2
What if I built M.A.S.H. in Storyline 2? I mean, how hard could it be? Turns out, pretty dang hard.
Setting up the initial variables is easy enough. Just a bunch of text-entry boxes, hooked up to variables to call later. Getting a random number is a simple hack: just create several slides in a Question Bank, each one assigning a different number to the variable, and set Storyline 2 to pull one question at random from the bank. It was the counting through the list and crossing off variables while circling winners — that was difficult.
If you could see the source file, you’d find about 30 variables, and on the MASH slide itself, I’d estimate upwards of 200 triggers.
Here’s how it works: each of the options (MASH, all four people, cars, etc.) gets its own layer. The slide is set to display the first layer at the start. When that layer starts, it checks to see if that option has already been done, because you’re supposed to skip over those, obviously. It subtracts 1 from the random number variable, then checks to see if it’s at 0. If so, it crosses the item out by changing the state of it to ‘No’ (a custom state). If not, it moves on to the next layer.
This way, it crosses off every nth item per the random number assigned.
The next trick was to make it circle an item when the other three in the list had been crossed off. On the base layer it was a simple trigger: change state of [object] to Yes when the state of all of [the other three objects] is No. It was just a matter of copying and pasting it on the other 23 objects and adjusting the values.
There are a few other nuances in the code but that’s the basic gist of it.
As for the design, I set the resolution to that of the iPhone 6 so it could be done on a phone. One problem that caused was that when you go to input the different items, the keyboard on your phone gets in the way of the screen. Storyline isn’t exactly built for that.
Originally published at RCLX.
