Player logs are designed to be a hint system guiding the player on the main quest of the game. There is a tab in the pause menu that gets updated with entries as they are pushed, and keeps a running log of all the entries in chronological order. A push notification is pushed whenever a log is pushed instructing the player to check out the log update.
Actually pushing a log
BP
TryPushNewPlayerLog is callable anywhere. This contains a dropdown of the log you want pushed.
BT
There is a node for bot chats as well: BTT_TryPushPlayerLog. This works identically to the BP node. This should only be called at the end of a conversation!
There is a legacy field that is a direct string entry of the log name - this still works and overrides the new system if used (IE all older entries will still work) but using the new system is recommended.
Making / editing entries
DTs exist in /Game/Lunos/Systems/PlayerLog
While working on either BT or BP stuff, you’ll use the dropdown PlayerLogDT to select the row name of the log you want to call. This also gives you a convinient reference to DT_AllPlayerLogs, which is a compilation of all the logs - You can add more DTs in this folder and link them for organization (IE DT_PlayerLogs_Desert or whatever) If you click the lil folder your content browser will move to /Game/Lunos/Systems/PlayerLog, where all this stuff lives.
You can make new entries in these tables, and the dropdown will update with your new row names.
Rules for when to push
- Player log is main quest only
- Aim for ~40 logs for the whole game, so upwards of 4 per gameplay beat
- Try to avoid external logic for pushes and instead rely on inherent logic. Only push for things that you HAVE to do to complete the game in sequential order.
- Likewise, avoid forking / multiple logs at once. It is intended to be like Navi - a singular objective for moving forward. Use supplemental hint systems (bots, scans etc) for more granular objectives.
- Logs will display sequentially with latest at top, scroll bar, and a “date” per log
Example pushes
- Entered beach (need to call ship to save tidy)
- Talked to Kenny (need to return tablet to call ship)
- Skippable. This is allowed, but that means this log will never be seen, so it should not be important.
- Ship landed (Tidy is missing, I need to research / make new tool)
- Do not have a push notif for “research for complete”. This would create a fork.
- Made zipwhip / ship phonecall with tidy (need to travel to desert)
Writing guidelines
Logs can be longer than scans but try to keep them relatively brief. They have full rich text support. Try to keep them straightforward but feel free to include some sciency words plus character. They are first person accounts - likely with plenty of “I should” “I need”, plus a recount of what they just did to get to where they are now.