dvd scripting

Ive been seeking a solution to this for....ages!
Hopefully someone can advise me if it is possible in DVD Studio Pro 4.......

I have a main screen with 10 dvd films on it.
When the user clicks a film it plays
Once played it returns to the main screen BUT the video played has an 'X' through it.
(or better still, its hidden.
The user chooses another film and that ones plays.....then it returns to the main screen once again.
Each time a film is played an 'X' is placed over the film played on the main screen.

I want the user to easily see which films they have played......OR.....better still,
they are hidden and only the ones that have not been seen are shown.

Hope someone can advise as this problem has been buggin me for months!!

Thank You

It surely be easy enough to have the last played clip not show up on the menu, but it would take a program with @if functions embedded to have it keep track of all the played clips. It will be interesting to know if this can be done. Is money any object here?

Trig

Thanks for the reply,
I have a fairly good knowledge of scripting in DVD STUDIO pro 4.....but this one is baffling me!

The dvd is a game for fundraising purposes.
We do produce games for fundraising purposes and they are sold to local and regional charities and worthy causes for very minimal rates £2 to £5.

There's limited profit (if any) in the dvd's but we are passionate about fundraising......hence the 'cry' for help/advise from the forum.

If you have any ideas on how the above could be achieved, we would be greatly appreciated. If you can do it, then we could potentiallly negotiate a fee.

I know that there is some software out there that DOES do as i have explained as i have read about certaindvd games like Deal or No Deal etc that does it.

Once again, Thank You for replying

This is extremely possible, but not easy... you need to create as many menu screens as there are combinations of how the clips can be played back.

Keep in mind that DVDs are not able to *dynamically* adjust any content to add in or remove anything from a menu (or any other part of the disc). Thus, with 10 possible clips, you'll need a screen to show every combination possible. i.e if the user chooses clip 8, then 3, then 4, you have to show a combination of menus that allows that to happen, with crosses appearing on the second menu covering clip 8, and so on. You then need to track what has been played, and send the viewer on to the appropriate menu screen that shows the correct combination of what has played. You do the tracking by setting a value into a GPRM, and using the value to govern which menu screen to show.

Personally, I'd think this is way more trouble than it's worth... the sheer volume of menu screens and the complexity of the linking leaves so may possible areas for error that it'll be hard to QA the final disc!

Would it be better to randomise the playback so that the user got any clip, and then you only have to keep count of how many clips are left to show - this is far easier to do and requires only nine menu screens... Or is this not going to fit with the game play?

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lafcpug mod

Thanks again,
Basically, the game format is like 'Open The Box' where they choose a box (numbered).... a short video is played showing whether its an empty box (lose) or a full box (win)....then it returns to the main screen and (somehow) the box (number) chosen is not seen (or able to be selected again).

As long as it along the same lines as Open The Box, then i think our fundraisers will be happy.

All games have to be as simple as possible to ensure ease of use and 'punter' understanding.

OK- I did once try to build the same (or a similar) game and quickly ran into issues when using DVDSP, because there isn't enough free GPRMs to do it well.

However, I did come up with a workaround, whereby the user selection was not on a specific numbered box, but from a menu with a number of boxes on it. Each round reduced the number of boxes on the subsequent menu until there was only two left. Each choice generated a random number which in turn showed a menu screen with a value on it. These were tracked and so the values only appeared once. I couldn't put the 'used' values into a menu background because of the number of variations, but it ended up with the user selecting a single box and value.

I then developed this into a two player and four player game where there was a winner with the highest value at the end.

Maybe something like that would work for you?

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lafcpug mod

Thanks Hal,
Very interesting idea.

is there anyway i can have a look at your game....private message me?

Hi Martin - apologies for the delay... been away!

It was a few years ago now - probably around early 2006, so it's unlikely I'll still have the files. However, I'll have a good hunt through the old drives from the time and see what I can find :-)

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lafcpug mod

Great, please forward if you find it.

Thanks