Logic Gadgets: Microchip

 

Icon
Name of gadget	Microchip
Section	Logic & Processing
Number of Tweak pages	2
Author	LadylexUK, QuietlyWrong
Last updated	11 June 2019 [EA v1.03]

Description

This gadget is really a frame or canvas for other gadgets to sit on. It allows you to keep your logic tidy and easy to access. By grouping logic on a microchip in a planned way, you can easily copy a set of behaviours from one object to another by simply copying and snapping the microchip in place. You can save useful microchips or find others on the Dreamiverse. Also because it is powered, you can have whole events with multiple gadgets involved turned on with one wire.

Example Tutorial (adapted from Media Molecule)

1. Stamp a cube
2. Tweak the cube and set imp interaction to grab.
3. Snap a microchip on the cube
4. Open the microchip with L1+X
5. Place a grab sensor and rotator in it
6. Connect grabbed on the grab sensor to the power port on the rotator
7. Go to test mode and grab the shape. It will rotate when you grab it.

Tweak Menus

Tweak menu page 1: General

[screenshot from beta; v1.03 identical]

Tweak Menu page 1: General Microchip Colour 2a. Input 2b. Output Custom Icon Apply to Object 4a. Input Power

1. Menu page indicator
2. Microchip Colour
   You can choose a colour for the microchip here. It is good practice to select colours that easily represent the type of microchip it is. For example, make all User Interface microchips blue, all puppet related microchips purple, all score related items black etc…
3. Custom Icon
   As well as colour you can change the icon from the plain microchip one to one with another icon such as the music icon for music chips, the cup icon for your scoreboards etc. Use colour and icon to really distinguish your microchips and it will help make your logic more readable.
4. Apply To Object
   If you don’t snap the microchip on to an element in your scene, you can still make it apply to a specific element by wiring this input port back to the object in question.
   
5. Power
   This is where you turn the gadget on/off

Tweak menu page 2: Audio

Tweak Menu page 2: Audio Volume 2a. Input 2b. Output Sound Channel Power

1. Menu Page Indicator
2. Volume
   Here you can set the audio volume of any music or sound effect being produced by this microchip (i.e. from any sound objects snapped to the microchip’s canvas). For example if the microchip controls the behaviour and sound effects of a robot, you could set the volume to zero when the robot is in the vacuum of space.
3. Sound Channel
   Here you can choose which of the built-in sound channels will be used to output any sound or music from this chip:
   • General A
   • Music A
   • Voice A
   • Character A
   • Background A
   • Gameplay A
   • Unset
4. Power
   This is where you turn the gadget on/off

Lex Tips

Don’t make your microchips tiny so you cannot find them easily. Group them together in one area. You can also put microchips inside microchips for even more efficient organisation.

QW Tips

Name your microchips so you can tell at a glance which one does what. It could save you a lot of time opening their canvasses and closing them again in search of the one you need to change.

Useful Tutorials

 

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