The Ace Attorney Online system enables anyone to easily create a trial.
There are three components in the system. These are the following:
To use the system, you will need to register an account in the forums and log in.
You can get to the Trials Manager from the Ace Attorney Online homepage. Click on “Play” in the navigation. Then, click on “Trials Manager” (the large brown button).
To create a new trial, scroll to a heading that is called Create a new trial
. In the text box,
enter the name of the trial that you want to create. Then press on the Create
button. The trial will
then appear in a table above.
To edit a trial, click Edit
, which is to the right of the name of the trial that
you want to edit.
To delete a trial, click Delete
, which is to the right of the name of the trial that
you want to delete.
To test a trial, click on its name.
Notice how trials are marked as complete
and incomplete
. This shows whether or not the trial
can be played by other people. This will not prevent you, however, from testing your trial by clicking on its
title.
You'll be able to change the state of this trial to “complete” in the Trial Editor, but please only do it when it is finished.
You can invite people to help you create your trial. These people are called
collaborators. To add them, click on the cell under the table column called
guests
. A window will appear that lets you search for the usernames of the collaborators that you
want to add. Select them from the list and press the Add
button.
The Trial Editor is split into four tabs:
When you open your trial, you will usually have to wait until it has finished loading images.
Buttons that are in red must be double clicked.
The profile tab is the place where you can choose the name and appearance of all the characters you'll use in your trial.
To create a new character, press on the Add
button at the bottom of the table. A new line
will appear at the bottom.
Each collumn in the table has a different function:—
This is a special number that is used by actions.
This is the name shown in the Court Record.
This is the name shown in the blue box above the dialogue box in the Trial Player. It tells players who is talking.
This is the profile picture shown in the Court Record. When you click on this, you are shown a panel at the bottom of the screen that lets you:
Character sprites have three states:—
This is shown first. If you use this, you need to set a time that shows how long it takes for the sprite to finish playing.
This is shown when the dialogue is being typed in the Trial Player.
This is shown when the dialogue has stopped typing in the Trial Player.
This is the description shown in the Court Record.
These are the automatically applied data that you can specify for the character.
“Automatic frame data” is a feature that makes settings for a character automatically happen when you create the script of the trial. When you select a character in a frame, these settings will automatically be set. It saves you time.
This is used to delete the character.
The evidence tab is the place where you can create evidence that will appear in the Court Record.
To create a new piece of evidence, press the Add
button at the bottom of the table. A new
line will appear at the bottom.
Each collumn in the table has a different function:—
Checkbutton. You can use this to add text, images and audio.
The audio tab is the place where you can choose the music tracks and sound effects that you want to use in your trial. If you've just created your trial, there will be no music tracks or sound effects selected.
The Trial Editor has a repository of many audio tracks to use, but you can use your own as well.
You can select the music tracks and sound effects from the lists. Press the Play
button to listen
to the selected track and Select
if you want to use it.
The external music
button enables you to add a custom track to your trial. You'll have to provide
the MP3 file's URL (see File hosting), and it will then be added to the list.
When using custom music, you can only use MP3 files. If you need to convert a file to the MP3 format, you can use Audacity (a popular and open-source music editor) to open your music file and save it in MP3.
When you save your trial, any music tracks and sound effects that you have not used will be removed from the audio lists that you created. This is because the lists on this tab is not saved, but recreated based on the sounds and music tracks actually used by the script.
The script tab is the place where you can create the script for the trial (like a play script). It is used to create frames, which are table rows that contain background sprites, foreground sprites, audio, dialogues, wait times and actions.
To create a new frame, press the Add
button at the bottom of the table. A frame will appear at
the bottom.
Each column in the table has a different function:—
This is a special number that is used by actions.
Frame ID numbers are automatically recalculated to be sequential during saving. You do not need to adjust any of your actions, because the editor will do that for you.
Gaps in the ID numbers are normal due to the editor creating those frames for you in order to support advanced features.
This is where the background sprites are selected. When you click on this, you are shown a panel at the bottom of the screen that lets you:
This is the foreground sprites are selected. When you click on this, you are shown a panel at the bottom of the screen that lets you:
You can also select special pictures, which are shown above the foreground sprites.
You can also change how the character is shown in the Trial Player. You can control:
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This is where the music tracks and sound effects are selected. When you click on this, you are shown a panel at the bottom of the screen that lets you select the audio that you selected on the audio tab.
This is where you type in the dialogues. Dialogues are the text that is spoken by characters in the Trial Player.
To change the colour of the entire dialogue text, press one of the colour buttons. To
change a part of the text, highlight the bit that you want to change and press one of the
colour buttons. When only a bit is coloured, a tag will appear around it, which looks something
like this: <red> </red>.
When you colour only a bit of the text, the coloured part will appear instantly. For example:
This text appears normally and
is typed out, <red>but this text
appears instantly!</red>
To add special effects like flashes and shakes, press the corresponding buttons. These
effects appear when they are typed out in the Trial Plater. To make pauses, type
[#p100] (measured in centiseconds; you can change the number to make the pause longer
or shorter). To make the screen flash, type [#f]. To make the screen
shake, type [#s].
To change the voice, use the drop-down menu labelled sound
.
To change the speed that the text is revealed, use the text box labelled speed
. Use
a number less than 1 to slow down the text and a number higher than 1 to speed it up. For
example, 0.5 would halve the speed of the text.
This is where you type in a wait time. The wait time is the time that a frame is shown before it moves on to the next one. If you leave this blank, the player will proceed to the next frame when they press the proceed button. The wait time is measured in centiseconds (100th of a second).
By setting the wait time to 1
, the frame will pass unnoticably. This is a useful and
frequently used trick.
This is used to add actions.
This is used to:
A hidden frame cannot be seen by the player in the Trial Player unless you use an action to reveal it. When it's hidden, it behaves as though it doesn't exist, so actions in a hidden frame don't work unless the frame is revealed by an action.
A merged frame merges together two or more frames so they behave like one frame. The dialogues in merged frames are shown in the same dialogue box in the Trial Player.
In order to make your trial interactive, you'll have to use different actions that the game is able to execute. This is the most complex part of the editor, but it shouldn't be too difficult.
Actions happen in a frame. They usually happen once the dialogue has finished typing out in the Trial Player.
To change the action assigned to a frame, press the action icon. A panel will appear at the bottom of the screen. On the left of the screen is a drop-down menu listing all of the actions that you can use. On the right is where the parametres of the selected action appear.
You can choose the following actions:—
This will display a piece of evidence in the Trial Player's game screen. It requests the type (profile or evidence) and the ID number of the profile or evidence (which can be found on the profiles tab and the evidence tab).
This will make a piece of evidence appear in the Court Record. It requests the type (profile or
evidence) and the ID number of the profile or evidence (which can be found on the profiles tab and the
evidence tab). You can press the Add
button to add more evidence or profiles to reveal.
When you use Reveal evidence
somewhere, the corresponding piece of evidence will be
hidden at the beginning of the trial, waiting for the execution of this action to appear. However,
a piece of evidence that is not revealed anywhere with this action will be automatically revealed
at the beginning of the trial.
This will make a piece of evidence disappear from the Court Record. It requests the type (profile or
evidence) and the ID number of the profile or evidence (which can be found on the profiles tab and the
evidence tab). You can press the Add
button to add more evidence or profiles to hide.
If you hide evidence at the start of a trial, it will still be visible in the Court Record when the trial is being loaded in the Trial Player.
This will ask the player to choose between 2, 3 or 4 answers. This requests 6 parameters: the answers the player will see (type text in here) and the respective frames that they will be sent to (identified by their ID number).
This will ask the player for a profile or a piece of evidence. Requests 5 parameters: Type and ID of the evidence, the frame to go if the player presents the good/wrong evidence (identified by their ID numbers) and whether or not the player is restricted on the type of evidence they can present.
Several pieces of evidence and corresponding destinations can be set with the Add
button.
This will ask the player to click an area on a picture. You must link to the URL of the picture, and the coordinates of the zone where the user must click.
You can easilly set coordinates by pressing the Set coordinates
button.
The last parameter is optional and defines what to do if the player clicks another area. If you let it empty, a wrong click will remove 12 life points from the player. If you don't leave it empty, you should type the ID number of a frame, a wrong click will lead the user on this frame.
Several areas and their corresponding destinations can be defined, using the Add
button.
This will redirect the player to a different frame. The parameter is the ID number of the frame that the player will be redirected to.
Don't use this action to skip to a cross-examination statement, because it won't work properly.
This will change the status of a different frame from hidden to visible. The targeted frame's ID number must be given as parameter.
This will change the status of a different frame from visible to hidden. The targeted frame's ID number must be given as parameter.
This will reduce the player's life points. The life bar's maximum value is 120. When it goes down to 0, it's game over.
Typing a negative number in this field will in fact raise the player's life points!
This will set the player's life bar to an exact value between 0 and 120.
This will cause the life bar to flash, to warn players to be careful and to show them how severe their penalty will be. Enter a value between 0 and 120.
Typing 0 will stop the life bar from flashing.
This will redirect the player to a frame when the life bar reaches 0.
This will end the game. You may also use the selection box to automatically redirect the player to the next part of the series (if the trial is in a series).
These actions are used in the Psyche-Locks tab in the investigation location panels.
Variables are an advanced feature in the Trial Editor that can be used for a variety of purposes.
A variable is a named value that the game keeps track of. They're like algebra, but you can use words as well as letters. You can change the value at will and branch to different points depending on the current value of it. Additionally, variables can be output in messages.
A variable can only have one value, assigning to the same variable again will overwrite the old value. Variables can store one of three different types of data:
When you read the value of a variable that you have not set (i.e. it doesn't exist), it will returns 0.
You can use variables in dialogues and actions.
In addition to the variables, the player provides an expression engine. This means that you can do basic math on the variables and some other operations. You can use this to use the value of several variables at once to decide where to branch. Additionally, there is a few functions provided that allows you to do a few additional checks. While the engine is capable of quite complicated expressions, you will most likely never even use all the features that it provides.
All actions allows the arguments to be an expression instead of a fixed value.
There are only a few actions that directly use variables:—
This will set the value of a variable.
Use an expression to set the variable to a value calculated at runtime.
This will cause the player to skip to a different frame depending on the value of a variable.
This will cause the player to skip to a different frame depending on the value of a variable, but with the variable having to be an expression instead of it being optional.
This will ask the player to type in the value of a variable in the Trial Player.
You can use this to ask the player for a password.
When you apply the action Start a cross-examination
to a message, it will be
replaced by a cross-examination panel.
The top table is a table containing the contradictions. You need to use this if you want the player
to present evidence that contradicts a statement in the testimony.
Cross-examination statements are the dialogues
that the witness being cross-examined says. You need to type in the ID number of the contradictory evidence or
profile. To mark the contradictory statement, press the Contradictory
button next to the contradictory
statement. Then, click on the matching row in the contradictions table.
In the testimony overview field, you can create the statements in the testimony. To add
a statement, press the Add
button. You can edit the statement the same way as you usually would. However,
you cannot edit the wait time, give it an action or merge it.
To edit the press conversation of a statement, click the statement.
To create a co-council conversation, click on the show
option. You can then add frames to the
conversation as you would normally.
Below the co-council conversation is the penalty conversation. This is shown when the player presents the wrong evidence.
If you do not create a penalty cross-examination, the player will automatically be penalized by 24 points when they present the wrong evidence.
More optionsfield set.
When you apply the action Create a new place to investigation
to a message, it
will be replaced by an investigation location panel.
Investigations are created by using loads of investigation location panels. These panels all link together to create an investigation. The investigation locations are basically places that the player can move to.
An investigation location panel is divided into 6 tabs:—
This tab lets you:
This tab lets you add examination conversations that will be played when the player examines an
area of the investigation location's background. Press the Add
button to add an area to be
examined.
To set the coordinates of an examination conversation, press the Set coordinates
button.
Use the Other coordinates
conversation to show the conversation that will appear if the player
clicks anywhere else.
This will only work if you set the default background on the main tab.
This tab links together different investigation locations by allowing players to move between them in the Trial Player.
Press the Refresh places list
button to view a list of investigation locations. Click on one
of the investigation locations shown in the list to allow players to move to them from the current
investigation location.
This only works in one direction. If you want the player to be able to move freely between the two places, you'll have to do the same with the other place.
Remember that players cannot move to hidden investigation locations.
This tab lets you add talk conversations.
You can change the title of the talk conversation by pressing the Change title
button.
You can hide a talk conversation.
If a talk conversation is hidden, it can be revealed using the Reveal a conversation
action.
Frames can be added as normal.
This tab lets you add present conversations.
Use the Add
button to add a present conversation.
To set the evidence or profile that the present conversation is about, use the area at the top of the table to enter the ID number of the evidence or profile.
There is also a fallback conversation called Other evidence
. This is used when the player
presents a piece of evidence that is not mentioned in the above tables.
This tab controls the Psyche-Locks power.
The following actions can be used in investigations:—
This will change a talk conversation's status from hidden to visible. You must enter the talk conversation's ID number and the ID number of the investigation location in which it's contained.
This will change a talk conversation's status from visible to hidden. You must enter the talk conversation's ID number and the ID number of the investigation location in which it's contained.
When a talk conversation is hidden, it cannot be accessed by the player.
This will change an investigation location's status from hidden to visible. You must enter the investigation location's ID number.
This will change an investigation location's status from hidden to visible. You must enter the investigation location's ID number.
When an investigation location is hidden, it cannot be moved to by the player.
This will show the introductory conversation next time the player goes to this investigation location. You must enter the ID number of the investigation location that the introductory conversation belongs to.
This will stop the introductory conversation from being shown next time the player goes to this investigation location. You must enter the ID number of the investigation location that the introductory conversation belongs to.
This will show the button that the player can press to use Psyche-Locks in an investigation location. The said button is shown in the talk area in the Trial Player.
This will hide the button that the player can press to use Psyche-Locks in an investigation location. The said button is shown in the talk area in the Trial Player.
The Psyche-Locks are feature that have been used in the following Ace Attorney games:
Psyche-Locks let the player ask questions and present evidence to characters that are hiding the truth about something. They can only be used in investigation locations.
To begin, click on the Psyche-Locks tab in an investigation location panel. It is divided into a number of fieldsets.
The intro conversation is shown before the player must present evidence. In this, you
must use the Locks appear
action to make the Psyche-Locks appear.
In the Psyche-Locks edit field are the tools used to create/set:
In each conversation if failure, once the last frame has been shown, the player is asked the question again.
In each conversation if success, you must use the Current lock explodes
action
to make one of the locks explode. When the last lock has exploded, the player will exit from the Psyche-Locks
and return to the talk area in the investigation location.
In the more options fieldset, you can hide the Psyche-Locks button in the talk area.
You can show or hide the Psyche-Locks button by using the Reveal Psyche-Locks
and Hide
Psyche-Locks
actions.
The save tab is the place where you can save your trial and manage it's metadata (data about the trial, such as the title of the trial and the series that's in).
To save your trial, press the big Save
button.
Make sure that all dialogue editing forms have been confirmed. If you don't do this, you will receive an error that will remind you to do so.
As soon as you press the Save
button, the editor will start computing data.
It may slow down your computer for a short while. If your trial is very long, it could even seem to freeze your browser! Do not worry about this. When data processing will be done, you'll see the Data field filled with your trial's data, and then the editor will automatically send this data to the site server.
After the trial has been saved, the editor will reload it, so you can check the save has been successful and continue working on your trial if you need to.
Save your trial frequently!
Check the checkbox to mark the trial as “complete”. If the checkbox is not checked, the trial is not listed in the “completed trials” page of the website.
You can also link your trial with your other trials as part of a series. Type in the number to show what part of the series the trial is in.
You can also view backups. Each time you save your trial, a backup is saved. You can click the Save this
backup
button to save a backup. Backups that you save a are listed under the Manual backups
heading.
At the bottom are henke37's tools, which have a number of useful functions. The word exporter allows you to edit the text in the trial using Microsoft Office Word, allowing you to take advantage of its superior spelling and grammar checking. The tree view allows you to quickly get an overview of how the player can move through the trial. The raw view allows you to examine all the actions that the editor creates for you.
This document does not explain how to write trials.
Hodou Masaka has writen an excellent guide about writing trials entitled “Hodou Masaka's Gargantuan Trial Writing Guide”, and can be viewed in the forums.
Hotlinking
is when you use images from someone else's website when linking to external content in
your trial. For example, you might link to a character sprite hosted on Court Records. This is bad,
because it uses up server bandwidth (which is a limit on how much a website's content can be downloaded
per month).
Instead of hotlinking, you should host your files yourself.
You can host files on your own website (if you have one) or you can host them on file hosting websites.
To host images, you need to use image hosting websites. These include: PhotoBucket and TinyPic.
To host other types of files (such as music), you need to use other sorts of websites. We recommend Fileden.