To add effects to a scene, press the "Effects" button at the bottom right corner of the theater (see screenshot). After pressing the button, navigation views will guide you through the setup of various effects. These views have a navigation bar with a title and two buttons on each side. The title summarizes the main function of the view; the buttons will take you to the previous view (Back), next view (Next), or exit the process (Done). The first view is a table titled "List of Available Effects". Multiple effect selections can be made from this table. When an effect is selected, a check mark will appear on the right side. Press on a selected effect again will unselect the effect, and the check mark will disappear. Currently, there are five available effects. They are Scene Title, Play Hints, Background Sound, Token Modification, and Randomize Items. Each effect has its own configuration panel, and it will appear in sequence when you press the "Next" button if the effect is selected. The paragraphs below describes each panel in detail.
The Scene Title Definition view will appear only if "Scene Title" effect was selected. There are four entries for defining the scene title, and they are Scene Title Text, Font Type, Font Style, and Font Size. The Scene Title Text Entry is a text entry box. Select it and enter the title. If the text entered is longer than the scene title bar can accomModate, it will be clipped. One way to avoid this problem is to adjust the font size to get a better fit. The font for the scene title is defined by the three font parameter pickers, Font Type, Font Style, and Font Size. Scroll the picker to the desired selections, and they will be applied to the scene title (see screenshot).
The Play Hints Definition view will appear only if the "Play Hints" was selected. There are four entries for defining the play hints, and they are Play Hints Text, Font Type, Font Style, and Font Size. The play hints text entry is a text entry box. Select the text entry and enter the play hints. If the text entered is longer than the play hints bar can accommodate, it will be clipped. You can also adjust the font size to avoid this issue. The font for the play hints is also defined by the three font parameter pickers which are Font Type, Font Style, and Font Size. Scroll the picker to the desired selections, and they will be applied to the play hints. (see screenshot).
The Background Sound Definition panel will appear only if "Background Sound" effect was selected. This panel contains a list of audio files, five buttons to adding audio files, three checkboxes and three radio buttons at bottom for audio file usage (see screenshot). The list of audio files displays all audio files used to generate sound for the subject item. The sound files will be played based on the usage selection at bottom of the panel. Sequential will cycle through the list in sequence. Random will randomly pick a file from the list. Item Value will use item's value as an index selection from the file list. Each line of sound file has a red x button on the right that can be pressed to delete the sound file. The three checkboxes below the List of Audio Files provides additional parameter to the sound play. Checking the "Stop At Next Scene" checkbox, will stop playing the sound files when the scene changes. Otherwise it will continue playing the sound at the new scene. Checking the "Stop Existing Sound" checkbox will stop all existing playing sound and immediately playing this new sound. Otherwise, it will just add this new sound to the playing sound queue. Checking the "loop" checkbox, will loop back to the beginning of the sound list when it finishes all the audio files. Otherwise, it will stop playing sound. A sound file can be added to the list of audio responses from five different sources, device audio library, device recording, device file exchange, download from internet, or Acework sound library. Just press the button under "Add Audio File" on the right side of the panel, and a new panel will guide you through the process. The paragraphs below will describe in detail how each panel for adding audio file works.
The Import Device Audio Library panel will show up when the "Library" button is pressed. First it shows a list on how your music library is organized, select "Songs" from this list. Then it lists all the audio files on the device with a plus button on the right. Scroll to the desired sound, and press the plus button will exit this view and add the sound to the list of audio files in the "Setup Responding Sound" panel (see screenshot). This file import process will work only if the audio file in the device audio library has compatible format with eWonders application. If the audio file format is not compatible with eWonders application, an error message stating "Cannot Import Audio File" will pop-up at the end of the importing operation. The current version of eWonders accepts "mp3", "m4a", "aif", "caf", and "wav" audio file format.
The Record Sound panel will appear when the "Record" button is pressed. It contains a graphic view of recorded sound, three recording control buttons, a file name entry box, and an "Add" button for adding the sound file to the list of audio files (see screenshot). Press the "Record" button to record sound into a file. The recording process can be viewed on the sound graph, and you can use it to check the volume of the recording. Press the "Stop" button to stop the recording. The maximum recording time is 2 minutes, and the recording process will stop automatically when reaching 2 minutes. The recorded sound can be played back using the "Play" button, and the play back process can be stopped by pressing the "Stop" button. Every time the recorded button is pressed, it overwrites the previous recording. When a recording has been successfully completed, it can be saved to a file and added to the list of audio files. Enter a filename and press Add. This will exit this panel and return back to "Setup Responding Sound" panel. Always save the recorded sound to an audio file when a satisfactory recording has been achieved. You can always delete excess recorded files later.
The Import Sound from Shared Local Files panel will appear when the "File" is pressed. It contains a picker with three action buttons on the bottom which are Delete, Play, and Add. (see screenshot). You can use "File" app from Apple to copy sound files from various sources to On My iPad (iPhone)/eWonders/Sound folder. The files copied into this folder will appear on the picker in the panel. You can then use "Play" button to play the sound, "Delete" button to delete this file, or "Add" button to add this file to the list of Audio Files in the "Setup Responding Sound" panel. When you finished adding all the desired sound file, press the "Done" button on the upper left corner, this panel will exit and return back to "Setup Responding Sound" panel.
The Download Audio Files panel appear when the "Download" button is pressed. It contains an URL text entry, a mini-WEB viewer, four browsing control buttons, a file name entry box, a "Play" button for playing the sound file, and an "Add" button for adding the sound file to the list of audio files (see screenshot). The audio file downloading process is started by entering the URL in the URL text entry. Press the blue list button to view our recommended downloading sites. Press the magnify glass "Browse" button to use the URL entry for searching the WEB. The result of the search will be displayed in the mini-WEB viewer. Press the Left or Right arrows to browse backward or forward on the WEB viewer. Once an audio file is shown or linked on the WEB viewer, the speaker "Play" button will be enabled, and you can use it to play the sound file. After you find the desired sound file, use the red plus "Add" button to download the audio file. When the "Add" button is pressed, this panel will exit and return back to "Setup Responding Sound" panel. If this audio file is compatible with eWonders application, it will appear in the List of Audio Files.
The Get Acework Audio Files view panel appear when the "Acework" button is pressed. It contains a mini-WEB viewer with link to our web server for searching sound files. (see screenshot). You can search our archive of sound files using seven search parameters which are Name, Source, Count, Category, Subcategory, Description, and Keywords. You can enter partial text into the search parameters, and the search engine will find the best match for you. We recommend you use Name, Category, and Keywords as your primary search parameters. Without entering any parameter, the search engine will list all the audio files we have. After submiting the search parameters, the available sound files will be shown on a list with a speaker icon in front to play the sound and a select button in the end to add the file to the List of Audio Files. When you finished adding all the desired sound file, press the "Done" button on the upper left corner, this panel will exit and return back to "Setup Responding Sound" panel.
The Modification from Token Status view will appear only if "Token Effect Modification" effect was selected. It consists of four pickers, two Add buttons, a list of required token status, and a list of item state modification (see screenshot). Tokens are used to communicate among different scenes. This effect expands this capability by setting up initial state of various items based on the status of tokens. Consequently, a scene can have different appearance resulting from the performance of other scenes. For example, a scene can have a secret compartment that becomes visible only if a task is completed on another scene. As the player completes the task on the other scene, it will activate token 1. The secret compartment item is configured invisible initially. This effect will make the secret compartment item visible when token 1 status is activated. The panel for configuring this effect is divided into two sections. The top section consists of two pickers, an "Add" button, and a list of token status required to perform the modification. The first picker, Token, will display number 1-10 representing the ten global tokens. The second picker, Required Status, will display 10 possible token statuses. The Add button will combine settings from both pickers to create a requirement entry for the token status list. For example, scroll Token picker to 1 and Required Status picker to Active and press the Add button, a line of text stating "Token 1 - Active" will appear on the List of Token Status. This means token 1 must be active before modification can be performed. multiple token statuses can be added to the list, and thus create a complex set of requirements for performing the modification. The bottom section of this view also consists of two pickers, an Add button, and a list of item modifications to be performed at start of this scene. The first picker, Item, will display number of all the items currently placed on stage. The Item picker list has a "$V" selection which means using the value store in the last token to select the item. If the scene does not contain the item specified by the last token, then its associated modification will not take effect. For example, if the last token value is 1, then item 1 will execute all the modification associated with "$V" selection. The second picker, Modification, will display a list of possible states which can be changed on an item. The "Add" button will add a new entry to the list of modifications by combining selection from the Item and Modification pickers. For example, scroll Item picker to 3, Modification picker to "Show", and press the "Add" button. A line of text stating "Item 3 - Show" will appear on the List of Modifications. This means item 3 will show up on stage at start of this scene if the above token status is met. Multiple item modification entrie can be added to create intricate changes to a scene.
“Randomize Item” lets you change texts, values, or positions of a selected item randomly. This feature can add certain unpredictability and challenge to a Wonder. It will create different experience and outcome when the Wonder is replayed. It can also be used to build a game of chance. It is easy to add this fun and exciting effect to your Wonder by following the steps below. First, select value, text, or position to change. Next, add the items you want to randomize. Additional quantities can be added to expand the possibility of outcome by pressing the "Added Entries" button and enter the appropriate data. When completed, all the possible items and added entries to be randomized will be listed. The randomization process will mix and re-assign the data to each listed item uniquely. There will be no duplicated data assignment.
The Scene Effects Summary view is the last view of scene effects navigator. It lists all the effects defined for this scene (see screenshot).