=======================================
 =======================================
 =          WarioWare DIY:             =
 =           Randomizing               =
 =======================================
 =======================================

 Author: Snap
 Version: 1.0
 Last update: 22-04-2010

 The original version of this FAQ can be found on:
     http://diy-wikihouse.wikispaces.com/In-depth+tutorial+-+Randomizing
 

 ================================================

 Microgames are small and don't have a lot of content in them, meaning it 
 doesn't take more than a few times playing to figure out what you have to
 do and what you can expect. These small games can have a serious disadvantage,
 they can quickly become repetitive and boring if the player always has to do
 the same thing without variation. Image if the solution to Mona's butterfly 
 game was always up or Asley's cash register game always had the same pricetag,
 after a few times they wouldn't be any fun to play anymore. When you create a
 game you'll want to make something that players will come back to, maybe 
 because it's addicting and fun or maybe because it's challenging and players 
 want to beat their highscore. Which is why you need to include some variation 
 in your game to spice things up a bit, make things slightly random.



 ==========================================
 1 -- An object with 2 random possibilities
 ==========================================
 
 This method is what is used to solve the much asked about Dojo #27 lesson, 
 based on what I've seen on the forums there are people that use it but don't 
 know how it works. For this you'll need 1 object with 1 AI:

    * AI1 
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Time is 1-1 & when Time is between 1-1 and 1-2 
    Action:
        Turn Switch ON
		
 The random time trigger works with an invisible switch, you set up the start
 and end time and somewhere between that the invisible switch will turn on and
 the trigger will be activated. In this case the start and end time are right
 next to each other, so there can only be two possibilities, the invisible
 switch will either turn on at 1-1 or at 1-2. So we check if the invisible
 random time switch turns on at Time 1-1, then we turn the Switch of the object
 ON, if not nothing will happen and it will stay OFF. So right from the start
 of the game you will get an object that will have it's switch either ON or 
 OFF randomly.


 Example: we have an object with 2 Art animations, one is red, the other is 
 blue. We want the Art of the object to be randomly chosen so that the game 
 will randomly start with a red or blue object.

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ArtRed, Set location
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Time is 1-1 & 
        When Time is between 1-1 and 1-2
    Action:
        Change Art to ArtBlue


 And there you go. A good method but still rather limited, sometimes you'll 
 want more than just two options.



 ================================================
 2 -- An object with up to 4 random possibilities
 ================================================

 This method will allow you to have up to four random options on a certain
 object. To do this you let an object start in an Area rather than a point,
 the object will spawn somewhere within that Area and depending on where the
 game places it we determine it's action. First there are a few things that
 you should know or that could prove helpful.
 
 - When selecting a location or an area, the border of the screen changes into
   a checkers board which you can use to your advantage to create nice equal 
   size Areas. When dragging the stylus to select an Area and pressing the L 
   button, the selection will adjust itself to the tiles of the checkers
   pattern. 
 - It's usually best to set the starting Area somewhere outside the screen.
 - You may have a problem when using larger objects which may, if you don't 
   select your Areas correctly, overlap multiple Areas and end up not so 
   random in the end. 
 - When you let an object start in an Area, the object may be larger than the
   Area, if that is the case, it is the center of the object that will spawn
   within the Area.


 Example: just like in the previous example we have an object with different 
 colors, only this time we have four, red, yellow, blue and green. For this 
 you'll need 1 object with 1 AI:

 --- IMAGE: http://i40.tinypic.com/24v4ls3.jpg ---

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ArtRed, Set location to Area (red rectangle on the
        top of the image)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area1 from the image)
    Action:
        change Art to ArtBlue & 
        (something)

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area2 from the image)
    Action:
        change Art to ArtYellow & 
        (something)

    * AI3
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area3 from the image)
    Action:
        change Art to ArtGreen & 
        (something)


 A Switch has only two possibilities, on or off, so instead we now use the Art
 of an object to determine which random possibility the object has become.
 What we've done is divide the top part of the screen in different sections of
 4 tiles wide and 2 high. We let the object start in somewhere in the big red
 rectangle and then we check in which section it actually spawned. If it starts
 in the first 4 squares we change it into blue, if it starts in the second set
 of 4 squares we change it to yellow and so on. If the object starts in the
 last 4 squares we do nothing and the object stays red. Also, if the object's
 Art is larger than 1 pixel, it is possible that it touches more than one
 section, depending on which check the game does first internally, you may
 get different results. You shouldn't worry too much about that, in the end
 you will end up with one out of four possibilities.

 We still have two AIs left, so if you want you can expand this to up to 6
 random possibilities, however they can't all have seperate Art. This could
 be useful if you want an object to move around using a random pattern or
 have certain possibilities animate and others not. A Koopa shell for example,
 you could have 4 different colors of shells with their Art on hold and another
 which is animated and flashing to make an invincible shell.

 Alright, this way we can create some more variation into games but it's still
 only limited to one object. What if you have multiple objects and you want to
 use a random one?



 ============================================================
 3 -- Using one of four objects based on a random possibility
 ============================================================

 3.1 Setting it up
 -----------------

 Example: lets say that you want to create a Mario game such as the 9-Volt
 games, Mario is standing on the screen and random enemies (Goombas, Koopas,
 Shyguys, ...) are coming from outside of the screen walking towards him. If
 we were to do this with the above method then we'd have to make each enemy a
 different animation on the object and there could only be one enemy on the
 screen at the same time. The problem is that each enemy may have multiple
 animations and perhaps we'd want more than just one enemy at the same time.
 So we'll have to make each enemy a seperate object and still be able to
 randomly send an enemy towards Mario so that in one game you get two Goombas,
 in another a Koopa and a Shyguy, in yet another a Koopa and a Goomba.
 To do this we'll use the above method but with multiple objects, a dummy
 object that will act as a Randomizer and the Swap function that will switch
 the position of two objects. Make the smallest object you can make and give it
 one animation with just 1 pixel somewhere in the middle. I always name this
 object Randomizer, this object will determine which random object to pick.

 --- IMAGE: http://i39.tinypic.com/17pi0j.jpg ---

 Look at this image, it's pretty much the same as the above situation only now
 there are multiple objects. The colored circles on the right side of the
 screen are our enemies, the pink S is the Shyguy, the cyan G is the Goomba,
 the orange K is the Koopa and the purple B is a Bomb-omb. For your own
 convenience, when you're not using an object on the screen, always move it
 outside of the screen, otherwise you'll have to change the Art to a blank
 animation and back again which will only complicate things when checking for
 collisions.


 Let's begin with our Randomizer object:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ..., Set location to Area (choose the red rectangle
        on the top of the image)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area1 from the image)
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Shyguy

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area2 from the image)
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Goomba

    * AI3
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area3 from the image)
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Koopa

    * AI4
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area4 from the image)
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Bomb-omb


 Next we set the AI for the enemies, lets start with the Shyguy:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ..., Set location to (somewhere outside of the screen)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose area1 from the image)
    Action:
        (something)


 Now the Goomba:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ..., Set location to (somewhere outside of the screen)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose area2 from the image)
    Action:
        (something)


 Do this for every enemy but set the correct Area for each one. So what does
 this do. We tell the Randomizer object to start somewhere in the large red
 rectangle, then we check in which of the four sections it actually spawned.
 Depending on the section we want to use a different enemy and since the
 Randomizer object has to be in control of four enemies we can't use its
 Switch. So what we do is we swap the positions of the Randomizer and the enemy
 we need. If the Randomizer were to spawn in area1, then we swap it's position
 with the Shyguy object, next the Shyguy will detect that it overlaps with
 area1, so we tell Shyguy to do something. The result of this microgame will
 be that one enemy will be randomly selected at the start of the game and do
 something.



 3.2 Finishing the example
 -------------------------

 Before moving on, let's expand on the above example a bit. So far one out of
 four enemies will randomly be chosen and do something. Look at the image, to
 turn this into a working game we need to add some things, for starters we've
 added the green ground and the red rectangle with the M which is Mario. We
 want Mario to jump when he's tapped and so avoid hitting the enemies, we also
 want random enemies walking towards him, sometimes more than one. Also when
 Mario has avoided an enemy and he exists the screen, we want to be able to
 use that enemy again.
 The Randomizer constantly has to keep trying to send new enemies. When an
 enemy is already on the screen it can't be chosen by the Randomizer, which
 is why we'll use the Switch of the enemies, when they're on the screen their
 Switch will be ON, when they're outside of the screen and can be used their
 Switch will be OFF.

 --- IMAGE: http://i39.tinypic.com/euo8yw.jpg ---

 First of all you'll need to change the Randomizer object, it needs an
 animation with multiple cells which we're going to use to determine when
 it has to try and send an enemy. Just copy the art of the first cell to the
 others so that it has 3 or 4 frames with 1 pixel. Now let's set the AI:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow, Set location to Area (choose the
        red rectangle on the top of the image)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area1 from the image) &
        Shyguy Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Shyguy

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area2 from the image) &
        Goomba Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Goomba

    * AI3
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area3 from the image) &
        Koopa Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Koopa

    * AI4
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area4 from the image) &
        Bomb-omb Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Bomb-omb

    * AI5
    -----
    Trigger:
        When ArtA finishes playing
    Action:
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow & 
        Travel Jump to location Area (red rectangle on the image)


 Everytime the animation of the Randomizer finishes playing, it will spawn
 somewhere in the large red rectangle on the top of the screen. If it spawns
 in a section and the Switch of the enemy representing that section is OFF
 (meaning it's outside of the screen and ready to be used), Swap positions
 with that enemy. This is another reason why you should place the enemies
 outside of the screen, otherwise the pixel of the Randomizer could appear
 somewhere on the screen. After the animation finishes playing the Randomizer
 will be moved back somewhere in the large red rectangle area.

 Now for the Shyguy:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ..., Set location to (somewhere outside of the screen)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose area1 from the image)
    Action:
        Travel Jump to location point (start location) & 
        Travel Move WEST & 
        Turn Switch ON

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose an area on the left outside of the screen)
    Action:
        Turn Switch OFF & 
        Stop Travel & 
        Travel Jump to (original location)


 The first AI will be activated when the enemy is supposed to appear and turn
 the Switch ON indicating that the object is currently in use. The second AI
 will reset the enemy back to it's original position and turn the Switch OFF
 so that it can be used again. Do this for every enemy except with their own
 Area in AI1. As a result there will be a constant stream of enemies walking
 towards Mario. The speed at which these enemies appear depends on the speed
 of the Randomizer animation.



 ========================
 4 -- Expanding even more
 ========================

 4.1 Four objects with each two possibilities
 --------------------------------------------

 So now we have four objects randomly being selected based on what a fifth
 dummy object is doing. Can we expand on that and make it even more random?
 We sure can. Lets keep working with the above example. We now have four
 different enemies that can each do something different, but what if we want
 to add a random possibility to each enemy. Let's take the Koopa for example,
 we could have a green Koopa that walks towards Mario or we could have a red
 winged Koopa who hops towards Mario. We still have free AI on our enemies so
 we can do that. The Koopa is represented by area3, 4 blocks wide and 2 blocks
 high, so how about we vertically cut that Area in half. We leave the
 Randomizer as it is, but we adjust and add another trigger to the Koopa AI:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ..., Set location to (somewhere outside of the screen)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose first two blocks of area3 from the image)
    Action:
        Set Art to (walking Koopa) & 
        Travel Jump to location point (start location) & 
        Travel Move WEST & 
        Turn Switch ON

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose last two blocks of area3 from the image)
    Action:
        Set Art to (winged Koopa) & 
        Travel Jump to location point (start location) & 
        Travel Move NORTH-WEST & 
        Travel Bounce & 
        Turn Switch ON

    * AI3
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose an area on the left outside of the screen)
    Action:
        Turn Switch OFF & 
        Stop Travel & 
        Travel Jump to (original location)


 So now we have two possible Koopa enemies, if you want you can do the same for
 all the enemies and then you'll have four objects with each two possibilities
 for a total of eight random possibilities. As you can see we still have 2 AI
 remaining so if you want you can add 2 more possibilities so that each object
 has four possibilities. In that case you have to cut the Area in four parts
 and check which one your object overlaps. However, you may need those AI for
 collision detection or changing art so before you go nuts and add all these
 random options, be sure that you have AI left to make the object do what you
 want it to do.



 4.2 Up to eight objects with each two possibilities
 ---------------------------------------------------

 And what if even four different objects with two possibilities is not enough?
 This will be a very rare situation because at this point you're probably going
 to get in trouble with the amount of points or objects you have left. I don't
 think I need to go into much detail here because it's exactly the same as we
 did before, only this time we add a second Randomizer object and give it its
 own Area to check, in the image below the blue rectangle. If if doesn't
 matter that enemies from both Randomizers appear at the same time, for example
 an Asteroids type game you can use a copy of the first Randomizer and change
 its areas. In our Mario example we don't want enemies appearing at the same
 time and right on top of each other so for this one we'll need an extra AI so
 the second Randomizer will only be able to use three objects. Lets add 3
 more enemies, Enemy5, Enemy6 and Enemy7. Set the animation speed of the
 second Randomizer to the same speed as the first and give it this AI:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ArtA on hold, Set location to (somewhere on the bottom of
        the screen, unused space)
		
    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Time is 1-3
    Action:
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow & 
        Travel Jump to location Area (choose the blue rectangle on the image)

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area5 from the image) & 
        Enemy5 Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Enemy5

    * AI3-4
    -----
     The same as Randomizer1 but with the new objects

    * AI5
    -----
    Trigger:
        When ArtA finishes playing
    Action:
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow & 
        Travel Jump to location Area (choose the blue rectangle on the image)
   

 --- IMAGE: http://i41.tinypic.com/5ju0hu.jpg ---

 This way, the second Randomizer will start playing after the first one, since
 they have the same animation speed, they will never Jump to their Area at the
 same time so the objects that depend on Randomizer1 and those depending on
 Randomizer2 will never start at the same time. So let's say that we add some
 more enemies, Enemy5, Enemy6 and Enemy7 and then play the game, this is a
 possible outcome:

   1. Randomizer1 will spawn inside the red rectangle, in area1
   2. Randomizer2 will spawn somewhere outside of the blue rectangle
   3. Shyguy is moved to area1, Shyguy is moved to the starting point, its
      Switch turns ON and travels to the left
   4. Randomizer2 will be moved to somewhere inside the blue rectangle,
      in area6
   5. Enemy6 is moved to area6, Enemy6 is moved to the starting point, its
      Switch turns ON and travels to the left
   6. Shyguy touches the left side of the screen, Shyguy is moved back to it's
      original position, Switch is turned OFF
   7. Randomizer1 will be moved to somewhere inside the red rectangle, in the
      right half of area3
   8. Koopa is moved to area3, Koopa checks the area, winged Koopa has to be
      used, Koopa is moved to the starting point, its Switch turns ON and
      starts bouncing to the left
   9. Randomizer2 will be moved to somewhere inside the blue rectangle,
      in area6
  10. Enemy6 Switch is ON, meaning it is already on the screen,
      nothing happens
  11. ...



 4.3 Up to 33 completely random possibilities!
 ---------------------------------------------

 This is where it gets really fun. One last problem we have in the previous
 example is that it constantly switches between objects from Randomizer1 and
 Randomizer2. As the icing on the cake we want even that to be randomized, for
 that we'll need an extra object because we're going to make a Randomizer
 for ... our Randomizers. Make another dummy object, give it an animation with
 1 pixel like you did for the previous Randomizer, lets name the object
 RandomPar (Randomizer Parent, I'll explain later). First take a look at
 this image:

 --- IMAGE: http://i42.tinypic.com/2emig5k.jpg ---

 We'll be using this structure to set up a scenario where we can have up to 17
 random possibilities. If you've chosen to give each object four options, then
 1-1 and 1-2 are actually divided into 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4, and the same for
 the rest. In that case you can have 33 possibilities. Lets start with the
 AI of RandomPar:

    * Start
    -------
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow, Set location to Area (somewhere
        inside the green rectangle)

    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose the top part of the green rectangle, R1)
    Action:
        Turn Switch ON

    * AI2
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Overlaps Area (choose the bottom part of the green rectangle, R2)
    Action:
        Turn Switch OFF

    * AI3
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Art finishes playing
    Action:
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow & 
        Travel Jump to location Area (somewhere inside the green rectangle)


 R1 represents the red rectangle (Switch ON) and R2 represents the blue
 rectangle (Switch OFF).

 Next let's make some changes to Randomizer1 and Randomizer2, here's the
 example for 1:

    * AI1
    -----
    Trigger:
        When Touches Area (choose area1 from the screenshot) & 
        RandomPar Switch is ON & 
        Shyguy Switch is OFF
    Action:
        Travel Swap with Shyguy

    * AI2-4
    -------
     Repeat for the other enemies

    * AI5
    -----
    Trigger:
        When ArtA finishes playing
    Action:
        Set Art to ArtA play once speed slow & 
        Travel Jump to location Area (choose the red rectangle on the image)


 We've added a trigger that checks if the RandomPar Switch is ON. Do this for
 AI2, 3 and 4 as well. Randomizer1 will still continue to Jump to a different
 position within the red rectangle every time its animation finished playing,
 but if the RandomPar Switch is OFF, nothing will happen. Also you probably
 noticed that the red rectangle is now larger than before, it has a third row,
 if Randomizer1 end up in the third row then nothing will happen either, which
 is the 17th possibility. Now do the same thing for Randomizer2 but make the
 trigger check for RandomPar Switch is OFF. All our other objects remain
 the same.

 This is pretty much the maximum amount of randomness you can achieve in this
 game, ofcourse you could keep expanding on this but you just don't have enough
 points or objects to do so. So let's take a look at the amount of randomness
 we've created.

    * First up is RandomPar in the green rectangle, based on it's outcome
      there's a 50/50 chance of getting either Randomizer1 (red) or
      Randomizer2 (blue)
    * Next the Randomizer in it's own rectangle, here we have a 1/3 chance that
      the result will do nothing and a 2/3 chance that it will activate 
      an object
    * There's a 1/6 chance that it will pick a certain object
    * When a certain object has been picked, it may be available or it may
      already be in use, again a 50/50 chance
    * When the object is not in use, an object may still have different modes
      (walking Koopa and winged Koopa for example), again a 50/50 chance.
      If you've given your object three or four possibilities then you should
      have a 1-3 and 1-4 and so on as well, in that case there's a 33,33% or
      25% chance of getting a certain possibility

 As you can see, 17 or even up to 33 possibilities is quite a lot of randomness
 for a game that doesn't last more than a few seconds. It will take a player
 several games before he has seen everything your game has to offer and many
 many more before he has seen every possible combination. The way the areas
 are set up in the above examples were chosen for the convenience of explaining
 things. You can set up these areas any way you like, if you want one object to
 be rare and another common, you can make certain areas bigger and others
 smaller to change the odds, it's entirely up to you.



 =============================
 5 -- Some further explanation
 =============================

 DIY may be a simple game creating tool which tries to keep things as simple as
 possible for the user but what we have created here is actually something that
 is used in pretty much every game or often programming in general. What we've
 made here is a fairly simple Parent-Child structure, also known as a Tree
 structure.
 A Tree structure is called that because just like an actual tree, it has a
 core and it constantly splits up into smaller parts after that. A tree has a
 trunk which splits up into several branches, which split up in several twigs
 which split up in several leaves which each have veins that keep splitting up
 as well. Everything you do to the trunk will happen to the rest of the tree as
 well, if you move the trunk the rest will move with it, if you break off a
 twig the leaves attached to it will come off along with the twig. Everything
 is connected and everything depends on the part before it.
 In our structure RandomPar is the trunk of the tree, it has two branches
 Randomizer1 and Randomizer2 which each have 4 twigs, objects 1-4 and
 objects 5-8, which each have up to 4 leaves, up to 4 possibilities per object.
 A Tree structure is incredibly useful in programming and as you can see, even
 in DIY where there are so many limits, the Tree structure has allowed us to
 create a large amount of possibilities while still keeping everything
 connected.