Many of the events that happen throughout SOMA are triggered sequences - a sound plays, then the player's FoV changes, then a light starts flashing etc. etc. We control all of those through a set of wrappers we call Sequences, which hide a bunch of timers away and make things easier to read.

For each sequence you need a map property to store the state - a cSequenceStatesData� property e.g.

cSequenceStatesData mSequenceAlert;

Then you create a sequence function. This will be repeatedly called until the whole sequence is over. It looks something like this:

void Sequence_Alert(const tString& in asName)
{
    Sequence_Begin("Sequence_Alert", mSequenceAlert);�
    
    if(Sequence_DoStepAndWait(1.0f))  // Do this step and then wait for 1 second
    {
        MakeALoudNoise();
    }
    else if (Sequence_DoStepAndWait(2.5f)) // Do this and then wait for 2.5 seconds
    {
        FlashABrightLight();
    }
    else if (Sequence_DoStepAndPause()) // Do this and then pause until told otherwise
    {
        SaySomethingAndCallBack("OnSayingSomethingComplete");
    }
    else if (Sequence_DoStepAndWait(10.0f)) // Do this and then wait for 10s
    {
        CrushPlayerLikeAnAnt();
    }
    else if (Sequence_DoStepAndContinue()) // Do this and go on to the next step (in this case there isn't one)
    {
        ApologiseToPlayer();
    }
    
    Sequence_End();
}

void OnSayingSomethingComplete()
{
    // Saying something is now complete - poke the sequence to continue processing
    SequenceStates_Resume("Sequence_Alert");
}

As you can see, Sequence_DoStepAndPause() in there actually pauses the whole sequence until some external event - in this case the callback from the voice playing code - calls SequenceStates_Resume() and asks it to continue.

To start the sequence, you just call the sequence function once with an empty argument when you want it to trigger e.g.

Sequence_Alert("");

no need to call it every frame or anything! Once started, timers will automatically make sure that the sequence steps get followed when they need to be.

We use this a lot, all the way through SOMA, sometimes running multiple sequences in parallel, as they're totally independent of each other. (Which is perfectly possible, but can get very confusing - we really wouldn't recommend it, it more grew out of level complexity than anything else!)

=== Sequence_BeginMark the start of a sequence block.

Mark the end of the current sequence block. === Sequence_StopStop the current sequence immediately (sort of like an abort). === Sequence_DoStepAndWait ===Do the step within the following brackets and then wait for the specified time. === Sequence_DoStepWaitAndRepeat ===Do the step within the following brackets and then wait for the specified time; repeat for a number of iterations. === Sequence_DoStepAndContinueDo the step within the following brackets and then immediately carry on to the next step. === Sequence_DoStepAndPauseDo the step within the following brackets and then pause until Sequence_Resume is called. === Sequence_WaitJust wait for a set period of time (no step in brackets). === Sequence_PausePause the sequence until Sequence_Resume is called. === Sequence_SkipNextSteps ===Skip the specified number of sequence steps. === Sequence_SkipNextStepSkip the next sequence step. === SequenceStates_PausePause a specified sequence. === SequenceStates_ResumeResume the specified sequence. === SequenceStates_StopStop the specified sequence. === SequenceStates_IsActive ===Returns true is a particular sequence is active.