Toggling audio clips based on Avatar Selection

[sathyap77231224]

I am newbie to Captivate and i am developing an e learning module in Captivate 2017

Use Case :

1st part : User selects an avatar (male/female). Based on the selection, for instance, if the user selects a male avatar, the training needs to continue with a male voice, similarly the training needs to continue with a female voice when user selects the female avatar. Though this can be achieved by having 2 set of slides with male and female audio and with GO TO action, is there a better way to do it.

2nd part: There are multiple lessons in the module and based on the initial selection of the avatar in the first lesson, the entire set of lessons need to progress with the avatar's voice.

Suggestion and help on resources will be appreciated.

[Lilybiri]

Hope you don't mind me starting by a few comments, be sure I'll try to answer your questions as well:

• You are a newbie, everyone starts as a newbie learning skills. But for any skill different from learning a tool like CP, it seems logical to start with basics. Think about preparing participation in a 'triathlon'? What you want to realize is participating to such a sports competition without any preparation. Have a look at this blog post where I summarized the challenges for newbies, subject of any basic training: https://elearning.adobe.com/2017/03/three-skills-acquire-captivate-newbies/
• Audio clips are pretty heavy compared with graphics. For your goal you would have to include both  type of audio clips (female and male) in the same file which will have consequences for the file size. You didn't mention which type of project you create: responsive or non-responsive. Especially if it is a responsive project meant also to be viewed on mobile devices, this could be a problem. 
• The choice for an avatar will have to be stored in a user variable (that is the beginning of more advanced CP). It is possible to transfer that choice to another course, by using Local Storage but that requires that the user is taking all courses on the same system and doesn't clear the browser cache. You didn't tell how the courses will be deployed: will you use a LMS? If yes, maybe the value of the variable can be retrieved from the LMS - will require some programming skill.

A short answer to your questions, I can explain more once I get details like mentioned above: type of project, LMS or not....

You don't need to create duplicate slides, that is a very old workflow. Since a while Captivate has multistate objects, and audio clips can be attached to states, will be an easier way just to change to the appropriate state, which can be done using the On Enter event of each slide triggering an advanced action.

I explained above the possibilities to exchange the value of that user variable between courses.

If you want to realize this project in an easy way and you have a LMS and want also mobile devices to be used, I would propose to create two courses for each module: a male and a female. Use the functionality of the LMS to point to the correct course. It can all be done in one course, but hope you understand the possibile issues?

[sathyap77231224]

Thanks much Lilybiri for a detailed reply and sharing your blog

i will try to answer your questions. I have been doing software simulations in CP for quite some time and now i am trying gamification. So, learning variables and Advanced actions.

1. It is not a responsive project

2. I will be deploying in a LMS.

3. I have defined an variable to store the choice of avatar and also triggering multistate object with advance actions, but the difficulty i am facing is On Enter i am not able to play the selected avatar voice track.

But i will try again with your suggestion of attaching the audio to slide states. 

Appreciate your reply!!!

[Lilybiri]

I was not talking about Slide states, but about a multistate object. Lot depends on another question: do you need to include Closed Captioning or not?

You can watch this interactive movie, where the second slide has an automatically building list, which is based on one multistate object. The audio playing when an item appear is attached to the state.

You can have an 'invisible' shape (alpha=0 and stroke=0) with two states: 'normal' and 'male' (you see I am feminist). Each state has just an audio clip attached to it. Use the On Enter event of the slide to change to the state 'male' if the value of the variable is set for that choice. No change needed for the female audio.

BTW have lot of use cases for advanced/shared actions on my blog. In this case you don't need a shared action at all. States are a big exception on the general rule that you should never reuse a name. You can use the same state names on each slide, which means you need only one Advanced action!  I would even do the same with the avatar: create a multistate object with both avatars, to avoid having to created duplicate advanced actions. Just some tips