how to develop a scenario?
| Author | Topic: how to develop a scenario? |
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Apprentice
Member # 5546
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written Saturday, February 26 2005 05:59
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I know this is a question that has been asked time and again. But I need help on some specific questions. 1)Do I need to learn scripting? Or can simple scenarios be created without scripting? 2)How difficult is scripting? I know a decent amount of C++ (arrays, loops, pointers, functions classes, polymorphism,etc). Will I find it difficult to learn scripting for BOA? 3)Where should I begin? I found the tutorial that comes along with BOA a little too lengthy. Is there any other tutorial available? 4)How long does it take to (somewhat) finish the learning part? Thanx. Posts: 9 | Registered: Friday, February 25 2005 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Saturday, February 26 2005 06:47
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You need to learn some basic scripting to make a scenario. If you found the tutorial that comes with BoA too length, you may not have the patience for much of any tutorial. There are a few (I wrote an article, and there's the Cookbook). If you know any C, then BoA scripting should be relatively a piece of cake. Without any knowledge of any programming, I learned BoA scripting in a few months, but I think that could've been shortened to a couple of weeks if I knew anything about C first. One of the best ways to learn is to look at examples. VoDT is a simple, basic scenario that will show you most of what you need to know to start out. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5415
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written Sunday, February 27 2005 04:40
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Err, yeah... the tutorial that comes with the BoA editor documentation is so short it's nearly nonexistent. I really don't see how anyone who hopes to design scenarios could consider it too lengthy. It needed to be at least 10 times longer and actually cover scripting to some extent to be of much use. Posts: 62 | Registered: Thursday, January 20 2005 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Sunday, February 27 2005 13:45
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1) The BoA Editor Appendices are a much better tool once you know basic syntax 2) Playing around- that is, making a scenario that exists just so you can test what you know- is a terrific way to learn -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5546
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written Sunday, February 27 2005 21:20
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Thanx for the help. And the only reason I found the Editor documentation too lengthy was that I never actually read it completely.(I hope you understand what I mean) Plus, I wasn't (and still aren't) planning to learn scripting anytime soon due to terribly hectic schedules. I was just wondering if I could have a little fun with the editor without learning any coding right now. I'll try learning scripting in the summer vacations. Posts: 9 | Registered: Friday, February 25 2005 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Monday, February 28 2005 01:28
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You don't really need to read the editor docs at all; most of what you need to know you can learn by osmosis by opening up scenarios by other people and browsing through their scripts. (It's probably a good idea to read up on custom object scripting yourself, though, since scenario data scripts aren't very informative to look at.) As for the appendices, they're meant to be used as a reference, not memorised. You'll get a feel for the basic calls pretty quickly on your own, and the other calls are used uncommonly enough that they aren't worth memorising. And of course, you can use the map editor without knowing any scripting at all. The map editor is a bit of a pain in its own ways, though. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 01:29: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5289
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written Monday, February 28 2005 06:19
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quote:We are making a new "map editor" now. Please let us know when or to what you feel pain on "map editor". We may be able to ease part of them. And beginner designers, please let us know when and to what you feel difficulty on the original or 3D BoA Editor. We need wide spectrum of user's opinion to improve its user interface. [ Monday, February 28, 2005 08:45: Message edited by: Notus ] -------------------- Project: BoA Editor Remake on SourceForge.net supports "3D BoA Editor" (Mac and Win), and creates advanced BoA Editor. Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, December 14 2004 08:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Monday, February 28 2005 12:44
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Pain with the map editor: Difficulty in heights. Difficulty with walls. Pain switching between the three menus. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Monday, February 28 2005 12:47
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Ah yes, walls. Placing walls in BoA still annoys me a bit. I know exactly where I want them to go, but switching between the dozens of potential walls gets annoying after a while. Not of immediate concern, but eventually, a better wall-placement system would be nice (as Khoth's BetterEditor was moving towards, I think). -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5289
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written Monday, February 28 2005 18:18
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Thank you for straight answers. quote:Does this mean input method for heights, or hill formation with cliff terrain? quote: quote:As Khoth allowed us to equip his smart wall tool in our new editor, we'll implement it. Thanks, Khoth. quote:Does this mean switch between "floor" - "terrain" - "height" mode? The icon for this switch is not easy to understand. Though the shortcut for this switch is assigned to "space bar", the explanation is buried in the other documents. We plan to remove this switch itself adding independent tools. -------------------- Project: BoA Editor Remake on SourceForge.net supports "3D BoA Editor" (Mac and Win), and creates advanced BoA Editor. Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, December 14 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5415
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written Monday, February 28 2005 22:31
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Just off the top of my head, the editor needs: Tooltips for all those tiny buttons (you know, so a description of what it is pops up if you hover over it). I am only now after weeks of playing with it starting to get the hang of it. The option for placing items from the item and creature menus to be stickly and continue placing the same thing until you choose another tool... Or just a better selection process for those in general. They don't seem to be grouped logically (I'd love to have all the non-weapon, no value junk tools in one place, all the undead in the same area, and so forth), and the menus are a pain to scroll through. Posts: 62 | Registered: Thursday, January 20 2005 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 4202
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 01:34
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quote:Choosing among a large number of things with a mouse is always annoying, although menus are particularly bad. I'd like to be able to type the name instead (I'm a keyboard person). -------------------- Creator of the 3D Blades of Avernum Editor for Mac. Get it at Ingenious Isaac's Illusion, my web page. Better yet, get Battle for Wesnoth, a wonderful free TBS game. Posts: 192 | Registered: Sunday, April 4 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5289
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 02:09
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quote:Yes, popup hint will be implemented on each Tool Palette button. And we'll change tool icons to be easier to understand. quote:We plan to make a customizable palette, My Palette, for floor/terrain/item/creature. I showed Mac version, Windows version will have also almost the same appearance. Palette design plan 2 written February 21, 2005 12:00 PM by Notus This palette can hold selected objects in the order you set. It can switch several panels for another category. So, you can make a panel titled "All star undeads". Also you can import/export "My Collection" as a file to exchange it with other users. quote:On palette design plan2, floor/terrain/item/creature palette has a search function. When you enter the first several characters of the object name in the search field, it'll match the object. [ Tuesday, March 01, 2005 02:34: Message edited by: Notus ] -------------------- Project: BoA Editor Remake on SourceForge.net supports "3D BoA Editor" (Mac and Win), and creates advanced BoA Editor. Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, December 14 2004 08:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 02:12
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Also, I'd like to get a message when I place a monster where I can give it a script and personality. Maybe just pull up the monster info page upon placing the monsters. As for the problems with heights, it's too hard to individually adjust each space that you want to change heights and then add the graphics, etc. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 03:15
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Well, there's an auto-hills feature. It doesn't work very well except for relatively simple hills, though. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5289
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 03:57
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quote:Umm.., it is case by case. For example, when you add town NPCs, you won't need to add a script to them. I'll consider on it for any smart method. quote:3D mode is powerful, but surely sometimes it becomes difficult to select objective squares, when north-west side (upper screen) is lower than front part. We will add next method for height adjustment. 1) Select objective squares with selection tool. As the selection is maintained between 2D/3D mode, you can confirm it on both view. Moreover, selected squares is added/reduced by shift-click. 2) Switch to Height tool with clicking Height tool icon. 3) Increase/decrease height of selected squares by arrow keys. Each push of an arrow key increases/decreases the height of selected squares by one. Anyway, a dedicated height display may be useful like ordinary map, in which the altitude is displayed as color scale. I'll consider that this map style display is implementalbe or not. Thank you for suggestion. quote:Hill formation bores us most. We'll change it as follows. 1) Select squares to apply hill formation. You can select large area roughly including the target hill. The target hill is made by previous procedure. 2) Select one of the cliff terrain from terrain palette or "My palette". If no cliff terrain is selected, the editor applies the default type cliffs according to town/outdoor, surface/underground. 3) Push automatic hill button on the tool palette. The editor add appropriate cliff terrains to the appropriate square within selection automatically. Optional procedure 4) If you want to change a part of cliff terrains to another one, like snow-crowned mountains, select that squares. 5) Select one of the cliff terrain to change to. 6) Push automatic hill button. [Edit] We got a more obvious image of our new editor through this discussion. Thank you for helpful suggestions. And we'll hear your advice any time. If you feel some difficulty, or get some idea, please tell us. Discuss together how to resolve the difficulty or how to implement the idea. [ Tuesday, March 01, 2005 06:23: Message edited by: Notus ] -------------------- Project: BoA Editor Remake on SourceForge.net supports "3D BoA Editor" (Mac and Win), and creates advanced BoA Editor. Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, December 14 2004 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5512
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 12:50
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Another thing to add - the rectangle paint seclections - i can never remember where i selected the top corner. Something that highlights the squares selected would be nice -------------------- Gir! What did you do with the Guidance chip? I took it out to make room for the CUPCAKE!!!!! Posts: 30 | Registered: Thursday, February 17 2005 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5289
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written Tuesday, March 1 2005 22:16
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The drawing method for the rectangle tool will be changed to that of ordinary drawing application. That is, a bound rectangle is actually drawn along with mouse movement by thin line. In 3D mode, a diamond shape is drawn. However, we know that the current method in which two diagonal corner points are selected has also several advantage. So, we may implement both methods so that user can select one of them from preference setting dialog. Certainly, some visual feedback indicating the start corner is desirable on current method as you suggest. We'll try to implement it. Thank you for suggestion ;) -------------------- Project: BoA Editor Remake on SourceForge.net supports "3D BoA Editor" (Mac and Win), and creates advanced BoA Editor. Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, December 14 2004 08:00 |