I see that this project has died as I have feared it would for a while.
Printable View
I see that this project has died as I have feared it would for a while.
wheres the download link???
I'm back guys and gals.
Check the Sentience thread in the Games and Graphics forum. :)
...errr....hi...
/glances round shiftily...
How do you place the pods? I have determined that the pod information is most likly stored in the bonus field, but I need to know more about it.
Also, how do you determine the road variation (or do you?)?
I will also need to know what the explored and traversed properties do. For that matter why don't you just explain what all the properties do?
I will need to also know what the limits are on size for the graphics engine, currently the minium size is 16, and the maxium size is 300.
Gaming,
The pods are done automatically. No need to worry about them. If you want to add them, however, then they're actually a building belonging to player 9.
In the buildings field it would say something similar to...
"91" Which would be player 9's first building.
That should be right, but I've not checked it in ages as the game handles it all automatically.
Wow. I never knew 1020 was the wrong way round. Good eyes Gaming!
I'll get that fixed for the next version and send you a new copy.
Not sure what you mean. Please elaborate.Quote:
Originally posted by Gaming_World
I will need to also know what the limits are on size for the graphics engine, currently the minium size is 16, and the maxium size is 300.
Road's are dealt with in game. Simply set it to true if it's a road. Sentience will do the rest.Quote:
Originally posted by Gaming_World
Also, how do you determine the road variation (or do you?)?
I will also need to know what the explored and traversed properties do. For that matter why don't you just explain what all the properties do?
Ok, here goes...
Type maptemp
Explored(7) As Boolean
*An array which determines whether this square has been explored (seen) by one of the players.
Land As Boolean
*Is it land? A throwback to the first iteration of the engine, but it's too much hassle to change the engine to improve it.
LandPic As Long
*DC of landpic. Don't fret.
offset As Byte
*Offset of the graphic to use
Road As Boolean
*Does it have a road on it?
Building As String
*Contains the details of building on the square e.g. "316" is player 3's 16th building
unit As String
*Contains the details of unit on the square e.g. "2198" is player 2's 198th unit
Type As Byte
*The type of square (forest, dirt etc)
stdres As StdResTemp
*The resources on the square. I can pass you random resource generator if you wish
MainLand As Boolean
*If the land is a coastline or not. Can't remember why this is here. Ah yes, for performance issues.
IEB As String
*The Ian Encoded Binary identifier of the square. The number 1 followed by the breakdown of the square. "1777" is a mainland square.
Damage As Byte
*How much of a battering a square as had. This allows the terrain to get cratered when there's firefights.
Bonus As Byte
*A new addition. Can't remember what it does. I'll get back to you.
Traversed(8) As Single
*How many times the sqaare has been walked on by players. This helps the AI determing the best places to put mines and roads.
End Type
There we! :)
Any questions?
Afief,
The problem with the transparancy is that the mask is created automatically. All the game has to go off is the initial picture. If I start providing the game with the image and two masks then it will massively increase the size of the game.
Also, the edges of the images shouldn't be semitransparant anyway as it looks a bit daft. The background may be any colour (if it's on mountain or sea) and this will make the edges look a bit odd.
At the moment, all images have a white border due to the anti-aliasing affect on the images. I think we need to get rid of this rather than coming up with something that makes them semi transparent...
With the roads, I will need to know which variation to display, although it is not critical it makes it look kinda odd, I currently display the full circle of roads (bottom-right).
As for the damage, I currently draw a more damaged version the higher the byte, is this correct? I am using the scorched earth images.
I don't need to random resource generator, as long as I have the limits for the amounts I can write my own.
As for the buildings and units, I think that it would be a nice feature to allow people to place them on the map, the same goes for the pods.
Does the game's graphic engine have any limits to the sizes of the maps it can display, such as a minium or maxium size which will properly display (such as smaller then the screen).
I probably woun't deal with the travesed property, but I will set the explored property.
I will also need to know how you wish to save/load the maps so I can write the saving routines.
As for the formatting code you sent me, it works great (except for the changes in variation it causes). I have also modified it to work on single tiles, although to prevent a lot of variation modification it doesn't correctly format mountains.
Wasn't this based on your suggestion to have bonus resource nodes - eg a goldmine?Quote:
Originally posted by Arbiter
Bonus As Byte
*A new addition. Can't remember what it does. I'll get back to you.
Gaming - Theoretically we can provide the algorithm for road placement, but its probably overkill for a map generator - no point making things more complex than they need to be - all map squares are formatted in-game
I do like your unit/building/scarred earth placement idea though, but I feel it conflicts with our current framework. It might be necessary to store player/building/unit data along with the map which could potentially increase the map size dramatically (there's no formalised unit capping yet)
Ben - There may not be a simple solution to the anti-aliasing problem...
Gaming - It's probably safer not to mess with traversed - there will be no obvious difference with the map until the AI starts to play, and then the computer will act very strangely.
We can work on the roads later - it's not too important right now.
Damage is correct.
The limits are in a text file somewhere, but it's ugly as hell. One of the first things I wrote three years ago when I was just figuring out how to use vb. I'll try and dig out the routines.
If you want to place pods, you can, they go in as a building. What's in the pods is allocated randomly by the game.
Yeah, the game will crash if a map smaller than the screen size is selected. This is variable depending on the res, I don't have any figures for this at the mo. The smallest used to be 50x50 but then I added 1600x1200 res and that cocked things up.
You won't need to fiddle with traversed, but you can tinker with explored as much as you like.
I'll mail you the save routines. They're dead simple.
I'm glad you're making headway with it. Feel free to mail me what you have so I can have a play. :)
Behemoth,
I think you're right, it was for bonus resource clumps.
Buildings/Units/Damage is already stored to some degree with the map. I think the way to go is to make a map file a savegame file (and just give it a different extension and hope no-one notices... ;) ). Should save a few changes.
And if there is a solution to the anti-aliasing problem, I'm confident Afief can find it. :)
I'll try to rember to send the editor when I get home later today.
To generate the masks, you use the colors of the image, correct? If this is correct, you could just increase the tololance of the routain (so that it doesn't have to be a perfect white or whatever to make it transparent).
Gaming,
It's tolerant now, but if we up the tolerance it starts making other bits transparent.
It's a tricky one this... ;)
I sent you the editor yesterday.
Sorry mate, been working away from home over the last few days.
I'll try and have a look this evening. :)
Gaming,
I've had a look at the editor - it's coming along nicely. Good stuff. :)
Do you still need some code from me, and if so, what are you after?
The save/load code and something else which I don't rember. I will check when I get home.
Ok, post up here with what you need and I'll make sure you have it as soon as I can.
We might need to amend the load / save code as more bits get added to the game.
Would it be possible to obtain a copy of your code for the map generator for my own records? Copyright would, of course, remain yours.
The other things which would be useful would be the unit/building types. Explations of the members of the types would be useful as well.
I shall send you the code as soon as a few more features are implemented (just some options for the interface).
Also, the strings which can be placed in game, how do you store that information?
Yikes! You want the unit/building types and explanations? Christ, they're huge. You'll need all the component types as well for every component (which the mechs are built from).Quote:
Originally posted by Gaming_World
The other things which would be useful would be the unit/building types. Explations of the members of the types would be useful as well.
I shall send you the code as soon as a few more features are implemented (just some options for the interface).
Also, the strings which can be placed in game, how do you store that information?
I think it's best not to include units for the time being... ;)
The building types I can do soon enough for you. :)
Which strings that are placed in-game? Do you mean the map notes? I'm not sure - I'll have to have a look.
right. I'm here.
Infiltration...
**** this.
It's just taken me 15 mins to get to this page 'cos these stupid ****ing adverts shag up the connection.
I can't work like this.
I've created a thread in Chat on galah.net. See you in there.
Gaming,
I think it would be best if you wrote your own map save and load routines and simply let me know what you've done. The save game files hold an awful lot more than the map and it would be wasted on just a map file. :)
Also, I still don't know what you mean by 'strings that may be placed in the game'...
I mean the map notes, and I know that I have said that before (the forums must have eaten my post).
Map notes - ok.
Well, the type is this:
and there are x number per playerCode:Type notestemp
X As Integer
Y As Integer
xoff As Byte
yoff As Byte
col As Single
text As String
bold As Boolean
italic As Boolean
underline As Boolean
size As Byte
End Type
such as
player(currplayer).notes(currnote)
You may save them how you like in the save game, as long as I get to know the file format - I'll sort the rest.
FYI, Sentience automatically adds the note for the landing site (such as 'Gaming's Landing' above your admin centre.).
PS - Was doing some testing on your map editor (I haven't forgotten about it) and I found that if you hold the mouse button down after placing a tile and move either above or to the left of the window (anything where x or y <0) you get a SOOR. Might want to trap that in the next release. :)
Oops, I didn't think to try that (it is prevented for the editor box).
What are the x- and y-off used for (aside from offseting on the x and y axises) ? The rest of them are fairly self-explanitory. I presume that you just store the long color value in the single named col (I'm not going to ask why you used a single).Quote:
VB Code:
Now that I think about it, why not just quickly explain all the values...
I also need the sentince Icon.
XOff and YOff are offsets along the x and y axis. ;)
X and Y are the square co-ordinates - XOFF and YOFF are the pixels in from the top left of that square.
Ergo xoff=20, yoff=20 would be the middle of a map square.
Yep the colour value is stored in that single. No idea why it's a single - must have been some reason or other. I'll have check.
PS - Unfortunately I don't have the icon, I'll see if I can get it off Behemoth.
PPS - It's SentIence. You keep missing the i... ;)
Forget the i. It isn't needed.
E!
What am I talking about?
It's the 'e' that keeps going astray!
You might want to correct it on the splash and title bar of the map creater... :)
Whichever letter it is I don't think that it is needed. But I will fix it to stop your pestoring...
Just so you know, progress on the editor will slow a little as I have not been in much of a programming mode recently (I will still contiune to work on it).
What do you use for the x- and y-offsets? Do you calculate the location they clicked ons offset?
Also, pressing the cancel note button on the create map note window gives an error (don't rember which).
For the notes, the xoff and yoff are where the note is placed when they clicked on the map.Quote:
Originally posted by Gaming_World
What do you use for the x- and y-offsets? Do you calculate the location they clicked ons offset?
Also, pressing the cancel note button on the create map note window gives an error (don't rember which).
If you right click in the middle of a square, the note will be placed in the middle.
I'll check out that error you mentioned, thanks. :)
Arby, can I get a copy of this game thing you guys have done?
Cheers