tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post4606805428779779372..comments2023-06-12T03:26:53.884-07:00Comments on DwarvesH Development: Content intermissionDwarvesH Developmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15924524153610772335noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post-48430787343780549012011-05-25T03:14:10.083-07:002011-05-25T03:14:10.083-07:00Not necessarily. These script need to output somet...Not necessarily. These script need to output something, right? So all you need is to make them output a fairly simple XML file and a PNG file with the sprites. All you need to do then is run the editor, which will be unavoidable since it will be run once at game execution to make sure that the cache is up to date.<br /><br />Last time the subject of procedurally generated content came up, I found the idea intriguing but did not have the framework support to do anything about it. This time I want to try something, so stay tunned.<br /><br />As for generating the sprites procedurally, that would be extremely interesting, but I have no idea right now how one could tackle this subject. contributions are welcome :)!DwarvesH Developmenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15924524153610772335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post-25193154324890254062011-05-24T11:46:14.233-07:002011-05-24T11:46:14.233-07:00Fair enough.
Although you do preclude the possibi...Fair enough.<br /><br />Although you do preclude the possibility of some forms of user generated content this way. For example, if people wanted to write their own script to dynamically generate a bunch of fantasy trees (and heck, procedurally generate the sprites... that'd be fun) they could. With the editor, that'd be a little harder.JPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post-73826072781446538272011-05-24T05:29:58.980-07:002011-05-24T05:29:58.980-07:00Oh yeah, I forget one more very important reason. ...Oh yeah, I forget one more very important reason. DwarvesH actually has graphics. And while it may not seem like it, it already has a ton of tiles. These tiles can't be just dropped somewhere randomly and they will work. There are very specific requirements.<br /><br />But the responsibility of placing tiles in the right places is also handled by the editor. And it caches the results. Without it, you would need to manually edit large tilesheets every time you install a mod with graphics. And undo these changes once you uninstall it.<br /><br />But more on how to create mods in the next post.DwarvesH Developmenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15924524153610772335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post-83476167515288728972011-05-21T05:05:57.102-07:002011-05-21T05:05:57.102-07:00To JP:
The same reason I have turned down other s...To JP:<br /><br />The same reason I have turned down other solutions, like text files, databases, excel spreadsheets (and other ideas suggested to me by mostly IT background people or engineers): because it is not user friendly. I do not want you to install a database, use some difficult program or even edit text files. Once I have a successful launch, if people start using text editing exclusively I will encrypt data files. Not to force you to use my tool, but to save you the hassle of using primitive and cumbersome methods.<br /><br />As with my game, the experience the user will have is key, and this ideology is a core part of all the products, including the game, the editor, the site and the service (once they will be available). I am not one to cut corners at a GUI or something for the sake of my own convenience.<br /><br />Also, the editor can present to you data in a more human readable format and can cross reference data.<br /><br />Also, XML files are a temporary solution. Since the game changes so much right now, so does the data. XML is very resistant to change. But the files are very big. In the future I won't be able to afford hosting costs once mods will have several hundred of KiB or even a few MiB of XML files accompanied by a lot of PNG files. Sure, sticking them into a ZIP file will extend the maximum size of content packs a lot, but this is a band aid solution.<br /><br />Another thing that the tools will do is mod merging. You will be able to design a mod that only changes only a few properties of an object, without breaking compatibility with the game or any other mod that does not depend on that particular value of that property. This will be very hard to do in a text editor manually.DwarvesH Developmenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15924524153610772335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720114227451545666.post-82795228239426996542011-05-20T10:17:41.004-07:002011-05-20T10:17:41.004-07:00Thing thing I wonder about the editor views is why...Thing thing I wonder about the editor views is why? What advantage do they have over some format of text files?<br /><br />The don't look bad, but it seems like almost no matter how fancy you make them, modding would still be slower than directly editing a text file.<br /><br />Thoughts?JPnoreply@blogger.com