Asha_LaPoe's site

Help me Reinvent how we use Armor.

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:00:51 +0000

Currently each piece of armor must have its own .dmi file right?
Helmet.dmi, Chest.dmi, Boots.dmi

This is so they can have icon_states that act along with the Player Icon.
"Fighting", "Climbing", "RidingMount"

Rather than have a dmi file for each of your 9 types of armor, not including if you make more than one style of each,
What if our player icon never changes its icon_state?

Freeze my legs before I ride a mount, so only the Horse's legs move.

  var/icon/I = new(src.icon,"",frame=1) // Frame 1 of icon's animation has it standing still.
  usr.icon = I

Keep me facing North when I climb, no mater the direction i go.

  var/icon/I = new(usr.icon,"",dir = NORTH) 
  usr.icon = I

Step me forward, extending my foot and arm for a moment as I attack.

  var/icon/I = new(usr.icon,,frame=2) // frame #2 has my leg and arm stepping out.
  I.Shift(src.dir,2) // Moves me 2 pixels toward my target. 
  usr.icon = I

This way I never change a player's icon_state.
So Armor icons may now have a single icon_state.
And I can use icon_states to name each of my armor pieces in one dmi.file
(Armor.dmi)

The Problem: I can't get Armor overlays to react the same way the player icon does in the 3 examples above.
It works if you use blend() to glue armor to the player icon but you can't remove armor after that.
Any ideas on a solution or a workaround would be appreciated.
Or are we all doomed to have a collection of dmi files a mile long?

Grids: Has any game used them?

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:53:17 +0000

Before I spend any more time racking my brain on how to use Grids
to arange items in Inventory and such, I want to know if it is worth it.

- How does it look?
- Is it more work than it's worth?
- If a player doesn't know how to just scroll down their Inventory list,
do i really want them playing my game anyway?

Games like WoW and Everquest have sweet looking inventories,
with a character (or icon) in the center and slots for helmet, gloves, and boots.
I want That!

Should i spend my time on HTML to make this display instead?
What do ya'll think??

<^> Asha_LaPoe
Obekka Games

North is not just a direction anymore

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:16:15 +0000

I had an idea that worked well in my new game.

Problem: When a player breaks into a car the car door must change to open (change the icon_state right?). Also nobody can steal from that car again for X minutes (if icon_state == "brokeninto"... usr << "you can't!" ok?)

In this way i either needed a new dmi file for Every color of car door; then 1 state for closed, another for opened. OR i needed a new If() statement for each car to connect to the exact iconstate in 1 dmi file.

Solution: Use icon's direction instead of it's state!
Every icon's NORTH is the open car door, South is closed. This way you can have 1 cardoors.dmi filled with icon_states like; bluecar, redcar... and just 1 code changing the door from open to closed no mater what color door!

With 12 color cars, and 4 positions for each car this brakethrough saved me loads, LOADS of overhead and i wanted to share. :-)

 

obj/car/Click()
   if(src.safety == "safe")     // If car's not already stolen
      if(src in view (1))
         if(A >= 5)            // There is also a chance of failure
            src.safety = "stolen"    // now status=stolen
            src.dir = NORTH     // door icon looks open, no mater what the icon_state is. 
            usr.cash += (C)     // random cash
            usr << "<FONT COLOR=green>You steal [C] dollars from the car!"
            sleep(200)      // unstealable for this long...
            src.dir = SOUTH     // now door looks closed
            src.safety = "safe"     // now status = stealable

(P.S. I know i could simply make it check if the door is closed, and keep players from stealing from open doors but i left it like this for further alterations)

P.P.S. it's late as i'm writing this so if anyone doesn't know what i mean feel free to ask. :-)

Don't Pick up what u Already Have...

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:41:24 +0000

I've got a code allowing players to pick up any item they are close enough to reach,

obj/items/Click(N)
   if(N in view (1))
      loc = usr
   else
      usr << "<B><FONT COLOR=red>You are too far away."
   ..()

I also made it so the mouse turns into a hand when it's over objects you can pick up.

Problem is, The hand effect occurs with items in my inventory too, and when i click items there it says, "you are too far away." I don't want to try and pick up items already in my inventory. (it would be nice to make use of clicking items in my inventory tho,)

Is there something like...

obj/items/Click(N)
   if(N in view (1))
      loc = usr
   if(N in src.contents)
      usr << "u already have that."
   else
      usr << "<B><FONT COLOR=red>You are too far away."
   ..()

If it's in ur inventory...A, if it's not...B. There's no [notin] huh? I see no form of !in or anything. <^>

Remote Controled Door(s)?

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:56:16 +0000

I'd like to create a clickable spot beside a door that opens it.

Even better, I'd like the switch to control the icon_state of say, 9 turfs nearby? That way i can make a sweet looking giant sliding sci-fi door.

any ideas on using Click() to select another turf or turfs and altering their icon_states?

<^> Asha_LaPoe