2 opinions needed here please in Developer Help

ID:176805
 
Dec 8 2002, 10:56 pm
Well, for one, I was wondering how you guys would recommend doin a spawning system for different types of monster levels. Either:
A. One spawn process with a programmable variable that I would create different spawn types in map maker.
B. Multiple spawn processes for multiple spawn types, hard coding each one for specific areas of difficulty in the world.
C. Your idea here heh heh.

Also - the same kinda thing with monster variations that merely are palette swaps or RGB modified. Should they be map maker - programmed or hard coded? I am just really diggin the power of map maker, but I don't want to rely on that over code, cause really, I see how I could code SO many variables into an atom on map maker. Opinons needed :-)

Thanks!
Hepitank
#1 Dec 9 2002, 9:05 am
Hepitank wrote:
Well, for one, I was wondering how you guys would recommend doin a spawning system for different types of monster levels. Either:
A. One spawn process with a programmable variable that I would create different spawn types in map maker.
B. Multiple spawn processes for multiple spawn types, hard coding each one for specific areas of difficulty in the world.
C. Your idea here heh heh.

By "map maker" do you mean a terrain generator of some kind, or the built-in DM map editor? If the latter, I don't see how you could use any kind of programmatic process to change that.

My preferred approach would be a cross between A and B. The spawn process should be a single process with vars that change by area. I've actually posted a few possibilities on the subject before (probably 2 or 3 different semi-viable systems, if you want to look up "spawn author:lummoxjr" on the forums, minus the quotes).

The one I did that seems the most suitable would be to use areas to keep track of what kinds of monsters should spawn where, but have the same spawn proc responsible for setting up the random encounters. (If your battle engine is meant to deal with free-roaming monsters instead of random encounters, this can still be modified.)

Also - the same kinda thing with monster variations that merely are palette swaps or RGB modified. Should they be map maker - programmed or hard coded? I am just really diggin the power of map maker, but I don't want to rely on that over code, cause really, I see how I could code SO many variables into an atom on map maker. Opinons needed :-)

Well, my answer here depends on what you really mean by map maker. From this I infer that it's a program, and it's not DM's editor.

However, my rule of thumb is this: Never hard-code anything you don't have to. Monster color variations might use hard-coded icons (that is, you do the red, blue, yellow versions, etc. in advance instead of calculating palette swap at runtime), but how they appear on the map is best left to more dynamic means.

Lummox JR
#2 Dec 9 2002, 11:05 am
In response to Lummox JR (#1)
By "map maker" do you mean a terrain generator of some kind, or the built-in DM map editor? If the latter, I don't see how you could use any kind of programmatic process to change that.

I think he's referring mainly to the instance editor in the map maker. Basically, he's not sure whether to have different monster types be different classes, or be the same class with tweaks made to variables directly on the map.

-AbyssDragon
#3 Dec 9 2002, 11:15 am
In response to AbyssDragon (#2)
AbyssDragon wrote:
By "map maker" do you mean a terrain generator of some kind, or the built-in DM map editor? If the latter, I don't see how you could use any kind of programmatic process to change that.

I think he's referring mainly to the instance editor in the map maker. Basically, he's not sure whether to have different monster types be different classes, or be the same class with tweaks made to variables directly on the map.

In that case I'd go with the same class with tweaked vars.
The way I'd probably do it would be something like this:
mob/monster
  var/difficulty=0     // 0 for the base type, 1 for harder, then 2, 3, etc.

  New()
    ..()
    var/color=monstercolor[difficulty+1]  // color name, like "red"
    name="[color] [name]"
    icon_state="[color] [icon_state]"
    if(difficulty)
      maxhp*=2**difficulty  // just an example
      hp=maxhp
      strength+=difficulty*2
      agility+=difficulty*2

The only problem is, doing a lot of this at runtime could make map placement a little weird, since I don't think icon_state could then be reasonably set to a non-default value in the editor. It needs work I guess.

Lummox JR
#4 Dec 9 2002, 12:52 pm
In response to Lummox JR (#3)
Yep that's what I figured the opinion would be - better to tweak than hardcode! Yeah, I meant the DM built in map maker. My monsters have the same variables as players, so a lot of their skills are calculated off main attributes, but that's easy to tweak. I might make some overlays for say - a Lumag Servant versus a Lumag Chieftan who uses magic. Spawning I see the combination idea. I shall do a search for the Lummox text :-D

Thanks fellas
Hepitank