Idea: Room "map" plugin

[Hollister Man]

I don't know about the logistics (such as whether to actually interface it to the script/room files or whatever) but I was thinking about this earlier.  I often end up doodling out a map of my rooms to visualize them as I go. 

Wouldn't it make a great addition to create a plugin (since editor plugins are now posisble) that would allow this, even if it wasn't REALLY interfaced with the game.  In the best scenario, someone could even hook it up like in GoLive with webpages, so that if you move a connection in the editor, it will change the corresponding "newroom" statement in that room, and vice-versa.  Little "screenshots" that can be dragged about, like a story-web, etc.  You could even export the map for your walkthrough.

Now, this is gonna sound noob-ish, but I am not experienced enough in VB, or VC++, or any language for that matter, to make this work.  I couldn't even think of where to start. 

I just thought it might make a good "brain food" topic for someone to think about.

[stuh505]

i can see the usefulness of mapping out which rooms connect to each other for design purposes...but why would you want to take this off of scrap paper?  it seems thats the fasest way and i cant think of any benefit to having it go digital.

[Kweepa]

i cant think of any benefit to having it go digital.

That's like saying instead of typing a letter it's quicker to just write it down on paper.
Of course there are benefits.
- edits are easy
- keep the map with the game
- the map is always up to date
- change the room, and you change the little preview of the room
- automatically rearrange rooms without fiddling around in code

I think the best way to do this is probably to have enumerated exits like N, NE, E, SE..., UP, DOWN, then be able to drag the connections to corresponding snap points on the little room previews. In code, rather than using NewRoom(), call a new function such as LeaveRoom(MAPPER_DOWN), which refers to the map and calls the appropriate NewRoom function.

Alternatively, a connection could be set as automatic, which would trigger automatically when the player walked off the screen edge, and go N, E, S, or W appropriately. Hmm, I'm not sure that's possible.

Of course, NE doesn't have to correspond exactly to leaving in the north east direction. If a room has five doors in the upper wall, these could be W, NW, N, NE, E.

To position the character in the new room, coordinates could be set in the destination snap points.

(I was thinking about writing a graphic adventure engine before I realised how powerful AGS was.)

Shame I don't have time to work on this right now.

[stuh505]

That's like saying instead of typing a letter it's quicker to just write it down on paper.
Of course there are benefits.
- edits are easy
- keep the map with the game
- the map is always up to date
- change the room, and you change the little preview of the room
- automatically rearrange rooms without fiddling around in code

perhaps I don't understand.  it sounds like the idea is to write a complex graphical program that allows you to draw a picture of your rooms with arrows connecting them?

[Kweepa]

No, the idea is to write a simple graphical program that allows you to move around and connect icons representing your rooms.

[Dan2552]

not experienced enough in VB

are you saying VB plugins can be made  : if so can i have a template

[..]

sounds like a good idea, could be abit like the dialog editor thing

[Hollister Man]

There you go, that's exactly what I meant.  It might be possible (in my mind) to make each "newroom" instance individual (maybe using something like NewRoomEx(int room, int x, int y, str DoorName) and the mapper would ignore any newroom calls without it. 

Darn I wish we learned Visual C++ instead of simple object-oriented text C++.  Maybe someday I'll finish that class...

I think I heard of someone programming one in VB, I think the Dialog Editor is in VB, but not integrated as a plugin yet.

[ca0mgr]

Believe it or not, I've been working on something like this for a while. I'll upload it in an hour.

[Kweepa]

Very cool!

[ca0mgr]

Hmm, there's some kind of error when trying to modify my previous post. Apologies for starting another reply.

Hollister man, it's written in BlitzPlus (http://blitzbasic.com/Products/blitzplus.php), which is five thousand times easier to use than VB ever would be. You can find a demo here if you want to try it: http://blitzbasic.com/Products/demos.php

Currently, the version I have (called Roomer) allows you to load scene background and move them around. You can also link them together with a simple two click procedure. You can then easily see where the links are. You can also edit information about that scene such as what items are there, what you do there, etc.

It's basically a visual walkthrough. I'll post a demo in a bit, and you can give me feedback on what you want in it.

The dialogue editor plug-in is on hold. I never intended to plug it in, I only intend to write an import function using VB. It's difficult though. Veru difficult. If anyone wants to give me a hand, please visit this topic (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=12683.40) for the file format. Any help is much appreciated.

[edit: Ok, here's an early version. It may not be exactly what you're expecting, and I'm not sure if it's even useful to you. www.3030deathwar.co.uk/downloads/roomer.zip ]

Matt

[Hollister Man]

I'll have to download it!    Like the dialog editor, it's not quite as helpful if its not integrated, its really almost as much work as pen and paper (though not quite).  I haven't tried it yet, though.  Thanks ca0