[SUGGESTION] Improved and flexible scaling system

[subspark]

I suggest an improved scaling system for walkable areas. AGS's image based system is flexible, lightweight and easy to use. An additional tool that honors these qualities would be ideal.

I believe a gradient solution would fit these criteria. Being able to add angled gradients to walkable areas and possibly regions (continuous lighting updates?) would be a great tool for both advanced users and beginners alike.

At the least, I would like to be able to reverse the scaling values of the continuous scaling feature so that arbitrary numbers between 5 & 100 can be used to create an easy downhill scaling effect. In this case, I also would suggest that the label of the scaling value fields be changed to something more appropriate, like: TopScalingLevel & BottomScalingLevel.

Cheers,
Sparky.

[Ryan Timothy B]

What you're suggesting there is a workaround, but definitely not efficient or super easy for all to understand.


Actually what would be really great, is a degree compass to select which angle the walkable area is.  That way you can scale the characters correctly for nonstandard perspectives.  You could technically also do a fish eye perspective, or other custom perspectives, with it as well by using two or more walkable areas.

You'd probably need a drop down list that has:
-Vertical Scaling
-Angled Scaling
and possibly even Horizontal Scaling, but I can't picture where that would be useful, at this moment.

[SSH]

Downhill areas can be more complex than that because if increasing Y means you are moving furtehr away from the camea then the up/down views also need to be flipped. See the Downhill module for example.

Any anyway, REAL AGS programmers would knock up a solution with ManualScaling in two minutes. 

[GarageGothic]

Sparks, two years ago I scripted a lightmap module and included gradient scaling upon your suggestion (here is the thread but unfortunately the link is dead and I have the original files on another computer). If you downloaded that module it should still work fine even if it never left beta.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Any anyway, REAL AGS programmers would knock up a solution with ManualScaling in two minutes.  

Lets see you do a custom direction of perspective in two minutes.  

You'd probably need to set two points on the background (within the walkable area) and define the scaling percentage at each point.  Then calculate from there.  That's the easiest way I can see it working, for both the module writer and user.

[Calin Leafshade]

Yes this can be scripted relatively easy.

I think we should try and keep that which can be easily scripted OUT of the AGS engine to keep it lightweight... If all these little things were implemented the editor would become ridiculous.

[subspark]

Sparks, two years ago I scripted a lightmap module and included gradient scaling upon your suggestion

Ahh of course! I remember now Garage. It's been a while since I checked back to see the progress on your module.

Actually what would be really great, is a degree compass to select which angle the walkable area is.

That's not a bad idea. But thinking about maximum flexibility at minimal technical setup I believe a built-in gradient tool for walkable areas (and possibly regions?) would mesh well with the current image-based system.

Yes this can be scripted relatively easy.

Agreed, there are enough workarounds for now, one of which I've already implemented to much content, however I strongly support the idea of a lightweight, easy to use gradient system as an all-round scaling solution for a future release. I've changed the name of my thread here to line up with what we've discussed.

Cheers,
Sparky.