What are you making? - TTLG Forums

demagogue on 15/10/2012 at 09:45

I don't know what Yakoob used, but in another context Jay Pettit used Labyrinth for plotting his FM and it looks great (see it (http://www.thieveshighway.net/?q=node/15) here), but it's for Linux. But he also says in that blog entry that (http://inkscape.org/download/?lang=en) Inkscape does the same thing, and it's for Windows.

Edit: BTW for what it's worth, since this is the "What are you Making?" thread, the most useful organizing tool for me making mods, or any project, is (http://www.abstractspoon.com/tdl_resources.html) ToDoList. I recommend it or something like it for everybody in this thread. It helps thinking through organizing big tasks, breaking them down into manageable pieces, & you feel good checking off steps.

Edit2: Oh, doing a little research, (http://taskcoach.org/) Task Coach is getting good reviews too. Hmm... looking at it more. It's getting mixed reviews, some people find it too complex, some think it's the best app ever.

Yakoob on 15/10/2012 at 23:57

Quote Posted by DDL

I like the node layout, incidentally: what are you using for that? I'm assuming from your descriptions that it's simply for you to visualise the connections in what you're writing, rather than an actual in-game editor, but either way, it looks nice.

*yes, I'm still DX editing. A man needs a hobby, right?

Nope, not just visualizer, it's my actual editor. I spent a few days looking at various graph libraries for C++/C#, WinForms drag/dropping tutorials, prototyping, until I realized - wtf am I wasting my time

(http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.html) yEd

It's a simple graph making program that exports to xml and allows to create node templates. Nodes have a label and hidden description text field. Are you thinking what I'm thinking :D ???

So I made a bunch of pre-made nodes with specific shapes/sizes and gave descriptions like "NodeType=speaker", "NodeType=response", "NodeType=script" etc. and gave them a main displayed label that acts as node contents. Then got myself a (http://code.google.com/p/pugixml/) PugiXML library for parsing, and within a day I had a robust, node-based conversation system for my game :D

Works like a charm so far, and this can totally be extended to other uses, like Unreal's Kismet for scripting. I've actually been considering providing a tutorial + source code on how to do all that.

Bakerman on 16/10/2012 at 08:05

Quote Posted by Yakoob

(http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.html) yEd

Bravo, sir. I do wish, though, that there were tools to just edit a very plain Graphviz-like graph format visually. The GraphML which YeD uses is just overkill for lots of things, though I guess XML libraries make it easier.

Yakoob on 16/10/2012 at 18:37

While it is overkill, it took me only like 2 hours to write a parser with PugiXML to extract just the data I needed. Not really that big of a deal, and I can always re-save it to my own format down the line.

EDIT: It also supports about 5 different formats too, including some really simple JSON-like ones. But I found they cut out some info I needed so just stuck to the full fledged XML for now

Zerker on 10/11/2012 at 16:49

Well, I finished creating (http://www.zerker.ca/zzone/2012/11/10/shadow-caster-maps/) isometric maps of Shadow Caster, much like my previous ROTT project. I'll probably take a break before the next map set.

Al_B on 10/11/2012 at 17:47

Nicely done. I remember getting frustrated with the game and plan to revisit it at some point. I suspect it hasn't aged well, however.

Zerker on 10/11/2012 at 22:10

No. It hasn't.

june gloom on 11/11/2012 at 00:40

Wait, isn't Shadow Caster that weird game Raven made before Heretic?

Sulphur on 11/11/2012 at 01:41

Yep. The one where you get to shapeshift and whatnot, in what looked like a slightly more advanced Wolfenstein engine. I got it off a friend's SoundBlaster AWE32 disc back in the day (which, incidentally, also bundled the best game of all time alongside it and started my first gaming obsession: Ultima VII), and it was... well, freaking weird. You can see bits of Heretic's genesis in there.

Yakoob on 11/11/2012 at 19:11

Small update on my end: after being the (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138568&highlight=motivation) ManOfUnfinishedProjects™ I have reached a new milestone in my current game: for the first time in years I have a completely playable "game" from the initial menu, through the basic mechanics, all the way to the end-game screen and back to menu. Yes, 95% of the content is missing and all art is just Arcanum placeholders, but... it's frekking playable! It's no longer about making it, it's now about expanding and polishing :D:D:D May not seem like much to all you dedicated and motivated people, but it's a big "step" in my indie/hobbiest gamemaker career.

Which brings me to my current challenging realization: planning writing is hard. I have all the backstory, world and characters set but the question is - how do I effectively communicate it to the player? I only have a few ways to present story (i.e. newspaper clip, a book, conversation, intro cinematic etc.) so how do I distribute and fit all this information in those few opportunities, while keeping logical progression and making it interesting? Challenges, challenges abound...

Also, I feel, the time to make my project official and recruit art/audio/writing help is looming near...