10 August, 2011

Alpha 8

I have been really busy writing code and implementing features I want (or some people have actually requested). The editor works much better and can do nearly everything now (except for Chances). In addition, there is now the possibility of skinning the application during execution. You can just write something like a style-sheet and have that applied like any other event. This has two consequences: One, people can now theme their games. Two, it is even possible to change colours and pictures during play. As a simple example: You can bathe the UI in a green jungle while the player is in the jungle, and then switch to a clean blue/white interface when they enter a space station. I think when used well, this will do wonders for immersion.

Lastly, I have nearly tripled the amount of demo game. The reason is simple: The editor makes writing it so much easier and comfortable, one can just type away without spending a ton of care on the XML-format. The (very significant) time spent on creating the editor seems to pay off. I believe I actually spent more time on the editor than on the engine itself.

Lastly, I fixed how folders behave. No longer do you have to bother with writing in the application directory (a hassle on Windows 7, a near-impossibility on OS-X), instead you can just freely chose your working folder.

Oh, and there is Save/Load functionality.

The download can be found at the usual spot:
http://www.wuala.com/Kdansky/StoryTellingEngine/

4 comments:

  1. CGuy4chan@hotmail.com18 August, 2011 00:05

    hey coder here, something you should take into consideration. In the gamebro engine they have something to track the progress of any quest, the result and how it was completed. Its called a quest stage. ex:
    1 Walk to the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester.
    2 Use the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester.
    3 Sit down on the couch in Doc Mitchell's living room.
    4 Quest finished Follow Doc Mitchell to the exit.

    the above shows the progress of the first quest in fallout new vegas. Now if you wanted multiple alternatives ex:

    101 Mrs. Hostetler wanted to live up to her end of the deal, and was relieved that Alice wanted to stay with them.
    102 -OR- Although saddened by Alice's escape, Mrs Hostetler lives up to the end of her deal.
    103 -OR- Alice attacks her family, killing her mother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is already in, though you have to wrap your mind around it: You write a stat like "Vigor Tester", and increase it by 1 for every step on the quest. When you finish it, you add a tag to it, which explains how it ended, such as "Tested" or "Rejected", which you can then query for in later actions.

    It is important to think of stats not just as stats, but as arbitrary counters of things and circumstances. I will add the possibility of hiding stats completely from the player at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CGuy4chan@hotmail.com18 August, 2011 04:52

    I guess the terminology turns me off to using stats in such a manner. No matter I can work with that. Let me say I like this system you're building very much. I'm trying to use it right now for this project I'm working on.

    Right now I can't get any of my actions to show up. Can you help me?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sure, just show me the XML of the action, and I can probably tell you what went wrong. Don't forget to have a look at the documentation.

    ReplyDelete