Adventure Creator original thread

[Super]

Oh, Did I write Luke as a jerk? He wasn't supposed to be. Oh well, that's more or less why I wanted to know how I was writing them.

[Wolfschadowe]

Oh, Did I write Luke as a jerk? He wasn't supposed to be. Oh well, that's more or less why I wanted to know how I was writing them.

I seldom get my characters right on the first pass, and rely on playtesters to let me know when they aren't hitting the intended tone, or are acting out of character. Generally it's just a couple tweaks here and there in the story that can bring them back into the intended character. Good characterization and consistent characterization is hard, which is probably why there is so little of it in our type of games. The more complex the characters, the more difficult it is to write them as intended, and the more tweaking to scenes will be needed to bring them in line. If you look at the early posts for BEW, you will see feedback about the early intro version was too creepy and away from my intended tone, which caused me to change a few words here and there to get it to the way I originally intended it to feel. Every time I release a new scene to playtesters, I get some feedback regarding inconsistencies in my characters. They tell me what gave them the "wrong" impression, and sometimes feedback on how to fix it, and that helps me fix it. Usually it's just swapping out a word or two here and there, and maybe rewriting an occasional sentence.

I'd recommend, creating a new thread here in the Projects forum to dedicate to your game as a work in progress, post a description of how you want Luke to come across and that he may be too jerky and ask input on where that can be fixed. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the number of folks willing to give constructive feedback and advice.

I know I have on my game.

Wolfschadowe.

[Super]

i would make a thread, but I dunno if I'll continue. I just don't have the 3D art skills to actually make something like this sadly.

[fleet]

i would make a thread, but I dunno if I'll continue. I just don't have the 3D art skills to actually make something like this sadly.

superawesomemans,
I'd suggest not only making a thread, but actually making and completing the game. I recommend you use the art skill you currently have for the artwork. If you don't want to use your own 3D art just yet, use hand drawn stick figures.

This might sound crazy, but once you have your game competed you can either recruit a 3D artist, or work on improving your own art skills. A 3D artist would be more likely to help you if you have a completed game. You don't have to release the game to the world with your own art, just to any artists who express interest.

[Wolfschadowe]

superawesomemans,
I'd suggest not only making a thread, but actually making and completing the game. I recommend you use the art skill you currently have for the artwork. If you don't want to use your own 3D art just yet, use hand drawn stick figures.

I second this. Post it and go. If you haven't found someone by the time I complete BEW, I''d be happy to help with the Art....that may be a while though.
Wolfschadowe

[Super]

Hm, I think I could try and use crudely drawn stick figures relative to where everything is. Just so I can write the game itself, and hopefully get someone to work with me on the art... If nothing else, it'd make me feel good in knowing I did it lol. Thnks, good idea!

[Greebo]

I know how you can write the story and create your stick figures at the same time!
http://www.allthingsransome.net/downloads/nbsemaphore.html

[Wolfschadowe]

Another "nice to have' feature request, if do-able.

Currently we have the ability to modify Top Text based on a variable. I am currently working on a series of pages, and have a lot more story-boarded, Where the pages are the same, or a small Top Text edit from being the same, but use a different image. For example, based on a variable the image displayed on the page is an upskirt with undies, or an upskirt without undies.

Currently I have two identical web pages, with only the image being different, and based on the variable I am auto-forwarding to the second page, or in some cases, I am running parallel pages, but the image replace feature based on a variable would be great. I would imagine that it would be a function called through Preload.

Thanks Tlaero!

Wolfschadowe.

[tlaero]

That's doable. When I get a chance, I'll show you how. Probably this weekend.

Tlaero

[tlaero]

Actually, you could do that right now. Number the images like they're an animation, but set the timeout to zero. Call a function in PreLoad that's like this:

Code: Select all

var index;

// Choose which image to use and set the index to that number (0 for the first, 1 for the second, etc)
     
anim.curPicture = index;
document.getElementById("image").src = anim.pictures[anim.curPicture].src;


I haven't tried it, but that should work.

Tlaero

[Wolfschadowe]

Actually, you could do that right now. Number the images like they're an animation, but set the timeout to zero. Call a function in PreLoad that's like this:

Hmm... So I could conceivably make a function, assuming "image" is a global variable:

Code: Select all

// Choose which image to use and set the index to that number (0 for the first, 1 for the second, etc)
function useImage()
{   
index = readVar('image')
anim.curPicture = index;
document.getElementById("image").src = anim.pictures[anim.curPicture].src;
}

Then with, say a global variable for storing an index for Top Text and Image, I could use a simple switch statement for the top text function and create a function like:

Code: Select all

function pageResult()

var topTextIDX = readVar('topText');

switch (topTextIDX)
{
   case 0: //happy
         document.write("Emily smiles happily");
         break;
    case 1: //angry
         document.write("Emily just glares at you.");
         break;
     case 2: //aroused
         document.write("Emily licks her lips appreciatively");
         break;
      default: //error
          document.write("Dude! You broke the game!");
          break;
}


Then I could write a function to go into the Say Onclick, with the global variables listed as well:

Code: Select all

var image
var topText
var happy

function setConvo(mood,topTextIDX,imageIDX)
{
varPlus1('mood');  //increases the proper mood for scoring
setVar('topText',topTextIDX); //Which top text to use.
setVar('image',imageIDX); //Which image to use.
}


So that way,on the first page, assuming I use 0 as happy, 1 as angry and 2 as aroused, in on-click for a response that would make the character happy I could type:

setConvo('happy',0,0)

That increases the appropriate mood, and sets the global variables before moving to the result page.
When the result page loads, it will load the happy image, which is the one named like the first image of an animation (second being the angry, and third the aroused, all starting a 0 for indexes 0,1,2), and the happy top text.

Angry would be:

setConvo('angry',1,1)

and so on.

The end result is that instead of having three nearly identical web-pages, one for the happy reaction, one for angry, and one for aroused, in many circumstances I can use a single page with this method. That means when I screw up a link, I only have to fix it in one place, instead of three.

Conceivably, this could be expanded to change the three say statement responses at the bottom of the next page as well, if I wanted to go really crazy, but there is a diminishing return there where it probably starts getting more complex than necessary.

Am I missing anything obvious that would make this not work? I'm not really in a place to test it at the moment. Plus, if it is a solid idea, maybe it will help someone else.

Wolfschadowe

[tlaero]

First, it makes me happy to see you call it a "simple switch statement." You'll be a full on coder before you know it.

I'd do everything in PreLoad. I'll write you a function this weekend.

Tlaero

[tlaero]

Okay, I forgot that you can't do this in preload because preload is in the head and the variables aren't defined yet. Fortunately, the Bypasses let you do anything you want.
Assume you have a 3 frame animation with timeout set to 0.
Click the "Edit Head Bypass" button and add the following.

Code: Select all

<script type="text/javascript">
    var strings = {};
    strings[0] = "Top Text 0";
    strings[1] = "Top Text 1";
    strings[2] = "Top Text 2";
</script>


Then click "Okay".
Now click the "Edit Body Bypass" button and add the following.

Code: Select all

<script type="text/javascript">
     ChooseImageAndTopText()
</script>


Then click "Okay".

Now add the following to _games.js.

Code: Select all

function ChooseImageAndTopText()
{
    var index = readVar("index");
    // alternately, calculate it from other variables

    if (index < 0 || index >= anim.pictures.length)
    {
        // invalid index
        return;
    }

    UpdateTopText(strings[index], true);

    anim.curPicture = index;
    document.getElementById("image").src = anim.pictures[anim.curPicture].src;
}


Using techniques like this, it would be possible to do the whole game in one htm file. That's effectively what Ariane did in the first virtual date game. I didn't go that way originally with AC because I was trying to make something understandable to non-coders. Individual web pages are easier to follow than huge tables of strings, etc. Since then, I've built up enough infrastructure around individual web pages (game view, etc) that I'm sticking with them. But you're welcome to use this however you'd like.

Tlaero

[Wolfschadowe]

Okay, I forgot that you can't do this in preload because preload is in the head and the variables aren't defined yet. Fortunately, the Bypasses let you do anything you want.

You kind of lost me. I just got home from a business trip, so haven't had time to play with this yet. Do you mean that we can't change the image in PreLoad using the example in your earlier post?

The code is interesting, and gave me a couple ideas, but I am trying to avoid using the bypasses for the most part because that takes the complexity up a couple notches above where I like it. That's what I like about the AC tool, is it's not hard to use, and I can make pages quickly. I'd probably prefer making multiple web pages to having to muck about in the bypasses too much.

I don't necessarily want to set the entire Top Text in code, just add a snippet to it in a page, this is where the idea of matching an image to the variable top text had it's appeal if I could throw a simple function into PreLoad or somewhere.

Using the example from my earlier post, in the AC it would be something like:

[[mood()]] "Why don't we head to the bar now? I met this really perky redhead there last night when I was looking for you."

In game.js:
(pseudo)
If mood = happy
write - 'Emily smiles at you happily, '

if mood = angry
write - 'Emily frowns at you a moment, but covers quickly, '

I don't mind doing that a little here and there to break up long conversations and give the illusion of variety. I think moving that to a variable infrastructure to consolidate mood responses to a single page selecting from two or three images is probably out of scope for AC, based on what you were saying about gearing it towards the simpler single webpage. I certainly don't want to step into the complexity of Arianne. That's where the fun goes out the window for me. (in creating, not playing.)

Wolfschadowe

[tlaero]

The [[mood]] idea would work fine. Changing the image in PreLoad won't though. Code like that needs to be in the html <body> not the <head>, and preload is in the head. There's really not that much more complexity using the bypasses. They just allow you to put whatever HTML code you want in the head and body.

Another thing you could do is set the image in your showscore function. That's in the body as well.

Tlaero