CJC
03-15-2014, 06:44 PM
Abstract:
Pipe-dreaming here... but I'd like to see the Enemy editor's sprite selection get a face-lift to run similar to the Link Sprite selection. In conjunction with this, the ability to specify a hitbox by height in combos and width in combos (rather than the hard-coded hit-box) would be an appropriate accompaniment.
To be clear, this is in reference to the Walker and Wizzrobe classes (I'd actually like the Wizzrobe class to be turned into three more walking styles for the Walker class [Teleporting-Random, Teleporting-Seeking, and Floating] , but that's another matter).
Elaboration:
It is very difficult to make large enemies. Impossible, actually, without the use of a specific scripting framework (Saffith's fantastic ghost.zh). This is unfortunate, though, since making large enemies is something the editor should be able to handle (it DOES achieve collision detection by comparing rectangle intersections... why not rectangles of any combo size?).
Here's the thought: rather than having enemy animation sets, the new editor could have sprite selections for each of the enemy's key directions and some common states (Shieldless, jumping, attacking). Beneath each of these selectors is a box where the user may specify a number of frames for the action. At the very top of this window the user specifies horizontal width per frame in tiles (default 1), and vertical width per frame in tiles (default 1).
Enemies would emit weapons from the cartographic midpoint of the side of the direction in which they are facing by default, though an offset could be specified for each direction.
In a pull-down, the user could select 1 Dir, 4 Dir, 4 Dir + Tracking, 8 Dir, and 8 Dir + Tracking to specify which sprites the enemy actually utilizes.
What's the point of this? First, it allows users to make big enemies with default AI, which is immensely useful especially if they have created a large Link sprite. Second, it allows users to organize their enemy sprites in the tile-sheet in any manner that they please, allowing much larger enemy animation handled entirely by ZQuest.
It's a big idea and it won't be retroactively compatible with quests, hence why I'm bringing it up now for the people who will build 3.0 from the ground up. Flexibility like this is something that's good to think about early in the process.
Thank you for reading my rant!
Pipe-dreaming here... but I'd like to see the Enemy editor's sprite selection get a face-lift to run similar to the Link Sprite selection. In conjunction with this, the ability to specify a hitbox by height in combos and width in combos (rather than the hard-coded hit-box) would be an appropriate accompaniment.
To be clear, this is in reference to the Walker and Wizzrobe classes (I'd actually like the Wizzrobe class to be turned into three more walking styles for the Walker class [Teleporting-Random, Teleporting-Seeking, and Floating] , but that's another matter).
Elaboration:
It is very difficult to make large enemies. Impossible, actually, without the use of a specific scripting framework (Saffith's fantastic ghost.zh). This is unfortunate, though, since making large enemies is something the editor should be able to handle (it DOES achieve collision detection by comparing rectangle intersections... why not rectangles of any combo size?).
Here's the thought: rather than having enemy animation sets, the new editor could have sprite selections for each of the enemy's key directions and some common states (Shieldless, jumping, attacking). Beneath each of these selectors is a box where the user may specify a number of frames for the action. At the very top of this window the user specifies horizontal width per frame in tiles (default 1), and vertical width per frame in tiles (default 1).
Enemies would emit weapons from the cartographic midpoint of the side of the direction in which they are facing by default, though an offset could be specified for each direction.
In a pull-down, the user could select 1 Dir, 4 Dir, 4 Dir + Tracking, 8 Dir, and 8 Dir + Tracking to specify which sprites the enemy actually utilizes.
What's the point of this? First, it allows users to make big enemies with default AI, which is immensely useful especially if they have created a large Link sprite. Second, it allows users to organize their enemy sprites in the tile-sheet in any manner that they please, allowing much larger enemy animation handled entirely by ZQuest.
It's a big idea and it won't be retroactively compatible with quests, hence why I'm bringing it up now for the people who will build 3.0 from the ground up. Flexibility like this is something that's good to think about early in the process.
Thank you for reading my rant!