Various Scripts

[C-Dawg]

This is a cross-post to highlight the scripts you can go get from the Zodiac demo I posted in the Discussion forum.

The thread is located here: http://www.armageddongames.net/forum...ad.php?t=97366

There are about 26 scripts in the un-passworded quest linked there. Some of the highlights include:

SIDE-SCROLLING ---

1. Side-scrolling script does the following: (1) allows the player to jump pressing "L"; (2) increases jump height if the player has the high-jump item, currently assigned to the Roc's Feather; (3) allows double-jumping if the player has the double-jump item, currently assigned to the Whistle; and (4) accellerates left and right movement while the player holds R if he or she has the dash item, currently assigned to the Letter, uses magic; and (5) steadily refills the player's magic meter over time.

CUSTOM BOSS --

1. Various versions of the enemy ghosting function. Some use this_ffc-> instead of this-> to get around, some trigger screen warps or combo changes when the enemy dies, etc. The functionality is described pretty well by the comments.

2. Various boss movement patterns. Diving, orbiting, chasing (on the ground or in the air), etc. The most advanced one yet is a simple air chasing script that stops and moves a fire enemy to the ffc when the combo cycles enough- the effect is a boss that zips around, then pauses and opens to reveal a vulnerability.

UTILITY --

1. The bubble spawn script that creates enemies when a combo becomes walkable. Used for enemies hiding in the sand, or re-creating those tadpoles from MM3 Gemini man.

2. Recharging script that fills arrows, life, magic, and bombs while you're standing on the ffc.

3. Shoot-em-up script that spawns enemies and arrow refills at regular intervals.

And many more.

[Din]

Wow C-Dawg, this is one great quest! I thought half of the stuff you did in this quest wasn't possible with ZC!:)

[C-Dawg]

Wow C-Dawg, this is one great quest! I thought half of the stuff you did in this quest wasn't possible with ZC!:)

That's kind of what I do.

Seriously though, the real kudos go to DarkDragon, _L_, Jman, and the others who have put scripting into ZClassic. ZClassic is not just for kids anymore.

-C

[Din]

Thanks to everybody who helped with this quest!

[C-Dawg]

You should have the basic tools you need to make a megaman or metroid style quest now. The general jump function has so many hard-coded variables to mess with (jump power, air time, pausing in the air at the top of the jump, etc) that you can probably adjust it to recreate jumping from a game you're more familiar with.

I'll eventually be messing with the dash function so that it gives you a "burst" of speed more like MegaManX than just increased movement. I also plan on adding wall jumping or clinging capabilities, which shouldn't be much harder than adding another statement in the "if" block that checks whether the player can jump.

[C-Dawg]

Updated the quest file with numerous new scripts, including: Ice slipping, enemy freeze rays, and Ice Beam.

[C-Dawg]

Quest file updated again, with numerous new scripts, including: Wave gun, Spread gun, blade weapon, wall clinging (Added functionality to general 2-d script), pursue_on_a_radius, ffc get between other ffcs (like a chain), enemy rapid fire gun, uh... and some others.

[Gleeok]

Of course you don't need me to tell you that these scripts are totally amazing, (even though I just did) But I can't seem to get the ffc pursue_player script to work...at all in fact. I basically ended up plastering ex 1st qst with tons of screens using this script with different combinations of variables and nothing. Could you go into a little more detail with how this one works, or point me to an example screen in Zodiac that uses it?

-thanks.

[C-Dawg]

Well, first make sure you're not using the old pursue_player that didn't use the this_ffc workaround. If you are, it won't do anything unless it's FFC1.

What I usually do is set FFC2 to be an invisible FFC running the pursue_player script. Then the variables get set, if I remember correctly:
1. The number of this ffc, or 2
2. The accelleration of this ffc in hundreths, so like 3 or 4
3. The top speed of this ffc, usually 2 or 3
4. Whether this ffc is stuck to horizontal movement (1 for yes, I think)

Then I set up four or five other ffcs over the invisible one and tell them to follow FFC 2. You can see this script running on the very first miniboss in Zodiac, that jellyfish-insect thing in Aquarius.

Note that the pursue_near_player script does basically the same thing, but allows you to offset the FFC's target so it tries to position itself above or next to the player. Good for shooting enemies. Pursue_near_player is also a more recent and better written version.

[Gleeok]

Ah yes, I see it now. Pretty useful script, not just for enemies too. Apparently I wasn't setting the "A" arguments to 1. I never had to set those before though, ...actually I don't even know what they do. hmm....
Thanks again.