[CF-Devel] improved Aljwaf for Bigworld

[Andreas Vogl]

Todd Mitchell wrote:

>
     
      I bulked up the Aljwaf quest for the Bigworld maps - this 
     
     >
     
      includes a good chunk of desert and a bigger ruin with more
     
     >
     
      buildings. You can check it out at
     
     >
     
     
      http://abraxis.sytes.net/CF/finished/bigworld
      
      
     
These maps are very cool. I especially like the mystical touch
about Aljwaf's tomb, and the "special effects" like duststorms
in the desert.
I'm sure Mark will include them into the bigworld set when
he has time.

>
     
      I must say there are a lot of nice features in the 
     
     >
     
      CFJavaEditor these days. This was the first time I have spent
     
     >
     
      a bit of time with it and I really noticed the improvements.
     
     >
     
      Especially like the help tips which are really helpful
     
     >
     
      (don't do this - this works like this...)
     
     
Thank you, makes me happy to read that. :-)

>
     
      Two minor requests however - I would like to see the 
     
     >
     
      attack_movement codes done the same way as damage and
     
     >
     
      material (so I don't have to look them up).
     
     
Yes, I would like to do that. The problem with attack_movement
is that it's not just a bitmask - It's basically a value
(attack movement) summed together with a bitmask (unagressive
movement). IMO that's one of the really good examples how
arch attributes should *not* be used.

Anyways, I'll try to come up with some kind of easy-to-use
interface. Might take me a while though.

>
     
      The other thing is if more info for stuff like speed, ac, 
     
     >
     
      weapon damage and the like could be added to the tool tips
     
     >
     
      (like ranges - say ac the lower the better, speed high - low
     
     >
     
      (negative sign is for...). 
     
     
This is a bunch of different things. I'll comment on
the various attributes you mentioned:

ac:

Armour class is currently (briefly) explained in the help
text (the '?'-buttons in the attribute dialogs).
I got it wrong for monsters though: It should state there
lower is better, I'll correct that.

weapon damage:

This is explained pretty detailed, but example ranges
are missing. The reason is there are no clear ranges AFAIK,
and the value gets influenced by so many factors too.
I expressed that in the statement: "Look at existing weapons
to get a feel for the range of weapon damage values."
I know that is sort of shady, but it was my best shot. :)

speed:

Most of the time, speed is used for animation speed.
As you know, the CFJavaEditor does not support
animations yet. I plan to add that at some point,
and by that time I'll also decide how to best explain
animation speed.
So far I explained speed only where it is used for
different purposes, like movement speed.


Generally, extending the help-texts is quite easy.
You, or anyone, is welcomed to send me propositions
for better help-texts in the JavaEditor.


AndreasV