Roguesoft RPG Engine?

[Silverwind]

Sorry for abandoning the engine. I wasn't on the computer much last month for several reasons, including a job change and the death of my Grandfather.

I've had allot of trouble getting the spawner to work but it's nearly finished now. I'll post a demo as soon as I get it working.

[Silverwind]

Man this spawner's a doozy... but I've nearly almost kinda maybe got it working. I dare anyone else to try make it in GM, I dare you!

[Tireas Dragon]

The objective is to make it so the spawner will spawn a new monster if you get it off the screen by moving away from it right?

[EqwanoX]

yea what does the spawner do exacly

[Silverwind]

It only spawns enemies on nodes fulfilling the following conditions:

• The node has a collision class of "0".
• The node is exactly four nodes distant from the player's node in both X and Y directions.
• The node isn't occupied by another NPC.

And of course, the NPCs disappear/despawn if they exist 8 nodes in any direction from the player.

EDIT:

And keep in mind that the grid dimensions are 25x25 nodes. ;)

[Silverwind]

Eureka! I've done it! _{Well, I think so anyway...} I've tested it rigorously all morning and at last it seems bug free. Here's a beta: http://www.mediafire.com/?myyjizayygu

The finished engine will contain much more than a nav system, but the nav system is the primary feature. I'll write a readme explaining how to harness it's awesome power with minimal ease. Games will never be the same again!

EDIT:

I'm thinking of making QoM II with this.

[Tireas Dragon]

Interesting. I am not sure what it is doing that makes it so good. So could you explain to me why this is so useful?

[Silverwind]

Sure, gather round and harken to my diagrams.

First the spawner locates all the nodes located four nodes plus and minus from the player's node in both X and Y directions. The said nodes are indicated by a shaded zone in the following screenshot:



Next the spawner checks the collision class of each node in the shaded zone and eliminates any non traversable nodes:



Then it chooses a random node from the remaining choices and spawns an enemy there.

Also, when an enemy exists six nodes in any direction from the player's node, the enemy despawns, freeing up the NPC slot for another enemy (which will spawn nearer to the player):



In this way, enemies won't just spawn in a far away corner and make the room feel empty. Neat huh?

[Tireas Dragon]

It seems to me that the monsters are unspawning when they are really far away wouldn't it be better if the containing area was smaller so you almost always see at least 2 monsters?

[WarHampster]

What about this was so difficult to write? It seems kind of straight forward to me...

That isn't meant to be condescending  

[Gan]

Seems straight forward to me only because Sc has mutable arrays. I could code something similar in very few lines with those, they are life savers.


-Gandolf

[Silverwind]

It seemed straight forward to me too when I first thought it up, but it proved much more tedious than I imagined. It'd be easy to make in JS or SC, but keep in mind that GM doesn't have arrays and I'm working on a 25x25 grid.

I'd still love to see someone attempt it in Gm.

[Tireas Dragon]

Well If I attempt to do such a feat I would have to put other projects aside for a while.

[WarHampster]

Ah.

Oh BTW, I just learned that "mutable arrays" are technically not even arrays, they're really lists. I was working on a project for my Java class and was very confused until I discovered the arrayList class.

[Silverwind]

It seems to me that the monsters are unspawning when they are really far away wouldn't it be better if the containing area was smaller so you almost always see at least 2 monsters?

I could shorten the distance by one more node, but that would result in instant despawning if the NPC's first move is to walk in the opposite direction from the player. The current distance allows at least two moves and also means you can be "pursued" if you will, by an enemy offscreen.

"I wonder if that Hell Hound has given up the chase... CRAP! No he hasn't!"