text adventure editor
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/text adventure editor
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I was just wondering if you thought blitzmax was a good language for creating a text adventure editor to allow you to write your own text based games using blitzmax gui. I know there are a lot of editors out there already (inform, quest, adrift, tab, suds etc) but id like to write a text adventure editor for my own personal use and it would teach me a lot about strings and lengths of strings etc. Would it be better to write this using visual basic or c++??? Blitzmax i think is good for 2d games but i dont think its good for writing text based games. Which language would you suggest??? Thankyou |
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Oh dear, this is a question only you can answer. The two main questions are: Which language do you have the most skills in? Which language do you want to learn more? Any of those languages would be capable of this task. |
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What Czar said! Would it be better to write this using visual basic or c++??? Why? What make you think so? Blitzmax i think is good for 2d games but i dont think its good for writing text based games. Again, why? Is there anything missing? |
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well the reason being im sorta looking at delphi and blitz basic as it would be a lot easier to code using windows and menus. I love blitzmax but the gui for windows is not that good. For instance if i wanted to change the color of text i can just click in the properties window of visual and make the change. I wanted to make a text adventure editor using the GUI in blitzmax. Wouldnt it be a lot easier to write a text adventure with a language that had better support for windows. I dont just want to write a text adventure. I want to make an editor that i can use to make text adventure games. Maybe a drop and drag application where no code is needed to make the puzzles. Do you think blitzmax is a good program to use for this kind of application????? |
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Id like to use blitzmax to write an editor but im not sure where to start on this project. Its a project for me really so i can get used to strings and such. Ive searched the forums for text adventure but nothing comes up. Would you create a text adventure using windows or would you actually use blitzmax to write it. Is there any blitzmax examples of how this can be done??? I cant find any on the web or in these forums??? Cheers |
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I love blitzmax but the gui for windows is not that good. Hmm, it depends what you need and want. I did all my tools with it and for me it works, others have created editors for their games, even Leadwerks is using it with his 3D Engine. Changing a textcolor is not that magic, but you are right there is no properties you can change to do that, if you need something like that have a look at the GUI Editor I wrote (in my sig, also written in Max) I want to make an editor that i can use to make text adventure games. That is quite a big task and when you write: "Its a project for me really so i can get used to strings and such." I am not sure if such a project is not a bit too big at this time. Do you think blitzmax is a good program to use for this kind of application????? Could be done with almost all languages. First I think you should have a good idea, how it should look like and work (just for yourself). Start with a simple construct you can extend further. |
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ok thankyou very much. I want to design a good parser for a text adventure. Can anyone show me some examples of making a good parser using blitzmax??? Cant find any examples anywhere????? Cheers |
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If this is to use rather than to learn parsing, I can suggest LibXml. Brucey has a module. |
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No, don't use XML! Not at all suitable for a text adventure. I've written a fairly robust general parser that might be useful to look at. |
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Joe90: First off, you don't need a GUI to write a good text adventure editor. Of course it will look dated, but isn't that the point of the text adventure? Second, any language can be used to write text adventures, of course some being easier than others. (Example, I don't think you'd want to use BrainF*ck unless your very, very obsessed. LOL) Anyway, below I will post some code for a text, windowing routine that should give you some ideas, and a little understanding on string handling in blitzmax. Hope it helps. *** Most importantly, have you decided on your data layout? In other words, have you decided on how your going to keep track of your vocabulary, rooms directions/descriptions, how your going to handle objects? These are very important before you ever even begin thinking about creating the actual "editor" for your game. *** I would strongly suggest you start off with a basic text adventure with a few rooms, objects, and vocabulary. This will give you a better understanding of how blitzmax is going to work for you, and also, allow you to get a better grasp on how your going to handle your data. With blitzmax being somewhat OOP, converting from the old world of array's and strictly procedural programming, isn't too difficult. So if your used to using blitzmax types you will probably be able to structure the program even easier. *Have you written a text adventure before? Just curious, if your have, in what language you attempted it, and how you handled your data. :) * Alas, I will now post some code. No expert coding here, but hopefully you can get some use out of it. :) Basic Window Routine: Strict Graphics 1024,768,0,60 Local mywindow:windowbox=WindowBox.Create() mywindow.setwindowfont("c:\windows\fonts\consola.ttf",22) 'mywindow.setwindowfont("c:\windows\fonts\arial.ttf",22) mywindow.setpos(150,100) mywindow.setsize(30,20) 'mywindow.settexture("text_texture.png") Cls SetColor 255,255,255 SetBlend AlphaBlend mywindow.show() mywindow.CurX=0 mywindow.CurY=0 mywindow.printwrap("{Y}Hello.~n~n") Flip Delay(250) mywindow.printwrap("{W}This is a {Red}test {W}of something.") Flip Delay(500) mywindow.printwrap("And more testing is in order.") Flip Delay(500) mywindow.printwrap("Because the {Y}National {W}concensis is that I'm more {Red}off {W}than more on.") Flip Delay(500) mywindow.printwrap("Even more {Red}unbelievable {W}is that this thing might be working.~n~n") Flip Delay(500) mywindow.printwrap("Here is more testing to see if the testing is testing the testing that is tested.") Flip Repeat Until KeyDown(KEY_ESCAPE) Or AppTerminate() Type WindowBox 'Global WindowBoxList:TList = New TList Global WinCodes:Codes=New Codes.Create() Field Font_Name:String Field Font_Size:Int Field FontMaxWidth:Int Field FontMaxHeight:Int Field ScreenWidth:Int Field ScreenHeight:Int Field WindowXPos:Int Field WindowYPos:Int Field WindowWidth:Int Field WindowHeight:Int Field TexturePath:String Field TextureImage:TImage = New TImage Field CurX:Int Field CurY:Int Field TextLines:TextLine[100] Field CurTextLine:Int Field CurTopLine:Int Field CurRed:Int Field CurGreen:Int Field CurBlue:Int Function Create:WindowBox() Local w:WindowBox = New WindowBox w.SetWindowFont(Null,8) w.ScreenWidth=GraphicsWidth() w.ScreenHeight=GraphicsHeight() w.SetPos(100,100) w.SetSize(10,10) w.CurX=0 w.CurY=0 w.CurRed=255 w.CurGreen=255 w.CurBlue=255 w.CurTextLine=0 w.CurTopLine=0 w.TextLines[0]=New TextLine.Create() ' WindowBoxList.addlast(w:WindowBox) Return w:WindowBox End Function Method SetWindowFont(Font_Namex:String,Font_Sizex:Int) Local font:timagefont=LoadImageFont(font_namex,font_sizex,SMOOTHFONT) SetImageFont(font) Font_Name=Font_Namex Font_Size=Font_Sizex FontMaxWidth=TextWidth("z") FontMaxHeight=TextHeight("z") Rem FontMaxWidth=TextWidth(Chr(0)) FontMaxHeight=TextHeight(Chr(0)) For Local i:Int=65 To 91 If TextWidth(Chr(i))>FontMaxWidth Then FontMaxWidth=TextWidth(Chr(i)) If TextHeight(Chr(i))>FontMaxHeight Then FontMaxHeight=TextWidth(Chr(i)) Next End Rem End Method Method SetPos(xpos:Int, ypos:Int) WindowXPos=xpos windowYPos=ypos End Method Method SetSize(xsize:Int, ysize:Int) WindowWidth=xsize WindowHeight=ysize End Method Method DrawBorder() SetColor 255,255,255 Local x:Int=WindowXPos Local x1:Int=WindowXPos+(WindowWidth*FontMaxWidth)+FontMaxWidth Local y:Int=WindowYPos Local y1:Int=WindowYPos+(WindowHeight*FontMaxHeight) DrawLine(x-5,y-5,x1+5,y-5) DrawLine(x-5,y-5,x-5,y1+5) DrawLine(x1+5,y-5,x1+5,y1+5) DrawLine(x-5,y1+5,x1+5,y1+5) End Method Method Show() Local x1:Int=(WindowWidth*(FontMaxWidth)) Local y1:Int=(WindowHeight*(FontMaxHeight)) DrawBorder() 'DrawImageRect(TextureImage,WindowXPos,WindowYPos,x1,y1) End Method Method SetTexture(TexturePathx:String) TextureImage = LoadImage(TexturePathx) End Method Method SetDefaultColor(Redx:Int,Greenx:Int,Bluex:Int) CurRed=Redx CurGreen=Greenx CurBlue=Bluex End Method Method PrintWrap(Text:String) Local words:String[] Local Ret:String[] Local soffx:Int=WindowXPos Local soffy:Int=WindowYPos Local codex:String Local wordx:String Local kcodevalue:Int words=Text.split(Chr(32)) For Local t:String=EachIn words Ret=t.split(Chr(10)) t=Left(t,Len(t)-(Len(ret)-1)) If Left(t,1)="{" Then Local y:String[] y=t.split("{") For Local j:String=EachIn y Local tt:Int=Instr(j,"}") codex=Left(j,tt-1) wordx=Mid(j,tt+1) kcodevalue=WinCodes.GetCode(codex) Next Else wordx=t codex="None" kcodevalue=0 EndIf If wordx.length<WindowWidth-CurX Then If CurX=0 Then CurY=CurY+1 TextLines[CurTextLine].AddWord(wordx,wordx.length,codex,kcodevalue) Else CurX=0 CurY=CurY+1 If CurY > WindowHeight Then CurTopLine=CurTopLine+1 EndIf CurTextLine=CurTextLine+1 TextLines[CurTextLine]=New TextLine.Create() TextLines[CurTextLine].AddWord(wordx,wordx.length,codex,kcodevalue) End If CurX=CurX+wordx.length+1 If CurX > WindowWidth Then CurX=0 CurY=CurY+1 If CurY > WindowHeight Then CurTopLine=CurTopLine+1 EndIf CurTextLine=CurTextLine+1 EndIf If Len(Ret)>1 Then For Local i:Int=1 To Len(ret)-1 CurX=0 CurY=CurY+1 If CurY > WindowHeight Then CurTopLine=CurTopLine+1 EndIf CurTextLine=CurTextLine+1 TextLines[CurTextLine]=New TextLine.Create() TextLines[CurTextLine].AddWord("~n",-1,"~n",10) Next EndIf Next SetColor 0,0,0 DrawRect(WindowXPos,WindowYPos,WindowWidth*FontMaxWidth,(WindowHeight)*FontMaxHeight) SetColor CurRed,CurGreen,CurBlue Local i:Int=CurTopLine Local xpos:Int Local ypos:Int While (TextLines[i]<>Null) And (i<=(WindowHeight+CurTopLine-1)) xpos=0 ypos=(i-CurTopLine)*FontMaxHeight For Local j:Words=EachIn TextLines[i].WordList If j.thecodevalue<>0 Then WinCodes.codefunc[j.thecodevalue] EndIf DrawText(j.theword,soffx+xpos,soffy+ypos) xpos=xpos+((j.thelength+1)*FontMaxWidth) Next i=i+1 Wend End Method End Type Type Words Field theword:String Field thecode:String Field thecodevalue:Int Field thelength:Int Function Create:Words(thewordx:String,thelengthx:Int,thecodex:String,thecodevaluex:Int) Local w:Words=New Words w.theword=thewordx w.thelength=thelengthx w.thecode=thecodex w.thecodevalue=thecodevaluex Return w End Function End Type Type TextLine Field wordlist:TList=CreateList() Function Create:TextLine() Local w:Textline=New Textline Return w End Function Method AddWord(w:String,l:Int,c:String,v:Int) ListAddLast(wordlist,words.Create(w,l,c,v)) End Method End Type Type Codes Field codefunc()[] Function Create:Codes() Local w:codes=New codes w.codefunc=w.codefunc[..255] w.codefunc[0]=w.f0 w.codefunc[1]=w.f1 w.codefunc[2]=w.f2 w.codefunc[3]=w.f3 w.codefunc[4]=w.f4 w.codefunc[10]=w.f10 w.codefunc[32]=w.f32 Return w:Codes End Function Function f0() 'Print "None" End Function Function f1() 'Black SetColor 0,0,0 End Function Function f2() 'White SetColor 255,255,255 End Function Function f3() 'Yellow SetColor 255,255,0 End Function Function f4() 'Red SetColor 255,0,0 End Function Function f10() 'Print "chr(10)" End Function Function f32() 'Print "Space" End Function Method GetCode:Int(x:String) Select x Case "B"; Return 1 Case "W"; Return 2 Case "Y"; Return 3 Case "Red"; Return 4 Case "~n"; Return 10 End Select End Method End Type |
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In my opinion, Max is an excellent language with the features required to build something like this with minimum headache. Joe90: First off, you don't need a GUI to write a good text adventure editor. Of course it will look dated, but isn't that the point of the text adventure? Bang on that man... text adventures are all about immersion, and that means full screen and custom GUI. It does not need to be an all-singing GUI system. |