Unlimited Drop (another droplet)
Community Forums/Developer Stations/Unlimited Drop (another droplet)
| ||
| I post here because I think it fits better to Content Creation Tools... From here you can download my latest droplet program Unlimited Drop Ver 2.1. You can have your custom properties for each object you place and export them to a simple text file format. I hope you like it and find it useful. Any criticism is welcomed. I will complete the help file and fix any bug you report Please note that all available graphics modes in startup are windowed modes. Here some screenshots:  and  |
| ||
| Interesting. |
| ||
| However, I still don't like the controls. |
| ||
| puki: I promise you I'll setup a mouse input customization function especially for you! (I suppose you don't like mouse shortcuts, or something else?) |
| ||
| What is Droplet for? |
| ||
| A droplet is a entity placement program to assist in world creation. Suppose you need to place all of your game diamonds in a level. With a droplet program you don't need to place them using data in your program, you only need some lines of code to load the diamond positions for every level you may build. Unlimited Drop exports information about all objects you place in a text file. The file format is simple: [filename$]; path filename position of the object [1] or [0] ; 1=animated object, 0=static object [x#] ; x coordinate of the object [y#] ; y coordinate [z#] ; z coordinate [pitch#] ; pitch angle of the object [yaw#] ; yaw angle [roll#] ; roll angle [xscale#] ; scale value on X-axis [yscale#] ; scale value on Y-axis [zscale#] ; scale value on Z-axis [extra property 1#] ; you can use in any way you like . . . [extra property 8#] |
| ||
| Looking good. A few tips: Make sure to systematicly wrap all properties an entity may use. At this point it may be a lot easier than to add things later. For a mesh this may be all entity control commands (eg blendmode, alpha, pickmode, collision...) plus its brush and the properties of the brush, including up to eight textures, each one with individual texture settings. As long as you wrap things systematicly, by parsing the docs, it should be easy. Properties should be set to useful defaults. 2) (Not sure if you already did) If the Droplet or Dropper is for public use then add a loader sourcecode example that will entirely load a level. Writing a loader is very simple when you take the saver function and simply turn writing into reading line by line. Tho, guess you know that already. |
| ||
| jfk EO-11110: Thanks for your tips, but I am wondering what is the meaning to give to a droplet program the ability to alter properties such as those in Entity Control commands? I think with a droplet program a user can only place all of its entities (already completed meshes) in different positions, rotations and sizes. In any case I will take into account you suggestions |
| ||
| Sorry, missed this. There are many good reasons for altering properties. Example: a grey container. Using EntityColor allows to use one mesh in various Colors. There are much more game specific things, eg: pickability: You won't make a masked texture pickable unless you're after bullet decals that are floating in the air (assuming the shooting engine is using Linepick to determine the impact location). Or Collision. If you have a mesh that should act as some light beams then you don't want collision, so the player may walk trough the light. And you may also play with the blendmode. There are many, many reasons to systematicly, completely wrap game entities. And this will also simplify the GUI creation, cause you won't have to add things again and again. |
| ||
| A small update of Unlimited Drop released plus a Tutorial demonstrating the building of a simple level. Take a look here |
| ||
| There is a small update to the program (Ver 2.2.1) dealing with camera navigation. I believe, for all those who use this tool, the navigation has been improved dramatically. The camera rotation around the Y-axis is much more convenient in order to have a better view and place objects... |
| ||
| Jassou Moraldi, I wanted to give it a try, but the window is much too small, any chance of having an option to select the window size or fullscreen? |
| ||
| Jassou Barbapapa! No there is no an option to run in full screen (for the moment...) But you can select any of the available resolutions (all windowed) at the start of the program using the cursor keys. I think that one them muches to your needs... |
| ||
| Ah yes, poly orea, any way to save the config, scrolling 1680x1050x32 every time is tedious... |
| ||
| Yap! you have right. I will fixed that soon... BTW: Your greeks are poly orea! |
| ||
| A very long time ago I lived in Greece ;) So wonderful ... Oh well, kali nishta ;) |
| ||
| Another small update Ver 2.2.2 1. Last graphics mode selection available Efxaristo Barbapapa... |
| ||
| cool thank you very much. sas efkaristo episis ( now I am not ure anymore, but it should mean ' I thank you too' ;) ) |
| ||
| I noticed that many people already downloaded UDrop. There is another small update for anyone who interested here |
| ||
| I released version 2.3 for Unlimited Drop New functionality added: 1. Multiple selections on objects 2. Copy & Paste operations between Unlimited Drop files 3. New buttons on existing shortcuts  Hope to find them useful |
| ||
| Hi again, There is an update for Unlimited Drop. I found some nice icons on the web and I decided to change the user interface but there is also new functionality: 1. Better user interface (I hope so...) 2. Aligning objects to X, Y or Z axes 3. Better Camera navigation with keyboard and mouse input customization For all those who may have created levels with previous versions please make a backup because the new version it has not been tested comprehensively. Note: Undo and Redo buttons are not working yet Enjoy |
   |