The Mother of All Posts...

[malkin61]

So here I am a couple of weeks after discovering Sandbox and still enjoying it. However I’m still in the dark about a number of things despite going through the posts on the forum and posting a few questions myself. Basically I am a teacher and need to get my head around this in a month as I’m teaching Computer Games Design next month.

From what I’ve been reading it seems that there are a number of people in the same position. So – in the absence “Platinum Arts Sandbox for Dummies” book – I’ve collated the questions that I have together with common questions that I’ve seen.

I do need to thank those that have replied to posts but I think that the repliers have made an assumption about the knowledge that those posting the questions have. So when replying to this can you please keep it really simple

I also appreciate that there is a list of questions below so I am asking someone to spend some time in answering. So any help will be highly appreciated.

Many thanks in avance!! Malk

Interaction With NPCs

• What version of Sandbox can you do this in? I have 2.5.
  What mode do you need to be in? I mean FPS, SSP, RPG etc.
  What is the best way to create your NPC? There are creatures in the model list. Use these or should you “spawn” them?
  How do you define the location you want your NPC to be at?
  How do you script your NPC?
  If it’s one of the files associated with your map, how to link the script to the NPC?
  How do you script your players response options?
  With monsters, how to you make them attack rather than just sitting there?

Spells / Weapons

• Pretty much everything above along with:
  How do you present the attack options to the player?
  How do you measure the impact of your attacks on a monster? Thinking that I’d like to have boss monsters that are stronger / tougher etc
  How can you create spell effects?
  Are there any weapons that can be picked up?

Objects

• As before with:
  How can you add objects into your map that can be picked up?
  How do you pick them up?
  Can you create an inventory?
  Can you “eat” something you picked up? To give health for example

Health and other attributes

• How can you measure and present player health?
  How do you capture the impact of monster attacks on your health?

[arcones]

That's a funny title Malk!
If you want to create an RPG, then look through the data/game_rpg.cfg... Also look through the different functions of the game RPG that you can start from Launcher.
NPC's
I use RPG but I may be wrong with which mode I need to use... (Everybody says it's best to use for quest's and RPG's)

Spells/Weapons

1. How do you present attack options? As in, the actual ability to attack?

2. Well for one, you'd have to change the health of the monster... You could also change the spell and how much health it deducts...
Here's where you can do that: data/game_rpg.cfg

3. Like changing a fireball into an iceball? I think that would have to do with STATUS_effects, the different ATTACK_types, spell types, and the particles
(BTW I'm looking through data/game_rpg.cfg while I'm doing this)

4. I'm pretty sure you can pick weapons up, but you can't use them...

Objects (Probably my favorite function of Sandbox! )

1. Add the mapmodel and set the Trigger Type to 12. (I think that also answered question 2 )

3. Yes you can! Here's the link: Shop script w/ explanation & Inventory

4. I think it would be best to ask Damian about that. Or better yet, you could check out his topic: The Golden Coin and download his game (since it has all his code in it... Which is a LOT!)

Health
1. Kinda like a health bar? If so, that's immediately put in-game when you play RPG mode!

Whew, that took awhile! Hope that answers some questions!

Arc

[Hirato]

our example game modules are still quite primitive, and there's a lot of work still to be done, so I'll be answering with how things are at present

in FPS, the NPCs are faked through the use of scripted mapmodels, so to place these, you'd use mapmodels, and script them via the appropriate level_trigger_# alias. see village's script as an example.
in the RPG, they are of ENT_CHAR type, and can be interacted with, and are placed via /spawn name, the scripts are written inside an alias named spawn_name. see our example named 'talky'.

and the monsters won't attack, simply because they lack AI (or as I prefer, artificial stupidity). I did say the modules are primitive

next up...
define "attack options"
in the RPG, you do a fixed amount of damage based on your skills. there's no way to change your skills or stats yet in game.
and spell effects for current iterations of the RPG are defined inside data/game_rpg.cfg. You can also define items and stuff here when you can pickup.

next up...
RPG - spawn name, where name is that of the item, just make sure the r_interact script will pick it up. in the FPS, triggers are used to make the model disappear, ie fake pickup.
in the RPG, you'd pick them up via the 'E' key, (F1 is edit there ), the FPS does it automatically, since it's faked via triggers.
creating an inventory would be very difficult through cubescript (ie, the FPS), but the RPG has one already.
and there's no supporting code for object use as of yet.

finally...
the RPG displays the health as a red bar on the bottom left of the screen, monsters in the RPG use the same mechanisms for hurting you, as you do hurting them.



and take note, the RPG is currently undergoing a rewrite, (see rpgexp in our repo), so answers pertaining to the RPG might not be valid in the future

[arcones]

Oh my goodness! I feel so stupid I didn't realize that there already was a talking temp in rpg_game.cfg!

here it is Malk:

Code: Select all

spawn_talky = [
	r_interact [
		r_select $rpginterract
		r_talk $rpgself 0
	]

	r_say "It's good to see you once again. What can I do for you?." [ //0
		r_response "Can I ask you a few questions?" 2
		r_response "shall we trade." -2
		r_response "nothing at present, farewall" -1
	]

	r_say "Certainly, I'll do my best to answer." [ //1
		r_response "Where are you from?" 2
		r_response "Do you have any work for me?" 6
		r_response "Shall we trade?" -2
		r_response "Farewell" -1
	]

	r_say "I've been here as far as I can remember, so I can't say for certain" [ //2
		r_response "I see, perhaps you'd allow me a few more questions." 1
		r_response "Farewell." -1
	]

	r_say "He is the creator" [ //3
		r_response "Is he from any particular diety?" 4
		r_response "I see, perhaps you'd allow me a few more questions." 1
		r_response "Farewell." -1
	]

	r_say "[laughs briefly] No no, don't be silly, he just wrote this part of the program you and I are in." [ //4
		r_response "What's a program?" 5
	]

	r_say "A program is... [pauses for a few seconds] forget I mentioned it" [ //5
		r_response "Very well, could you answer some other questions?" 1
		r_response "Farewell" -1
	]

	r_say "[laughs briefly] Hirato's hasn't implemented quests yet, so I'm afraid I've no work for you" [ //6
		r_response "Who is Hirato?" 3
		r_response "I see, perhaps you'd allow me a few more questions." 1
		r_response "Farewell." -1
	]

So, that should work for you responsive chats!

Arc

[Malkin]

Once again thanks Arc,

Some progress. I start up my map in rpg. Hit F1. Type "/spawn talky" and the robot monkey thing appears. Hit F1 to leave edit mode. Then nothing. The robot is happy to wave its arms about but none of the dialogue appears so there's no interaction. I think that the code I've put in the cfg isn't being found, as when I type "/span eric" I get exactly the same result - there is no "eric".... I've tried the code above in the "Ray Test npc-art" cfg and created a new "ay Test npc" and put it in there. Neither worked... getting a bit frustrated now..

[Malkin]

Ignore me completely. The bit of the puzzle I was missing was the trigger settings on the npcs. I now have interraction, two shopkeepers selling me things and an inventory.

Much much thanks to you alll!

Malk

[arcones]

No problem! I'm glad it worked for you!

Arc

Just out of curiosity, what was the trigger you applied to the NPC?

[Malkin]

I used trigger 11 on the npc to start the interaction then level_trigger_21 [showgui npc1-1] in the config.

But now I've got another problem. I want my character to pick up things and update the inventory. Picking up I've got - trigger 12 makes the item dissapear so it looks like it's been picked up... but I can't get the cfg to react to the level trigger I set up: level_trigger_23 = [echo "You've found a money bag!"]

Any ideas?

Malk

[Venima]

make sure the trigger tag of the object is the same as the level_trigger_ number

also make sure you are in the right mode (e.g. single player mode)

you change modes by going into load, game mode and checking the appropriate box

[Leo_V117]

What he said. Although. Depending on the game mode. lets say RPG. If i want to make a map for RPG Mode, i go into RPG mode and create a new map. That way its set in that game mode.