[ian-reeds-games] Re: A big response email
- From: Ian Reed <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ian-reeds-games@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:04:03 -0700
Hi Allan,
I understand where you're coming from. As you say there will be some
divide.
And even the idea of me needing to support both points out that I will
not have quite as much time to devote to creating new flags.
You said: it is inevitable that scripting would overshadow eventually
the non programmers.
I say: Yes, scripting will allow for some map creators to create
features I have not yet gotten around to doing in a user friendly way.
So it is like a feature that only some people can take advantage of.
My hope is that scripts would be shared so that everyone can benefit
from them.
Say for instance that Carlos writes a script that makes a skill do drain
life the way he thinks it should be done.
I would hope that things can be setup nicely enough that you as a non
programmer can copy his script and paste it into your map pack without
needing to understand his code at all.
Then in your skill file you would add a flag like perform=drain_life
which would call his code and the rest is not for you to worry about.
Carlos would be using the same perform=drain_life flag so it should be
easy enough to look at his flag and determine how to make it work in
your own maps.
Will that be the reality? I can't say for certain, obviously if
scripters set out with this goal in mind it will help things.
And you can believe that it is the goal I set out with.
Here is the starting paragraph from the map scripting guide I had
started on:
Before I delve into how to write scripts in Tactical Battle, I'd like to
clarify that this ability is not needed to make awesome maps.
It is meant only for very advanced situations and can be difficult to learn.
The flags and the basic files formats allows for so much flexibility in
a much simpler fashion that leaves the ugly coding to me.
It is always a better idea to see if what you want can be accomplished
through the normal use of flags.
Another way to think of it is that the flags are features that I have
implemented in a user friendly way whereas scripting is a way for you to
try to implement features yourself.
// end of user guide snippet
Here's one more note to let you know how important it is for me to
continue to support non programmers in a first class way.
I've released 2 audio games. One is AGE and one is TB. Now they are in
different genres and that may account for a bit of the difference in
popularity.
AGE requires heavy scripting though it has some ease of use for defining
locations and objects.
TB has been almost completely script free up to this point.
I've had only 2 people who started writing adventures in AGE. I've had
a lot more people working on map packs for TB.
To me this shows the benefit of having an easy way to make maps versus
scripting.
Well, I believe I will still move forward with the feature and I hope
this email makes you feel a little more at ease or at least confirms
that I do understand your point of view and don't want to exclude non
programmers from making maps or let them only have the bones of the
scripters meals.
All the best,
Ian Reed
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