You guys have got to be sick of me adding pictures and not giving any demos
. Well, things will hopefully change in the future. For now, I got a picture of the new Finalizer (formerly known as the Pretest).
Finalizer (Formerly Pretest)
I've decided to expand on the original idea of the Pretest and actually allow you to place objects and otherwise entities which can be defined in a template file. When you are all done, you can export the list of entities into an easily parsable text file for your game. The templates are very sophisticated considering I wrote the template interpretter in DarkBASIC. They look like C++ class code. Inside the codebox I have an example of the base.txt script. You will notice that it ustilizes a very important advanced feature of C++ - inheritance. Class templates can actually inherit information from other classes. It only allows single inherritance as of right now, but chained inherritance is very much planned. Don't let that code overwhelm you because only Strata Works need interpret it. In Strata Works' Finalizer you will intuitively create and place 3D objects, and when you are all done get a script something like this:
New Object3D MyObject
MyObject.X = 5
MyObject.Y = 6
MyObject.Z = 7
MyObject.AngleX = 90
MyObject.AngleY = 180
MyObject.AngleZ = 0
MyObject.ScaleX = 1
MyObject.ScaleY = 1
MyObject.ScaleZ = 1
That shouldn't be too hard to parse. If it is, I'm sure someone will be nice enough to write some parsers in several different languages (including DarkBASIC). I might even create a DarkBASIC parser myself for it.
-- New Editor Features --
Height
There's a new menu Item that allows you to do all sorts of stuff to your height map now. You can averaged the details to remove rough lines, Intensify your peaks and valleys, or flatten them, raise your height, lower your height, clear the entire heightmap, or invert it.
There are finally tools you can choose from! The default is level terrain again. The other 3 are the Raise terrain, Lower terrain, and Survey tools. Raise and Lower terrain aren't as intuitive as they sound. They actually incorporate the old Locktip control (although more efficiently than past releases). The idea is that these two controls will retain the form of the cursor when used, keeping jagged hills and valleys if needed. If you wish for plateaus or canyon ridges, your best bet would be to use the level tool. The final tool is one I think everyone will very much appriciate - the Survey tool. Click on it and then click on your map will set the height intensity to the intensity of the map. It works like the dropper tool in most paint packages which allows you to get the exact color of a pixel on a bitmap. It's a very handy tool that I use all the time!
Mask
When mask editing, you now have a new menu item called Mask that allows you to modify the entire mask much like the heightmap menu does for the height map. These tools include clearing, filling, and inverting the entire mask.
In Closing
Well, that's it. Now how bout that screenshot?
http://www.wendigosoft.com/swscreen/view3d1.jpg
Notice the terrain tiles, but there are no seams! Yey!
[Edit]
Oops, forgot about the code in the code box. Here it is:
//Test comment
private class Object
{
string Name;
};
//Another test comment
private class Object3D: Object
{
//A comment inside of a class
string Filename;
float X;
float Y;
float Z;
float AngleX = 0;
float AngleY = 0;
float AngleZ = 0;
float ScaleX = 1;
float ScaleY = 1;
float ScaleZ = 1;
};
private class Sound3D: Object
{
string Filename;
float x;
float y;
float z;
float Amplitude = 100;
bool Playing = 1;
bool Random = 0;
bool Interval = 0;
};
private class Music: Object
{
string Filename;
bool Playing = 1;
};
private class Sprite: Object
{
float X;
float Y;
float Width;
float Height;
};
private class Unit: Object
{
int Armor = 100;
int Health = 100;
int MaxArmor = 100;
int MaxHealth = 100;
}
private class Tank: Unit
{
float Speed = 50;
float MaxSpeed = 80;
int Armor;
int Health;
};
Home of DOOP, Strata Works, and Seva. djpeterson83@_!@hotmail.com
