Announcing the HOTspot design utility!
What is HOTspot?
HOTspot is a utility program for AppGameKit that lets the coder create screen "hotspots", or places where the player can touch the screen and cause something to happen. It's not meant to replace bitmap font creators, atlas image generators, or placement editors, but can work alongside those type of programs. I wrote HOTspot because I wanted to design a custom keyboard and input routine for a game I'm writing. But HOTspot can be used for any kind of HUD or zone detection. Even for atlas images and bitmapped font images!
How does HOTspot work?
Well, HOTspot is still in beta, so this might change. The coder places a backdrop image in the HOTspot/media folder, and edits the HOTspot.cfg file to suit his needs. After adjusting the setup.agc file to match the screen size of the coders original project, HOTspot is run. The coder then adds and positions a HOTspot for every area that the player will touch. When all the needed HOTspots are defined, the position and size of each HOTspot is saved, and then can be used in the original project.
How is HOTspot data saved?
HOTspot data files (.hsd) are simply text files, and can be opened and edited in notepad or any other text editor. The format is the same as for atlas subimage files and custom font files, five pieces of data delimited by colons.
How much does HOTspot cost?
HOTspot is free to use. When I'm finished writing it, I'll release the code and users will be able to hack it, customize it, whatever.
So, this is a beta release and I'm looking for feedback. Is the program useful at all? What needs to be added/removed/changed? Any input would be appreciated!
