Morgan

To all artists out there - when you create a custom graphic, don't save it in jpeg format. When saving in jpeg, the format doesn't care whether all the colours are correct, just as long as it gets most of them right, or so Khoth informs me. The problem arises when you try to place these graphics into BoA. The editor does not make a pixel white unless the actual pixel is pure white. If it's nearly white, the pixel will appear on the screen. This leads to graphics that look terrible, as you have loads of white looking pixels ruining the effect of the graphic. I just spent about twenty minutes correcting the Ice Demon graphic because it was saved in jpeg form. Just thought I'd better warn people from falling into similar problems.

It is possible - the pause(10) call (where 10 is the number of seconds in tenths of seconds) allows this.

It works - but it's still a fairly messy solution. I'm going to see if I can polish is up a bit, tweak it here and there, but I'm sure that there's another way of doing it. Just requires a bit more thought.

I take a very non linear approach to scenario design - though not completely. I have the different parts of the scenario stuck in my head, so I won't design the middle before the beginning. However, inside those parts, I design dungeons and towns in a pretty random order.

Yeah, thanks spyderbytes, but it didn't work (I'd tried it already). My workaround, which is a bit messy, is to move the party to an area out of view, then when the cutscene ends in the second town, I don't call force_terrain_redraw. That way, when the party moves, it should be back in the original town without being any the wiser. I'm not entirely sure if it'll work, and it's fairly messy, but it's the best I can come up with.

So here's the problem - I want a cutscene to start in one town, move to another town, then move back to the original town. This, it seems cannot be done. I'm guessing this is because you can't call a move_to_new_town in the START_STATE or INIT_STATE. Presuming that is the case, can anyone think of a viable workaround?

Are you sure it's that line in the script that has the wrong number of parameters? Give the rest of the script a once over.

Or you could get the party onto a bus graphic, and create a cutscene of the bus moving across town.

If you set_total_visibility to 1, and do not set it back to 0, you have total visibility across scenarios and across parties. Visibility is only reset once you quit BoA. Anyone else encounter this?

You could try - move_to_new_town(1,x,y); Where Town 1, is the town they are already in, and x, y are their current co-ordinates. I'm fairly sure this resets groups.

No, you can't block a player from choosing a race and no you can't sense gender. Familiarity with a programming language supposedly helps in picking up the editor. I found it relatively easy without knowledge of programming. It depends on how easily you pick things up and how much time you're willing to devote to it.

Excellent article, and though I agree with it all, I think that Bob in his boring state doesn't detract from a truly great scenario. Take Anthalon from Falling Stars - I don't really feel that he has a personality as such, but he serves his purpose pretty well and the scenario is still top-notch.

Again, I'd disagree with you over that point - combat, while important, is generally not considered to be the most important aspect of a scenario. I'll use Blades of Exile as an example. I can name far more shining examples of plot driven scenarios (Falling Stars along with most of the Arc, the Spheres trilogy, etc. etc.) then I can name combat driven scenarios (the only truly good one that springs to mind is Doom Moon II, and some people despise it). There are even scenarios that exist entirely without combat - the Election springs to mind (which, while fairly unpolished, was still a solid scenario). I think this is because there is only so many times you can fight the same monsters in the same way before it becomes dull and boring. Doom Moon II was good because it introduced new methods of fighting, forcing you to rethink your tactics. Really, you need a mixture of plot and combat, but I believe that the combat should always be there to serve the plot, and not just there because "you're adventurers and that's what you do".

I disagree on the rankings of importance. My list would go more like - 1) Advance the plot. 2) Add realism. 3) Shops. 4) Give the players hints. 5) Give the player a break from fighting monsters all the time. Shops, while important (and essential), are not nearly as important as advancing the plot. I'm sure one could create a scenario that had no shops, but you could not create a scenario that had no plot and expect it to do well. Also, if you're creating dialogue to give the player a break from fighting monsters, then you're scenario obviously has too many monsters. Dialogue should be created for a purpose, not just to serve as filler between fights. Sometimes, if executed well, the fun of the scenario can be through finding out what to do - spoon-feeding the player plot-coupons can often give the opposite effect. Other then that (which is entirely my opinion, and you are entitled to yours), good article!

A major error in the file that I noticed: "Create the dialog script, and place the following at the start of the file: begindialogscript; " It should be begintalkscript (unless I am very much mistaken).

From what I've looked at, it seems an excellent document.

I was always a fan of TWoTS.....But TM is right, all group scenarios (especially when the people involved have no contact with each other outside of the 'net) are doomed to failure.

Brett: From talks with Djur about Pyg at regular intervals, I'm fairly convinced that it's progressing at a fairly good pace. I certainly prefer 2D to pseudo 3-D.

Presumably this forum's existance means that BoA's release is fairly imminent (within the next couple of weeks, at most). There's no question that BoA's editor will dwarf BoE in terms of power and features, but the question lies in by how much. Oh, and I'm offering 2 to 1 odds on Pygmalion being better then BoA.

http://www.avernum.com/avernum3/techsupp.html is the site you want. Basically, if you're on a Mac, you need to delete the Avernum 3 preferences, in the Preferences folder. If you're on Windows, you need to delete the Avernum3.dat file in the Avernum data folder. It's possible that this will unregister the game - but you should have your existing code (I'm not sure whether this will work or not). If not, contact Spiderweb and they'll issue you with a new one. They're very good about that kind of thing. If you decide it's too much hassle, generally healers can raise the dead for a small price.

I use a mixture of Safari and Internet Explorer. I only use Internet Explorer for sites heavily dependant on Java or ftp addresses. Safari plain sucks for either of those.

If you're on a Mac, I believe the information is stored in the Exile II Preferences file (in the System Folder). Otherwise, just e-mail Jeff, they're usually very accomodating about this kind of thing.

Alec, it also takes an age to start up (compared with other browsers). Waiting for it to boot up was my memory of using Mozilla: Firebird.

I have absolutely no problems using Geneforge 2, as a left-hander.

I see your point. However, I do see a bit of conflict that could arise between you and the "veterans", perhaps between TM and Stareye. If you're the only person creating a timeline, then people will treat it as "official" timeline, then everyone will want their own interests safeguarded. The only thing that can arise from that is conflict.