Alternate transportation?

[philstrek]

I'd like to create an alternate means of transpo besides horses and boats and it appears that this can't be done with the basic scripting tools. Do I have to program in c into the source, or is there another option? (I've hit a brick wall - ouch.)

[Lilith]

Editing the source won't do it; remember, BoA itself isn't open source, so there's no point letting the editor make things that the game can't recognise.

 

You might be able to fake a new means of transportation in interesting ways using scripting, but there's no easy way to do it.

[spyderbytes]

About the only way I can think to do it that would even come close to being easy is to replace the graphic for either horses or boats... but then you have an unsupported hack with the same old transportation that just has a different picture pasted on it.

 

You could probably "fake" it fairly easily by asking the player for a destination, putting up a dialog describing the trip, and then just moving the party to the new town. You'd essentially have no outdoors whatsoever, though, that way (assuming players can use your transportation anytime they please).

 

Off the top of my head, I really can't think of a good way to fake a full-fledged transportation mode in BoA. I'll give it some more thought, though...

 

-spyderbytes

[philstrek]

I considered replacing the graphic - but that's not gonna do it. I wanted different terrain access permissions; and I think "faking it" would kind of take away from the experience quite a bit. Oh well... I may have to scrap the idea!

[Nasarius]

BTW, what kind of transportation is it? I assume flying of some sort, otherwise replacing the graphics would work.

[Abu Dhabi]

using scripts and some small town you could make busses. y'know, go for the bus stop [script here asks wheter to get on] and ride [script takes you to a very small town that looks like a bus] to the next town [after a predetermined amount of waits or moves the script tells you you can get off] and get of [walk in the exit of the bus].

neat, huh?

 

typo

[Morgan]

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

[Midknight Warrior]

you could stick a horse and a carriage thingy together (or a lizard if youre in avernum) and "fake" a carriage ride

[wz. As]

Looking at these ideas, I came up with a method for making a simple means of transportation:

 

Code:

begintownscript;variables;short cur_x,cur_y,old_x,old_y;short on_board = FALSE;body;beginstate INIT_STATE;break;beginstate EXIT_STATE;break;beginstate START_STATE;cur_x = char_loc_x(0);cur_y = char_loc_y(0);if ((get_terrain(cur_x,cur_y) != 0) && (on_board == TRUE)) {  on_board = FALSE;  set_state_continue(10); }if (on_board == TRUE) {  if ((old_x != cur_x) || (old_y != cur_y)) {    set_terrain(cur_x,cur_y,421); }    set_terrain(old_x,old_y,0);  else    on_board = FALSE;    set_state_continue(10);}if (get_terrain(cur_x,cur_y) == 421) {  on_board = true;  set_state_continue(10); }break;beginstate 10;old_x = cur_x;old_y = cur_y;break;

I made 421 a custom terrain, with just the basic info: a name and its own icon. What the script does is wait for you to step on a square which you have given that terrain, and then redraws that terrain under you as you walk around. If you wait, it takes you off.

 

The script is very basic. It doesn't have the town remember where you leave the terrain, for example (doable with stuff done flags), and you probably won't be able to walk near some walls. Also, weird stuff happens if you enter a boat or get on a horse, and I think it only really works with a singleton.

[philstrek]

After studying your code (wz. arsics), I think it's gonna work! I've created a mine car and tracks - stretching it a bit I guess, since those things weren't around at the time.

I want the party to be able to ride in it to locations around the mine. The tracks are a floor type, so I guess I could only allow the moving terrain (mine car) to be drawn on that specific floor type.

I'll try it out. Thanks everybody for their input!

[philstrek]

***Update***

 

Tried the above script and only had to change one part to get it to run: in the variables, substitute "int" for "short" in both cases.

 

It runs a little jerky in gameplay - character moves and mine car graphic follows it a fraction of a second later. Works okay in the short section that I'm using it in though.

- It leads into a cut scene whereupon I can more easily manipulate the graphics!