It's been a long wait, but worth it. Still, a few things I was hoping for seem to have been left out. I would like to...

--change all attributes of NPCs via events. Like changing a friendly NPC into a hostile one. You could have NPCs that avoid the player character if he or she has a certain item equipped (like a sword). You could have a vicious dog that turns friendly if the player offers it a juicy steak; it could then be set to follow the player around until given some command. I think this would be fairly easy to code into the next release of the program. It could be added functionality to the "control NPC" action. You could have actions that affect a particular NPC by name, or the closest one to the player, or all NPCs within a certain range of tiles.

--a simple word parser would be nice. Some of us still like text-based adventures. This could be made into a new type of location. Just a thought. I seem to remember there was something that allowed the player to input text (like a password), but I'm not sure where I saw this.

-- a timer event. Suppose the character jumps into a pool of water. The timer could tick off the seconds until the character drowns (if not wearing a scuba diving outfit). Although now I think of it, this is probably doable with the "wait" action.

Another idea that could be cool; since QuickTime supports Flash (.swf) files and Coldstone uses QuickTime for its multimedia functions, what if you could pass commands back and forth between Coldstone and .swf files (within quicktime movies), which can be programmed in ActionScript? This way, you could have games-within-the-game. For instance, the player steps into a video game arcade and has to play a game of "space invaders" for some reason. You could include such a game (if you were a Flash programmer) and have it pass some message back to Coldstone when a certain score was reached. The possibilities would be endless.

On the whole, though, it's a very exciting release and should be very enjoyable. If I can ever find the time to use it.

--Mark

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Mark

I can't answer any of your questions... but I did want to say that those are nice ideas that you have.

- zupa

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I've got a few nitpicks too...

Firstly, the editor in MacOS X is terrible! You have to click to activate a pallette, then click again to select something, then click activate the editor, etc....

Also, I really wish there could be dialogue superimposed as subtitles!! I really need to have a flowing introduction sequence without letting the player keep it waiting!

I had higher hopes for the map editor too. I wish you could make it so that, when you were painting grass, if it touched a tile not bordered by grass, it'd add the border tile automatically. Starcraft editor is a perfect example - follow their lead.

Amorya

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Quote

Originally posted by Amorya:
**I've got a few nitpicks too...

Firstly, the editor in MacOS X is terrible! You have to click to activate a pallette, then click again to select something, then click activate the editor, etc....

Also, I really wish there could be dialogue superimposed as subtitles!! I really need to have a flowing introduction sequence without letting the player keep it waiting!

I had higher hopes for the map editor too. I wish you could make it so that, when you were painting grass, if it touched a tile not bordered by grass, it'd add the border tile automatically. Starcraft editor is a perfect example - follow their lead.

Amorya

**

See p. 31 of the user manual, entitled "ground tools".

Here's another possibility for controlling NPC attributes. Say your character has a spell that blinds all opponents. You could call an event that changes the Line Of Sight attribute of all characters within a certain radius temporarily to 0. Great way to sneak past the angry troll, etc.

Can anyone think of a way to make a bomb item that explodes after a certain amount of time, damaging all characters within a certain radius and at the same time blasting holes in a nearby wall? I'm thinking of "Legend of Zelda", where you could open secret passages that way. Should be doable, but I haven't delved very deep into this stuff yet.

--Mark

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Mark

You know, I read that, but thought it was just for placing tiles in a set order! Thanks a lot - that makes a big difference

Amorya

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Quote

Originally posted by markborok:
It's been a long wait, but worth it. Still, a few things I was hoping for seem to have been left out. I would like to...

The main thing I'd suggest is spending some time with Coldstone first -- there are a lot of very cool things that can be done with it, things that you can't realize by just looking at the feature checklist.

Before you (or anyone else) comes up with a wish list of features to add to it, a good inventory of what you can do is in order.

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Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.

Quote

Originally posted by andrew:
**The main thing I'd suggest is spending some time with Coldstone first -- there are a lot of very cool things that can be done with it, things that you can't realize by just looking at the feature checklist.

Before you (or anyone else) comes up with a wish list of features to add to it, a good inventory of what you can do is in order.

**

Sure, I didn't mean to complain. You guys did a great job and I intend to fork over the registration fee if only to encourage further development.

I can think of a few workarounds to the NPC problem, but if someone could suggest how, for instance, the player character could give an item to an NPC and have that item appear in the NPC's inventory, I'd be interested to find out.

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Mark

Quote

Originally posted by andrew:
The main thing I'd suggest is spending some time with Coldstone first --

I have and there is one glaring omission (so far).

Plug-ins do not share resources. If I create a plug-in for PoG, PoG's resources are available (NPCs, items, maps, art, etc.), but I can not use any of the resources from the Trinity plug-in... that sucks!!

Create a new bow for the Ranger, but when he equips it it shows him holding an axe!?! Why? Because I can't change the character portrait, the Ranger portraits are in the Trinity plug and I can't access them...

I've already registered ColdStone because I can see the power inherent in it, but I can also see this shortcoming.

One thing that dissapointed me was the relative inflexability of interface elements. Sure, you can customize the look of your windows and such, but it seems you are limited to a list of preset interface types (dialogue, store, map etc.) that limit what can be placed where. It would be nice, for instance, to be able to put player portraits in a dialogue window to show various emotions (like in Oni for example), but it looks like coldstone's "dialogue" window type dosn't allow for this. :frown:

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(/mindless babble)

Quote

Originally posted by Glaring Omission:
**I have and there is one glaring omission (so far).

Plug-ins do not share resources. If I create a plug-in for PoG, PoG's resources are available (NPCs, items, maps, art, etc.), but I can not use any of the resources from the Trinity plug-in... that sucks!!

Create a new bow for the Ranger, but when he equips it it shows him holding an axe!?! Why? Because I can't change the character portrait, the Ranger portraits are in the Trinity plug and I can't access them...

I've already registered ColdStone because I can see the power inherent in it, but I can also see this shortcoming.
**

This, to me, looks like an attempt to make each of the plug-ins self-complete. If you created a bow and edited the ranger's portrait, then the game would screw up where someone tried to play PoG and loaded your plug-in but not Trinity.

I may be wrong, but it strikes me that the developers were trying to stop the use of plug-ins from being dependant on other plug-ins.

Spiffo.

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Quote

Originally posted by Captian LeGrenadier:
**One thing that dissapointed me was the relative inflexability of interface elements. Sure, you can customize the look of your windows and such, but it seems you are limited to a list of preset interface types (dialogue, store, map etc.) that limit what can be placed where. It would be nice, for instance, to be able to put player portraits in a dialogue window to show various emotions (like in Oni for example), but it looks like coldstone's "dialogue" window type dosn't allow for this.:frown:
**

Hmm, I was fearful that that might be the case from what wasn't done with the dialogues in PoG. It's not exactly a huge setback, but more flexibility in this department can lend much flavor to an rpg.

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"Hello, we bought a cheese pizza from you not too long ago. We got the cheese. We were wondering if you knew of anyone who was given two crusts by mistake."
- The_Foool

My only gripe with the program is that it seems to have a pretty harsh learning curve....but I guess thats what you get when you demand total editing power. I'm still totally lost in the program.

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Dr. Tall says: Taller is Better
(url="http://"http://drtalll.tripod.com")Dr Tall Land(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by LoneIgadzra:
**Hmm, I was fearful that that might be the case from what wasn't done with the dialogues in PoG. It's not exactly a huge setback, but more flexibility in this department can lend much flavor to an rpg.

**

Hmm, I tought that you could display pictures in dialogs and you wouldn't need more than that but I'm not sure cuz I haven't tested it myself.

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Why look at a window, you just see trough, when you can look at a beatiful apple?

Quote

Originally posted by Dr Tall:
**My only gripe with the program is that it seems to have a pretty harsh learning curve....but I guess thats what you get when you demand total editing power. I'm still totally lost in the program.

**

Do the plug-in tutorial. That will give the the base to do almost anything, since it teaches you how to make an event. The rest will come.

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"The French model seems to show that, ultimately, someone will do my work FOR me."
(url="http://"http://ucplugs.evula.net")EV/O/N Upcoming Plug-Ins Directory(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.net")EVula.net(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula.com(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Captian LeGrenadier:
**One thing that dissapointed me was the relative inflexability of interface elements. Sure, you can customize the look of your windows and such, but it seems you are limited to a list of preset interface types (dialogue, store, map etc.) that limit what can be placed where. It would be nice, for instance, to be able to put player portraits in a dialogue window to show various emotions (like in Oni for example), but it looks like coldstone's "dialogue" window type dosn't allow for this.:frown:

**

How about using a "Main" location with the dialog? Put a stamp of your character in the main location and change it to reflect different emotions as necessary. Call the dialog event from within the Main Location (I think you can do that, right?) and take it from there. When done, return the player to the map screen. I haven't tested this, but it seems like it can be done.

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Mark