OK, just registered, but don't have the CD or my code yet. I've done the tutorial, browsed through the manual, and consulted the FAQ, and here are a couple of questions I've got right off the bat:

1. Is there any way to randomize the stats of NPCs (like, create Spiders in the tutorial but with, say, 5-10 stamina instead of always 7)? Or that give up 5-10 gold instead of always 7?

2. Is there any kind of "timer" event that triggers when a period of time has elapsed, so that one could have a "wandering monster" appear? Like, every two minutes, trigger an event that rolls the dice and has a chance to place a monster randomly on the map? Or, even better, somewhere relative to the player (like at least a certain distance away so they don't just appear right next to the player)? If not, are there any tricks that could simulate this to a degree?

3. For that matter, can an event create a monster/NPC? Sort of like how monsters are "reborn" by default when re-entering a map?

Thanks for any feedback.

TM

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Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
1. Is there any way to randomize the stats of NPCs (like, create Spiders in the tutorial but with, say, 5-10 stamina instead of always 7)? Or that give up 5-10 gold instead of always 7?
3. For that matter, can an event create a monster/NPC? Sort of like how monsters are "reborn" by default when re-entering a map?

Thanks for any feedback.
(/B)

1. If you double click on an NPC in the game browser a dialog box opens and youcan set the attributes as you wish.
3. Create an event and pull a NPC control into it. Double click it and in the dialog box click the custom bar and you see that you can add a monster at random in your map.

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Quote

Originally posted by Toast:
1. If you double click on an NPC in the game browser a dialog box opens and youcan set the attributes as you wish.
(/B)

Right, I see that, but is there any way to randomize the attributes? Or is the spider I create always going to have 7 stamina hard-coded?

What I'm looking for, in other words, is a way to create a monster "class" with a few variables, like "5-10 stamina" and so forth, so that as monsters appear, they aren't all clones of each other, but can have some slight variation. Then a way to say "put a (semi-random stat-bearing) spider on the map in a random location". Is there a way to do that?

Thanks for your reply.

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Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
**Right, I see that, but is there any way to randomize the attributes? Or is the spider I create always going to have 7 stamina hard-coded?

What I'm looking for, in other words, is a way to create a monster "class" with a few variables, like "5-10 stamina" and so forth, so that as monsters appear, they aren't all clones of each other, but can have some slight variation. Then a way to say "put a (semi-random stat-bearing) spider on the map in a random location". Is there a way to do that?

Thanks for your reply.

**

Just thought of this, might be a work around...
create a new NPC and choose the spider and save, changing the name ie, spider1, spider2 ...3,4,5, and in the dialog set up, set each spider with different attributes.
It may be a bit involved because of changing the names of the animaton graphics. It's a thought. I'll check it out.
I edited this and the way it is stated now the graphics win't be affected.
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(This message has been edited by Toast (edited 05-29-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Toast (edited 05-29-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Toast (edited 05-29-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Toast:
Just thought of this, might be a work around...
Go into the NPC folder and duplicate the spider NPC and change the name ie, spider1, spider2 ...3,4,5, and in the dialog set up, set each spider with different attributes.

(/B)

I wondered about that - essentially pre-creating all of the "random" possibilities and then picking one with a series of equal-probability conditionals. Cumbersome, and it does present some practical limitations on how much variance is possible, but I suppose it can be a crude substitute in the absence of real randomness. You could make "weak spider, normal spider, tough spider" NPCs.

The main other question, then, is whether there can be any kind of time-based event, like "check for a new random monster every 5 minutes." I'm getting the sense that you can't do that. If not, I suppose you could base it on player movement - have lots of "hot areas" on the map that have a chance to generate a remote monster when the player steps on them - again, though, you'd need some control over the timing and intervals if you didn't want them to just "expire" like one-time triggers. Some tricky work with globals could approach that so that you don't get bunches of monsters created in short intervals - but again, you'd need some way to measure the passage of time, some kind of probability-influencing counter you could increment/decrement at a time-based interval.

Any info or ideas on that?

Are the coldstone authors listening to these discussions? Any chance we'll see a 1.1 with some requested features at some point? I've gotten the sense that they've kind of moved on to other things already and updates are unlikely, but I'm new here and could be wrong.

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Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
The main other question, then, is whether there can be any kind of time-based event, like "check for a new random monster every 5 minutes." I'm getting the sense that you can't do that.
Any info or ideas on that?
(/B)

(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum48/HTML/001054.html")http://www.AmbrosiaS...TML/001054.html(/url)
Here's a response from a past thread about that subject
Hope it helps
I don't know of a way myself

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Quote

Originally posted by Toast:
http://www.AmbrosiaS...TML/001054.html
Here's a response from a past thread about that subject
Hope it helps

Ah, very cool! There might be something workable out of that. I'll see what I can come up with.

Thanks for all your replies.

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Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
... Or that give up 5-10 gold instead of always 7?(/b)

There is a way to do this (it was done in PoG) but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it.

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The greatest of harm can result from the best of intentions — Wizard's Second Rule, Stone of Tears.
— Cafall

(This message has been edited by Cafall (edited 05-30-2002).)

A little follow-up here: with some tinkering, I did manage to create an NPC that summoned spiders at intervals. Still working on the randomizing part, but I think that's manageable.

What I'm wondering is how to "hide" that NPC, the one that does the summoning. There doesn't seem to be a way to trigger a spell as an event, it seems like spells have to be CAST by a player or NPC. If this is true, I thought I'd need to create either an "invisible" NPC whose job was to stay hidden and periodically summon monsters, or something that would blend into the landscape and not be attackable, for all intents and purposes hidden.

I created an NPC for the Dragon Cave in the tutorial, and gave it no attack, but the summon spell and a very large range for sensing the player. That part works fine; it summons spiders every few seconds and I have to run away. (Summoning the same spider over and over doesn't seem to be a problem, and if you leave and come back, the randomly-summoned monsters are gone. I guess this is correct.) I used a rockpile model for the summoning NPC. The problem is that the rockpile still glides around and chases the player, and gets the little green "health" circle below it. It's wierd, to say the least. I set every motion-related thing I could find to 0, but it still moves.

I suppose I could restrict its movement with an "access pen" (I assume that works for NPCs too) - stick it off by a wall in an unimportant location and block around it with the access tool so it can't move or be approached - but it would still have the health circle, right? Is there any way to suppress that?

If not, is there some other way to make either a non-combat NPC that will cast spells, or some other way to trigger a spell effect?

PS. Got my registration code - no more unregistered delays while building! Ahhh....

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I think Cosmic Memory had a timer mechanism... Take a look at that. And on making the spiders appear near the player, the next version of CS should have new tag values with the position of the player, I believe.

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Quote

Originally posted by PCheese:
**I think Cosmic Memory had a timer mechanism... Take a look at that. And on making the spiders appear near the player, the next version of CS should have new tag values with the position of the player, I believe.

**

1. There's going to be another version of CS? Cool! Can you point me to any info on that?

2. Is the source to Cosmic Memory on the CD? They told me I should get it in a week or so. That would be great if it is.

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Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
**1. There's going to be another version of CS? Cool! Can you point me to any info on that?

2. Is the source to Cosmic Memory on the CD? They told me I should get it in a week or so. That would be great if it is.

**

1. Yes, a CGE update is in the works, but the current beta is far from perfect.

2. I don't know about that, but I think the source is on the CD.

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The greatest of harm can result from the best of intentions — Wizard's Second Rule, Stone of Tears.
— Cafall

Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
**
The main other question, then, is whether there can be any kind of time-based event,

**

im sorry this is short but you might be able to gleen some info here:
(url="http://"http://coldroom.150m.com/CGE_Stuff/CGE_Tips.html#Q24")http://coldroom.150m...E_Tips.html#Q24(/url)

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Straytoaster@mac.com
See CGE_Tips at:
http://coldroom.150m...f/CGE_Tips.html

Quote

Originally posted by Cafall:
**There is a way to do this (it was done in PoG) but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it.
**

We used the "Death" event of the NPC. In it, we pick a random number and store it in a variable. Then, we used it as a tag value in a "Launch item" action (gold).

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Dee Brown
Beenox inc. - (url="http://"http://www.beenox.com")www.beenox.com(/url) (check our new web site!)
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/coldstone/")Coldstone Game Engine(/url) / (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/pog/")Pillars of Garendall(/url) developers

Quote

Originally posted by Dee:
**We used the "Death" event of the NPC. In it, we pick a random number and store it in a variable. Then, we used it as a tag value in a "Launch item" action (gold).

**

Ah, thanks. I'd better update my plug-in then.

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The greatest of harm can result from the best of intentions — Wizard's Second Rule, Stone of Tears.
— Cafall

Quote

Originally posted by TomatoMan:
**
2. Is the source to Cosmic Memory on the CD? They told me I should get it in a week or so. That would be great if it is.
**

Yes.

Quote

From the Cosmic Memory ReadMe:
_
This is the complete Coldstone "source code" of the game Cosmic Memory. This is provided as an example only. You can modify it as you like but you can't distribute any modified version of it.
_

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