Hi,
Yet another question, I hope it hasn't been asked before (I checked the forum, found nothing).
Is there a way to reduce the area that has become visible in the map overview, i.e. the area around the player that can be "seen" by the player?

I don't know if this is at all relevant, but I'm using 80 movement tiles of 25 pixels each on a map of 2000x2000 pixels.

Eagerly awaiting your feedback!

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"Get back to work, you slacker!" - Duke Nukem

Of course, yes. The one thing I like best about Coldstone is the great map tools. What you can do is take a PNG graphic of a radial gradation going from transparent in the center to black or a dark tone in the outer perimiter of the image, with the space of solid color or total transparency varying by how much you want to see. Then place it on a map layer, and cause whatever event would limit the player's visibility to show that layer.

So basically, you will have a picture that masks part of the image in total black darkness by covering it with solid black, and shades part with dim light by covering it with the same color, though just not fully opaque. If you do not have a suitable graphics program (such as photoshop), then you can simply make a black mask with a white hole in it.

For greater realism, you should make an animation that involves several frames of the "light" area expanding and contracting, back and forth over time. Also, the above mentioned method only works for when you want stationary lights on the map.

Here is my idea for creating a moving light that goes with the player:
(this idea has not been tested whatsoeverand is just a guess)

1. Make an NPC with a solid black shape for a graphic, to mask out everything as mentioned above. Also as mentioned above, there should be a hole in this mask for the "light"
2. Make this NPC follow the player character, and move fast enough that it won't fall behind no matter what.
3. Make it totally passive, save for following the player.
4. Make sure that there will be no layers in the map that appear above the NPC, unless you want those layers to be unaffected by the darkness.

So basically, you are not creating light with these methods. Rather, you are creating a darkness, which is not present in areas where you want there to be light. The method I mentoned first was used by a friend of mine in photoshop in coldstone when he wanted to make a picture related to the abandoned project I've been mentioning here and there, where there would be a vast dark jungle where spots of light peek through the canopy.

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That's mighty white of you, Mikee. Hate to break it to you, but not everyone is so shallow and prejudiced that they fear being shot by "black people".
—Andrew Welch

If I understand you right, Wim, you're asking about the map overview , and whether you can control the amount of the map that becomes "seen" as the player moves around the map.

I think that this feature is primarily controlled by the size of the "Game Area" region in the map interface, so you might be able to try reducing that and see if it helps. Obviously this isn't ideal, but I can't think of anything else to try at the moment.

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I don't know what I'm talking about.
(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/glennfield/ColdstoneBugs.html")Coldstone 1.0.1 Bug List(/url) - last update 10/10/2002

Yes the feature is called 'fog of war', which like your classic game only allows you to see the areas you've seen,
check the section about maps in the user manual for more detail.

one method for reducing visibility is to use a low resolution 640x480 this will bring the action right up on the player, and generally reduce visibility allowing you to set up traps just out of range...for instance if you set up the Line Of SIght parameter to be higher than that of the player's visibility,you can ambush the player .

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Thanks Madman, Glenn and Ellrx for the info/suggestions!
I'll try them, and post the result in this thread.

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"Get back to work, you slacker!" - Duke Nukem

The solution is as follows:
The field of view i.e. the area that can be seen by the player on the map overview, is determined by the relation between the map attributes Map dimensions (in movement tiles) vs. movement tiles dimensions (in pixels).
It is not directly related to what can be seen using the main game interface.

The player sees a fixed amount of movement tiles (judging by looking at POG: 6x6). So if the ratio is like
Map dimensions (in movement tiles): 20
Movement tiles dimensions (in pixels): 100
the area that can be seen on the map overview is huge, wereas if the ratio is like
Map dimensions (in movement tiles): 100
Movement tiles dimensions (in pixels): 20
the area that can be seen on the map overview will be much smaller.

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"Get back to work, you slacker!" - Duke Nukem

Quote

Originally posted by Madman:
**< snip>

Here is my idea for creating a moving light that goes with the player:
(this idea has not been tested whatsoeverand is just a guess)

1. Make an NPC with a solid black shape for a graphic, to mask out everything as mentioned above. Also as mentioned above, there should be a hole in this mask for the "light"
2. Make this NPC follow the player character, and move fast enough that it won't fall behind no matter what.
3. Make it totally passive, save for following the player.
4. Make sure that there will be no layers in the map that appear above the NPC, unless you want those layers to be unaffected by the darkness.

**

That is really cute. I want to run out and try it myself! You might have trouble running into your "torch" all the time, tho, esp in combat. What happens exactly when you click "no collision" on an NPC?

Say...aren't there spell effects that center on the caster?

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"I know the stranger's name."
Turandot