a_bertrand Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Was just wondering how much interest you guys would have to have a map system like NEaB within NWE? If this is something wished, then the thing could be basically yet another module which would allow to change location via the map, you walk and reach new locations. It's not a small piece so maybe it would require quiet some work to integrate nicely (takes time). Would do that only if there is strong interest in it, otherwise, I left it at side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aventro Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 If Implemented correctly, I would actually consider buying the engine! However a demo on the map would be succifient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 From my pbome. I bought neab for tbis. I think this would. e the single biggest addition to the system Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 wonder that a pbome is :-P (yes I know it's a phone, just joking) Ok, will wait to see the reaction for a couple more people, as that was why NEaB was not interesting to people of this board: it was not a text engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGato Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I always found NEaB to very interesting and having this map system in the NWE engine would be a pretty cool system... It would probably work for a ton of different genre of games So i would be all for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xethenic Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 This would be awesome i would like to see this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 But keep in mind it would had also quiet some work to the game owner to make it unique, as you would have to replace loads of images for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aventro Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Just make sure you copyright the tiles then or make dem daaamn ugly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 Well it's not an issue if you re-use the default tiles, simply it would be a shame if all games look and feel the same ;) For copyright, I think you mix copyright and trademark or patent. For copyrights, you don't need to "register" your work to be copyrighted and copyrights are free (as well as automatic). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 lol... make fun of my fat fingers!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uridium Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 without a doubt adding what was in NEAB to NWE would make this the most powerful of all engine .. youve got my green light :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudinski Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I think you had huge success with the 2D map system in NEaB, and rightfully so. NEaB wasn't a text-based game engine, it was a 2D one. With normal text-based games maps aren't so relevant, as the player appears to be at one point in time. For this reason solely I'd say no. Maps are used for navigation, and thus presents a problem for someone playing a game that isn't played on a "field". Normally people would use the map to see their surroundings and calculate distance. So since the player doesn't really advance to anywhere in a text-based game, there's no significant playability to be added with implementing a mapping system. Another thing is that there's not provision for the player to perform interactive tasks, such as launching into combat with creatures and other players(like in NEaB). What I have seen working well on text-based games is a image-map of towns/cities where the user can click on the nearest locations. That adds some usability(and fanciness) for the user when "transferring" to another location. My 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 Spud: indeed that is one of my main concern. Just add a "map" to travel from location to location doesn't bring much in my opinion. However I believe it should be possible to have a full 2D map system like in NEaB on top of NWE, where you do most actions on the map, and some like NPC chat, shops and other trigger an overlay and shows the content of the NWE module. Of course that must be an option to NWE not a transformation from text based engine to 2D engine without possibility to disable it. As said, all that is good and maybe doable, yet it's not free in term of time I need to invest as well as the effort for the future game owner. Maps will need to be drawn (even with the help of a map editor like: http://www.nowhere-else.org/demo_mapeditor.php it's still not free), and you will need quiet some skills in JS and PHP to modify the behaviors of the things. I must admit I'm somewhat skeptic about it. I still need to make tests to see how well it can be integrated. I don't want simply a little map to change location, I would ideally have a 2D world with NWE modules appearing at given locations and combats triggered when you encounter monsters on the map. That would be the goal, but I don't know yet how much of this is actually doable without creating a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleMassacre Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 I agree and disagree spud. Yes, its very difficult to turn a text based engine into a somewhat 2d/text based hybrid if you will without a lot of knowledge (which by no means am I claiming to have) but I think this can possibly open some doors to future modules, addons, or little tweaks. Do the pros over weigh the cons of a 2d map? Who knows. And its interesting that this came up but a game I just started playing to check out just implemented something similar and their pipeline for it is pretty astonishing if I may add. But a couple of the features they mentioned was basically a player map (theirs was by city and probably a bit more in-depth) but with that their attack system was going to change to proximity meaning, that of course you must be in the same city to attack but you must be within your weapons distance. I think its stuff like that, that can make a map useful to some games but ultimately depends on the game and content. Would I use it? Well I dont know, im not sure if I would have the time, patience or skill to make something with it. Maybe just turn it into a little mini-map showing some players locations inside their city for some shock and awe. Well that is my two cents and take with it what you will ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Actually I don't need a map like Neab. I mean it would be awesome but if it doesn't fit the normal model Alain wants, I get that and will make due. What would be just fine is the locations section showing graphics of your paths to other locations. So rather than a list: Travel to New York by Train (30 AP, 50 Gold) Travel to Long Island by Boat (10 AP, 100 Gold) Show some nifty graphic to make it cool. Like a picture of New York with Train Tracks as a link and perhaps a picture of Long Island with water and a boat. Use customized images and such, maybe in a hex map. My opinion, this is not JUST a text game which would just be boring. We have to entice and draw into the environment. Much like a movie makes you feel part of it. 'Text games' are old school. But games that operate by text don't need to FEEL like a 'Text game'. My 2.5 cents. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Nothing prevent you to use graphics with the actual plugins. But I'm still investigating the full map idea, just thinking carefully before losing loads of time into something badly done ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Which is what I am doing. Things like graphics buttons for modules, background changes as to where you are and externalizing the admin features to a separate site so I can use full screen for admin and fixed screen for the players. So is the customizing :) Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Well an external admin site could be done as standard as well as offering graphics buttons. Actually I quiet like the admin site as separated option. Specially since the admin part of NWE is maybe a bit more than the one of the average engine we see on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Well all I did was make 2 sites. One in the world of the Internet and one here at home. Both with the same DB connection. I removed the code that does updates on both as I manually move changes. The live site has all admin modules physically removed and the 'local' site has no ability to 'play'. Just for 2 different looks/feels AND to make the chances the admin modules are compromised (not that I have seen anything that would suggest it --- or I'd be PM'ing you lol) impossible. So just my take on it. Paranoia keeps the world spinning. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 (Side note: Have you considered integrating with a framework like Zend, CodeIgniter, Yii? What would be the reasons you chose against using them? I am really interested in your take on this). Inquiring Minds What To Know lol, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Frameworks have pro and cons as always. But being PHP the effects are more dramatics: Pro: - Offer premade (and usually well thougth infrastructures) - Offer usually some abstraction layers (being for the rendering, the db or other concepts) - Would let you re-use code made to extend those frameworks Cons: - Being PHP, more code means slower to run (and honestly, from my own knowledge the effect is really visible) - More code means more bugs and security issues, which would mean we would have to watch also on the possible reports about the framework choosen - More code means more to learn for new comers, which would mean, harder to start with - Some of those would maybe have an incompatible license (even if I believe that should not be such a big deal) Overall I tough it would make more sense to have a more compact game engine than for example taking Zend Framework or whatever else. I think nobody can deny that a NWE module is as simple as it could ever be, it's basically a plain PHP page, which requires little knowledge from the engine. Of course the engine is there to provide features but do not force you to use them. Same reasoning behind the fact modules are not classes, do not extend any class or interface etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoore Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Excellent response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DungeonMaster Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Is this still something planned or shelved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 I think it's shelved, why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_S. Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Yes, this would be awesome! I love the features I have read over in NWE, but sadly, NEAB doesn't have them. This would be perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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