looking for RAGS tips/help

[Henrik]

stories? stories i have to tell.

i've been able to figure out a lot of RAGS stuff from tutorials and videos and just from dl'ing unprotected games and poking around inside them.

two problems i'm having right now though are this

1. how do i get doors to work correctly? I can set up room1 and room2 to both share a common exit, but even with the portal object set to be a door and setting it as closed...it still doesn't require being opened to move from room to room. what am i doing wrong here?

2. is there a good tutorial for putting in time as a factor? how does this work? can you tie it to number of actions? thanks for any help on these things!

[lydia]

My first question would be which version of rags are you using? My understanding is that, unless you have purchased a license, the most complete free rags version is 0.9.9.2. As I'm a storyteller first and programmer a distant second, this free version works just fine for me. The rags site has a number of tutorials that I would imagine provide solutions to your door and time situations.

The door sounds like a matter of setting up conditionals to verify whether the player should be allowed to enter the room or not. Time can be handled through a timer that tracks what you seem to be suggesting as number of moves.

My coding style is more along the lines of working with something that makes sense to me for ease of use and debugging. Thus it may not be the most elegant of soultions to a situation. Therefore I point you to the experts and make only general suggestions that allows for you to design a solution that make most sense to you.

[Henrik]

figured out doors and open/close and locked/unlocked. now to see if i can get time passage figured out.

once i get that down, i think i will have a demo version of a game to put up here. maybe.

[Tjommi]

I am a poor excuse for a programmer myself, hehe I'm kinda in the process of learning how this works as well, but have had to take a very long break from learning this due to insane program with exams and stuff at the univerity. Anyway enough rambling...
My best tip ( as Lydia allready presented the really good ones) would be to see how other people does things. You can open up most games in the rag creator, and allthough some block the code, many got it open. When you open up their games you can see how they are doing things, and this is perhaps one of the best way to learn game features and powerfull tools like timers.( I am not there yet, but that is next on my to do list.)

[lydia]

Tjommi brought up a great tool with the example of other games. Just be careful whose games you try as a reference. Not all coders are created equal. To the other extreme, some are so good that trying to follow their work can be a headache in the making for some new to coding.

The best way I found to learn new coding techniques is in an experimental environment. Forget game creation for the moment and concentrate on an experiment of how to best handle a feature you'd like to have in a game. Thus you have maximum focus and minimal interference from game conditional, variables, timers, etc present in a game setup that can interfere with reaching a desired outcome from the trial situation.

Have 2 or 3 rooms and try say various ways to prevent player access to a room. Make the room not available at first. Create conditions that mean the door needs to be opened first. Add the requirement of having a key to unlock the door first. Typical treatment is to ignore doors or say consider them as being open by the player clicking on the room. The key is a good barrier. Not sure what effect you are shooting for here, but visibility could also be brought into play.

Timer wise, you can have an action generate the start of a timer. Say obnoxious neighbor receives a package that upon opening starts the timer on a bomb. At this point call a timer that allows the player so many moves to disarm the bomb or try and run far enough away to survive. Treatment depends on what you are looking to accomplish and once again, what the version of rags you are using has in the way of programming tools.

[Trucla]

Henrik wrote : 2. is there a good tutorial for putting in time as a factor? how does this work? can you tie it to number of actions? thanks for any help on these things!

I'm glad to see that you found your way for the portals. About this "timers question" honestly I don't see what your problem is. Can you explain exactly what you want to do? Thanks!

[justme]

Henrik:

Do you have your timer issue settled to your satisfaction?

[Bunny the Veggie Slayer]

lydia wrote : Have 2 or 3 rooms and try say various ways to prevent player access to a room. Make the room not available at first. Create conditions that mean the door needs to be opened first. Add the requirement of having a key to unlock the door first. Typical treatment is to ignore doors or say consider them as being open by the player clicking on the room. The key is a good barrier. Not sure what effect you are shooting for here, but visibility could also be brought into play.

This section here has made me wonder...

How many here have heard of Flow Charts. It's been a long time since I did any programming, but I was taught to map out the steps I needed in a flow chart before I went near a computer. It's basically a written diagram showing you how your program works. Which choices need to be made, what the results of each choice are. A kind of map for your software.

It does really help you define the path your program takes, and would be especially useful for adventure games. If anyones interested I'm sure myself and others here could show you the basics and how to apply them.

[Squeeky]

Bunny the Veggie Slayer wrote :


This section here has made me wonder...

How many here have heard of Flow Charts. ....... A kind of map for your software.

They are always a great aid to understand your flow of events. For those seeking a bit of prior information check this out.

[Henrik]

thanks for the help everyone. i'm good with flowcharts and stuff, the big problem is that while i might know what i want to happen, figuring out how to get it to happen frequently involves me playing unpassworded games and then copying the neat stuff they do into my own game.

[Squeeky]

Maybe ... um ...?

Consider either suggesting a brief scenario (like Shark wants Alancy to touch herself in a few places), possibly even offer how you might intend to code such things?

Those familiar with the RAGS environment should then be in a position to advise you. Possibly even submitting the coding of what you have done (I know naught about RAGS, but with the right prompts, well may be you get support).

[Ehlanna]

With a more concrete example of what you wish to achieve we will be able to offer better assistance. Mentioning (as lydia said) what version of RAGS will also be useful.

Your latest post suggests you want somethign to happen more than once, and the implication is that that something is outside of the player's control. Doing that indicates the need for a Timer. Each time the player does something (moves, uses an Action - such as Examine) a RAGS Turn happens. If you are happy to let your game be Turn-based then we are good to go for this. A Timer can be set up to run every single Turn. Thus you could have something happen every Turn. I am guessing that is not what you want, however. Depending on how complex or constrained you wanted the 'happen frequently' to be you could, as a very simple measure, use this 'run on every turn Timer' to calculate and check a random number (1-100, say to get a percentage). So if this number is more than, for example, 90 (therefore 91-100, 10%) you have your thing happen.
You could get more complex by including a count of Turns between the happening and check that first to make sure that there is a 'decent interval' between happenings. You could also do that by 'flip-flopping' Timers: "Happening", runs always and does a random check, like above, to generate the happening. If it indicates it is going to happen, it will deactivate itself and activate another Timer "Gap" which runs for, say 15 Turns. On Turn 15 "Timer Gap" will reactivate "Timer Happenings" and that would enforce a 15 Turn hiatus.
If your passage of time is more complex a very similar methodology would work, but would need to fit in with your time mechanics.

[Squeeky]

Henrik this looks like a PM to Ehlanna if she is prepared to accept. She seems to understand the scenario(s) and has a clear view of potential solutions.

[Ehlanna]

Yup, more than happy to accept a PM for a request for help.