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Help! My mod is corrupted!

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Week of June 15th, 2009

Topics:

  • Getting Help
    • The "Assistance" windows
    • The Lexicon
    • The Forums
  • Variables
    • Type-casting and the types
    • Conventions
    • Constants
  • Who Dun' It?
    • Who Spoke?
    • Who Used the Placeable?
    • Who Activated the Item?
    • Who Crossed the Trigger? Who Entered the Area?
    • Was it a Player? a DM?
  • Creating Objects
    • Preparing the Object
      • The Resref
      • The Object Type
    • At a Waypoint
      • Find the Waypoint
      • Find the Location
    • Where the player is
      • Find the Location
    • Create the Object
      • Deciding on a Tag
      • Spawning in the Object
      • Doing Things to the Object after Creation
  • Tracking Variables
    • Local Variables
    • Persistent Variables
  • Some Useful Scripts
    • Making Changes to the Avatar When It Enters the Game
    • Fiddling with the Avatar's Inventory
    • Destroying the Inventory Items
    • Destroying "Non-Destroyable" Items
    • Taking Gold From the Player
    • Giving Gold To the Player
    • Giving General Inventory Items to the Player
    • Giving Equipable Items and Forcing an Equip Action
    • Random Walk

Homework: Dungeon and Quest

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Week of June 7th, 2009

Topics:

  • Items
    • Properties
    • Building your own items
    • How to make an item have a conversation.
  • Creatures
    • Properties
    • Building your own
  • Triggers
    • Choosing the right one
    • Drawing a trigger
    • Trigger Properties
    • Trigger Events and Scripting Preview
    • Examples of Trigger Use
  • Waypoints
    • Waypoint Properties
    • Waypoint Directions
    • Uses for Waypoints
    • Scripting Preview
    • How to Set Up a Patrol Route
  • Conversations
    • How they're used
    • The basic tree.
    • Branching
    • Links (or "Loop backs")
    • Tokens: Built-in and Custom
    • Colorizing the Text
    • Including Other Speakers
    • "Actions Taken" and other events
    • Conditional Nodes
  • The Journal
    • Categories
    • Entries
    • Updating the Journal through Conversations
    • Updating the Journal through Scripting
  • How to Test Your Mod
    • The Build Module Option.
    • The Real Way
    • The Test Module Option

Homework:


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Week of June 1st, 2009

Topics:

  • Areas
    • Area Properties
    • Module Properties
  • Tiles
    • Tile Properties
  • Names
    • Blueprint / Resref
    • Tag
    • Display Name
  • Doors
    • Door Properties
    • Transitions between doors
    • How to make a door close itself
    • How to have a transition without a door
  • Placeables
    • Placeable properties
    • Spawning placeables.
    • How to stack placeables
    • How to have a placeable hold a conversation

Homework:

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May 27, 2009

Topics

Homework

 

  

GAME CONCEPT AND DESIGN
COSC 320.101_SU09
SUMMER 2009

Modding

Tonight we discussed dungeons and quests. So this week--spanning a two-week session--you will incorporate those into your mod.

  1. Using the toolkit, open your current module and create a new area for your dungeon.
  2. Design your dungeon with one eye for "believability," one eye for "playability," and one eye toward supporting your overall story and the quest.
  3. Using the item name I gave you, create a backstory for that item.
    1. What is it?
    2. What is its power (if it has one)?
    3. How did it to be what it is?
    4. Why does the person who wants it...want it?
    5. Why doesn't he/she get it herself?
    6. How did it end up in the dungeon?
  4. Somewhere in your town create an NPC who wants the item.
  5. Play with the conversation editor to create a conversation in which the NPC attempts to hire the player to retrieve the item.
  6. Use the Items palette to create a new item to be the item you're creating. You will probably have to be very creative here because:
    1. The icons that you have to work with for inventory items probably won't have a "perfect icon" for your item. Do your best.
    2. Remember that regular items when put on the map tend to either be very small representations, or are just bag icons.
    3. You might want to find a Placeable that can be your "big" item that--when clicked--gives the little item (the real one) to the player. Or put the little item in a box, crate, or some other sort of container.

Once again email the entire mod to me by Sunday and I'll incorporate it into the class mod.

Here's an exported zone with my Nerull's Toys explanations: The Vault.

Then on the following Monday night, we'll tour them and see what's been created and hear why.

Reading:

Please read through Chapters 12 and 13 in the Rules of Play book. They talk about rules in games and try to help us understand:

  1. What they are, meaning what they really are.
  2. How even rules are a deeper idea than we thought they were.
  3. How to start thinking about designing elegant rules.

CLARIFICATION

Due Monday the 22nd. We'll discuss the readings and hear about your items.
Due Monday the 22nd. We'll hope to see the so-far-unseen mods by Maureen, Armando, James.
Due Monday the 29th. We'll see the dungeon/item mods.