XML questions and answers

[ptarth]

Q: Why can't I mixed relative=true movement with relative=false movement patterns using uses_direct_location_control?
A: You can. But there is a catch. If your change statement contains time="0" and is immediately followed by another change statement, then the first one is ignored and the position of the entity prior to the first change statement is used. I'm guessing its because the second instruction overwrite the first instruction since no time has passed. In other words, you tell the entity to shift one way, then before it can do anything, you tell it to shift the other. The entity ends ignoring the first instruction. (Go Left, er, no I mean Right. RIGHT!).


Examples:

Code: [Select]

<change location="0,-100" time="0"/>
<change relative="true" location="100,0" time="0.75"/>

Result: Entity moves to the left 100 pixels from original position.

<change location="0,-100" time="0"/>
<wait time="0.01"/>
<change relative="true" location="100,0" time="0.75"/>

Result: Entity appears 100 pixels to the right of the original position. Then shifts 100 moves to the left ending up at the original position.

<change location="0,-100" time="0.01"/>
<change relative="true" location="100,0" time="0.75"/>
Result: Entity moves very quickly to 100 pixels to the right of the original position. Then moves 100 moves to the left ending up at the original position.

I hope this reduces the amount of time you spend wandering the halls cursing Keith.

[ptarth]

Q: Anything I should know about spawning Bosses, Minibosses, and Condemned Bosses?
A: If you define the spawn location in the game entity room tag using boss_spawn_point, DO NOT USE 0,0. The engine self-destructs and may cause your computer to explode. Don't do it. Using "0,1" or "1,0" or "1,1" or "-1,-1" are all fine. (I think I haven't tested them).

Hopefully this will reduce the amount of time you spend wandering the halls cursing at Keith.

[Misery]

Hopefully this will reduce the amount of time you spend wandering the halls cursing at Keith.

I'm detecting a theme here.

[keith.lamothe]

Hopefully this will reduce the amount of time you spend wandering the halls cursing at Keith.

I'm detecting a theme here.

It is an admirable, if futile, goal.

[ptarth]

See, Keith is such a great guy, and I know there are really good reasons for things be done in a certain way. And sometimes there are going to be idiosyncratic features. Obviously he knows about them. But no one ever wrote them down to be passed along to us poor suckers trying to work through this. At least not all of them. And sometimes we get passed outdated or not quite complete information.

And then I usually end up whimpering in a corner. So much time was spent trying to figure out why that train boss was going diagonally instead of orthogonal.

[keith.lamothe]

See, Keith is such a great guy, and I know there are really good reasons for things be done in a certain way.

Neither of these things is true.

And sometimes there are going to be idiosyncratic features.

That's true.

Obviously he knows about them.

That's only occasionally true.

But no one ever wrote them down to be passed along to us poor suckers trying to work through this.

No information was purposely withheld, is all I can plead This is our first time trying to have "real" modding that's not done via some editor or otherwise limited to a pretty specific subset of the game. Any time I added a tag or attribute needed by a content guy I put it in the wiki, but we're finding out that this is woefully inadequate

[ptarth]

From a bang your head on it until it breaks works perspective, most of the XML works pretty well. The major problems are finding things in the Wiki (e.g., Ricochet!), the few parts that just don't work (e.g., PeriodicMovementMode), and the awkwardness on where and how specific characteristics are made (at the level of the game entity, system, bullet, or bulletpattern), (e.g., the speed of a shot is defined at the system, most of the time). There are some deprecated and missing entries still (Ability Points, anything about floors.xml and particles), but they aren't that big of deal. Getting grep to work on my local install and getting a copy of the wiki helped a ton too.

Its just when I want to do something Ptarthian that things are troublesome. It would probably also help if I managed to get the NonSim parts down.

[ptarth]

Q: How does the teleporter shot destruction on use work?

I'm trying something new with the Reanimator, but when the teleporter is used it keeps wiping out the defensive barrier around it. I know that Misery did some hijinks with the new final boss regarding teleporters.

[Hearteater]

Question: as far as I can tell, you cannot control the facing of a shot sprite. It will always face in the direction it is traveling. You can fake this if you just want it to travel backwards with negative speed. But if you want it to travel along say angle 0, but be turned to face angle 30, you need to attach it to another invisible shot? Is that correct? Or is there a facing attribute on bullet I'm missing?

[Ayrix]

Question: as far as I can tell, you cannot control the facing of a shot sprite. It will always face in the direction it is traveling. You can fake this if you just want it to travel backwards with negative speed. But if you want it to travel along say angle 0, but be turned to face angle 30, you need to attach it to another invisible shot? Is that correct? Or is there a facing attribute on bullet I'm missing?

shots generate facing the angle you chose (movement direction is not tied to rotation), so you want to spawn them at angle 30, then immediately change movement direction.
Also never_changes_angle_after_spawn on the shot entity.

[ptarth]

Q: How can I kill the minions after the boss dies?
A: There are many ways.

One way is in the Invader Boss. He has a only_fires_on_death weapon that nukes everything around him (obstacles, enemies, shots).

Another way is to copy a suicide system to the appropriate entities.

Code: [Select]

##On boss entity
<system type="TakeBallAndGoHomeSystem" offset="0,0"/>

##System defintions
<system name="SuicideSystem"
category="Weapon"
shot_type="Invisible"
damage_type="Energy"
attack_power="1"
fire_rate="2000"
cue_time = "0.0"
range_actual="10"
shots_per_salvo="1"
shot_speed="0"
targeting_logic="Dumbfire"
firing_timing="AllTheTime"
image_name="Invisible"
destroys_firing_entity="true"
>
</system>

<system name="TakeBallAndGoHomeSystem"
category="Weapon"
shot_type="Invisible"
damage_type="Energy"
attack_power="1"
fire_rate="2000"
cue_time = "0.0"
range_actual="10"
shots_per_salvo="1"
shot_speed="0"
targeting_logic="Dumbfire"
firing_timing="AllTheTime"
image_name="Invisible"
only_fires_on_death="true"
>
<effect timing="OnUse" targeting="AllEnemies" type="AddSystem" related_systems="SuicideSystem"/>
</system>

*Note: These might be able to be cleaned up by making it a DirectUseSystem instead of a weapon.


[ptarth]

Q: Independent shot angle and movement
A2: Using a bullet with uses_direct_location_control="true" and specifying relative locations (or not relative, your choice) will also work. There is also some nonsim code that allows you to animate a shot, including rotational shifts, but I've never worked with it.

[ptarth]

Q: What are the specifications for the boss (and miniboss) mid room spawning for the player?

[Ayrix]

Q: What are the specifications for the boss (and miniboss) mid room spawning for the player?

You start at the test start location of the room don't you?


Also a Q
Does destroys_firing_entity count as a kill or not i.e. does it trigger on death effects?
Having fun trying to clear up my thing that endlessly respawns itself, needs to go *poof* without dying.

[ptarth]

Q: Does destroys_firing_entity count as a kill or not i.e. does it trigger on death effects?
Having fun trying to clear up my thing that endlessly respawns itself, needs to go *poof* without dying.

Yes. You can actually have enemies that propagate from having multiple destroys_firing_entity  and on_death effects. I found that out the hard way after my enemies started multiplying.