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Re: Wyrmsun 1.9.0

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:31 pm
by MrFlibble
Andrettin wrote:I agree that it would be good to add a counter to display the number of yales killed, I just haven't thought of a way to do that yet.
I was thinking of something in the line of Leaderboard counters in StarCraft. If you're not familiar with how it works, StarCraft has several pre-defined parameters like kills or resources collected, but also an option to have a leaderboard with custom text. For example, in this Brood War shot the counter displays the number of Battlecruisers captured by the player:
Image

On another note, I need to say that the font used for tooltips and hit points/experience is quite small. Maybe it could be made larger or at least a bit broader to improve readability?

Also, do you plan to get a more stylised large font for the interface? The current one is certainly functional but it's pretty generic.

Re: Wyrmsun 1.9.0

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:01 am
by Andrettin
MrFlibble wrote:I was thinking of something in the line of Leaderboard counters in StarCraft. If you're not familiar with how it works, StarCraft has several pre-defined parameters like kills or resources collected, but also an option to have a leaderboard with custom text. For example, in this Brood War shot the counter displays the number of Battlecruisers captured by the player:
I was thinking of something along those lines as well, what I meant is finding a way to implement that in practice.
On another note, I need to say that the font used for tooltips and hit points/experience is quite small. Maybe it could be made larger or at least a bit broader to improve readability?
The tooltip font can be increased by selecting the "Larger Popup Font" option in the options menu. As for the HP/XP font, increasing it might make the numbers no longer fit properly in the interface.
Also, do you plan to get a more stylised large font for the interface? The current one is certainly functional but it's pretty generic.
Not at the moment, but it's a good idea.

Re: Wyrmsun 1.9.0

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:50 am
by MrFlibble
Andrettin wrote:I was thinking of something along those lines as well, what I meant is finding a way to implement that in practice.
Well, I'm not sure about how Warcraft II or Stratagus works in this respect, but in StarCraft the game seems to keep track of the standard leaderboard parameters like kills or harvested resources, so these values just get displayed and updated in real time if the respective leaderboard is activated.

For custom leaderboards like the battlecruiser counter, there have to be scenario triggers. There's a function that can add points to each player's custom score upon defined conditions. IIRC the mission with the battlecruisers just has a trigger that sets the score to the number of cruisers currently owned by the player. With a scenario similar to the yales one, the triggers would a bit be easier to implement because the kill count can only go upwards.

Of course, for that to function, the game needs to identify kills of specific units by a player, and keep track of these events if needed. But then again, it already does that if this is a victory condition, right? So I'm assuming that the counter just needs to display these values on the screen.

Re: Wyrmsun 1.9.0

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:37 am
by snv
MrFlibble wrote:
Andrettin wrote:I was thinking of something along those lines as well, what I meant is finding a way to implement that in practice.
Well, I'm not sure about how Warcraft II or Stratagus works in this respect, but in StarCraft the game seems to keep track of the standard leaderboard parameters like kills or harvested resources, so these values just get displayed and updated in real time if the respective leaderboard is activated.

For custom leaderboards like the battlecruiser counter, there have to be scenario triggers. There's a function that can add points to each player's custom score upon defined conditions. IIRC the mission with the battlecruisers just has a trigger that sets the score to the number of cruisers currently owned by the player. With a scenario similar to the yales one, the triggers would a bit be easier to implement because the kill count can only go upwards.

Of course, for that to function, the game needs to identify kills of specific units by a player, and keep track of these events if needed. But then again, it already does that if this is a victory condition, right? So I'm assuming that the counter just needs to display these values on the screen.
Since early Freecraft versions, engine already counts unit types and exposes them to scenario designer. That is also a feature heavily used by AI to decide what it needs to build.