Re: Work on improving/expanding 'HLA Adventure'

From: Frank Kotler (fbkotler_at_comcast.net)
Date: 12/09/04

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    Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 08:34:34 GMT

    rsood wrote:
    >
    > Paul Panks wrote:
    >
    > >I was wondering if anyone here would be interested in
    > >improving/expanding the current HLA Adventure game into a more >robust
    > >and complete adventure?
    >
    > Does anyone know how to write/use DLLs in HLA?

    I *don't* know how to write/use dlls in HLA. But I *do* know, or
    strongly suspect, that this approach would make it difficult to run on
    Linux. It *might* be possible to write code with HLA which would produce
    a ".dll" for Windows, and a ".so" for Linux, but it seems like a
    stretch.

    Paul's current game will run on Windows *or* Linux. It *ought* to be
    possible to assemble these two executables from the *same* source file.
    I really haven't looked at Paul's latest version, but I think it comes
    in two versions. If so, I suspect the difference is in the "console"
    calls. It would be nice to "reconcile" the two sources (if I'm right
    that there *are* two).

    > I've got some ideas for
    > scenario editing that involve putting the verb and room handlers in
    > DLLs which could then be switched in different scenarios. The game
    > would then start by loading a scn file that looks something like this:

    I'm not sure why this would require the use of dlls...

    > Version // to allow more info (such as possibly // whether a noun
    > NumRooms // moves on its own) to be included in more // advanced scn

    Good point! It might make for a confusing game to have nouns moving
    around on their own, but it might make for some interesting
    possibilities. Definitely some version info! Maybe even some "magic"
    before that, to confirm that we *are* reading a legitimate ".scn" file
    before we try to "parse" it (even for version info).

    > MoveTable
    > RoomDLLNames
    > NumNouns
    > NounStrings
    > NounDescriptions
    > LocationsTable
    > NumVerbs
    > VerbStrings
    > VerbDLLNames
    > plus some quest information
    >
    > This would allow different scenarios having different rooms, nouns and
    > verbs to be played using the same "engine" (if I understand that word
    > correctly).

    Yeah, that's how I understand it, at least...

    > It would also make the code more structured and easier to
    > follow.

    That would be a step in the right direction! :)

    > The one drawback I can see is that all the DLL functions will
    > have to be passed the same general set of parameters, because there
    > will be no way for the engine to tell "okay, this verb is 'fight'. It
    > needs [such and such information]."

    The "object oriented" approach that Randy proposed might offer a way to
    deal with that.

    > It also might make the project
    > hard to maintain, but I think it'd be worth it.

    Anything that makes any project "hard to maintain" had better have some
    *real* strong points in its favor!!!

    > I also think it would be cool if the monsters moved through the game as
    > the player did (hence my comment above).

    That's a good idea. I think it would be possible to do without such a
    massive restructuring...

    I'm not sure if Paul is looking for help making the current "HLA
    Adventure" more "robust and complete", or looking for someone to "adopt"
    it so he can move on to other things. What we're offering, so far, is a
    "whole different approach to writing a game". The proposals for a "game
    engine" - object-oriented, dll-oriented, or otherwise - are interesting,
    but may not be what Paul had in mind...

    Best,
    Frank

  • Next message: Betov: "Re: Where is Betov's approval from Intelligent Firmware"

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