I've never really made a HUD system aside from a title screen that's displayed to everyone, so I was wondering how to do something for a D&D-ish game I'm making.
This is a crude drawing of the main screen which will be displayed upon entering the game and selecting new character. Now, I was wondering how to add a .png backdrop with /obj clickable buttons(that'll need to be aligned on the backdrop in a certain position) using client.screen. I was thinking using screen_loc for the objs and adding them to client.screen, but I really don't know how to do anything like this because I will need to change the backdrop and replace the buttons with new /objs when they select something from the main screen, and the only way I could think of how to do that is setting client.screen to null, adding all the objs and the .png, and I'm sure that would take awhile to load which would probably mean a black "blink" inbetween each selection, so I was wondering of a way to do this efficiently.
Also, with this HUD system I would like to know how to display numbers that will smoothly change, as well as text which will be in the "description" area, and the description area will need to be scrollable and have a detection of when the text exceeds the base height.
ID:167854
 Jan 19 2006, 2:28 am (Edited on Jan 19 2006, 2:41 am)
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I would prefer to do it browser-based, but I don't know how to integrate DM with HTML/javascript in the way that will be needed. I know I need Topic() but I'm not sure how to use that. All I've been able to do right now is make a thing where you can click 2 images to decrease/increase a number in an input area. Really needing help on how to integrate DM with text variables that will contain javascript and HTML.
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Shadowdarke wrote:
Personally, I find that complex interactions with lots of text like character creation work better through a browser based interface than through map or HUD interfaces. Using the BYOND map/HUD you'll be generating tons of graphic resources and bandwidth problems just in displaying simple text messages. Eh, in my experience's, generating HUD graphics really doesn't make that much of a noticeable difference in performance. Not to mention that a browser just looks ugly & out of place in a graphical game. With HUD, you have much more options & less limitations in my opinion. | |
Teh Governator wrote:
Shadowdarke wrote: A large dynamic HUD full of changing text will kill the game's bandwidth if you have more than half a dozen players. Not to mention that a browser just looks ugly & out of place in a graphical game. With HUD, you have much more options & less limitations in my opinion. Quite the contrary. You have far more options with the browser than you do with the HUD. You should look at some of the more advanced browser interfaces in games like Darke Dungeon, Maeva, or Champions of Vargacet. Best of all, you can glitz out the browser interface as much as you want and it's all client side. Fancy effects and highly interactive pages don't impact the server at all. All the server has to do is verify the values the browser returns are legal. There are two things lacking about the browser right now, and I'm pulling to get those fixed. First and most irritating, you have no control over placement of the browser window. Second, you can not currently drag and drop between the map and a browser window. | |
We need a good article on DM/Javascript communications. I started one a while ago, but I got distracted. I'll add it back into my todo list.
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Artemio wrote:
I would prefer to do it browser-based, but I don't know how to integrate DM with HTML/javascript in the way that will be needed. I know I need Topic() but I'm not sure how to use that. http://www.byondscape.com/ascape.dmb/LummoxJR.2002-0220/ I don't think you actually need JavaScript for anything you're proposing, though it is available. I recommend avoiding it because some users will turn scripting off in IE to avoid worms. Lummox JR | |
The only way I could see doing it is in JavaScript.
Click a linked image, 2 readOnly=1 input areas have their values either decreased or increased, the 1 the linked image is relevant to and another one indicating a total value of points left, and I'm not sure how the data sent through <form> will be collected from a submit button form. | |
Artemio wrote:
The only way I could see doing it is in JavaScript. You can increase/decrease values by making the buttons also submit the form. Granted, it's probably not ideal. Lummox JR | |
For static backdrops, you could just set aside a section of the map and move client.eye to the center of it when the player accesses that screen. Save the HUD, which can slow down map drawing, for displays that only go to a single player. For that matter you could forgo the entire HUD and use /images.
If you preload the resources using client.preload_rsc, there should be no noticable blink when you place new buttons. Changing several HUD items around at once might cause visual tearing if only part of the changes arrive at the client in a given tick.
sd_Text supports scrolling client.screen text boxes. You might need to get version 9 for accurate scrolling, as version 10 suffers from a BYOND bug with mouse click detection.
Personally, I find that complex interactions with lots of text like character creation work better through a browser based interface than through map or HUD interfaces. Using the BYOND map/HUD you'll be generating tons of graphic resources and bandwidth problems just in displaying simple text messages.