Jaiden

Thanks a lot for this, I look forward to seeing more. It's very helpful when you start explaining things in basic terms then getting more precise later on.

**Kingdoms Recruitment Thread** **Recruitment is closed. Thanks for the interest and applications everyone!** Kingdoms is the new online RPG that I'm working on. It's a generic online RPG that has its strengths in its expansive overworld. The game thread is here for more details: http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,72246.0.html ~~Of course, a game typically doesn't get very far with a development team consisting of two people, especially one who is very busy and cannot devote 100% of their time to the internet. So, we're looking for creative, intelligent, and friendly people to join the project. The following positions are open:~~ ~~**Programmer** Ah yes, everyone's favorite position. I'll be frank, I have a lot of plans for this project, but I have the programming sense of a rock. So Kingdoms needs a person who knows what they're doing in VB to help. I'm very flexible on availablity–let's face it, we're human and we can't do everything all the time. I wont demand things immediately, but I unfortunately offer no payment even though this is such a highly demanded position. The reward is of course partaking in a project with a great team. All I ask for when applying for this position is proof of programming ability. A thread with a tutorial, a program, etc.~~ ~~**Database Manager** I'll be honest, this is a rough one. We need someone to help with databasing and balancing items, enemies, and spells. Someone who is willing to crunch numbers and fill out information. The reward is of course in-game benefits and being a member of the team. You will need to be honest and dedicated, and we prefer you have some English skills especially for filling out descriptions accurately. Nothing extra is required for this position.~~ ~~**Mapper(s)** This is a position that we don't take lightly in Kingdoms. Because Kingdoms is so environment heavy, mapping is our strongest point in presenting our game. Therefore, we ask for only the most experienced mappers to apply. This is one of the most enjoyable positions, but do understand that although we ask for a creative mind, we also hope that you can listen to instructions when we give plans of a map's layout. The requirement for this position is an example of your mapping. Kingdoms will use only RPG Maker XP tiles, so we will only accept applications using them. _**If you wish to apply, please fill out the following template:**_ * * * Name: Years of experience with Eclipse: Position you are applying for: Why do you want to work with Kingdoms?: Map Example (If Applying for Mapper) Programming Example (If Applying for Programmer) * * * You may submit your applications privately through PM or email ([email protected]) or you may post directly in the thread. Please feel free to ask any questions and of course, thank you very much for your interest in Kingdoms!~~

@Robin: > Size can be deceptive. You can do a lot with what might seem like a small size when you talk about it. > > Hell, Crystalshire is 800x600 and looks pretty big. > >  Yeah. But you know what you're doing. I need to work around to fit my limits. I simply don't have the experience to make everything fit perfectly in an 800x600 GUI. I thank you for your opinions, I really do. I was hoping for critique and opinions, but I am going to draw the line at a certain point. And that point is my GUI will support 1024x768 resolutions as a minimum.

@Frosty: > I'd also fix up the chat screen, looks like you just did a bit of a lazy job on that. Won't require much work to fix it up though. > now I have one question. Will this be downloadable for everyone? No, I'm just showing it off. Is this suppose to be a sharing place for resources? If so that was an honest mistake on my part. @Robin: > It really isn't. The simple fact is that this is not a full size game. People are not going to be sat there with their entire screen taken up by it. They'll play it windowed whilst alt-tabbing through conversations, Firefox and the like. > > By making it so big you're cutting out a large amount of players as well as simply making it unsightly. No no, I mean my being adamant on not making it 800x600 is stupid and stubborn. I know I will lose audience, but I recall playing a game that had a terrible GUI that was bulky, slow, and just plain ugly and the game had tons of dedicated players. I've played a game with terrible mapping and design but still had a huge community. Face it, as a game designer you'll never make every single person happy. It just won't happen. You can shoot for the biggest audience possible, of course. But I'm not planning on making a game that will have tons of people, I plan on having a small dedicated community. And in a small dedicated community, they like the game because it fits their needs. Be it a larger graphical interface or not.

@Robin: > Better but still way too big. Height specifically. > > Make the screen size shorter. Yeah I'll reduce the screen a bit. I'm not shooting for 800x600 though. It's stupid and stubborn, but I want a larger screen size.

I hated the chat bubbles, but just the text itself drawn on the screen was convenient. I'm also interested if someone has this.

Finalized Design 

Alright. Trying that, I came up with this:  That actually looks…a lot better. Though it tosses any sort of compatibility out the window. I'm making it larger than 800x600 anyway, but I may have to align it better and reduce the screen just a little so it isn't so damntall. I'm not sure if I like the buttons on the side too much, but I'll line them up better when I fix up the actual GUI in photoshop. But now I have to figure out how to draw the inventory, abilities, etc. so they float on the screen, preferably the entire window. Which I have no idea where to even begin with that one.

@Rithy58: > Wow, this is beautiful. > I don't know if you don't want to but having everything inside the game screen(picScreen) is even better. > By everything, I mean the health bar, the buttons, etc. > > Sincerely, > Rithy Thanks a lot. Most of it is recycled from Origin's though, I just redrew most of it and moved things around. And no I don't want to draw everything to the screen. Even if I wanted to I have no experience to even attempt doing that. @Robin: > lolwat. Never, ever create a chatbox like that. It looks terrible! > > Clean up the bottom of the GUI and put the chatbox in there. It's all very messy at the moment. Ahhhh you're right but I'm so satisfied with all of the other graphics under the screen that I just threw the chat on the side. Admittedly it is a very bad place for it. But I reaaaaallly don't want to draw to the screen because of my method of setting up maps. I don't like to make scrolling maps, so if you have something unmovable at the bottom, like the chat, then it limits the player's view of the map, and since it doesn't scroll they'll never see what's under the chat letters.

Ok thank you!

@Damian666: > just make a seperate rec, signrec, then load them same way as items etc. > > that way it stays away from your tiles. thats what i did, works fine :) > > Dami Ahh…alright. Could you explain it in a little more detail perhaps? As to how I would go about doing this?

I'm trying to create a sign tile attribute displays three lines in the chat when you view it with the enter key. I need a bit of help since I've still got a lot to learn. I made the constants, created and named the option button and all of the things I needed in the map editor (optSign, fraSign, cmdSign, txtSign1, txtSign2, txtSign3), I just need to know exactly what I'm doing code-wise to make the tile recognized as a sign that the player can read and can't walk through. Right now I can click the tile in the editor and place it on the map, but it has all of the attributes of a slide attribute. Thanks for the help and patience.

@Frosty: > back on topic…. > the GUI has a large unused area in the bottom right. I'd follow robin's advice and make the windows floating while taking out the right column. Also, he doesn't mean to make the chat floating, keep the bottom HUD the same just take out the right side and make it into windows. What do you mean unused area? That's the chatbox. If I remove the inventory and make it floating and leave the chat box, it becomes even more bothersome.

Nevermind, deleted comment. If anyone figured out how the log works that'd be swell.

@Minikloon: > Hi. > > First you thing you might want to do is download a copy of your chosen version's IDE (Integrated Development Environment). I will suppose you want to learn VB6, since the Eclipse Engine is using that version. To download Visual Basic 6, which is a software by Microsoft, you'll need to find a friend, a co-worker or someone who has a valid copy. VB6 isn't supported by Microsoft anymore, so it's not for sale. You can also download it somewhere, like on a P2P network. > > Here's Robin's tutorial to install Visual Basic 6 : [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68399.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68399.0.html) > > Then, there are plenty of resources on internet. You might first want to read an 'A to Z' kind of tutorial. [Here](http://www.profsr.com/vb/vbintro.htm) and there are two of those type of tutorials. Those will mostly get you around using the software and creating simple programs. > > Talking of programs, here's a tip : Try to complete them fast and don't aim to high. If you don't complete your ideas while you're a beginner, it's completely normal, but it might discourage you a bit. Results boost moral. > > You'll probably need to learn more about programming in general, object-oriented programming concepts, take a grasp of bytes and data typing, but no more to then pickup most challenges you wish. > > Here are random resources : > - Programming in VB, printable : [http://hsc.csu.edu.au/sdd/core/package/solution_package/tutorials/visualbasic_tutorial.pdf](http://hsc.csu.edu.au/sdd/core/package/solution_package/tutorials/visualbasic_tutorial.pdf) > - VB6 on MSDN : [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788229](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788229) > - VB6 wiki on vb6.us : [http://www.vb6.us/](http://www.vb6.us/) - [http://www.hitmill.com/programming/vb.htm](http://www.hitmill.com/programming/vb.htm) > - [http://www.vbtutor.net/lesson1.html](http://www.vbtutor.net/lesson1.html) > > You might also want to look up for books. I can't recommend any since I didn't read any about the subject, but take a quick search on [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/) (If you're American) and look at the comments. > > On the long run, you'll want to draw stuff on screen like EO's doing, loading resources and more. The basics are very simple. Take a look again on the MSDN : [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa260827%28v=vs.60%29.aspx](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa260827%28v=vs.60%29.aspx). I don't know much about the rendering part of the engine, so I could be giving you wrong informations, sorry. :embarrassed: > > I hope you'll be able to contribute back to Eclipse on the long run. > > Good luck! > Minikloon. > > EDIT : Warning, while you were typing, 2 new replies were posted. Thank you very much! I already have it installed and have a basic understanding of the interface. I know I can google search, but I just wanted reliable sources.

~1000 pixels is as small as I'm going with it. I don't know too many people who have 800x600 as a standard screen resolution. I have a workaround for that, I agree with Robin that everything to the right is rather unsightly, but I want to avoid drawing anything to the screen.

Strike that, I think I have a better idea.

@Reign: > Why? People won't be running around with all the different window open at once. You'll open your inventory to use an item then close it. You'll open your character screen to level a few stats then close it. > > At the moment it's very unsightly. True, the inventory and etc are better off floating. I'll probably try that. But what about the Chat? Making that floating would be silly because it's always open, then I just have a big open space above it unless I draw it on top of the screen also.

@Reign: > Floating as in on-screen. I was trying to avoid that I suppose. I don't really have the capability to do that properly yet. Plus I don't really like putting stuff on the screen because I feel like it limits the player's view. I plan on using fixed maps, not scrolling maps, so that just becomes inconvenient.

@Reign: > That's not very compact at all. Cut out the right completely and have the windows floating. It's currently too big to fit on most mainstream monitors. It is a bit wide, but I think the height is alright. What do you mean by floating? As in have two separate windows for the Chat and the Inventory? @DFA: > I don't get what's optimized. > > Your silver icon is from a set used in angband. I love those sprites Optimized was probably the wrong word to use. It's optimized compared to other GUI designs I've had I suppose. I wanted things closer together I guess with a larger screen size.

I'm thinking I'm finally going to take the extra time to learn Visual Basic, something I should have done a long time ago. Where do I get started? What are some reliable sources for tutorials, guides, etc. for learning how to do what I need to do to work with Eclipse?

@Lukin: > Looks good and simple. I'd remove the white behind the ping though. You're right, I probably should have just the bubble not the whole square icon. @Apple: > Cool work! > What type of game are you working on,fantasy? It's a fantasy game. I'm going to make a thread soon, I just don't have any mapping done because I prefer to do that last.

Thanks!

Hi Guys, I've been working on a new project, and one of the things I really like to get into is designing the GUI. I love EO's GUI design, but I wanted a bigger screen size with a more compact design. Using EO's GUI design as a base, I whipped this up: >!  Critique is always welcome. Let me know what you guys think.

How can I make it so instead of the description box appearing in the top left corner of the mouse it displays in the bottom right corner of the mouse. My inventory and spells window are on the top left of my GUI, so when I hover over items and spells it is cut off. I'm just not sure what to edit to do so.