TGEConEd - Torque Conversation Editor v0.8beta available!
by Stefan Beffy Moises · in Torque Game Engine · 11/15/2002 (6:13 am) · 15 replies
Hi there,
I've posted a first public beta version of our Torque NPC Conversation Editor TGEConEd on our website... you need to have access to the HEAD engine code to make some changes and add new classes to be able to use it, though... and you will need basic bots in-game as well as the "object-selection" code from the resource section...
Read the details and get your copy here...
Have fun! :)
I've posted a first public beta version of our Torque NPC Conversation Editor TGEConEd on our website... you need to have access to the HEAD engine code to make some changes and add new classes to be able to use it, though... and you will need basic bots in-game as well as the "object-selection" code from the resource section...
Read the details and get your copy here...
Have fun! :)
About the author
#3
Hehe, I'm going to take a look at yours now ;)
11/15/2002 (8:19 am)
Hah! Now this is coincidence... I was planning on releasing my RPGDialogEditor today and you release your TGEConEdit.... lol... anyway I'm still finishing up my documentation. Hehe, I'm going to take a look at yours now ;)
#4
Why dont you post some screenies what your editor looks like? Or the main features? I'm very interested to see the differences and/or similarities ... :)
11/15/2002 (8:24 am)
Hah ;)Why dont you post some screenies what your editor looks like? Or the main features? I'm very interested to see the differences and/or similarities ... :)
#6
I'm planning on releasing it very soon... I'm just checking it for bugs and finishing the documentation.
- Multiple choice questions, present a question and a list of answers and do something depending on which answer the player picks, the choices are numbered and can be picked either by the mouse or by pressing the 1,2,...,9,0 keys on the keyboard, choices after 10 must be selected via mouse.
- Question Links, Ex: "Hello, I'm Mary, how are you?" (actualy the word Mary would be underlined instead... but you get the point :P), clicking on the word Mary will trigger an action as if it was a choice in the Multiple choice window.
- Portraits, pictures that represent the NPC, change it depending on the choices of the player or even use them to show the mood of the NPC.
- Sounds, add voice overs or any sound effects that are triggered when the question is displayed.
- Fully functional in multiplayer games, only allowing one player to talk to each NPC at a time, sending a message telling the others that the NPC is busy if they try to talk to it.
- Moving the player too far away from the NPC closes the Dialog automatically.
- Each option triggers a function, allowing complete customization of the actions caused by the dialog, either by using the included functions, altering them or creating new ones.
11/15/2002 (10:10 am)
And a little feature list of my RPGDialog:I'm planning on releasing it very soon... I'm just checking it for bugs and finishing the documentation.
- Multiple choice questions, present a question and a list of answers and do something depending on which answer the player picks, the choices are numbered and can be picked either by the mouse or by pressing the 1,2,...,9,0 keys on the keyboard, choices after 10 must be selected via mouse.
- Question Links, Ex: "Hello, I'm Mary, how are you?" (actualy the word Mary would be underlined instead... but you get the point :P), clicking on the word Mary will trigger an action as if it was a choice in the Multiple choice window.
- Portraits, pictures that represent the NPC, change it depending on the choices of the player or even use them to show the mood of the NPC.
- Sounds, add voice overs or any sound effects that are triggered when the question is displayed.
- Fully functional in multiplayer games, only allowing one player to talk to each NPC at a time, sending a message telling the others that the NPC is busy if they try to talk to it.
- Moving the player too far away from the NPC closes the Dialog automatically.
- Each option triggers a function, allowing complete customization of the actions caused by the dialog, either by using the included functions, altering them or creating new ones.
#7
I was planning to trigger actions, too, but I thought it would be too game specific to include it directly into the editor ... once I come up with some useful "global" actions, I will include that possibility, though... and it's only v0.8 beta yet, so there is still some way to go until 1.0 final ;))
Neat idea to include a picture, too... maybe I should steal that idea ;))
The "cross-linking" of key words is planned for a later version, I don't think it will be in v1.0 of TGEConEd...
well, time will tell ;)
Looking forward to try out your version! :D
11/15/2002 (10:39 am)
hey, looks cool and has some cool features!! :)I was planning to trigger actions, too, but I thought it would be too game specific to include it directly into the editor ... once I come up with some useful "global" actions, I will include that possibility, though... and it's only v0.8 beta yet, so there is still some way to go until 1.0 final ;))
Neat idea to include a picture, too... maybe I should steal that idea ;))
The "cross-linking" of key words is planned for a later version, I don't think it will be in v1.0 of TGEConEd...
well, time will tell ;)
Looking forward to try out your version! :D
#8
I'm working on some additional features for v1.0 now, today I got "onEnterFOV" triggers to work (dialog pops up automatically when a certain distance is reached and is closed if the player gets too far away). Next on my list is "cross-links", like HTML links that let you jump to another sequence, etc.
After that, I will do some multiplayer tests (although I will use this thing for our singleplayer mode only...), but I don't think that I have to change much to get it to work there...
Anybody tried this yet, btw.? :P
11/16/2002 (8:20 am)
Nelson, any news when your little toy will be released?I'm working on some additional features for v1.0 now, today I got "onEnterFOV" triggers to work (dialog pops up automatically when a certain distance is reached and is closed if the player gets too far away). Next on my list is "cross-links", like HTML links that let you jump to another sequence, etc.
After that, I will do some multiplayer tests (although I will use this thing for our singleplayer mode only...), but I don't think that I have to change much to get it to work there...
Anybody tried this yet, btw.? :P
#10
Well, TGEConEd is getting close to v1.0, too... ;)
you can now cross-link words/phrases to jump to another dialog sequence, or you can specify an 'explanation link' which then pops up a sub-sequence with the explanation text in the upper right corner of the GUI - this explanation is just a normal conversation sequence and you can use the editor to create/edit it, of course.
Check out the extended gui here.And, as you can see, you can specify an image for the current NPC in the GUI now...
11/17/2002 (3:48 am)
Nelson! Very nice tool! :)Well, TGEConEd is getting close to v1.0, too... ;)
you can now cross-link words/phrases to jump to another dialog sequence, or you can specify an 'explanation link' which then pops up a sub-sequence with the explanation text in the upper right corner of the GUI - this explanation is just a normal conversation sequence and you can use the editor to create/edit it, of course.
Check out the extended gui here.And, as you can see, you can specify an image for the current NPC in the GUI now...
#11
This conversation editor will be great, but it's more interresting for a RPG game, right ? I read that the torque engine doesn't have the possibility to save/load a game ! Correct me if it is wrong. So if I do not have the possibility to load and save a game, why I should make a RPG game ???
11/17/2002 (4:58 am)
Sorry I'm new here but I have a question that regards to this tool.This conversation editor will be great, but it's more interresting for a RPG game, right ? I read that the torque engine doesn't have the possibility to save/load a game ! Correct me if it is wrong. So if I do not have the possibility to load and save a game, why I should make a RPG game ???
#12
yes, it is correct that Torque doesn't provide that functionality, but you can add it pretty easily...
you could even do it completely in script, so you could add a basic save/load system without touching the engine source.
For example, you could create a simple text file and use the built-in file I/O functions to write and read your variables, e.g. the current dialog-id for each NPC, the location of each NPC, the goals the player has achieved yet, etc. etc.
But that is very game specific, so I can't provide it with the editor... but I will implement such a system myself (once our Multiplayer demo is out and we concentrate our single-player game).
Of course, you can also use TGEConEd for an FPS/Action style game (our own game won't be an RPG, it's going to be some Action/Adventure/FPS hybrid, e.g.)
11/17/2002 (5:08 am)
Hi Michael,yes, it is correct that Torque doesn't provide that functionality, but you can add it pretty easily...
you could even do it completely in script, so you could add a basic save/load system without touching the engine source.
For example, you could create a simple text file and use the built-in file I/O functions to write and read your variables, e.g. the current dialog-id for each NPC, the location of each NPC, the goals the player has achieved yet, etc. etc.
But that is very game specific, so I can't provide it with the editor... but I will implement such a system myself (once our Multiplayer demo is out and we concentrate our single-player game).
Of course, you can also use TGEConEd for an FPS/Action style game (our own game won't be an RPG, it's going to be some Action/Adventure/FPS hybrid, e.g.)
#13
hmm, I wish it will be easy for me to write something like that, but it isn't. I'm coming from another engine and it was build in there. So the only thing I can do is to wait until someone has made something like a tutorial on how to script it.
11/17/2002 (5:56 am)
Hi Stefan,hmm, I wish it will be easy for me to write something like that, but it isn't. I'm coming from another engine and it was build in there. So the only thing I can do is to wait until someone has made something like a tutorial on how to script it.
#14
And Michael, one way of implementing saves/load would be saving the mission file in a different folder and then loading it instead next time the game is loaded, that would save a lot of variables just by itself, but some variables would have to be saved manually, like player position and basically every variable involved with the player. As Stefan said its too game specific, as each game will have different variables and needs on what to be saved, but I think a default game state saver for the example mod would be fairly simple to accomplish :)
11/17/2002 (6:09 am)
Thank you Stefan, yours is looking great also :)And Michael, one way of implementing saves/load would be saving the mission file in a different folder and then loading it instead next time the game is loaded, that would save a lot of variables just by itself, but some variables would have to be saved manually, like player position and basically every variable involved with the player. As Stefan said its too game specific, as each game will have different variables and needs on what to be saved, but I think a default game state saver for the example mod would be fairly simple to accomplish :)
#15
the only real trouble i had was in your note you say to toggle con-ed with a default alt c (or was it ctrl c) anyways whatever it was, the default was for the camera so i had to make a new bind for con-ed. no biggie.
keep it up
11/17/2002 (10:19 am)
Nice work Stefan! I just added con-ed, now i have to learn to use it :)the only real trouble i had was in your note you say to toggle con-ed with a default alt c (or was it ctrl c) anyways whatever it was, the default was for the camera so i had to make a new bind for con-ed. no biggie.
keep it up
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