Project Style
=============
(Funtime, 10/5/1995)
New Projects:
Most people when they start on a new area just think 'it will need a
Pub, lets do a pub', or 'i think i fancy doing a garden' or something.
A better way forward would be to plan out what you are going to do, even
if its just a couple of rooms, with a quick scribble on a piece of paper
giving you a vague idea of what is going to go where.
Then, its always tempting to do the interesting bits first ('Oooh, i
havnt done a pub before, lets start there'), but again there is a
better way forward. Start with the simple bits, the easy rooms, the
bits that would take not much thinking about, and start with a definite
plan in mind.
A strongly suggested way to code areas is that a central room is taken
in a new area (a single room is needed for some co-ordinates to be set
so that directions may be worked out properly) and written, such as a
clock tower in a street, a crossroads, or a pub. But, again, here is
the important bit - dont do that hard coding first. If the central
point you decide upon is a pub, just do the outside first and not the
insides. Construct a few roads around it instead to be more of a
skeleton of the area.
Why do it like this? Because when you have a skeleton of an area, the
area can go into the game and slowly be fleshed out with a pub, or a
shop as you do them. This area can then be opened so players can have
a look about (or at least player-testers), and you dont get so
de-faced when the pub you first started out writing doesnt work. This
isnt even mentioning the fact that your lord can see you are doing
something so they are not tempted to demote you (whoops, i want going to
mentioned that... ;o).
Redevelopment:
Old areas can be more of a hassle to do for some people - the code is
usually poorly documented with mysterious functions that are called from
no-where that do wierd and wonderful things (where has Godot gone? ;o).
Start off by wandering around the area you are supposed to be working
on, see what it does and see if you can understand how it does it.
Re-working old code can be quite hard, unless its just a bog standard
room with only a description thats of any interest.
Again, start off with a simple idea of what you would like to do in the
area, and aim for it. Use the old code if it makes your life easier
(there is no use re-writing a new shop if the old one has nothing wrong
with it apart from a stale desc).
Move the area around a bit if you think it needs it, get a skeleton of
the how you want it to look before you start fleshing out the descs
properly, and making sure all the items in the descs are described
properly (with add_item()) and so on. Start off with the simple bits,
and get a new area started off, even if its only moving the rooms and
desc's about, and flesh out the hard bits later on. This is so you can
see the results of you work quicker than a complex shop that you may not
readily see how it works.
Directory structure:
Basically, keep it as simple as possible. If you write a house with
several rooms, group all those rooms in one directory. Dont bury code
that isnt a room in there, use a seperate directory on the same level as
the house code. As an example, the Plains in sur are grouped (from
memory)
/d/sur/PLAIN/chars
/objects (any objects needed in this part of the plains)
/northern (north caravan route - road only)
/southern (south caravan route - road only)
/bridge (route over foot bridge between both caravan
routes)
/sheepridge (village of sheepridge)
/cornfields (all cornfield belonging to farm)
Keep alike code with alike, and seperate all different code (ie dont
bury the cornfields within the farmhouse directory, or the bridge within
a caravan route directory).
Overall:
Think about what you are going to do
Start off with the simplest room (a central point to the area)
Code up the infra-structure of the area to begin with
Don't write the hardest bits first, since you may get bogged down to
quickly and feel like giving up too soon (i know from experiance ;o)
Dont mix up the directory structure - simplify it (and use path.h files
properly - ask if you dont know how).
For the people working on new projects your lord may give you write
access to a specific directory within your domain to work (so when
the code is finished your lord doesnt have to worry about moving stuff
into the right place). This isnt such an easy thing to do for
re-developed areas so ask your lord for how they would like it done.
If you have any questions on anything in the above, or a few points you
dont understand/think could be phrased properly then please ask away. I
am writing this to try and make your life a little easier for working on
projects - if it doesnt help then tell me!
This document is open for revision (of course).
Funtime.
