Inventory Screens, Map Screens, Option Screens, screens in general, lol

[DementedKirby]

I've loved all the tutorial videos on youtube on how to do most of the important things for Solarus involving a quest. However, I'm very anxious to see a Screen tutorial. Apart from menus, I believe this is super important for a quest. It's how you see the map, change keys, equip items, etc. In the mean time (besides the documentation - which is top notch, by the way) where can I go or what can I read that pinpoints and specifies what I need to do to make an inventory screen? Even a rudimentary one. I'm currently designing them and working on the graphics so I can at least occupy my efforts on that. But the programming... Any assistance? I've seen your code for Solarus and while it's very intuitive (great organization and comments) I would still like to see more ways of getting it done, I guess? Thanks in advanced!

[DementedKirby]

Here's a generalized idea of what I want to accomplish. I know that I'd have to first call  the background image and then the image for each sprite if the hero has it in inventory and then set the key for when the player moves left or right or selects then certain things happen. I have to really read the documentation. Most of the things needed have already been explained in the tutorial. But since I can imagine that more chapters are coming (hopefully!) I'd hope that screens will be the next one.

Any ways, for a game I'm currently developing, here's what I want to accomplish with the items screen (WIP):

For the moment this is very rudimentary for what I want to do (some items may change, I still have to fine tune some sprites, etc). There's an arrow submenu that the player can access by selecting the bow which then goes to the left for the submenu and a song submenu that the player can access by selecting the ocarina which then goes right for the submenu. There are 8 bottles and the equipment will also be shown in this screen (though I'm still debating on putting the equipment on a different menu altogether and use that space for something else - I haven't fully committed to a decision yet; this is just a mockup).

I plan to have 3 more screens to either direction for the save game / options, quest items / heart pieces, maps / gold skulltulas. Again, all I have are ideas for the moment while I familiarize myself with Solarus. If this were RPGMaker2000 then this would be a piece of cake; I've been using RPGMaker2000 for well over a decade and I can pretty much accomplish what I want (in terms of what's possible with its engine). I do have the plus of being very familiar with C++ (though not lua) so I just have to get my hands dirty and see what I can manage. I guess I'm just very anxious to test more than just mapping, lol.

[YoshiMario2000]

Any ways, for a game I'm currently developing, here's what I want to accomplish with the items screen (WIP):

For the moment this is very rudimentary for what I want to do (some items may change, I still have to fine tune some sprites, etc). There's an arrow submenu that the player can access by selecting the bow which then goes to the left for the submenu and a song submenu that the player can access by selecting the ocarina which then goes right for the submenu. There are 8 bottles and the equipment will also be shown in this screen (though I'm still debating on putting the equipment on a different menu altogether and use that space for something else - I haven't fully committed to a decision yet; this is just a mockup).

Most of what you need requires a bit of programming and a lot of dedication. As for the fancy arrows and ocarina, I imagine it's possible, It would take a lot of time to do though. Not to discourage or anything like that, I found that most of the things solarus can accomplish are mainly through programming, GUI based connections and stat editors. That said If you put the efort in. You can make a truly great Zelda/Zelda-like  game.

[DementedKirby]

Yeah, I know that much. For the moment I'm just working on the sprites, which takes up a lot of time to pull off, being as it's pixel art, which is basically pointillism, lol.

I have a basic idea of what to do. Here's the pseudocode of what I think I need to do:

Code Select Expand


when specific key pressed()
{
stop hero movement
display menu image
display selection image
check if item is obtained
display its sprite
be able to move the display selection image
when the movement would leave the menu left or right()
{
change the menu
}
when sprite is selected()
{
a text displays its name
}
when a specific key is pressed()
{
the item is selected
}
when specific key is pressed()
{
save menu is called
}
when specific key is pressed()
{
erase all images and sprites of menu
allow hero to move again
}
}


I just have to read up all the necessary Solarus documentation and familiarize myself with lua synatax in order to start on it. It's just a bit overwhelming having to basically learn a new language in order to script. It's well worth the effort, but like a kid on Christmas morning, I want to start my game as soon as possible. It's kinda hard to test items when I don't have a menu yet to select them and be able to use them, lol.

[froggy77]

If I were you , I would start with the basic menu of Zelda Mystery of Solarus DX, then I would adapt it to my needs. In fact, this is how I proceed.

[DementedKirby]

If I were you , I would start with the basic menu of Zelda Mystery of Solarus DX, then I would adapt it to my needs. In fact, this is how I proceed.

Lol, I guess that would be the easiest route. Were you able to make significant changes for your own menu based off of SolarusDX?

[YoshiMario2000]

Lol, I guess that would be the easiest route. Were you able to make significant changes for your own menu based off of SolarusDX?

Yes it is, there are a few bugs in the code if you try to have anything other than 4 menu screens,
But that was fixed with a few changes from this fourm post here: http://forum.solarus-games.org/index.php/topic,313.0.html

And yes I was able to make significant changes to the thing. Of that I tried.
(Course, Broke half the function of the menu. But that's just me being dumb.)
You Should Problem have bugs and glitches in the mix, But that's what the ERROR.TXT file is for.
And the fourms.

[froggy77]

If I were you , I would start with the basic menu of Zelda Mystery of Solarus DX, then I would adapt it to my needs. In fact, this is how I proceed.

Just minor changes for the moment
- A new hud for the hearts (link).
- Added an icon next to the caption text when the item is selected.
- Changed the size of icons in the dialog box. 16 pixels wide , it was too small for face sprites.
- The title of sub-menus is a text surface and not a picture. I also found a way to get a gradation of colors playing with several text surfaces.