Re: [Adonthell-devel] More v0.4 design issues

[Kai Sterker]

On 08 Dec 2001 14:47:55 +0100 Alexandre Courbot wrote

> Awright. Loading entire maps is much more doable. Still, there probably
> will be a slight lag due to the loading, but that's not hell. 
[...]
> I'm not saying I'm against the idea - on the contrary I
> rather like it, and several games already proven it was doable. But
> things are not really clear in my mind about this. We need to discuss
> this further.

Sure. That's why I started this thread :). 


> One idea would be, we decide of a global map of a defined
> size where we put all the parts of the others maps. That way positions
> would be from this global map. What do you think about it? 

That would be okay once we have a pretty good idea how our world map will
look like and how big it is. Although I guess 65535x65535 squares are more
than enough ;).

We might even be able to use local coordinates on maps and turn them into
global coordinates at runtime, once we know how large the complete world
map will be. Say individual maps are A x A, then the local square (x,y) 
on map (u,v) would be 

    (A*u + x, A*v + y)

on the global map, no matter how big it is if I'm not mistaken ;). So 
you could transform the coordinates on loading. Whatever is easier.  


> Also, we
> can't update all the characters of the world. What happens when one
> character exits the scope of the engine? Is it stopped updating?

That's another question. I'd say yes. First of all, once the map is loaded
again, NPC's on it should have plenty of time to continue their business
before the player comes close. And second, it's more or less what will
happen if you handle maps differently as well.
 

> Well anyway I guess it won't hurt if I start doing the new map engine
> without this ability - I guess it won't be hell to implement right
> after. I'm feeling like I have the coding powah this afternoon, so I
> guess I'll just make another source tree with the GUI to start coding a
> bit of the new mapengine and start writing the editors along. Shall I
> then create a new branch on the CVS to put this so you can have a look?

Yep, that would be nice :).


Kai