Area editor idea (as I was hijacked)

[Belsambar]

I suppose I can create all the rooms in advance and THEN fill things in and set exits...but I like not having rooms in until I'm writing them, so I don't accidentally end up with a half-done room in the middle because I got writer's block.

I'm not saying it NEEDS to be done, I just don't see why the room HAS to already exist (maybe some sort of setting where you can turn that off for more advanced writers, or people with a style more congruent to such?)

I love the area editor as is, I just wish that little detail was possible as it would more fit my style of writing (and possibly others as well).

[Tokugawa]

I did not hijack your post, you hijacked the thread for Bugs and Ideas. I was not even sure it was an idea, but rather a question.

[Belsambar]

You didn't, Kylor did :P

It was an idea proposed as a question. I think that should be a usable feature, there should be a way to set exit vnums without requiring the rooms to be already generated (in my opinion)

[Kylor]

the best thing to do is make the map first and once you know how many rooms you need then add them all at once. since the vnums should be listed on your map then connecting rooms as you build them should be easy.

[Belsambar]

-sigh- I get what you're saying, but you're missing my point. I'd like the ability to go by my notes and if I forget to mark where I'm at on my list, I can look at my vnums and go 'Oh, ok. 11123 was the last room I was on, I finished it, ok, 11124...' and not have the blank rooms in the list at all unless I'm working on them *shrugs*

This might just be a personal OCD, but it would be a lot 'cleaner' (again, in my opinion)

[boromir]

Hi,

I dont think he missed your point ... I didnt .. Everyone writes an area differently and the editor tends to prefer a certain style or mode of writing...

One of the requirements to get the area approved is to have the area mapped in a spreadsheet. And based upon the area I'm writing now ... I regret not having a more detailed spreadsheet ...

As for being able to map to a room that doesnt exist invites the possibility of a room being mapped to that never gets completed . for what ever reason. I know you wont have that issue however it COULD happen....

If you want to keep track of which room is next .. just title the room .. " NEXT " and that will take care of the isssue. The same goes for a mob or object ...

I await your considered opinion !

[Belsambar]

Bleh. Just seems...inefficient to me is all.

Then again, I hate writing rough drafts as well. 90% of the time my first draft is my final draft on most anything I'm writing.

...and as for mapping to something that never gets finished, yes, well, if you're going over the area right, you should catch such things. That's why it should be an 'advanced' setting to toggle it from as it is now, to being able to input the numbers directly and key it all together as you write it.

Besides, what if I'm putting in a gauntlet type thing that sends you back to temple of mangar, as certain other high level zones do once you complete them...I don't know the vnum, I know it's going to get added in before area install...I suppose that's easily enough done by just looping it back to the first room of the area for the purposes of writing it.

[Kylor]

I didn't miss your point at all. You -can- tell in the writer which room was the last one you finished and do them in any order you please. It shows in the tree view which rooms have been done once you add the room name.

[Belsambar]

Ok, well, maybe it just comes down to this...

...my personal preference in writing style is that I should be able to TELL the exit which room it's going to regardless of whether that room is there because of how my mind composes the room as I'm writing it. It would be most congruent in my head and allow for the best free flow of words and description to getting the rooms and area written. Yes I can do some things to make it kinda do that, or keep track of things in other ways, my point is, it makes the process harder FOR ME SPECIFICALLY. Completely subjective thing here. If nobody has these issues ever elsewhere in the world, cool, I'm unique, and I'll have to deal with it if I want to write an area. I just thought I'd propose it as an idea because I thought it would be a minor little tweak detail that would greatly improve the functionality of the editor with my personal writing style.

I hope I finally explained myself better this time :P

[Tokugawa]

How do you link exits to a room that does not exist yet? That's what I do not get. Maybe I don't understand what you're asking.

[Belsambar]

Maybe I just don't get why it has to assume the area as it is is ALL there is to what's going on, other than a safety to prevent the lazy and stupid from leaving exits to a room that doesn't exist because they're doing a bad job :P

It -is- hard to do so with it written as is. I just wish I could key in a vnum in the range of the area whether or not the room is generated. Maybe something like until the room is created it flags it in red as an invalid exit setting.

I'm just trying to brainstorm here :P

[Kylor]

ahh yes I think everyone was misunderstanding you bels because you didn't express it very clearly the first time. Here's how I would have said this:

I wish I could edit vnum 75 for example without having to add ALL 75 rooms.

Perhaps one solution would be to change the order of your vnums on your map so that it reflects the order in which you want to write the rooms. Personally I find the tree map to be sufficient because I add all the vnums as step one. But yes NOW I understand what you are asking.

[Tokugawa]

Wow, six posts from Belsambar and we finally may know what he means.

Ok, here is an example. Lets say your vnum range is 12000. And you want to start writing rooms and create the exites as you go. Starting with vnum 12000 you create the room, room description, look descriptions, etc. Then if you wanted to link to 12001, 12002, 12003, etc. You MUST create those rooms so you can link to them. BUT, you can do it in sequential order if you wish.

[Tynian]

I know when I've written areas in the past, the vnums aren't always sequential. I'd say given this limitation, I would simply create the map with sequential vnums in mind.

[Kylor]

precisely, in relation to the sequence with which he is writing. I had to keep the spread sheet map open at all times to be confirming which exits went to which vnums and I can forsee a huge problem for you bels if you write your zone with the vnums in sequence of writing order rather then geographical order. Many times I was spared the trouble of switching windows simply because I knew that as I travelled east directionally (most times) the vnums should be rising in order, if you put them in a squence of which room you wrote first you will not have any geographical order and you'll be double checking connections so much that it will cost you more time in the end.

[Thor]

I suppose I should weigh in here since, in this one instance, I do have the final say in the matter. *gets all tingly* So this is what it must feel like to be Tynian.

Anyway...If I understand Bels correctly, he'd like an option to be able to manually type in a vnum for the exit instead of having to select a room from the list of rooms in an area. While I can see this would be handy for some situations, especially when connecting a zone to another zone, I wouldn't hold my breath for this one. It would require a significant code change. For example, then you set an exist, the button changes to display the vnum and the room name. If you don't have a room, it can't display a name. The code is actually going and finding the room object to get its information. There just isn't enough call for this type of feature to justify spending so much time on it, at least not while there are so many other things left to do just to make the editor fully functional.

[Belsambar]

I'm drunk...so I think it's funny it took 6 posts for me to get my point across....that makes total sense Thor, I understand that :P

Kylor: Honestly, me doing a zone in sequential order would come out relatively close to the same as in vnum order.

Unless I was doing something specifically goofy like 'lost in a storm' section of the ocean...which I think we need more of.

As well, having a zone in sequential order is for the organized and normal. When have I ever really been either? *whistle self...stares at the sky*

I guess I just have to suffer it out...if I want to write a zone, really, I can handle that...I just figured I'd suggest it hehehe...

As for mapping sequential to how I write it...that'd be fine, if I wrote in a linear order. I might come up with my idea for a 'section' of map, and then have an idea that fills in this room on my graph paper and pencil map (hence why Toku has never seen a vnum map of it, I can't figure that out, and I can't find a dang scanner...) or that room, where the inn is, or this room, where the mayor is...and not figure out my room descs to connect it all till the main ones are in place. I guess I'll just actually have to label the map up and keep track of what I'm working on where.


Don't worry Toku...someday you'll get a scanned, photographed, or otherwise imaged version of my vnum map as I can generate it :P

[Kylor]

there is a sample vnum map that opens in a spread sheet, you can simply edit that one into your map.

[Pein]

I feel the need to point out that drunk Bels used at least one ellipsis on almost every line. Dat a lot of dot.

[Belsambar]

I ... a lot anyway hehehe...happens when you type as you think and how you speak, and you pause in the middle of thought.

I'll have to talk to you about that later Kylor, I have other things on my mind atm heh