TFMurphy
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3118
Registered: 06-11-2007
IP: Logged
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Modifying "Speed" for Scripted Characters (+2)
Before I launch into this request, let me explain something about turn order. Each entity in a standard DROD room has a Process Sequence. This, along with the order the entities were created, dictates in what order they move.
As an example, the default Process Sequence for most monsters is 1000. Entities with a lower Process Sequence (like Mimics/Decoys/Clones with 100, Fegundos with 150, Slayers with 200 and so forth) move before entities with higher Process Sequences, no matter what order they're placed in the room.
Characters have a Process Sequence of 9999. This guarantees that they move after every monster. This is a great default value, because it allows the character to check for all room changes that have occurred in the room and react accordingly.
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After working on my own heavily scripted projects though, it occurred to me that it would be very useful if this ordering for Characters could be overridden for particular scripts. The benefits of this would be as follows:
DROD RPG
* With the existence of Global and Default Scripts, being able to dictate the order these scripts run in is *HIGHLY* useful. When coding the TotS port, there were many times where I had to be extra careful in how I placed Global Scripts, simply because in order to get them to interact in the right way, I had to make sure that they ran in a particular order. If I could set some of these scripts to slightly higher or lower Process Sequences though, I would be better able to dictate the order they ran in, or guarantee that certain unique scripts in a room ran before or after Global Scripts.
DROD TCB
* The ability to code Custom Monsters that move before others allows for more options in puzzle creation, and can even be intuitive if used well. As an example, the Reverse-Mimic we've seen in some holds doesn't quite work as well as it could due to the fact that it moves after every other monster, unlike real Mimics. If you could set the Process Sequence of a Reverse-Mimic to 100, though, you'd end up with one that moved exactly when all other Mimics do.
Just as with all things, this does have the potential to be abused, but I think the above benefits outweigh that. And TCB would also find use of it in Global and Default Scripts once it inherits the advanced script options from RPG.
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The remaining question is how best to allow setting or changing this. Ideally, it would be a number attached to an individual character or Default Script rather than a Script Command; that way, it would have the right Process Sequence even at Turn 0. It's plausible that there might be uses for a Script Command to change it on the fly (it wouldn't be the only time in TCB that monsters change their movement order dynamically), but being able to set before Turn 0 would be the most critical part of it all. Possibly a button or box to the left of the Okay at the bottom of the script editor?
If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask.
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