After a year of break...

[Zink]

Together with Alexfont I have worked on something, that will significantly change the way of modifying LBA. Connecting my LBArchitect with Alexfont's LBA Story Coder it is now possible to edit scene "visually".

If someone tried to do something in Story Coder before, he probably came into idea, that even a simple change of position of a character is horribly bothersome. It is mainly because we can't see what we are doing. This is where Architect comes in. It displays all elements of the scene: tracks, zones and actors. But not only. Now you can change positions of the elements with your mouse! You only have to drag an element and drop it on another place and Story Coder will update its coordinates automatically. This feature only works for actors and tracks now, but it is developed constantly, and soon it will be possible to edit everything.

Unfortunately nothing is perfect. This connection still has many bugs and glitches, which we hope to correct soon. The most important ones, which should be kept in mind during editing, are: no zones editing (you can edit them in Story Coder), bad displaying and refreshing of sprite actors, and possibility to drag an element that is covered with a wall or floor, which makes it possible to accidentaly drag an element that is behind a wall without even knowing about it. Also there is no option to undo changes that we have done.

Alexfont fixed many things in Story Coder also. The most important one is that the script compilation is now 99% accurate! Other improvements are: script hints (Ctrl+Space opens small window with list of possible script commands), and better help system.

Well, just take a look at this:


You can download both programs from their homapages:
LBA Story Coder homepage
Little Big Architect homepage

...or use the direct links:
LBA Story Coder direct download link
Little Big Architect direct download link

[Mannesh]

wow nice, this is probably the best program out there, kudos to you and alexfont.

i'll have to get back into the lba modding scene.

[Zink]

Originally Posted by Mannesh

... program ...

programS

[Mannesh]

lol yeah, thats what I meant.

what programming language do you use, and how long you been programming for?

[Battler]

- Mannesh: Zink uses Delphi, and alexfont uses C++.

[Mannesh]

hey obras haven't seen your for ages.

I was looking at that lba game you were making, the rebel one, looks pretty cool. I recommended thehen for the modeling job you might get a reply from him. Though I'm not sure whether you needed him for low or high res modeling.

Are there any advantages of Delphi over C++, I always thought C++ was the mother of all languages.

[Odysseus]

Don't ever try teleporting yourself - it's very dangerous! Only the clones can do it.

[Battler]

- Mannesh: Thanks for your compliment about my project, and also thanks for recommending the_hen for the 3-D modelling job.
I just added him onto my MSN contact list, and I'm now waiting for him to authorize me and log on, so I can discuss this further with him.

BTW, Delphi has no real advantage over C++ (but has a lot of advantages over Visual Basic), however, the mother of all programming language is C, not C++. C++ is just a derivative of C.

[ChaosFish]

That looks amazing! (as usual!)

So cool.

I think I'll make a video presentation of all the fan projects and game and all and show it to Fred or something

[xesf]

Heeheee, nice idea

[Double-J]

All of the talent in this project is amazing...I wish I knew how to make programs like this.

[SebZ]

Originally Posted by Double-J

I wish I knew how to make programs like this.

It's called the internet and books.

[Zink]

Mannesh: I can say that Delphi is a easier to start with. It doesn't have that weird, almost-impossible-to-understand C++ constructions . I started programming with Turbo Pascal in about 2000.

Originally Posted by SebZ

It's called the internet and books.

And practice, and Google Groups

[Double-J]

Originally Posted by SebZ

It's called the internet and books.

Pfft, when I have some free time, maybe in the next century.

[Echomote]

Originally Posted by ChaosFish

I think I'll make a video presentation of all the fan projects and game and all and show it to Fred or something

that makes me wonder whether Fred ever saw LBApc...

[ChaosFish]

I just tried the new LBArchitect+StorCoder, wow, this opens up so many possibilities.... I don't know what to do first
I could try making a Monkey Island 1 remake in LBA1 engine

[Neko]

Hi,
when I use the Factory program to edit LBA_BRK.HQR of lba1, and change the look of the ball (8524) and try to save, I get the error:
invalid class typecast.

any known reasons?

ps; kind of cool to mod your lba, I never edited anything ingame yet! now I put a nice object in the prison...and it's standing there for real

[Zink]

Originally Posted by Neko

when I use the Factory program to edit LBA_BRK.HQR of lba1, and change the look of the ball (8524) and try to save, I get the error:
invalid class typecast.

any known reasons?

Nope, the reason is probably a mistake, but it doesn't really help

That bug doesn't occur for me, so I need more details:
1. What files have you opened at the same time (a layout, library)?
2. Does it happen always, or sometimes only?
3. What about editing other bricks?
4. Does it occur when you open the ball for edit and save the changes without modifying it?
5. Does it occur for specific modifications only, or for any change of the ball image?

It would be also good if you tell me what you do exacly to make this bug occur.

[Neko]

the bricks and library of LBA_BRK.HQR are opened simultaniously when I open that file.



It happens only when accepting the changes and then quiting the program and saving it. it doesn't matter which brick

when I do 'save bricks' from the menu it does work right.

[Mannesh]

Originally Posted by Zink

Mannesh: I can say that Delphi is a easier to start with. It doesn't have that weird, almost-impossible-to-understand C++ constructions . I started programming with Turbo Pascal in about 2000.

Wow seven years on and you're already building fantastic programs, kudos my friend, in another seven you'll be creating complex game engines! alexfonts programming skills are excellent too, he learns incredibly well, and am still amazed when he first started to learn a lot of his basic english from the MBN forum.

Originally Posted by Double-J

Pfft, when I have some free time, maybe in the next century.

I've realised the "I haven't got enough time" excuse doesn't really exist in most cases, its usually that damn procrastination plaguing us all.

Originally Posted by ChaosFish

I could try making a Monkey Island 1 remake in LBA1 engine

Monkey Island is one of my other top favourite games that come in line with LBA. I made a fangame of monkey island once that got a lot of feedback from the community but apparently lucasarts was suing people for it, so I thought I'd better stop. AGS is the best game engine to make point and click games in.

[Battler]

- Zink: I found some bugs in your Factory program:

1. Once I open a BLL from a .HQR file, I can't open another BLL from that .HQR file, because the program will slap me with an "Error 103" message.

2. Sometimes, when I try copy a layout (using the program's Copy function), it slaps me with an "Access violation" error.

3. Once I loaded the layout structure from a file, I can't load that file into another layout, because it stays open even after the structure is loaded, so when loading it again, the program slaps me with an error message.


Oh, and one request for Builder: you should make it possible to move an entire layer down in one step, and also an option to move down the current layer and all layers below it.

Also, an option to fill the entire layer with the selected layout could nice as well, as well as an option to select, which parts of the selected layout should be put onto the grid - I mean, you select the parts, then program adds them, but with an optional possibility to remove any empty lines and rows they might leave.

Oh, and an option to clip the bottom of a layout, rather than its top, would be really nice as well (so I could then clip both sides of it).

And in the end, an option to add the invisible bricks by holding the mouse button, so to make adding more than one brick at a time easier.

[Neko]

It looks well impressive Zink!

but yeah. when something looks promising people love to see it grow it's full potential

[xesf]

Good to see all this enthusiasms!!

Neko, this tools are far from perfect and much more could be done. Ofcourse we all have our limitations which sometimes doesn't help reaching to far, anyway, both us have some other ideas and features in mind which we'd like to implement in both programs, something to help people working on it.

[Bot13]

Zink, Alex, great job. I didn't try it out yet but I remember starting up the LBArchitect application once, and I got all warm and fuzzy inside. This is where we all dreamt about when we were done playing LBA, and you guys are the ones making it come true.
Keep it up, this is absolutely wonderful work.

[Double-J]

Originally Posted by Mannesh

I've realised the "I haven't got enough time" excuse doesn't really exist in most cases, its usually that damn procrastination plaguing us all.

You try to write a book, a research essay, a video game script, design a newsletter, and be a full-time student. Come find my free time. I dare you.