Campaign Designer

[hotdog1234]

Okay, Eeems, I have a few details about the Campaign Designer. More will come as we progress with the coding of S.A.D.

* Your only concern should be reading from and writing to Campaign Application Variables. I will write the asm code S.A.D. needs to read and process this information.

* Campaigns are designed so that instructions are read one after the other. There is no jumping, no if-thens, and no looping. (The asm code will take care of that) There is only one instruction added after another.

* These instructions are listed in English as a "Mission Script," meaning instructions come one after the other, such as "Big Text" or "Pause," etc.

* These instructions can be edited manually using a built-in editor if needed. They are also added or edited using wizards, or step-by-step dialogs.

Here's an example: I might want to start my campaign by displaying "Mission #1" on the Home Screen. So I would select from the menu "Big Text," and I could type in the text I wanted to display, say "Mission 1." Afterwords, the script would show something like:

Big Text "Mission 1"

If I wanted to change this to something like "Mission Number 1", I could either edit it in the script window, or go back to the wizard to edit this.


Your instructions so far: Design the GUI, and take whatever time you need. There should be a menu bar at the bottom, and the rest of the screen at the top should be used for typing text.

Specifics:

* One of the menus at the bottom should say "FILE", the other should say "SCRIPTS." Leave room for if we think there should be other menus.
* Each menu should lead to a new screen with a series of 16 x 16 icons for the user to select from. There will also be a status bar at the bottom containing the name of the button and some basic information about it. Use whatever 16 x 16 pictures you want to, and don't worry right now about what happens when the person selects one of these buttons.
* You do not have to worry about providing any drawing tools. The campaign designer assumes that what the user needs has been stored in picture variables.

* For the File Menu:
New Campaign: Creates a new campaign. WARNING: This wil erase whatever campaign you're working on.
New Mission: Adds a new mission to your campaign.
Delete Mission: Deletes your current mission. WARNING: Make sure you fix any script errors this will cause in your other missions.
Go To Mission: Select from a list of missions to edit.
Save: Saves your current mission
Add Campaign Sprite: Adds a sprite that can be used for all cutscenes in the campaign
Add Unit: Adds a unit for the AI that can be used for all missions in the campaign
Add Faction: Allows you to add a faction for the AI
Add Custom Tile Set: Adds a tile set that can be used for any maps in the campaign
Save and Exit: Saves your work, and exits the Campaign Designer
Back: Returns to the script editor

* For the Scripts Menu:
Settings: Edit Misc. Mission Settings
Big Text Display: Allows you to add a screen with basic text information
Small Text Display: Allows you to add a screen with small, scrolling text information
Communications Room: Allows you to add a mission briefing screen
Display Picture: Allows you to display a 96 x 64 picture for the mission
Add Sprite: Adds a sprite that will appear in only this mission's cutscenes
Add Custom Object: Adds a custom object that will appear only in this mission
Add Map: Allows you to select the map that will be used for this mission
Add Cutscene: Takes you to the Cutscene editor
Edit AIs: Allows you to edit AIs for this mission
Add Mission Objectives: Adds a mission objective
Edit Tech Tree: Allows you to edit the tech tree for this mission
Set as Combat Mission: Sets this mission as a combat mission. This can be undone.
Back: Returns to the script editor



Of course, feel free to ask questions.

[Eeems]

can I instead of having a new page, can I use dropdown (slideup in this case) windows? I have a good system for that) also I have a good system for popups of a sort

[hotdog1234]

That's a sweet user bar you have, I like it better than your first one

Sure, you can use the slide-up system. Any chance you can still do some kind of status bar or something that lets the user know what the option does? Maybe a pop up next to the menu or something...

[Eeems]

thanks! I was using a more powerful userbar creator :D

I'm pretty sure that I can, I can use the popup system for that, just on a smaller scale then making menus from it
hmm, now I need to remember what all my subroutines do, and then make a readme...maybe I should release them...