The Dink Network

Hello all dinkers! This is a preview for a d-mod that I'm making, which is my first one.

basically, the idea is that its going to be a d-mod which is sort of dink-tutorial-ish where you are taught how to kill enemies without being killed, how to use all the different spells and avoid other spells, how to evade enemies and traps, and it'll teach you about the different foes and how to beat them, in essence teaching you how to play dink like a pro.

These are all just ideas, of course, I haven't even started on it yet...

also, I have all these ideas for new weapons and spells and systems and stuff, so I'm thinking that in this mod i will introduce all of these things and show how to use them, and then they will be used to a larger extent in the other bigger main d-mod I want to do, which will be like a normal d-mod with a storyline and bosses and that sorta thing. So in that way it'll be part tutorial and part an intro to my next d-mod.

That’s just an idea though; it doesn't have to be like that...

As this is my first d-mod, any suggestions and advice would be helpful.

I think having a DMOD focusing purely on training would be a bit dull as a lot of Dinkers have played loads of DMODs already and know how to beat most standard beasties. So, I'd say you should combine it with a story. Having training as a part of the DMOD could work if it has a good background story. See Blood scorpions for a great DMOD that did this.

As this is your first DMOD I wouldn't worry to much about new magic and weapons at first. That stuff is rather complicated to do, make sure you can make a working DMOD first.

And good luck with your DMOD.

I support your idea...
Just support...

Be it known that adding many new graphics is highly ambitious for a first Dmod - maybe too ambitious.

Thanks for the tips!

Ill see what i can do about the story, metatarasal.

As for the other stuff, i do think i have some good ideas, i just don't know how to go about doing them yet. Ill wait,though.

i guess i can do those on my next one if i ever get to it...

by the way, schnapper, ambition isn't a bad thing...

Ambition isn't a bad thing...
That's right, Aim for the stars and maybe you'll reach the sky, or you'll fall back down and break your neck.

Ambition isn't a bad thing...
Oh, I know - I'm just warning you, because I personally myself started out over-ambitious and was disappointed, and I got lazy. See, if you fail to meet your' ambition, your' stars you risk not getting anything: aim for the stars, at least you'll reach the clouds was my philosophy too, but it's a good dose of B.S. if you don't apply yourself too.
It's the whole "easier said then done" thing

This sounds great, I hope you end up making it.

Well, the best thing is aiming for compleating a dmod first of all, i guess...

Thanks for the support, yeoldetoast.

To schnapper- your probably right... kinda to early to be doing that sorta thing. When I finish this d-mod(hopefully)i will try out my ideas on my next mod.

"Aim for the stars and maybe you'll reach the sky, or you'll fall back down and break your neck."
No comment.

I have an idea for a story to go with the training... it goes like this: dink is at his home in somewhere-or-other(haven't decided the name yet), and the king sends a messenger to bring him to the castle.(lalala...) when dink gets there, the king tells him that he has received word of some terrible being that is terrorizing somewhere-or-other and dink must defeat it(blah blah blah, the old story, haven't figured out the specifics yet). but this 'being' is very powerful, and dink is weak. and so the king sends dink to a town where people are trained to become skilled warriors. and then the game is mainly focused on the training. i remember a part in "dink goes hunting" where the king of the other town sends dink to a place to train against the monsters, and there was 3 sections- melee, ranged, and magic. what i have in mind is a bit like that, but to a much larger extent. tell me if you think this is a good story.

Just go for gold, man!

Just go for gold, man!

There's nothing wrong with silver

or kryptonite...

Oh please...

I'm not superman, zeddexx.

I'll probably be lucky if I get bronze, but bugging me wont help....

I like the story, and if you fill in the blanks with some interesting plot, it could be a fun game that would be able to double as a prequel to later projects of yours.

I'm not superman, zeddexx.
You can't prove that.

Thanks!

You can't prove that.
I suppose..

I probably should start posting updates at some point, with screenshots 'n stuff, but i kinda don't know how to post screenshots...

I'm very curious about this...

Upload your screenshots to imageshack/photobucket (or whatever) and then you copy-paste your image link inside this:< a href=" LINK GOES HERE ">LOL picturez</a> (without the space between < and a). Hope it helps.

Someone was helpin me learn how to do that and suggested Imageshack this, its great cause you don't have to sign up to anything - me likes anonymity :0) Just another option

Thanks a lot, marpro! I probably would've never figured that out if you hadn't told me...

Someone was helpin me learn how to do that and suggested Imageshack this, its great cause you don't have to sign up to anything - me likes anonymity :0) Just another option
Thanks for that tip... i dont want to have to go to the trouble of getting a whole big account for a site i know nothing about...

I've decided mostly what/who the bad guy is going to be now, but I'm going to keep that under wraps for now... I will say this, though: he's going to be very NASTY.

There's actually a few free image-upload sites: Tiny Pic which has a cool cartoon-y logo and that's all I can think of for now

I tried to make some screenshots earlier but i had problems... I am using windinkedit+, and i downloaded a tutorial on how to take dink screenshots, but when i tried it out i found that it was for dinkedit. but then later i found this option in windinkedit+,"take screenshot". i clicked it and it automatically made a screenshot in my dmod folder. cool! but when i went and looked at it, all i saw was a thing saying "invalid image". what up with that????

The take screenshot thing is apparently broken. You can take your own screenshot by pressing the print screen (prt scr) button on your keyboard. You can use alt+print screen to take a shot of just the active window. This will copy your shot to the clipboard which you can paste into mspaint and save as a jpeg.

This will work for taking screenshots in WinDinkEdit as well as in game so long as your playing in true color mode.

Thanks!

They really should fix that problem...

WTH???
I tried what you said both in WinDinkEdit+ and in Dink.exe and it didn't do anything!
Also, what clipboard??

When u press ctrl C (copies) on text or pics etc, the computer stores the information it has copied on the computer clipboard - just look at it as being in limbo until you press ctrl V to paste whatever you copied. You can see your clipboard but it just really works away in the background. You will need some pic editing software MSPaint is ok if thats all u have (comes on most computers)

So to take a screen shot - open window u wanna copy press ctrl C - or ALT Print screen - open the picture editing software - press CTRL V to paste that image of the screen you just copied. Tidy it up and save it as a jpg and then upload to wherever.

MsDinkAlot, if you have to explain what a clipboard is, it's probably better for zackgamer100 to learn basic computer usage before something as advanced as making a Dmod.

DaVince, I really don't know what to say... I've been working on the computer for a couple years now and I never heard about this function! The only clipboard I knew about was the one in MS word... Anyways, what you said was kind of insulting. My mother, for example, who is about 40+ years old, has been on the PC much longer than I have and never knew about it either. Just because I Don't know how to use EVERY SINGLE THING on the computer doesn't mean I don't have Dmoding potential. In fact, I've made quite good progress on my Dmod already. I've succeeded in making a script where if dink punches his mom, she shouts "That's it! No more video games for you! and the game quits. Now, there have been BUGS that did that, but it wasn't. It was EXACTLY what i had in mind. Has anybody ELSE done that??? I doubt it.

MsDinkalot, TY very much. I tried that out and it worked perfectly. I now have screenshots. The CTRL+C and then CTRL+V in MS paint didn't work for some reason, but ALT+PRINT SCRN and then CTRL+V in MS paint worked fine. Dunno why.

"The CTRL+C and then CTRL+V in MS paint didn't work for some reason"

You mean you tried to copy the screen from WinDinkEdit? That doesn't work because copying is just a general copy, it doesn't always take a screen capture. For example, if you copy text from Notepad, it is copied as a text, not as a image, so you can't paste it to Paint. Et cetera

Yeah, sorry about that, wrong person. I read a thread a short while ago where someone didn't even know what a directory was, so yeah.

Well done zackgamer100 I always use alt print screen too

EDIT Ctrl C = copy a highlited item (text or pictures)
Alt print screen copies the whole screen

DaVince - I answer peoples questions (when I can) as I personally need them answered - I need more info than you guys usually give as making dmods is not an area I am very familiar with. I dont intend it to be condescending or annoying, just as informative as I can and they can take the bits that are useful and ignore the rest. Lets just help each other when we can without judging their abilities or lac thereof. I imaging none of us knows every nook and cranny of how a computer works.

Now Zackgamer100 can show us screenshots full of anticipated Dinky goodness

Alt+Prt Scr screenshots the window doesn't it? Just hitting Prt Scr alone copies the entire screen.

I must be lazy, I just crop the screenshot when running dink in window mode to the exact resolution...

"EDIT Ctrl C = copy a highlited item (text or pictures)
Alt print screen copies the whole screen"

Aaaaaaah... that makes more sense.
Doesn't really matter, I just did mine in full-screen Dink.exe. that made good screenshots.

All right, my first update! the state of my D-mod so far is as follows:

I have completed the starting town, with Dink's house, shops, and a few other houses, and old Danny's castle and the surrounding area. I'm currently starting on this sorta dark-foresty-ish area, that Dink will have to go through to get to the training town mentioned earlier(see post no.10).

I currently have 44 screens, but most aren't very detailed yet. I'm just mapping out the basic area.
the most detailed screens are the inside of Dink's house, the castle, and the town.

Not very many scripts yet, I've been mostly focusing on mapping for the most part, though I did amuse myself making scripts with funny punch lines when Dink punches stuff.(punch - punch, get it?)
the most complex script I made was for the intro sequence.

Here's some screenshots:

DCT screenshot 01

Dink's room, inside his house.

DCT screenshot 02

Outside Dink's house.

DCT screenshot 03

The town square.

DCT screenshot 04

Crossroads north of starting town.

DCT screenshot 05

Outside the castle.

DCT screenshot 06

Inside the castle.

If you encounter any problems with the link please tell me, cause since it's my first time doing this I wouldn't be surprised if it went wonky.

"Yeah, sorry about that, wrong person. I read a thread a short while ago where someone didn't even know what a directory was, so yeah."

Seriously? LOL.

As you said, the pics of the crossroads and outside of the castle are a bit bland. Though if you'll be detailing them later, then that's cool. The town screens look promising

Nice and yep looks promising - I dont mind some emptyish screens - can get a bit heavy if theyre all chocka full of sprites (and you're usually just walking thru them anyways" IMHO well done - look forward to the release