The Dink Network

I guess I could use the mailing list for this, but I rarely see it used, so I'm not sure if it's still active.

I have a few questions about its functionality. First of all, we'll have to compile the scripts we make, right? This means they can no longer be viewed or edited by other persons than the author, correct? I sure hope so, bye bye cheating.

Second question, as there's no longer the ability to swap palettes, is there a way to add a particular "glow" onto the screen that achieves the same effect?

Third question, can you make a sprite transparent (percentage) at run-time?

Fourth question, is it possible to jump to a certain point in a music file? I mean, can I decide to start playing my MP3 30 seconds in the song? Or can I choose to loop only a certain part of the song? This could come in handy for any cinematics.

Fifth question, when I want to program my move commands, will I still need to insert the direction and stuff or does the engine immediately know what I mean when I say move to coordinates 32,48?

Sixth and final question, the deadline has passed, right? I understand the editor is taking up a lot of time, but is there a chance we could still see a release htis month?

Thanks for answering my questions, if there's ever a reply

Okay:

1) You don't have to compile them - the engine does it automatically. You can though, and the engine will read them just fine.

2) I'm sure there's a way. Keep that in mind -- you'll probably have to suggest it again.

3) Yeah, you can make a sprite transparent. The engine supports 32-bit (24 + alpha).

4) It would be possible, but I haven't programmed it into DinkC++ or anything.

5) Well, the best way to do this would be to keep the old move command for compatability and use a new one for auto move. But it shouldn't be too hard to get it to change automatically. I can see some problems though. What if you want a sprite to move without changing direction? And what if a sprite only has one frame?

6) Deadline for what? The editor takes up time, yes, but WC should be doing something (*cough*or the rest*cough*). There's always a chance for a release this month, but I have a school project to do, Francis abandoned me and got a job doing some web design crap, and let's not talk about the third guy.

I see what you mean with the direction issues... But, perhaps a way to solve it is to have the direction of the sprite always fit the direction you're walking in, except if you use some command to turn that feature off. Or an optional argument to the function. That may further complicate things I guess and make it less functional than the already existing commands...

As for the deadline, I'm not trying to push you or anything, but I still have some Dink ideas in my mind that I just don't want to do in the original engine anymore seeing how a new one will be out soon. That's why I was wondering about the release schedule. And it sucks those guys have abandoned you :/

I just had a couple of ideas for movement, if it be possible to implement..

1) Circular movement
2) non-restrained directions (no more 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9) -- you just point which exact coordinates you want to move to, and then the sprite will walk that way, even if it's just 10x and 100y.. yes.

Well, keep in mind if you were to do that all the graphics would have to be redesigned in 3D so as to rotate them without it glitching. Sure, it'd be possible, but it wouldn't be feasible.

They wouldn't have to rotate at all. I mean, the original Dink has plenty of examples where there's exact coordinate movement without using the traditional directions. For movement to points in a 30°-60° field you'd have the sprite show its direction 9 frames for example. Circular movement can work the same way. At some point on the circle when the sprite is leaning more towards walking in a different direction change the frames in the same way as I described above.

And even if the latter is too difficult, having circular movement for 1 sequence sprites would still be cool. A circling blade or fireball for example.