The Dink Network

Tutorial

February 17th 2009, 05:37 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
For a while now I've been bothered with the fact that there is no really comprehensive tutorial about making DMODs. The only tutorial right now that really covers the absolute basics is tut1.txt, but that file was written in a time before skeleton B, DFArc and WinDinkEdit. And it only covers the absolute basics, with hardly any clue on how to continue on from there. D-Mod learning stuff also has information on the basics, but again it was written before things like DFArc and WinDinkEdit became available.

So, I was thinking about writing a new tutorial myself that does cover all the basics. I would be using WinDinkEdit as the editor (I consider it to be more beginner-friendly). These would (roughly) be the subjects covered:

- Creating a new DMOD
- Mapping: - Tile mode - Sprite mode - Warps - Hardness mode - Visions
- Scripting
- Adding new graphics
- .DIZ editing (probably as an appendix)

I'm not yet sure how extensive I want to make the scripting part, so I don't know exactly what subjects would be covered. I was thinking about something like this:
- create a person/object (basic explainations about scripts and basic procedures (main, talk, hit))
- creating a story (&story explained)
- creating an enemy (basically copy scripts...)
- creating a trader (choice menus and inventory management)
- Touch procedures (including scripted warps)
- Creating a cutscene

Furthermore it would include a lot of links to other tutorials, as there are many things I do not need to repeat.

So, why am I posting this here? Well, I'd love to get some feedback on this. Is this plan totally superfluous and overly ambitious or could this actually be a valuable addition? And what things would you really like to see in a tutorial like this?
February 17th 2009, 06:45 PM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Wow. That's an ambitious project you got there.

Needless to say, it would be an invaluable addition to the Dink Network. But are you motivated enough to do it, because it seems like a LOT of work...
February 17th 2009, 08:10 PM
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Strokend
Peasant He/Him United States
I've seen four lurkers on at the same time! 
Frankly, I find it annoying that on WDE+ (I don't know if the problem is there with WDE, as I haven't tried it) if you try to put something far enough down on the screen it will go to the top of the screen below, and vice-versa. Say if there's a way past that, please!

Also, how do you set hardness to 'blue' (can be flown over, I think) instead of 'red' (blocks everything)
February 17th 2009, 10:09 PM
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Robj
Jester He/Him Australia
You feed the madness, and it feeds on you. 
go to Settings>>Screen Match.
While screen match is on, anything you place on the screen below will be matched on the screen above as well.
As for the the hardness, just press H to enter hardness mode, then press E to choose different hard tiles.
February 18th 2009, 02:08 AM
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schnapper
Peasant He/Him Heard Island And Mcdonald Islands
Let us save our effort and just lie down and die. 
I'm fully in support of D-mod Bible! It would require much determination, but would be an invaluable resource for all Modders great and small - even (especially)for the wanna-bes'!
I, for one, would purchase it, if I deemed it comprohensive and complete enough. All the "how tos'" squashed into a single, literate whole - a masterpiece and acheivment le grande!
February 18th 2009, 03:24 PM
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Sounds great, this would be really useful! As you say, most of the tutorials are long out of date.

DIZ editing? Why? Just open it in Notepad and type what you want!

I don't think there's a need for a too extensive scripting tutorial because the Rudiments of Scripting and the DinkC Reference have most of what you'd need, together with looking at other people's scripts. That said, a general summary would be pretty good, especially about integrating it with mapping and the overall 'making a D-Mod' thing.
February 18th 2009, 04:54 PM
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Glennglenn
Peasant He/Him Norway
GlennGlenn doesn't want a custom title. 
I think this is a good idea. Hope you do it.
February 23rd 2009, 05:16 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Thank's all for your feedback. Last week I wrote large parts of this tutorial. Most of the text is now written, it just needs to be polished.
So this will also mean that in the near future I would like to have some beta-readers. Preferably I would like to see people who are:

- Proficient at DinkC / WinDinkEdit. (So they can correct me if I make technical mistakes, or if there is a better way to do something)
- Grammar nazis. (I like to get it as error-free as possible. Also, I'd like to get comments on the writing style of the tutorial.)
- Anyone trying to learn DMODing (Let's hear it from the target audience!)

So, if you meet one or more of these criteria, and you don't mind critiquing a rather lengthy tutorial I'd love to have you as a beta-reader. Just post a message in this thread if you're interested. As I said the tutorial isn't finished yet, I'll send it up when it's done. Beware though, it will probably be more than 40 pages (including imagines and example scripts).

Secondly I'm going to have a FAQ in this tutorial. Which questions do you like to be answered in there? The questions I think I will already cover are:

-How do I add my own sounds?
-How do I add my own graphics?
-Wht is the difference between DinkEdit and WinDinkEdit (Note, I'm not covering WinDinkEdit plus here since I don't have any experience on it. I might just take a look later, but that might not be enough to really say anything sensible. (Guest writer maybe?))
- What is the difference between c and d files? (Note, this question will need to be reworded somehow...)
- What are .ff files? (Note, same as above)
- How do I make things appear random? (Not quite sure this one is neccessary...)

The subjects already in the tutorial itself:

Ch1 Getting started:
(How to start a new DMOD, what software you need)
Mapping:
Ch2 Tile mode (also, covered are copying and importing screens)
Ch3 Sprite mode
Ch4 Creating a house (Screenmatch / hardness)
Ch5 Warps
Ch6 Depth que & moving doors
Scripting:
Ch8 intro
Ch9.1 Creating a sign (creating a basic script)
Ch9.2 Creating a person (basewalks explained)
Ch10 Creating a story:
Ch10.1 Working with variables
Ch10.2 The if-statement
Ch10.3 Global variables
Ch10.4 An example story
Ch11 Visions
Ch12.1 The touch procedure
*Ch12.2 Creating (invisible) barriers
*Ch12.3 Scripted warps
*Ch13 Creating cutscenes (including info on sp_script() and spawn())
Ch14 Traders
Ch14.1 The man behind the counter (I'm not sure how to combine this with Ch13 yet, the idea was to show here how to create & control sprites in scripts.)
Ch14.2 Buy
Ch14.3 Sell
Ch15 Enemies:
Ch15.1 A pillbug
Ch15.2 A bonca
FAQ
Appendix A: List of sprite properties

Chapters with an asterisk (*) still need to be written, the rest is written but will need to be polished some more. Chapters 14 and 15 are divided into multiple parts because the example scripts are quite long, even though they cover only modest subjects.

Things I have not covered:
- How to edit hardness-tiles (Advanced topic, not for beginners)
- How to edit hardboxes (To much new stuff about .ini editing. This would require an entirely new chapter which I don't feel like right now...)

Oh, and I'm sure there was a perfectly good reason why chapter 7 is missing... If I could only remember what it was...

@strokend:
-Use robj's technique. Unfortunately this is just one of the disadvantages of WinDinkEdit... I don't know how I would take this into the tutorial properly.
-I won't cover how to edit hadness-tiles, it's a pretty specialist topic. Actually I don't know the answer either, I'd have to look it up as well.

@Sparrowhawk:
- Yeah, I'll ditch .DIZ editing, maybe I'll put it up in the FAQ though.
- TROS covers scripts very intensively. In fact it did it so intensively that I couldn't get through it. (Maybe that's just because I downloaded it after I got the basics of scripting already though.) The DinkC reference on the other hand didn't include enough support on where to start. So the pace of this tutorial is higher than TROS. Maybe it wasn't very neccessary, but I did find it handy for example to write something about how variables work before I explain visions. All in all, let's just say I added it for the sake of completeness...

EDIT: I just realized I made my post way to long...
EDIT2: I also just realized that I have absolutely no intention of changing that...
February 23rd 2009, 11:48 PM
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Strokend
Peasant He/Him United States
I've seen four lurkers on at the same time! 
I'd like to beta-read it! Grammar Nazi/Target Audience... Barely know anything about DinkC.
February 24th 2009, 11:25 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
I had some videos already done about this. But they all got lost by my computer crash!
February 24th 2009, 11:55 AM
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dinkinfreak
Peasant He/Him Greece
Real lurkers don't appear on the lurkers list. 
Grammar Nazi/Wannabe Dinker
Put Shape Shifting in, that would be great.
Visions are obsolete, tell them aboutmap editing functions, or whatever is used instead.

I'm sharpening my special sacrifice knives for you, Strokend, you grammer nazi...
February 25th 2009, 02:54 AM
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Hades
Peasant He/Him Australia
Remember you're unique, just like everyone else. 
I remember a rather well done video tutorial covering how to create a D-mod and make a house made by SimonK, it was one of the main things that helped me to get into D-mods. if you make something like that one I'm sure it would be very helpful to new people starting out.
found the link: 1/3 tutorials
http://www.dinknetwork.com/file/video_tutorial_windinkedit_introduction
February 25th 2009, 06:01 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Actually that videotutorial was one of the main reasons I doubted the use of this tutorial. (That's why I asked about it before writing it)

This will hopefully be different enough to have added value. But it will cover roughly the same subjects as simon's videotutorials...
February 25th 2009, 08:17 AM
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I'll beta-read if you like - I probably fit the first 2 criteria.

@dinkinfreak, visions are obsolete?! Where'd you get that idea?
February 26th 2009, 11:59 AM
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Strokend
Peasant He/Him United States
I've seen four lurkers on at the same time! 
"you grammer nazi..." (dinkinfreak)
First of all, I said grammar (or grammer, though now I fixed it), not spelling. Second off, even I make typos sometimes, Mr. "Tell them aboutmap editing functions".
February 26th 2009, 12:14 PM
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Marpro
Peasant He/Him bloop
 
Strokend, you annoy me
February 26th 2009, 12:14 PM
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Hey calm down, he was joking (I think!). Also, the job is proofreading in general, not just grammar. Go easy
February 26th 2009, 01:38 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Also, the job is proofreading in general, not just grammar.

Yep, it's both...

Anyway I nearly finished it, so I think I'll send it to you later today. (Man, cleaning the tutorial cost me twice as long as actually writing it...)

The final file is a 66 page pdf file, much longer than I originally anticipated. This is mostly because I added an appendix and a FAQ and because I ended up choosing a different font. Hope it's not too long, if it is please tell me what to cut out...

EDIT: Just realized I did not add the appendix yet. Still some work to do, this will make the file weigh 67 pages.

Lastly: Sparrowhawk, I can't find your email adress on your profile. Where would you like me to send the file?
February 26th 2009, 01:51 PM
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Yes it's not there because... I dunno really.
Anyway: sparrowhawk76 at gmail.com