.DT
terrain_map_intro
Discworld Creator Help
terrain_map_intro
.SH Name
.SI 5
Terrains Maps - An inherit/handler system for generating small to mid-sized
highly detailed and interactive 'virtual' areas from ascii maps. I
.EI
.SH Description
.SP 5 5
The system is designed to be extremely easy to use, and allows incredibly
quick and simple modification of areas and layouts. It does a great deal for you,
including the automatic modification of room descriptions, and addition of
room chats and items, depending on what's nearby. Prominent features can
be inserted into an area, which are visible for large distances, and the
room chats, and descriptions can be dependant on how far away the feature is.
Features can also be modified dynamically, so a mountain could suddenly
erupt and become a volcano, and this will be seen anywhere the mountain was
visible. Extra facilities are provided to allow you to automatically divide the
map into any number of overlapping or distinct zones, with extra touches
like functions to return all the currently loaded rooms in a particular zone.
.EP
.SH What comprises a terrain map?
.SP 5 5
There are five basic entities defined in an terrain map.
.EP
.SP 10 5
Rooms are simply standard rooms within the area.
.EP
.SP 10 5
Roads are like rooms, except that they can be seen from adjacent locations.
On creating them, you define what they appear like to any adjacent
locactions, a 'continuation message' which is added to the road description
describing where it leads, and an add_item which will be automatically added
to said adjacent locations. This *is* less complex than it sounds.
Additional features allow you to have them add room chats to adjacent
locations.
.EP
.SP 10 5
Obstacles are "dead" areas on the map, where no rooms exist. They act purely
as barriers, but have descriptions that can be seen from adjacent locations,
and can also contribute room chats to any rooms they can be seen from.
.EP
.SP 10 5
Features are added within the handler setup routine. They can be seen from
a distince (the range is defined when you create them), and what can be
seen from each location is dictated by how far away the feature is.
Features can automatically add room chats to locations that can see them,
and can be altered dynamically just so you can add some extra zest to an
area. If you want distant tower to explode, or a campfire sending up
smoke signals for a time, then burning out, features are the ones to use.
.EP
.SP 10 5
Exits are added to allow players to leave an area. They simply add standard
exits to the specified location.
.EP
.SH What else can be done with them?
.SP 5 5
This is entirely up to you. Extra features allow you to customise moving
messages between rooms of different or the same types, dictate whether
exits exist between rooms of type X and Y, specify the zones within an
area, broadcast messages to particular zones, retrieve the rooms currently
loaded within any one or more zones, broadcast range-dependant messages
which can be seen from many rooms, retrieve the rooms currently loaded
within distance X of any point, join two terrain maps together, and so
on and so forth.
.EP
.SH Coordinate System
.SP 5 5
Terrain maps use an internal coordinate system for its setup purposes,
which is independent of the Discworld coordinate system. Simply put,
the bottom left of the map is coordinate (0, 0), and each room
is one unit wide. That was easy, moving on....
.EP
.SH This sounds great! How do I make one?
.SP 5 5
A terrain mapped area is generated from three key components. This is best
described in conjunction with a working example, which can be viewed with:
'help terrain_map_example'.
.EP
.SI 5
The Map
.EI
.SP 10 5
The map is a straight text representation of the area. Map files *must* be
rectangular, but can contain any combination of ASCII characters. Each
character used in the map file must have a corresponding definition in
the handler. Maps must always use the file extension '.map'.
.EP
.SI 5
The Handler
.EI
.SP 10 5
The primary use of the handler is to define the meanings of each ASCII
character used in the map.
The handler must inherit from TERRAIN_MAP_HANDLER_BASE, and must override
the function: string query_map_file() to return the pathname of the map.
The .map extension should be omitted from this return value.
.EP
.SI 5
Room Files
.EI
.SP 10 5
Each room/road file must inherit from either TERRAIN_MAP_INSIDE_BASE or
TERRAIN_MAP_OUTSIDE_BASE, and must override the function:
string query_handler_path() to return the path of the handler that
controls the area it's in. Everything else should be as per a normal
room, although there are certain functions which can be optionally
overriden to change the behaviour of the room - eg to prevent exits
being formed to rooms/roads of a particular type.
.EP
.SI 5
The Zone Map
.EI
.SP 10 5
The zone file is an optional extra, and is formed in the same way as
the area map. Each character represents one or more zones, and these
must be defined in the handler. Zone maps must be given the '.zone'
file extension, but the name and path must be the same as the map
file.
.EP
.SH OK. So far so good. Now how do people get into one of these areas?
.SP 5 5
Rooms adjoining a terrain map must also inherit TERRAIN_MAP_OUTSIDE_BASE
or TERRAIN_MAP_INSIDE_BASE. Then you can simple add an exit to a the
correct room file with the desired coordinates. eg:
.EP
.SP 5 5
add_exit("north", __DIR__ + "field:4:5", "road");
.EP
.SH See Also
.SP 5 5
terrain_map_example terrain_map_handler
terrain_map_outside terrain_map_inside
.EP
