Feature requests?

[Ivan Koswara]

I have a few feature requests, which I decide to post here to get some feedback too (according to the documentation, we need at least two or more possible games that might use this in order to implement them, so perhaps the community can help shaping these requests better).

1. A color transparent, useful to make markers, so you can simply type

SomeRandomMarker
transparent

instead of

SomeRandomMarker
black
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

2. Okay, this is not a feature request and more of a question. Why is there a limit on the number of objects and the number of layers? I think I never knew about the reason although I saw there are some limits... If it's because of the possibility of lagging, just give a warning "More than 32 objects; the game might lag" or something, but still allow the entire thing to compile. If you have a few markers, you usually need a layer for each marker, and if you want a nice decimal counter, you have to use at least 11 objects (10 digits + carry marker); some elaborate games might easily crash the limit. Okay, complex games shouldn't be coded in PuzzleScript, but I'm still curious about the reason of the limits.

3. A kind of reference to a particular object? Because I don't seem to be able to express this in words, let me show you a few examples:

[Object(1) | Object(2)] -> [Object(2) | Object(1)]
swaps two Object's. (Probably with something else to avoid infinite loop, like [NotProcessed] [Object(1) | Object(2)] -> [Processed] [Object(2) | Object(1)], but you get the idea.)

[orthogonal(1) Player] [WeirdFollower] -> [orthogonal Player] [counterclockwise(1) WeirdFollower]
makes the WeirdFollower to follow the Player's movement but rotated 90 degrees to the left, so if the Player moves up, then the WeirdFollower moves left, and so on. Yes, I know this is possible using [> Player] [WeirdFollower] -> [> Player] [^ WeirdFollower], but examples.

orthogonal(1) [Knight | | (2)] perpendicular(1) [(2) | Enemy] -> [| |] [| Knight]
captures an Enemy in the Knight's range (as like the knight in chess).

I'm not sure how useful this will be, and how difficult this is to implement, but it can open up a lot of other things. Like, bullets moving diagonally right-downward? Just do right [Bullet | (1)] down [(1) |] -> [|] [| Bullet], no need of making a new object for the bullet's temporary place while it "turns". Checking two walls next to a player while there are a few players present? [Player(1) | Wall(2)] [Player(1) | Wall(no 2)] -> [Player |] [Player |] might be possible. Yes, this is really hackish and bad, but throwing my ideas out.

That's all I have right now. Opinions?

[Ivan Koswara]

One more.

4. Allow sprites bigger than 5x5? Sometimes I feel the terrible need of it to, say, 7x7 or 9x9. Perhaps one can specify in the prelude about the size of the sprites like size_of_sprite 9 or similar?

[Stephen Lavelle]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions.

1: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/puzzlescript/transparent/puzzlescript/9ZVqFzpzpOs/DoQVJyV8gWMJ

2: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/puzzlescript/object$20limit/puzzlescript/wAF4Bu224UA/S_Spur0_yWwJ

3: I have thought of something that would be equivalent to this, and I did actually promise someone I'd put it in, but I don't know if I want to allow that extra level of expressivity.  Every new bit of syntax makes PuzzleScript a bit harder for people to read/learn.  For now you can get around this by writing out rules manually for all the combinations - it usually doesn't blow up, and is frequently still just as readable, if not more readable.

4: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/puzzlescript/5x5/puzzlescript/y9F9nWn85jA/XDS9kg1tmo4J

On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 11:16 AM, Ivan Koswara <chaoti...@gmail.com> wrote:

One more.

4. Allow sprites bigger than 5x5? Sometimes I feel the terrible need of it to, say, 7x7 or 9x9. Perhaps one can specify in the prelude about the size of the sprites like size_of_sprite 9 or similar?

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[Ivan Koswara]

1. Oh, you can put objects below background layer. Never knew that. Okay, let's see...

2. Oh, that's the reason. Well, I guess I'll see if you come up with that solution of arbitrary object/layer in that thread; for now I guess I'll keep my games not going over the edge =)

3. I'll try. It was just a random idea I got some time anyway, and definitely still terribly rough, so it's not a pressing matter. I think I got this one partially because I wanted to match two-dimensional patterns (so you don't only have "if these objects are along a line in this order", but also "if these objects are a knight-step away" and so), hence that knight example with putting the reference for a place.

4. I don't see that matter to be resolved in the thread? Or is it this:

They all increase the complexity of the engine/overhead to make a game for marginal gain (from my point of view), and they don't excite me, so I'm not adding them myself (but the project is open source, so you're welcome to implement them if you want).

If so, then okay, I'll see what I can do with 5x5 sprites.

Thank you for your responses!

[Stephen Lavelle]

oh, right, 4 isn't dealt with properly in that thread.  basically i don't want higher size sprites because larger sprites will be harder to edit with just the text editor and then suddenly lots more people will start asking for a sprite editor.  it's important that the files be easy for people to edit by hand, and pleasant to scroll through.  if I allow larger sprites, i makes both of these experiences worse.

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