Full Script Editing

[DST]

I'm having trouble developing my games any further in GE because of the walls get puts up between my codes. Accessing script by script in menus, with a small script window, it just not working out.

Here's 2 ways to explain what I mean:

1. My new TD game in java is 3,440 lines of code. Can you imagine trying to navigate that A. without a search function and B. having the code segmented with multiple navigations required to even see a portion of code? Let's suppose that half of that code is replicating what ge already does - mouseover events, running lists of actors, display. That's still 1700 lines of code to navigate in probably about 200 different pieces.

2. When i test my java game, I perform this list of actions:
1. Click Run
2. Press esc
and i'm back to my code to change it and test again.

Let's navigate that 2 step process in ge:

1. Add script
2. Immediate action
3. Game mode
4. esc
5. script
6. global code
7. select code
8. scroll to code.

that's 6 clicks, a keypress, and some scrolling just to get back to my code. We're talking hundreds of times in a day of programming, hundreds of times i must perform these actions.

What i need is all of my code in some larger editor, separated by no more than tabs with actor/code location names on them, or inserted headings describing the location (such as the Wiki page uses when editing it).

I can't count how many lines of code Defenders of Avalon has - it's probably in the neighborhood of 2000 lines. The game plays exactly the way i want it to - like a professional arcade shooter. It doesn't crash, the music doesn't crackle, everything times perfectly. I can easily edit the startup values to change the timing/difficulty/order of the level.

I can dump a different data folder in to replay the level as a completely different level. Everything is there to finish this game!

Except adding new code! When i designed this game, i used actors with code in draw actor, but to redesign it to make adding new levels, i move all their codes to global scripts - so that i can manage the actor types better, and prevent having to rewrite code...and now i'm stuck with this slow editing process. When trying to design a boss, who has many different attack modes and movements, one needs to make it interesting - to make the boss lively. But instead i struggle just to make him finish a set of routines in the right order. Editing with this method is almost like playing piano by mail.


GE is storing all of the code i've typed in somewhere....why can't we just grab it all and throw it to a script editor window? A resizable, searchable editor window.

If your Visual Studio, or whatever tool you use to make and edit Game Editor - if that worked the way that GE works, could you build GE with it?

[Game A Gogo]

I agree as well, the script editor window is Really tiny on my HDMI screen...
And there should also be better copy/paste function... they don't work half the time

[schnellboot]

yeahh I agree
there should be a search function that lists all codes

[Kodo]

I also agree. Creating methods that you access in global code helps but only to a point. Eventually your game gets complex enough that the current script editing system really slows you down. I've often thought that it would be nice to be able to use something else (Visual Studio perhaps) to edit my code and just include the cpp files in my ged via a #include. That would then allow basic users to continue as they are and more advanced users to break out of the ge script windows and use any tool they wished. Just a thought

edit: actually, it seems that the above approach already work to some extent.

I created a file called 'text.cpp' with a method that just uses playsound to play a sound effect, which I called 'testmethod()'.

Code: Select all

void testmethod()
{
     PlaySound2("data/ErrorSoda.wav", 0.644444, 1, 0.000000);
}

I then added the following to my global code:

Code: Select all

#include "test.cpp"

I then added the following code to an actors create event and ran the game and it worked!

Code: Select all

testmethod();

BUT, even though this works while working in the editor, it does not seem to work when you export the game, I guess the external cpp file is not being included GE also becomes unstable very quickly.

[DST]

Kodo's solution might work best and be easiest for GE to add - just have it pack .ccp's in with the exe. Problem solved, anyone can make a .cpp using whatever editor they prefer.

You could replace the names with the actor names as you make them - include enemyDrawActor.cpp;