Book / Map Improvements

[Kempeth]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread with this so I hope it's ok to make a new one...

I've recently tried to create a detailed map of East Hydlaa City with a program I wrote and a lot of walking and /pos -ing. It worked but the game only displayed the first 200 lines on the page. This got me thinking about ways to improve the maps and books. I've tried to search for previous suggestions on the subject but only find this 1.5 year old thread. So I apologize if some of these are already on the todo list.

Maps:

• More entities per page than just 200. Not enough for East Hydlaa, certainly not enough for Hydlaa Plaza don't even think about it when the devs make the city even bigger.
• Multiple pages. I think this is already hinted in the xml structure. Would be handy for map things with multiple levels or to compile multiple maps into one atlas.
• Polylines. Most lines on a map could be replaced by a polyline which would reduce size and entity count. (This is a repetition from the thread linked above)
• More than just one font size. Different labels for different things like Continent, Country and City.

Books:

• Support for Bold, Underline and Italic.
• Support for multiple font sizes. (These two would greatly improve the possibilities to structure a book)
• Support for colored text.

BTW: Kempeth Damari is now just 'Kempeth'

[Arerano]

More entities per page than just 200. Not enough for East Hydlaa, certainly not enough for Hydlaa Plaza don't even think about it when the devs make the city even bigger.

I agree fully that 200 single lines aren't much (see also: http://hydlaaplaza.com/flyspray/index.php?do=details&task_id=1216 )
You could also use bezier curves for curves or rounded areas to reduce the "single lines" count.

Polylines. Most lines on a map could be replaced by a polyline which would reduce size and entity count. (This is a repetition from the thread linked above)

Yes and no. I don't think it's wanted that you can have 200 poly lines with 200 lines to "overcome the 200 lines issue" which is meant as a "feature".
So assume that each line of a poly line counts as a "line", what are the advantages you hope to get from the "polylines"?

More than just one font size. Different labels for different things like Continent, Country and City.

Would be nice to have different font sizes, yes. Shouldn't be too hard to implement either.
You can currently have "different labels" by using "different colours" for such things.

[Kempeth]

Yes and no. I don't think it's wanted that you can have 200 poly lines with 200 lines to "overcome the 200 lines issue" which is meant as a "feature".
So assume that each line of a poly line counts as a "line", what are the advantages you hope to get from the "polylines"?

<ln pts="0 0 0 10" col="0"/><ln pts="0 10 10 10" col="0"/><ln pts="10 10 10 0" col="0"/><ln pts="10 0 0 0" col="0"/>
versus
<ln pts="0 0 0 10 10 10 10 0 0 0" col="0"/>

If I interpret the Feature Request correctly then the amount of entities / primitives you can add to a sketch is skill-dependent and was not limited due to performance or memory concerns. That puts an entirely different light on the limitation.

[Arerano]

<ln pts="0 0 0 10" col="0"/><ln pts="0 10 10 10" col="0"/><ln pts="10 10 10 0" col="0"/><ln pts="10 0 0 0" col="0"/>
versus
<ln pts="0 0 0 10 10 10 10 0 0 0" col="0"/>

This advantage won't be noticable by most of the players as they see the lines, not the XML.
Having polylines also raises the complexity of the GUI and/or map-maping itself and has to be well thought-through first.
You need ways to cut/merge lines, move segments/whole polygons.

I think one main goal should be "keeping the handling of it simple". I think that something like "basic shapes" (square/rectangle/triangle/circle) would be a better approach.

[Tuathanach]

Books:

• Support for Bold, Underline and Italic.
• Support for multiple font sizes. (These two would greatly improve the possibilities to structure a book)
• Support for colored text.

Excellent idea for books would really help make books easier to read and structure.

[Manar]

More entities per page than just 200.

In my opinion that's the single biggest issue with sketches.
Every map I've made it felt more like making a puzzle than making a drawing, from trying to stay just below that limit.

[-stf-]

Everytime i tried to draw a map ingame, I found terrible bezier curves that are doing me headache. I would preffer direct drawings (can be stored as transparent png file) with erase function same as crayon with eraser. Icons for places are fine, bud drawing is terrible. I don't remember whether texts are rotable but if not, it would be good too.
I personally solved this with selling the map back to Jayose and I am trying to roleplay my map on paper. Works fine but in game map would be better.
Or, maybe maps for region could be bought from (or sold back to) Jayose or local store (and keep them editable to add own locations, such as mines or dangerous places). Same as Hydlaa plaza map but editable.
I know that this is relatively old thread but I think it's still actual.

[Tontow]

Hi everyone, how is it going after all this time??  Thought I'd check in after all this time of life happening.

You Missed one: http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=33945.0 

Sadly geocities decided to scrap all there sites, but I'm sure I still have it here somewhere, and If someone is willing to host it, I will Gladly give a copy to be hosted.
hmmmm, I found the .exe and I still have the source for any that may want it.   All it dose is phrase the POS command as recorded in the chat log and convert it to the map lines format.
And the great thing is that it was approved by the GMs before it was released.