Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:23 pm
Well, I was AFK (actually, to be more precise, not Away From Keyboard, but something like AFI - "Away From Internet") for a week, but now I can reply. There is a lot of things I should reply to, so prepare yourself for a long post.
About Lua / Pascal Script / Python:
Lua is the most powerful language I've ever seen. If you've read its Wikipedia article and had a look at table of contents of the Programming In Lua book, you know what do I mean. However, most of the features aren't needed in a CE scripting tool - almost any scripting language would do (though I'd be, of course, very happy if you'd use Lua).
Python is nice. I don't use it, but once I've been learning it (I like to "collect" languages, I once learned - and mostly forgotten - about 20 and actively use about 7). However, I think Lua is better, so if I were choosing between Python and Lua, I'd choose Lua.
I don't know Pascal Script, but I don't like Pascal very much. However, if it will serve its purpose well, and can be used easily, well, why not? But please use some already-created scripting language, and don't try to make your own one - it will save you time and will probably be easier to learn.
About ConfEdit:
I don't use it for two reasons: 1. I don't need it in most levelsets, 2. it's for Windows, and I play RnD (and store all my levels) in Linux.
About making new demos:
I like making CE examples for the sake of it: it's a challenge for me, and I think I won't mind if nobody in the world would use them.
About making new tools:
Actually, I'm making a "RnD Levelsets Manager" at the moment, and I'm sure that if I'll finish it (what is arguable), *someone* will use it. Namely, me. As my primary (and, for the matter, even secondary) audience isn't the public, releasing it isn't actually so... - I'm not sure what word should I use, but "needed" seems to be best. Don't take me wrong - it's my intention to release it, but I'd consider the program successful even if nobody but me liked it.
For your information, it's programmed in Bash. :-P (No kidding. Bash is cool.)
I don't know what to think about RNDDB. I surely do want CE scripting, but RNDDB is for Windows, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it. (I think I once heard about some Linux port of Delphi, but I'm not sure about any details, including the name. Try Google.)
About making new levels:
I haven't released any levelsets yet, but I worked on quite a few. Most of them were unfinished, but what they had in common was that they weren't resembling basic RnD concepts much. They heavily used CEs in extraordinary ways - for example, imagine a nested "game inside" as one of levels from "game inside".
I'm in doubt: I'm currently working on my most ambitious project so far, but will it ever be played? I'd like very much to know how much are levelsets from www.artsoft.org and www.bd-fans.com downloaded. Thinking about it, www.bd-fans.com is AFAIK very popular site (when I googled for tomi belan it came first in the results), and it will surely spread the word about RnD (and its levelsets) further. So I'm coming to conclusion that I won't cease making levelsets.
More about tools:
What I'd like the best would be some ConfEdit+RNDDB(+RLM) mutant, maintained by multiple people (many projects died because the maintainer didn't have time to work on it anymore). Problems would arise, though, and I'm not sure if someone would use it anyway.
About Lua / Pascal Script / Python:
Lua is the most powerful language I've ever seen. If you've read its Wikipedia article and had a look at table of contents of the Programming In Lua book, you know what do I mean. However, most of the features aren't needed in a CE scripting tool - almost any scripting language would do (though I'd be, of course, very happy if you'd use Lua).
Python is nice. I don't use it, but once I've been learning it (I like to "collect" languages, I once learned - and mostly forgotten - about 20 and actively use about 7). However, I think Lua is better, so if I were choosing between Python and Lua, I'd choose Lua.
I don't know Pascal Script, but I don't like Pascal very much. However, if it will serve its purpose well, and can be used easily, well, why not? But please use some already-created scripting language, and don't try to make your own one - it will save you time and will probably be easier to learn.
About ConfEdit:
I don't use it for two reasons: 1. I don't need it in most levelsets, 2. it's for Windows, and I play RnD (and store all my levels) in Linux.
About making new demos:
I like making CE examples for the sake of it: it's a challenge for me, and I think I won't mind if nobody in the world would use them.
About making new tools:
Actually, I'm making a "RnD Levelsets Manager" at the moment, and I'm sure that if I'll finish it (what is arguable), *someone* will use it. Namely, me. As my primary (and, for the matter, even secondary) audience isn't the public, releasing it isn't actually so... - I'm not sure what word should I use, but "needed" seems to be best. Don't take me wrong - it's my intention to release it, but I'd consider the program successful even if nobody but me liked it.
For your information, it's programmed in Bash. :-P (No kidding. Bash is cool.)
I don't know what to think about RNDDB. I surely do want CE scripting, but RNDDB is for Windows, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it. (I think I once heard about some Linux port of Delphi, but I'm not sure about any details, including the name. Try Google.)
About making new levels:
I haven't released any levelsets yet, but I worked on quite a few. Most of them were unfinished, but what they had in common was that they weren't resembling basic RnD concepts much. They heavily used CEs in extraordinary ways - for example, imagine a nested "game inside" as one of levels from "game inside".
I'm in doubt: I'm currently working on my most ambitious project so far, but will it ever be played? I'd like very much to know how much are levelsets from www.artsoft.org and www.bd-fans.com downloaded. Thinking about it, www.bd-fans.com is AFAIK very popular site (when I googled for tomi belan it came first in the results), and it will surely spread the word about RnD (and its levelsets) further. So I'm coming to conclusion that I won't cease making levelsets.
More about tools:
What I'd like the best would be some ConfEdit+RNDDB(+RLM) mutant, maintained by multiple people (many projects died because the maintainer didn't have time to work on it anymore). Problems would arise, though, and I'm not sure if someone would use it anyway.