Rocks'n'Diamonds

I've been meaning to mention this for years now, and I always
seem to forget about it.

When I make a CE the first thing I do is give it a temporary
graphic with "uses graphic of" of a normal RND element.
But I always (and I mean always) forget that the current brush
is now that RND element and not the CE I'm working on (because
they are identical), I then use the RND element in the CE change
pages and other things and this obviously breaks the CE.

This could be very easily fixed....whenever you click on the
"uses graphics of" box, set the current CE's graphic as normal
but then change the brush back to the CE you where working on.

This would save me hours of debugging!

> But I always (and I mean always) forget that the current brush
> is now that RND element and not the CE I'm working on

That's funny (or not) -- I *always* have the exact same problem! :-o

> This could be very easily fixed....whenever you click on the
> "uses graphics of" box, set the current CE's graphic as normal
> but then change the brush back to the CE you where working on.

Do others agree that this is a good solution? I think it's indeed a practical approach for this problem; the only problem I can see is that there is no feedback to the user that the currently active element just has changed. Is this worth a requester "Change back element? [yes] [no]" to make things clear to the user? Or any other kind of notification that the active element is now again the previously selected CE?

I really like the idea, as I constantly step into the same trap, but usually I don't like software doing things that I don't expect (even though it seems that we expect the opposite of what really happens here :-o ).

Well, for some players it would be very illogical. They think: you've clicked on a normal element, so that is what must remain in the brush.

Wouldn't it be a much better idea just to display the name of the element in the brush? I assume you use another name for your CE's, so you will immediately see it then.

Holger wrote:That's funny (or not) -- I *always* have the exact same problem!

Me, too!

Holger wrote:Do others agree that this is a good solution? I think it's indeed a practical approach for this problem; the only problem I can see is that there is no feedback to the user that the currently active element just has changed.

Well, it would be nice, but without some sort of message, it would be unpredictable to new ysers, and probably not worth the problems it might create.

Holger wrote:Is this worth a requester "Change back element? [yes] [no]" to make things clear to the user?

Maybe a message box with an option to "do not show this message again; remember my selection" with an option under Setup somewhere where you can choose to "Always change back element," "Never change back element," or "ask me every time," defaulting to the third option. That could take awhile to do, though...

> Well, for some players it would be very illogical. They think: you've clicked
> on a normal element, so that is what must remain in the brush.

Yes, that's exactly what I thought. Also handy for die-hard level designers, it would be very unexpected behaviour for the usual user. :-/

> Wouldn't it be a much better idea just to display the name of the element
> in the brush?

What do you exactly mean here? (Displaying the name where exactly, I mean.)

> Well, it would be nice, but without some sort of message, it would be
> unpredictable to new ysers, and probably not worth the problems it
> might create.

Yep, again what I thought... :-o

> Maybe a message box with an option to "do not show this message
> again; remember my selection" with an option under Setup [...]

Something like that seems to be the best.

Maybe just a setup option, enabling the "illogical, but useful" behaviour, which defaults to "off" then. Or maybe even only an option for "setup.conf" which you have to manually add there, without a confusing new setup option ("confusing" because it cannot be explained there).

Something like that could also be used for ideas like the "New+Paste" idea...

I mean to display the object in brush next to 'Custom Element 1' for example (put some text there like 'Current object in brush:'.

Or maybe if there is space under the image...

Adding a setup (or just setup.conf) option looks like best solution.

I agree, there is often confusion about similar looking elements;
you never know if it is the standard element, CE 1 or CE 267, until you hover it with Ctrl.

Here's my idea to make the CE stuff easier:
What about drawing the number of the CE over the CE image; at least in the config screens, but maybe even in the level design area. Then you could always see, if it is a CE or not and you could differentiate between similiar looking CEs.
Example:

That idea might be difficult to implement, but if levels could be set temporarily to show these numbers while playing the level, that could help with CE debugging!

Tomi wrote:Adding a setup (or just setup.conf) option looks like best solution.

I agree.

Jannik wrote:you never know if it is the standard element, CE 1 or CE 267, until you hover it with Ctrl.

I wish that there were 267 CEs! That might use a lot of memory though...

but if levels could be set temporarily to show these numbers while playing the level, that could help with CE debugging!

Indeed, that would be very useful!
What about a key to toggle the numbers on/off?

I wish that there were 267 CEs!

Ooops, I was looking forward to RnD 4.2.0, there you'll have 1024 CEs ...

What about drawing the number of the CE over the CE image;

I already do this myself!

I just made all the 256 CEs EDITOR graphics use my own special PCX, which looks like your example except my numbers are large and white (so you can see them in the editor palette)

Adding a setup (or just setup.conf) option looks like best solution.

Agreed. Something like keep_brush: on
If you need this feature and you're RND savvy then you'll know where to change it.

*EDIT*

When you're changing the "graphics of" or filling up a group element, its the only time when you CTRL and click on the palette....so that would be a good place to put this check.

I agree, a setup option is the best.

Jannik wrote:Ooops, I was looking forward to RnD 4.2.0, there you'll have 1024 CEs ...

I don't think that Rocks 'n' Diamonds 4 is even in the planning stage yet.

I know that 3.3.0 is being planned, and 3.4.0 is, and 3.5.0 is. That's in a topic somewhere else on this forum. (I don't like phpBB's Search feature. It doesn't return any results when you search for something like "3.3.0".)