Atlas Scenario Editor

[Rasunadon]

Yes, undo/redo system would be really nice. I had problems a bit with terrain changing. Several times I kept heightening for too long so needed to flatten it then again. Redo button would have been more useful.

No reset button until redo button is implemented. Or we will have some really angry players.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Isn't the Undo/Redo functionality already there? Just needs buttons?

[Ykkrosh]

Yeah, it should be there in the Edit menu, though some actions (like changing map settings) are currently ignored by the undo system and can never be undone.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Yeah, it should be there in the Edit menu, though some actions (like changing map settings) are currently ignored by the undo system and can never be undone.

Gotcha, it just needs to be more robust. Well, I can siphon out those redo/undo buttons from my mockup and commit them if desired.

BTW: the new map resize feature is bloody brill.

[Rasunadon]

Isn't the Undo/Redo functionality already there? Just needs buttons?

Yes, my fault.

[feneur]

Isn't the Undo/Redo functionality already there? Just needs buttons?

Who needs buttons? Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y does the trick much faster (Still nice for those who haven't mastered their keyboard shortcuts though, so I'm not saying we shouldn't have any buttons at all, just not much of a reason to use them =) .)

[Pureon]

Very nice work historic_bruno!

Are you the best person to ask for a selection box tool?

[historic_bruno]

I think undo/redo for map settings and player settings is important, because it's too easy to accidentally mess something up (e.g. delete your map description) and have no way to recover

I guess we need some way to notify the UI when map settings are undone/redone?

Very nice work historic_bruno!

Are you the best person to ask for a selection box tool?

Well me or Philip, unless someone else wants to tackle it

[historic_bruno]

Well, I can siphon out those redo/undo buttons from my mockup and commit them if desired.

If you do, could you also commit the player icon? Assuming it's compatible with the game's licensing.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Cool. What size do you need the icons and which folder are they in? For the life of me I can't find it and I'm getting tired (it's late here--2 AM). Also, it would be cool to move all the icons into one ribbon along the top, like the mockup. Maybe use dividers to separate types of tabs.

EDIT: The new player panel is awesome, btw. One issue: is "Pop Limit" supposed to be a max pop or a pop bonus? If a bonus, then it should be called "Population Bonus" or "Bonus Population." Bonus Population is a useful concept for scenarios, so I think it should be included as-is, just altered in name. It would be good to have Population Limits (Max Pop) by player as well. It would default to the same for all (lets default to 300 for now), but adjustable per player. I think the up/down arrows for the resource fields should change it in increments of 10 or 100. If you want to be more precise than that, then you can type the number in. Otherwise I see no reason for it to be precise down to the single resource. Most unit and building costs are in multiples of 10 anyway. Player Names feature = awesome. Last comment: I've been running into this annoying issue that when I click a field to add a description or some value, the type-cursor disappears if I move my mouse cursor away.

[Ykkrosh]

I've been running into this annoying issue that when I click a field to add a description or some value, the type-cursor disappears if I move my mouse cursor away.

If I remember correctly, if you move the cursor over the 3D game view area then it switches focus to that area (and away from any text boxes etc), so that you can use the arrow keys to move the camera around (instead of having the text box intercept all key presses). Without that, you'd probably have to click in the 3D bit to focus it, which doesn't sound ideal (especially since that might result in you painting terrain etc where you click). Neither way is great - any ideas on a better solution?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Thing is, I always click into the 3D section to "refocus" to it. Perhaps just habit.

[Wijitmaker]

Cool. What size do you need the icons and which folder are they in? For the life of me I can't find it and I'm getting tired (it's late here--2 AM). Also, it would be cool to move all the icons into one ribbon along the top, like the mockup. Maybe use dividers to separate types of tabs.

They should all be here:

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/tools/atlas

[Mythos_Ruler]

Alright, excellent.

EDIT: Players icon committed (I made a new one since I could not find the license for the icon I used in the mockup. It was always intended to just be a mockup anyway, so making new icons is fitting.)

I think the current "flatten" icon should be for objects. The one that looks like a chess pawn. I don't think there needs to be dedicated "flatten" and "modify terrain" quick-tools at the top, since they are both included in the "Terrain" tab. See: mockup.

EDIT 2: Bug in Atlas: Hard crash. Duplicate by opening a blank new map, then trying to edit the number of players in the new Players tab. CRASH.

[historic_bruno]

I totally agree about the toolbar, the way it is now is a bit kludgy. I think it's designed so that each button is a tool specific to a panel (terrain / object / etc), so it's not straightforward to add e.g. undo/redo or save/load buttons. Maybe it should be changed to a standard toolbar. I also think the simulation buttons should be moved there, with nice shiny icons The ideal toolbar would be like in other apps where you can break it into pieces and drag them around for a custom layout.

EDIT: The new player panel is awesome, btw. One issue: is "Pop Limit" supposed to be a max pop or a pop bonus? If a bonus, then it should be called "Population Bonus" or "Bonus Population." Bonus Population is a useful concept for scenarios, so I think it should be included as-is, just altered in name.

OK, does population bonus get added to the population limit or does it have some other purpose?

I think the up/down arrows for the resource fields should change it in increments of 10 or 100.

True, but I don't see any way to change the spinner interval :/ I guess we could use a custom control (as a work around you can hold the arrows down and they will gradually increase the interval).

EDIT 2: Bug in Atlas: Hard crash. Duplicate by opening a blank new map, then trying to edit the number of players in the new Players tab. CRASH.

Hmm, I can't reproduce that. Either something is different with the autobuild or I'm using the wrong steps. File > New, and then try changing number of players?

If I remember correctly, if you move the cursor over the 3D game view area then it switches focus to that area (and away from any text boxes etc), so that you can use the arrow keys to move the camera around (instead of having the text box intercept all key presses). Without that, you'd probably have to click in the 3D bit to focus it, which doesn't sound ideal (especially since that might result in you painting terrain etc where you click). Neither way is great - any ideas on a better solution?

I don't think that's expected behavior, because the UI look and feel is more old-fashioned windows, where hovering doesn't change focus (you can move your mouse anywhere on the screen basically and it lets you continue typing where you were). I tend to instinctively move the mouse cursor away before typing (so it doesn't obstruct the controls). Having to click once in the game area to get focus doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I guess it also depends how sensitive and quick your mouse is.

[historic_bruno]

Here's a feature that I think will be appreciated, a filter on the entity list:

[Mythos_Ruler]

Right, ideally we'd have toolbars you could move around and customize, but it's not 100% necessary. That filter feature is awesome though! Been wanting that for a long time.

EDIT: Just open Atlas. Go to the Players panel. Attempt to change the number of players to see the crash. Another quick suggestion: Map the "reset camera" hack to the Spacebar? Great work so far. It's actually starting to feel like a professional game design tool.

[historic_bruno]

EDIT: Just open Atlas. Go to the Players panel. Attempt to change the number of players to see the crash.

Ah, I found the problem, thanks

I'm adding an AI option to the player settings, which isn't yet shown 100% correctly in game setup, but it lets you play cooperative with an AI (both you and the AI can control your units).

There's a few ways to do this but I think the first is simplest:

as opposed to

[feneur]

Hmm, maybe there should be two settings, one for when you want to play using the same player as an AI and one for when the scenario creator wants to set an AI specifically for that player. The latter might be useful for custom scenarios when the AI should play in a certain way and you don't want the player to be able to change it as it would disrupt the experience. Speaking of controlling units, eventually there should be a way to turn off AI+UnitAI entirely for a civ, for when you are creating scenarios which are going to be more of experiences and where the scenario creator wants to control them completely via triggers etc. I remember you having to use a specific AI to do this in AoK and even then it didn't work 100% iirc (or at least people made several attempts before they found out exactly how to do it). Either way I think it's something we should think of already even if there's not much use of it until we have triggers. If it's not too hard you may want to implement a "No AI or UnitAI" option while you're working on these things (Though it should probably be phrased a bit differently as most people probably aren't aware of what UnitAI is, and "No AI" might simply be understood as no AI controlling the units in general, not that the units will not react to anything at all, hmm )

[historic_bruno]

I was thinking of that too, but it will require changes to game setup because currently player assignment is the same control as AI choice. Not sure how difficult it would be to change that. Scenarios should have the option to "lock" the player slot, as you said either for no AI at all or for a custom AI that suits the scenario. I guess it's no big deal until we want a scenario like that.

[feneur]

Ah, yeah. Probably not all that relevant for now, just thought if it wasn't too hard to do you could as well do it while working on these things

EDIT: Sorry for just heaping criticism (though constructive) on you, I really think the work you've done so far have been great

[historic_bruno]

Constructive criticism is what 0AD needs at this stage, it's not taken personally

I've added some controls for per-player starting camera position. It currently handles position but not rotation (see #1 and #55). The exact starting camera behavior would be as follows:

1. If a scenario's data specifies "StartingCamera" position, that will be the player's starting view (note: this might be in SoD or FoW),

2. Else if the player has a civil centre, the starting camera is focused on that,

3. Else if the player has an entity, the starting camera is focused on the first one,

4. Else the global camera is used (the last view seen in Atlas).

[feneur]

Sweet And while you're working on camera stuff, could you add (/readd) a reset camera button for when you've gotten in those situations where you cannot get back to a good view again? (I haven't noticed that recently, but on the other hand I haven't been excessively rotating the map recently =) )

[Mythos_Ruler]

Constructive criticism is what 0AD needs at this stage, it's not taken personally

I've added some controls for per-player starting camera position. It currently handles position but not rotation (see #1 and #55). The exact starting camera behavior would be as follows:

1. If a scenario's data specifies "StartingCamera" position, that will be the player's starting view (note: this might be in SoD or FoW),

2. Else if the player has a civil centre, the starting camera is focused on that,

3. Else if the player has an entity, the starting camera is focused on the first one,

4. Else the global camera is used (the last view seen in Atlas).

Most excellent addition. And your start camera hierarchy logic is sound.

[historic_bruno]

Good to hear it. The changes mentioned so far are in r9617 (will need a build to see them).