Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

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sheetcakeghost
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Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

#1 Post by sheetcakeghost »

So I'm developing a game right now that I want to do a couple things. One of which is much more important than the other. d:

The important thing I want it to do is act mildly like a hidden object game in that at certain points in the script the game will stop in an area and the player can click on items in the area and trigger dialogue. The items wont be obviously click-able (so no hover images to indicate they're there) and sometimes clicking on it brings up useless banter while other times something important to the plot is revealed and special dialogue options are opened to them with other characters.

I am coding retarded and, if it's beyond me being able to copy and paste and doesn't include instructions on what to put where for the sake of editing it, I just cannot grasp the stuff. I've had coding explained to me multiple times by multiple people to no real avail, so giving me a lesson on how the code works in here will be akin to blasting hot air from a basket into a large balloon. It'll go fine at first, but eventually we'll all get tired and dizzy and then die of oxygen deprivation assuming the balloon doesn't break or crash into a mountain before then.


The second thing I would like it to do is be able to travel through the map with arrow buttons in the GUI. Think something along the lines of Myst. Now, I've seen coding of how this works, but trying to figure it out on my own makes my eyes roll into the back of my head as they try to hide behind my brain in fear.

"But, Serenity!" You're probably wondering. "If we can't explain the code to you, how are you going to actually use it in your game? You can't just copy and paste and hope for the best. That will get VERY frustrating for you!" Well yes, it will, and it does, immensely, but I'm going about this all on my lonesome for now. I have a strict "don't involve others" policy when it comes to games that are still in the processing stages.

"But, Serenity!" You're also probably wondering. "Aren't you part of a VN group called Happy Backwards? And doesn't that VN group have a lovely and talented coder named Aleema that you can ask these questions too?" Yes, I am, and it does. However, she's still working very hard on RR, so pestering her with a dozen code questions every few minutes is both very annoying and cuts into RR production time. Especially when writing on this side project will be very slow due to me also working very hard on RR.


I'm going to give you ladies and gentlemen a quick rundown of the plot and what I intend to do with the game. So if you can think of a coding method that would better suit my needs let me know. Feel free to stop reading at this point if you don't really care. No feelings will be hurt.


J.P. Griswold is a reporter for a one horse town. He's going about his life, minding his business, when a meteor crashes into a local corn crop. J.P. goes to investigate, but when he pokes the meteor something overwhelms him. When he wakes up he can suddenly hear inanimate objects speaking as though they are alive. He can ask them questions, propose requests (would you mind unlocking, please?), and all manner of other fun things.

By the end of the first game the country boy has his own private detective agency where the player will solve mysteries with J.P. This sounds pretty easy, right? I mean, just ask the murder weapon who was holding it when the person was killed. Well, sure, but you still have to prove they're guilty. After all, the police can't really put the evidence on the witness stand just because you say it told you who the killer was.

Most of the intro to the story is written up, but pasting it here would be way too much text. I did attach the script.rpy if you're curious enough to read it. Also, I'm going to spoiler the next paragraph as it details, well, spoilery things about the game.
The reason J.P. has these powers. See, the meteor was actually an information gathering device that has been circling the Earth since life began to writhe upon its surface. However, now that we keep putting stuff in our own orbit, it got knocked down and crashed. When J.P. poked it all its information spewed out and was absorbed by his brain. In order to cope with his sudden knowledge of everything ever his brain interpreted this information as inanimate objects telling him things when he needs to know them. How does this translate to him being able to solve murders by just asking the murder weapon who did it? Well history repeats itself, and thus so does information. He's actually using his knowledge of everything in the past ever to predict acts in the future, and is combining that with all the information on human psychology and sociology that the device has been collecting since man was first formed.

So, basically. (If you aren't reading the spoiler text this image will make little sense to you in context. It's still a funny image though, so enjoy.)

How did it get up there to begin with? I'm still waffling between aliens and time traveling historians.
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mugenjohncel
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Re: Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

#2 Post by mugenjohncel »

Go with Imagemaps!...

If you are after Old Style Lucas click and explore system (Ah... Nostalgia...) Imagemaps are cheap, quick and more than sufficient enough for your needs...

With imagemap all you need are two images... hover and idle state while imagebutton... not only you'll have to deal with individual graphics for each button (with different states) you'll also have to provide the background image that will be displayed behind them...

Not to mention open Imagemap examples are out there... some are simply drag-and-drop so you can see it in action and dissect it, modify it to suite your needs or use it as base platform to speed up learning process...

Unlike Imagebuttons... seriously, the lack of an open complete GUI featuring Imagebuttons this is probably one of the biggest wall in Ren'py that prevents layman people like me from adopting this superior method...

Better stop complaining now...

"POOF" (Disappears)

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sheetcakeghost
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Re: Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

#3 Post by sheetcakeghost »

Thanks for the advice Uncle Mu- aw, he's gone.

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SusanTheCat
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Re: Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

#4 Post by SusanTheCat »

If you want, I wrote some code that does a hidden object game:
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =8&t=11246

It was used in this totally awesome game:
Madaline's Misplaced Miscellany ~ A Hidden Object Game http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 8&start=30

Susan
" It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time. "
— Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

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sheetcakeghost
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Re: Imagemaps vs Imagebuttons Which should I use?

#5 Post by sheetcakeghost »

I actually found your code during my research. d: I have it on my laptop now, but I can't quite make heads or tails of it. (Don't feel bad, hun, I have a hard time working out anything that isn't HTML basic.) It's close to what I'm wanting though!

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