Offer of help

[Ian]

Figured it might be a good idea to keep all help offers together, so DC doesn't can find who offered him sticks of RAM.

I was chatting with Vitoc about the map command in mmud (and how much it sucks, cos 98% of the realm shows the map of Silvermere), and I mentioned how I'd made my own ansi maps for Rhudaur and Khazarad (the only other places I can find where the map command attempts to retrieve anything OTHER than the silvermere map).

So my offer is this:
Do you (DC) want to incorporate maps, and if so, do you want me to draw some up?  I'm also strongly considering writing a better ansi picture editor if you're interested.

[DeathCow]

Well, that could be neat.  Its not something I'd be able to do, but if someone wanted to work on that kinda thing I can't see any reason not to put them in.

[Ian]

Well, I've started building an ANSI editor, and bugger me if it wasn't a lot harder than expected.? The largest problem was getting a modern-day programming language to display a character set that's been obsolete for 10+ years!

Anyway, here's the first screenshot (try not to drool on your keyboards like I did).

:clap:

Anway, next (major) step is to include support for editing and writing files (only reads and views atm).? Then I can distribute it to anyone/everyone and we can make some sexy ansi maps to DC's new towns!!? Is anyone else excited about this?

Edit: Just realised that to you people who haven't spent hours looking at scrambled ansi displayed in the wrong fonts/wrong colors/wrong spacing, it may not seem that great an achievement.  But you SHOULD notice that it displays better than mega (mine at least) even does it... look closely at building doorways and the center of the park... it's sexy (just take my word for it)

[Vitoc]

Very cool.  When DC gets the first town finalized he'll have to give you the layout.

Thanks!

[DeathCow]

ugh wow they added the deed shop to the ansi..I'm impressed...anyway I think I have the 1st town done, or at least the 2nd town..the town after the new haven :p

[Ian]

Who says I never finish what I start?!

It's done, and with both more and less hair pulling that expected (before starting it looked easy, halfway through it looked incredibly hard).

Here's the final screenshot:


And here's a link to the application:
http://users.bigpond.com/i_leeder/files/AnsiEditor.jar
Just in case anyone wants to edit ANSI pictures :)
(You'll need Java, probably 1.4 (haven't checked, I tried to make it 1.4 compatible).? Windows comes with (their own version of) Java these days anyway.? If Java is set up correctly, all you have to do is double-click the .jar file, and it'll run.  Also the source is included in the .jar)

So DC... you got some maps for me?? Sketches?? Aerial photos?

[DeathCow]

Aerial Photos..laugh.

Thats a very cool application.  There is gonna be so funky ansi going on :P

Lemme get things going with the alpha content <just waiting for vitoc to pop his head in :p>  Then I'll get you what you need.  Although I'm not really sure what you need. 

[Ian]

Already thought of two things that need to go into v1.01
- Something to show the current colors selected (you gotta remember atm).
- When you type using the keyboard, it bypasses my input method and uses the colors of the previous char.
- Just thought of a third - the ASCII buttons use a different font to the display area.? Need to change that (some of the chars show on the buttons don't actually display correctly).

Anyway, it's fairly straightforward to use if anyone has any ASCII art skills (I don't).? I'm willing and capable to draw simple, to-scale town maps (I've already done some for Khazarad and Rhudaur), but I'm lacking on the artistic side, so if anyone wants a bit more spice, pipe up.

As for what I need.... I either need to see the towns, or get some half-decent maps off you.? Sys-maps would be better than nothing (provided of course that they all overlap, and I can see this happening).

Also if someone has said skills, I was thinking a sweet ANSI ASCII pic of the greatermud logo (top of screen) for board logon would go down well.? I've already tried and sucked badly.? I've also looked into existing progs to do the conversion automagically for us, but none I could find use color (ANSI).? And they sucked anyway.

Edit: I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.