New particle effects

Content and general development discussion, including quest scripts and server code. TMW Classic is a project comprising the Legacy tmwAthena server & the designated improved engine server based on evolHercules.


Forum rules

This forum houses many years of development, tracing back to some of the earliest posts that exist on the board.

Its current use is for the continued development of the server and game it has always served: TMW Classic.

Leo
Novice
Novice
Posts: 204
Joined: 24 Feb 2008, 10:41
Location: School.

Re: New particle effects

Post by Leo »

Wow! It would look in the game!
Level 74 now, wooh! xD :) (My main char is now Leo!) Image

~Invaders, possibly from space!~
User avatar
Crush
TMW Adviser
TMW Adviser
Posts: 8046
Joined: 25 Aug 2005, 16:08
Location: Germany

Re: New particle effects

Post by Crush »

fate wrote:Hi,

some new particle effects for the next revision of #305:
Can you please post the particle images and the .xml files?
  • former Manasource Programmer
  • former TMW Pixel artist
  • NOT a game master

Please do not send me any inquiries regarding player accounts on TMW.


You might have heard a certain rumor about me. This rumor is completely false. You might also have heard the other rumor about me. This rumor is 100% accurate.
User avatar
fate
Warrior
Warrior
Posts: 402
Joined: 20 Mar 2008, 14:34

Re: New particle effects

Post by fate »

Crush,

I have added the effects to #305 as part of the v2 update now, xml files and images. I've also included two re-creations of your pentagram special effect (used for summoning).

Unfortunately, the `protect' special effect is stuck at the location it is cast to by default. I thus updated the particle system with a `dominates-children' tag (cf. `magic.shield.xml') that ensures that forcefully relocating a particle will also update all of its children.

Please let me know if you would prefer a different solution to this issue; in that case I will revise my patch.

-- fate
Vink
Warrior
Warrior
Posts: 365
Joined: 05 Mar 2008, 10:21
Location: Sweden

Re: New particle effects

Post by Vink »

Doesn't the effect in protect.png look too much like blood? Or is it just on my screen?
User avatar
Crush
TMW Adviser
TMW Adviser
Posts: 8046
Joined: 25 Aug 2005, 16:08
Location: Germany

Re: New particle effects

Post by Crush »

That dominates-children should rather be a property tag like the other emitter properties instead of a new, empty tag. I would also prefer to name it "move-children".

I am really happy that there is finally someone else than me who understood the particle engine and knows how to create new effects with it. But I would be even more happy when the particle files you created would be named similar to the ones which are already there. Particles images should be named after how they look and not after their purpose so that particle designers have no prejudice about what particle images to use for what purpose (so no "magic-" or "damage-" prefix just because it is used by some particle effect which is supposed to be used for a spell which does damage) and particle definitions should always end with ".particle.xml" so that they aren't mistaken for something else. And then there is a mixup of tabs and spaces in some of your particle definition files which makes them quite unreadable when someone has set a different tab size in his text editor than you.

But besides these little style mistakes you did really good work.
  • former Manasource Programmer
  • former TMW Pixel artist
  • NOT a game master

Please do not send me any inquiries regarding player accounts on TMW.


You might have heard a certain rumor about me. This rumor is completely false. You might also have heard the other rumor about me. This rumor is 100% accurate.
User avatar
fate
Warrior
Warrior
Posts: 402
Joined: 20 Mar 2008, 14:34

Re: New particle effects

Post by fate »

Hi,

Vink, I chose red because I seemed to recall the `protect' spell in some Final Fantasy games using that colour. The effect is inherently monochromatic, and I am not sure that I want to change that; I could try some other colours (darker red, brighter red, or something completely different), though. Any particular suggestions? :-)

Crush, thank you for your feedback! I will take care of the renaming you suggested as soon as possible. I am not convinced that making this a normal emitter property is the best way to go, though, since it doesn't have a min/max/value-- in fact, the `normal' XML way to do it would be to have it as an attribute node the emitter itself, as in

Code: Select all

  <emitter move-children=1> ... </emitter>
I also have a couple of suggestions for how the particle engine might be extended in the future to permit effects that are not (to my understanding) currently possible, and to reduce the burden on effect writers a little (by means of simple textbook metaprogramming hacks that are executed when the effect file is loaded). If you are interested in revisions to the engine (which I might offer to help with, time permitting), I will write these ideas down and polish them a little so you can mock them appropriately later this week ;-)

-- fate
User avatar
Crush
TMW Adviser
TMW Adviser
Posts: 8046
Joined: 25 Aug 2005, 16:08
Location: Germany

Re: New particle effects

Post by Crush »

I would really like to read your suggestions in the "Possible Additions" section of the particle engine documentation on the wiki.
  • former Manasource Programmer
  • former TMW Pixel artist
  • NOT a game master

Please do not send me any inquiries regarding player accounts on TMW.


You might have heard a certain rumor about me. This rumor is completely false. You might also have heard the other rumor about me. This rumor is 100% accurate.
Post Reply