Shadows of Brimstone?

[ruffian]

I'm about 30% into converting the components into BGE. Already hit the sprite limit & found better methods using these forums. Multi-Tokens etc. But am I going to hit a hard limit with the large number of game pieces for SoB?

What are some ways I can make my files/imports manageable & avoid the limits?

[heruca]

Try saving the game file when you get to 300 components. When next you reload the game, the component limit should be increased. Are you using minis at all in this game? If so, how many? Using more than 20 minis will limit the number of game sprites available for components.

PS: To see how many components you currently have, open the game file in a text editor and look at the second number (the first number is how many minis you are using).

[ruffian]

Only six possible players minis, but quite a few monster minis. I haven't got to those yet. IS there a better way so as not to limit components?

Does the table background size have any impact on sprites?

I noticed also that it's not possible to select a unit before opening the unit manager & having it selected in the menu if it's a Tile. I'm able to do it with the any Lock component.

Thanks

P.S. the youtube videos are extremely helpful.

[heruca]

You can limit components by not including things until they are needed. Deployment files are a handy means of having on-demand units available for instant placement. Also, say the physical game comes with hundreds of coin or VP markers. In the digital version, instead of placing those hundreds of tokens, you could just place a couple in a "Unit Palette" just off the mapboard, and clone those into play as-needed.

Many minis can be handled as components if features like unit bases and status labels are not needed. Minis use five times as many game sprites as components.

Table/map size has no impact on how many game sprites are available.

[Omnidon]

Does the table background size have any impact on sprites?

No, it shouldn't, unless you're using a lot of sprites on background tiles.

I noticed also that it's not possible to select a unit before opening the unit manager & having it selected in the menu if it's a Tile.

That's the way tiles were intended to work. The tile feature is a way to enrich, extend, or replace the background map without worrying about accidentally selecting the background artwork. If the unit needs to be moved during the game, it probably shouldn't be a tile.

[heruca]

I noticed also that it's not possible to select a unit before opening the unit manager & having it selected in the menu if it's a Tile. I'm able to do it with the any Lock component..

You should not be able to access Tiled or Locked units except with the Unit Manager, but keep in mind that the unit is still selected after using those commands. Once you deselect the unit/s, the Unit Manager is the only way to access them again. If you want to be able to select but not move a unit, use the new "Unmovable" command in BGE v1.6.

I'm glad the videos are helpful. Not too many people had watched them yet, last time I checked.

[ruffian]

thank you both.

By "selectable" I meant that I can right click a locked component & when I open the Unit manager that component is already highlighted. This does not work with components I've set as tiles. Which could be useful in-game for removing, copying, etc the map tile/components quickly.

I'll need many tile/components for this game. puzzle piece map tiles that are randomly chosen by the Map Deck.

[heruca]

I'll need many tile/components for this game. puzzle piece map tiles that are randomly chosen by the Map Deck.

That sounds like a possible opportunity to really cut down on game components... a single multi-token component can have ALL the map tiles in it, and can be moved into place, flipped to the proper token (or even "Rolled", for random maps!), then copy/pasted as many times as necessary to create the full mapboard.
Once the setup is complete, just select them all and make them Tiles to lock them down.

[heruca]

I was not aware that Locked units were right-clickable. That sounds more like a bug than a feature.

[ruffian]

Well... a useful bug. Makes finding things in the unit manager easier

[heruca]

Let me know if you have any trouble getting beyond 300 components. I'm happy to help if help is needed.

[ruffian]

How do I get the most recent card drawn to always appear on top of the previously drawn cards?

think I got it... "shuffle locations"

[heruca]

I don't think Shuffle Locations is what you want. Try the "Move to Top" hotkey, instead.

[ruffian]

For some reason it was doing that only when I resize the deck in a hosted session.

I'm down to the final components the map tiles. They have squares that are 1 1/25 inch. What are my options for getting these to match the grid for movement? In addition the map tiles have black border only on the outer edge that is inconsistently 1/25 inch.

[heruca]

Do you lose anything by cropping out the inconsistent black border? Is simply sizing them down to fit in a grid square not an option? Or scaling them up so that they take up 2 x 2 squares per tile?

[ruffian]

I'd like to keep the border. I tried cropping it out & it looks strange. I was able to size them up & match the grid after I increased the grid by 50% giving me 1 1/25" squares. But BGE gets a script error as it increased the total grid size to 60x60.

How can I increase the individual grid size to 1 1/25" but maintain 40x40. The math is making my head hurt Using PS

[ruffian]

I was able to change the Grid png to fit the map tiles visually & crop down to 40x40 to fit in BGE without any issues with script.

The actual movement of tokens/minis is off tho still snapping to 1"x 1". Is there a way to change this?

I can always use grid less movement but I wanted to test grid movement first.

[ruffian]

I guess I've been over thinking this... as you suggested I resized the test tile to fit a 1x1" grid & appears just fine.

[heruca]

Hehe! Glad you found a solution.

The script error you got is because BGE can't process images much over 4000x4000 pixels (and I suspect you resized the grid to 5000x5000 pixels).

[ruffian]

Is there a an offset for setting the image size that will always match up the the corners to the BGE grid. As it auto centers when placing a component I'm stuck having to manually line up the grids...?

[ruffian]

This is what I have to fudge to get a good grid line up...

[ruffian]

Trying to save time & edit the Map tiles in PS so that I'll have minimal resize & adjusting as new tiles are placed during a game session. I intend to place them as multi-token components.

Based on the screen shot can you recommend any pre-edits that would help?

[heruca]

Is there a an offset for setting the image size that will always match up the the corners to the BGE grid. As it auto centers when placing a component I'm stuck having to manually line up the grids...?

Setting offsets isn't going to work for you if the tiles can be rotated.

I suggest the map tiles be placed with snap-to-grid disabled. Get the tile close to lined up with the grid, then use the Nudge hotkeys (Space-Arrow, I believe) to get the positioning pixel-perfect. Then set the component to Tile, to lock it down for good.

[heruca]

Trying to save time & edit the Map tiles in PS so that I'll have minimal resize & adjusting as new tiles are placed during a game session. I intend to place them as multi-token components.

Based on the screen shot can you recommend any pre-edits that would help?

Size your tiles so that they measure 122 pixels per grid square. When you place them in BGE, accept the default scaling factor of 50%. This will have them show at native resolution when fully zoomed in at 200%.

Tone down the White level in Photoshop from 255 to 254. This will be imperceptible to the human eye, but will prevent any true white portions of the image from appearing transparent in BGE if anti-aliasing is not enabled on the component.

Do tests with a single edited map tile in BGE before editing all the other map tiles in Photoshop.

If using BGE v1.6, remember that the new "Replace Token" command is ideal for cases where you tested a component and realized you had to edit the graphic and it's time to bring in the new graphic. Otherwise, you'll need to manually purge the original media before the re-edited media can be used.

[ruffian]

Thanks for all the help.

I'm very close to finishing. Starting to work on dice macros.

The game uses standard dice but there is 1 unique die called a 'Peril Die'. It's a six sided die modified with the sides as 3,3,4,4,5,6. It's used often to determine the number of enemies that are spawned. I considered making a card deck version...?

When a Threat card is drawn the card might say "[p][p]Hungry Dead" Where [p] is the Peril die. So roll 2 Peril die the result equals that number of Hungry Dead spawn onto the game board.

How can I customize & add the Peril dice to BGE?