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Build Mode: Add an RClick option to bring up Windowed Codex Entry for Selected Element


Doc_McStabbins

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IDEA: When you are in Build Mode, if you have the "Select Element" tool equipped, and you right-click an element to bring up the list of possible options, there needs to be a link to the relevant Windowed Codex Entry for the selected element.

 

WHY: Because there is currently no easy, in-game way to find out about anything about how an element works, or why you would need it, how you care for it, feed it, water it, etc. This makes it extremely difficult to look up Codex entries, you have to stop what you're doing, hop to another menu, run keyword searches in hope you find the right codex entry about the element in question. And if searching by the element's name doesn't bring up any results in the codex, you have to leave the game and start googling stuff for a game that isn't even fully released yet.

 

SOLUTION: (Multiple Steps, but should be relatively easy to implement for your database person)

 

1. Create a Codex entry for every single DU-Created Element, based on its hexadecimal value (or whatever unique ID you use for each element). One way this might be done is to export (CSV file) the elements database, but only the columns like Unique ID, Name, and maybe certain db items you don't mind being public, such as whether an item is flagged as Basic, or Advanced, etc... Then create a standard "Element" Template with input strings for each of the column headers exported to CSV, as well as a default button marked "Request for Update". Merge each element's row from the CSV to that template, and publish it in-game. The "RFU" button exists for 2 reasons. One, to let you know which Codex Pages need to be filled out with tracking and priority. Two, for when existing entries need an update after a major overhaul behind the scenes (for instance, if a year from now, stats for a particular element had changed).

 

2. If users create an element, they can generate a Codex Entry automatically which will automatically be specifically linked to that element despite whether or not other elements exist with similar or even identical names (such as "DoomsDay Device"), because the Codex Entry will be based on the UniqueID of the thingy that the player made. One other critical difference is that the "Player Made Element" template for the Codex should have a very obvious flag about being player made vs DU made that is not removable in its Codex Entry. Also, the creator user name should probably also exist in the Codex Entry, both to give them credit, but also for accountability and tracking purposes by DU staff and in-game staff of larger entities who hire people to create elements.

 

3. Have user-created Codex Entries allow for expanding upon that entry by the creator of the element that created the entry.

 

4. Now add a Build Mode Right-Click Menu Option to the "Select Element Menu" that basically just activates a link to the Codex entry that is specific to the Unique ID of whatever element you have selected.

 

5. Have devs or admin build in a regular maintenance routine that scrubs out "inactive" Codex Entries for User-Created entries so that you don't get a bloated Codex database filled with millions of entries containing nothing but inactive IDs. Obviously don't do this to the DU created ones, though it may do to have some version of this routine to clean up the DU elements manually as needed.

 

 

 

 

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So, Blaze, I tried what you suggested, several times last night, and I'm obviously either doing it wrong, or I haven't properly conveyed what it is I'm trying to achieve.

 

I may be able to try and create a graphic mock-up of what I'm talking about, it would probably make much more sense.

 

While I'm putting that together, if there is a web page or step by step that explains what you're referring to (or how to do it right) then I'd love to see it.

 

One way or the other, we'll figure this out, Blaze. Thank you for taking the time to even think about this. Since I had no idea about the ALT-Click thing until you pointed it out, I suspect you already know what I want to achieve, and it's probably very easy, but I'm just too much of a befuddled old man to figure out "these crazy kids and their seamless interactive worlds. Back in my day, we had Pong and Asteroid. That was it. Pac Man? That S**T was next-gen and--where was I again? Where'd I put my glasses? They're on my head? Dag-nabbit! What were we talkin' about?"

 

I'm that guy.

 

Seriously. Despite, like, literally being raised by a software pioneer (on tape reels) and working in IT for two decades, and dev/alpha/beta tested games and software years before Minecraft ever made it a public hobby, and never being further than a foot from a screen even during sleeping hours...

 

...either I have, as of this last year or so, become "Your Grandpa" when it comes to trying to figure out complex sandboxes, or this game is really unintuitive and fails to adequately convey a few very high-usage commands, or even how to figure those commands out.

 

It may be a combination of both, but whenever proposing a solution, always keep in mind there's a new demographic on the line, and that is "Aging Techies," where we know our stuff, but the platforms have moved juuust far enough beyond our stuff that maybe keeping us older fellers poor eyesight, limited short-term memory, and with decades of reliance upon enforced nested-menus that are suddenly no longer there.

 

Does this make any sense? I hope I'm not just rambling about the War in Guam or something.

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