New GUI scripting concepts and foundation

[antti]

Here's something I cooked together quickly to test the upcoming GUI features:

It's totally functional but a little bare-bones.

[JohnWordsworth]

That's awesome. It's all very exciting, especially with the ability to do that only on certain screens and for certain characters. It's going to be super powerful. You could use socketed items and pop stones in them (and then replace the item with a 'sword with green gem') item, add in-game puzzles / close-ups.

What I'm strongly contemplating is a Deck of Many Things... :p

[Xanathar]

I started thinking about building a kind of widget/forms library to help create UIs.

Just the random thoughts I had, dumped here:

• Ability to show widgets (more than one displayed at a time, non-modal) or forms (one at a time)
• Monsters and party should be frozen for the duration of the modal forms (through jkos fw hooks ?)
• Have some kind of declarative syntax like:
  

  Code: Select all

  myform = 
  { 
       fadein = 0.1, fadeout = 0.1, -- (to understand if feasible modulating pen alpha) 
       { type = "image", x = 10, y = 20, image = "..." },
       { type = "label", id = "xxx", x = 50, y = 50 },
       { type = "button", id = "yyy", x = 10, y = 10, w = 20, h = 10 },
       { type = "portrait" ... },
  }
  
  function yyy_click()
   ... auto called do something
  end
  
  gui.showDialog(myform, self)
  -- or 
  gui.addWidget(myform, self)
  

• Allow for ownerdraw things, still offering helper methods (to allow pong implementations)

Of course, apart making a broad idea and maybe defining some API, now it's premature.

If anyone wants to jump on this boat and help when the time comes, he/she is welcome!

[Diarmuid]

Xanathar, that's exactly what I had in mind above when I spoke of a "graphic library". I'm nowhere near your level of coding skills, but if you lay out the global model, I'll be happy helping to write/test specific functions or widgets.

[Xanathar]

Thanks Diarmuid!
Your help is welcome, plus your coding skills are great too!

[pferguso]

Holy Schmolie! I'm out of it for two days and I miss this?? How totally cool! Do these new features work now, or is there an update to Grimrock coming soon that will have the GUI stuff?

[Xanathar]

is there an update to Grimrock coming soon that will have the GUI stuff?

They are coming (about the same time) when the OS/X version will be released.

It's the first time in my life I'm waiting an OS/X software to be released

[germanny]

What´s about a Linux version of grimrock? Is it possible or too heavy coding?
Since steam goes to Linux, too!
And they have better framerates by (already ported Left4dead2) as under Windows *bg*

[JKos]

@Xanathar
That kind of library would be great, but I think we also definitely need some simple standard method of how we develop the gui elements.
I sketched a basic functionality for modular gui 'framework' (yeah, I just love frameworks and standards ). It's a framework, not a library, because it defines the way of how some things must be implemented and how they are handled.

Code: Select all

cloneObject{
  name='party'
  ...
onDrawGui = function(g)
	gui.draw(g)
end 
}

script entity: gui

Code: Select all

elements = {}

addElement(element)
	elements[element.id] = element
end

removeElement(id)
	element[id] = nil
end

draw(g)
	for i=1,#elements do
		elements[i]:draw(g)
	end
end

It's really simple as it should be so everybody can understand it and it doesn't add any unnecessary restrictions. But this way we could dynamically add elements to gui or remove them from it and different kind of elements could be rendered in different ways.
The only requirement is that the element object passed to addElement function must have a method named draw and a property named id. If everyone would use this simple script then all created gui elements would be easily used between dungeons.

If we wanted to create a general use dialog element we could do it like this

Code: Select all

 
createDialog(id,text)
	local e = {}
	e.id = id
	e.draw = function(self,g)
		g.color(30,30,30,150)
		g.drawRect(30, 50, 345, 300
		g.drawText(text, 200, 80)
		-- draw button with text
		g.color(128, 128, 128)
		g.drawRect(200, 120, 115, 20)
		g.color(255, 255, 255)
		g.drawText("Ok", 210, 135)
		-- close dialog when the button is pressed
		if g.button("button1", 200, 120, 115, 20) then
			gui.removeElement(self.id)
		end
	end
	return e
end

local dialog = createDialog('hello_dialog_1','Hello grimrockers!')
gui.addElement(dialog)

That dialog object could of course use the graphics library for drawing things. But I think this subject needs it's own thread.

Edit: name -> id

[petri]

Immediate mode gui to the rescue

E.g. a simple dialog with three buttons:

Code: Select all

function shopMenu()
  local x = 100
  local y = 100

  -- draws a dialog frame
  gui.dialog(x, y, 150, 50)

  x = x + 10
  y = y + 10

  -- draws a button and returns true if the button was pressed
  if gui.button("shop_buy", "Buy", x, y, 100, 20) then
    -- TODO: enter buy dialog
  end
  y = y + 25

  if gui.button("shop_sell", "Sell", x, y, 100, 20) then
    -- TODO: enter sell dialog
  end
  y = y + 25

  if gui.button("shop_exit", "Bye!", x, y, 100, 20) then
    -- TODO: exit shop
  end
  y = y + 25
end