sprites: request to devs

Sombre · #1 June 27th, 2007, 10:15 PM

Ah but this time Gandalf hasn't said he wants it done, just talked about how it could be done. Can't expect people to do things they're not actually interesting in seeing. I only say 'DIY' when someone is asking others to do something they want when they could just as easily do it themself.

Gandalf Parker · #2 June 27th, 2007, 11:18 PM

Actually I did my part. Thats what Ive been doing for decades at work. Initial layout, MAYBE up to the point of Psuedo Code if thats what is needed to make it clear. I only code something up to the point of proving it can be done. The hacking part is fun, after thats its just work. I pass it on for someone else to make pretty. For instance, if I was really interested in getting this then I would outsource it to India for a few bills.

Its like moderating. I dont have to come up with answers. I just have to keep the conversations going. If I DIY'd all my ideas it wouldnt be nearly as good as spurring community effort. Many major projects here have me credited in the readme for the idea that are MUCH better than I would have made.

paradoxharbinger · #3 June 28th, 2007, 10:22 AM

well i'm pretty handy with the sql scripting, and the scripts for this project would probably be relatively simple compared to some of the stuff i do at work, so if someone provided the actual database, i could write the scripts for it

Edi · #4 June 28th, 2007, 10:40 AM

All that needs to be done is for somebody to match the sprites to units (can be a separate table, and in fact, should be). For the rest of it (armor, weapons, unit base stats), the download link is in my sig. The spreadsheet is in both Excel and OpenOffice format and if you take the BaseA, BaseW and BaseU sheets, those are the elemental statistics and can be directly imported as DB tables.

The queries would be fairly simple and only need the formulas to calculate stuff based on that data. If you want, I can spare the time to give you the formulas, it was squeezing those formulas into spreadsheet function format that was the biggest b*tch when making the Dom3DB.

paradoxharbinger · #5 June 28th, 2007, 12:07 PM

the first thing that really ought to be done is decide on the structure of the database. we ought to have one table, call it tbUnitSprite, with one row for each unit, and a column for the unit number and two blob columns, one for each of the units sprites. this table would be populated from the start and would for the most part be finallized from the start. other tables would link off of it and those would be the tables that would be incrementally updated by the community to get this thing finished.

just my two cents on the direction to take it

Edi · #6 June 28th, 2007, 12:50 PM

Actually, what you should use as the base tables are the BaseU, BaseW and BaseA tables from the Dom3DB (name them whatever you want, though), because those are complete and accurate, barring the known issue of Firelord not having magic (F2) listed.

Alternatively, do the tbUnitSprite table in a spreadsheet and then copypaste the contents of the BaseU table so that the sprite columns are either right after the unit number column or the unit name column and use that as base.

OR, list unit sprites on a separate table with sprite number column being from 0 to wherever and add spr1 and spr2 columns to the BaseU table and then fill those with the appropriate entries.

The Dom3DB was designed with basic DB design principles in mind so that if desired, it could be ported to SQL almost as is. Besides, not all of the sprites are used and some have been changed, so having them in a separate table and having each unit have two columns for the normal and attack sprites that reference the sprite table would make for a more structurally sound database.

However, bear in mind that I do NOT do database work at my job, so if you can take those suggestions and improve on them, feel free to do so. I'm coming at it from the angle that since the unit database itself is basically complete already except for the sprite information, it would be a complete and utter waste of effort to duplicate that from the ground up when just a minor tweak would get the whole thing going.

paradoxharbinger · #7 June 28th, 2007, 01:19 PM

i'd forgotten about there being sprites in there that arent in the game. basing the db off of edis tables and then having them reference another table with the sprites in it sounds like a good plan. i cant remember how you handled special abilities (ie regenration). special consideration might have to be given to them since not every unit even has them let alone the same number of them.