JAC

[Ford_Prefect]

I thought I share a recent development on JAC.  I've come up with (and implemented) a new system for modders to change gameplay.  And its really good.

The original system I was working on, was basically similar to what SMAC did, except with allot more variables that modders could change.  You would tell it "I want this unit's speed to be X" or "I want this to produce x energy per turn", etc, etc.

Now, it is much, much, much, much more flexable.  Now for every variable, you can use a formula.     >, =, <, ADD, MULTIPLY, OR, AND, NOT, are all possible.  So now you can do crazy stuff like "If the unit is on dirt and the player has the tech "Dirtpower" then let firepower = 9000, else let firepower = 100".

The xml will likely look something like this:

Code: [Select]

<firepower>
<OnTerrain>
<Terrain>Dirt</Terrain>
 <True>
   <Hastech>
     <Tech>DirtSupremacy</Tech>
     <True>9000</Tech>
     <False>100</False>
   </hastech>
 </True>
 <False> 100 </False>
</firepower>

This new system solves several problems at once.    

• It gives near scripting level of flexibility.  Without having to worry about the safety concerns when embedding a language.
• It will be easy to add new inputs later on for modders to use, without breaking compatibility with old mods.
• This system is easier to program and test than the old system.
• Should be much faster than the old system, and I can probably optimize it to go faster (cache the results).

200kb

[Yitzi]

I think this is a good move.

[Flux]

Looking forward to this.
Also, I know nothing about Java scripting. But if this was completed, would it allow people to make custom units?

[Yitzi]

Looking forward to this.
Also, I know nothing about Java scripting. But if this was completed, would it allow people to make custom units?

Custom units are easy.  The tricky part is custom abilities and chasses with custom rules...and this method would very easily allow such things.

[Ford_Prefect]

It allows you to really customize the units.  Also, its written in Java not javascript.  But don't worry!  Unless you want to work on the engine or AI, all you will need to know is XML.


218kb