[General] Question about JASS possibilities

[Razefin]

Hi guys,

Im a dutch student, totally new to JASS programming, but in love with DOTA, and im hoping you guys might be able to help me with a few questions i have about JASS possibilities. Im looking to do a project for school where i want to build a text-based tutorial directly into DOTA, and i had major trouble finding information about possibilities for this in tutorials online.

So, a few quick questions for you guys, hoping you can give me answers:

1. Is it possible to input a large amount of tips into categories and to randomly select one, maybe even based on certain criteria? So maybe select tips from a database or something?
2. If so, is it possible to keep track of answers of questions, so to basically keep track of players' knowledge?

Thanks a lot for any answers or other help in advance!

 

[Garfield1337]

1. You could store them in a string array and get a random tip by getting a random index. To sort them in categories, you could simulate multidimensional array where the other index would be category number or use a hashtable (that accepts wider values including string hashes) with category name as one of the parameters, for example. So yes, it's possible.

2. Yes, it only depends on what data you would track, but there should be no problem.

I'm just curious, what exactly do you mean by

build a text-based tutorial directly into DOTA

?

 

[Razefin]

Thanks for the quick response! Its good to hear that storing of tips should be possible For data to track, it would simply be answers to questions. I want to use this to keep track of players knowledge, since learning is optimal if facts are repeated just before they are forgotten, and because it might be interesting to offer a new 'tier' of tips when players reach a certain knowledge level.

And to answer your question, DOTA is a pretty hard game to learn, it requires a lot of knowledge about a lot of stuff. My idea therefore was to build a text-based tutorial that displays tips / questions while playing the game. Players can read the tips, answer the questions, and in that way i would like to try and keep track of their current knowledge - level, and to test how this effects their rate of improvement when compared to players who don't receive these tips / questions.

Now, one last question then, for a total novice in JASS programming, how 'hard' is this project going to be? Is this a hard project that requires expert knowledge of multiple facets JASS or is it relatively simple?

 

[Garfield1337]

I'm not fully sure what exactly you're trying to make, but if you want to make a map that would show random tips to players and then ask them questions, then it would be relatively simple.

 

[Razefin]

I'm not fully sure what exactly you're trying to make, but if you want to make a map that would show random tips to players and then ask them questions, then it would be relatively simple.

Exactly that, but not in the form of a new map but as an addition to DOTA.

 

[Garfield1337]

Most maps, including DotA, are protected (unopenable in editor). When a map gets unprotected, its code becomes practically unreadable so you wouldn't be able to change any of it (though you're still able to add new code) which means you might have hard time, for example, demonstrating your tips or interacting with map features.
Do you plan to show the tips and questions during a normal game or display various things from map and include tips/questions with them?

EDIT:

And to answer your question, DOTA is a pretty hard game to learn, it requires a lot of knowledge about a lot of stuff. My idea therefore was to build a text-based tutorial that displays tips / questions while playing the game. Players can read the tips, answer the questions, and in that way i would like to try and keep track of their current knowledge - level, and to test how this effects their rate of improvement when compared to players who don't receive these tips / questions.

Oh, I didn't see this. Well, if you wouldn't alter the gameplay, but only show the tips/questions, then it shouldn't be hard.

 

[Razefin]

My intention is in no way to alter gameplay, purely to add tutorial-like information in the form of tips and question popups on screen. Will i be able to add this to DOTA and actually use it in a normal game? Because i am planning to test this in a actual 5v5 game, with one team getting the tips and another team without to check improvement rate and the effect of my tutorial.

 

[Xonok]

This is an interesting experiment.

As long as you don't try to change the gameplay at all it should work.

 

[Garfield1337]

If it's only that, then you should have no problems.
The only problem (not necessarily a problem) is unprotecting the map. You either have to find an unprotected version or unprotect it yourself (or ask someone). I could try to unprotect it if you want.

 

[Razefin]

That might require some digging then, but since DOTA is such a popular game i would imagine that an unprotected version of the game should be available somewhere. For the purpose of my experiment it might not be such a big deal if its an older version since core mechanics probably haven't changed all that drastically. And Garfeles, if all else fails i might take you up on your offer

Thanks a lot for your help so far, this information might well be enough to get my teachers to agree that this project is doable, and hopefully they'll give me the ok signal to actually do it!

 

[defskull]

You would need a string variable (array), and that's it.
For the algorithm, well, there are many of it, you can think on your own based on your logic and what-not.