Simple protoss shield system

[Antares]

Can one use mana as the shield resource? That seems to me like the more natural choice for a lot of maps.

I've only skimmed over the triggers yet. The implementation of the core system looks quite solid, but I think you need to make some architectural changes to get your resource approved.

In general, you want to split your code into three parts. A configurable part that the user can safely edit to customize the system to his or her needs. A core part that the user better not touch and a part for your test map, where you show possible applications of your systems and give examples of how to make it work. This is not always possible, especially in GUI, but it is something to aim towards.

From skimming over your triggers, I didn't really get a sense which parts I'm supposed to configure. The registering of unit types, for example, could be achieved by setting up an array of units in the config section. If you want your system to be slightly faster, you could then transform that list into a hashtable with a boolean set to true for unit ids that were added.

The shield effect doesn't appear to be perfectly centered to me (but I couldn't tell you why).

 

[deepstrasz]

Using mana as the shield would render mana as the energy source for StarCraft-like (and generally, all) abilities unusable and would disable abilities like Mana Shield. The way it is now lets one have more layers of protection. It's just that there's no nice way to show the values but UI edits could do that, basically add another n / n under mana for instance. I'm not a coding-savvy so not quite sure how to achieve this myself but it's definitly possible from what I've seen people do.
Hashtables is a field I never understood. I tried to be as GUI as possible with this without getting into sophistication.
Yes, it's quite messy overall but so is my way of triggering and understanding, sadly.
Yeah, the shield FX needs adjustments for each unit size (some like the fliers or mounted ones, are longer rather than taller).
Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Antares]

Using mana as the shield would render mana as the energy source for StarCraft-like (and generally, all) abilities unusable and would disable abilities like Mana Shield.

I get that, but maybe someone doesn't need mana as a resource in his map. It would be nice to have the option. Some users might also be fine with just not having a UI for the shield value at all.

Hashtables is a field I never understood. I tried to be as GUI as possible with this without getting into sophistication.

Hashtables are very confusing for GUI users, partly because the syntax when you go into the hashtable actions makes little sense. "Save Value as Value of Value in (Last created hashtable)." What the hell is that supposed to mean? But the concept is actually not that hard to grasp if you think of the hashtable as an Excel table and rewrite the above statement into "Save myVariable at column myInteger1 and row myInteger2 in (Last created hashtable)."

Now you can read the value stored at that "cell" (using the Excel analogy) if you can retrieve the correct column and row where it was stored. Here, I was suggesting you use Unit Ids as columns and whatever constant as the row (not important) and write into the cells "true" for all unit types that were added to the system. This lets you just do one look-up to check if a unit has a shield instead of having to iterate over the entire list each time.

But I just found out that this is not possible with GUI (someone correct me if I'm wrong), so you'd have to use custom code. Don't worry about it for now and focus on organizing your code. But hashtables are a very useful concept to learn in general.

 

[Pyrogasm]

someone correct me if I'm wrong

You just have to make both an integer variable and a unit-type variable then equate them with a CS line. You can use the integer variable as a key for a hashtable.

 

[Antares]

The configurable part of the system has to be separated from the rest. Create a trigger with example code where the user can declare unit types that have shields, how much shield life they have etc., then run a trigger to add the declared units to an array or hashtable. Tying shield properties closely to researches and hard-coding the values is also far from ideal. You could maybe create triggers in the config section where the user can customize the formula for the shield regeneration etc. and then call that trigger from your main triggers when you need to. I recommend that you take a look at other GUI resources to see how they are structured.

Because you're using "A unit enters (Playable map area)" as the trigger to add units to the ShieldGroup and remove them when they die, revived units will not get a shield.

As mentioned before, the shield effect doesn't appear to be perfectly centered (but I couldn't tell you why).

Awaiting Update

 

[deepstrasz]

Thanks for the details. I'll probably have to remake it at one point but for the near period I won't be having time to so it will take quite a while.
That, or maybe I could convince Uncle to upload his since it's using hashtables and it's better in every way.