Re: XARCHON Data files

[Ronen Tzur <rtzur@shani.net>]

Hello!


On the matter of symlinks and friends.   It seems nobody likes symlinks but 
me.   :-)   I do agree they might be more problematic in some situation.   Oh 
well, we'll go for a sprite configuration file.


On Monday 25 March 2002 13:10, capmikee@home.martnet.com wrote:
>
> I think we've got a good plan here: keep icons in xpm format, and zip
> them up to make a single theme file. Both xpm and zip (or tgz, etc)
> are easily accessible standards.

Personally I prefer uncompressed tars, as they would be easiest to handle.  
And in a UNIX environment, they seem, at least to me, more popular than zip.

> I've had problems with symlinks in other projects - I like
> configuration files better. In fact, I'd like to have much more
> information stored in config files, such as creature stats (mode of
> attack, speed, etc) and even game board layout. But perhaps some stats
> should be separately loadable from theme graphics?

I think separately loadable.   They could be packed in the same theme package, 
just not the same configuration file that defines the sprites.


As for its format, I suggest this:

		fire.up		0/2    1/3    2/1   5/3
		fire.down		0/1    1/1    2/1
		fire.left		....
		...

Which would mean that for the state STATE_FIRE_UP, the image in file 
"fire.up.0.xpm" is used for two frames,   "fire.up.1.xpm" is used for three 
frames,   "fire.up.2.xpm" for one frame,  and "fire.up.5.xpm" for the three 
last frames before the cycle restarts.    (Note that "fire.up.3.xpm" and 
"fire.up.4.xpm" aren't used.)


I will begin implementing it this way, but naturally feel free to express any 
opinions!   Thanks!