Hello all,

If the community wishes, I can code a software to generate HUDs, with several pre-designed HUD models, but also (and especially), with the possibility to design new ones, via a simplified but powerful graphic interface, offering many possibilities for editing and creating customisable HUDs.

Obviously, I understood how to proceed to generate new graphic HUDs, in relation with the bar of life and the icons, etc ... (in bottom right of the screen ...) thanks to this Post of the forum, but I need other information related to the position of the HUD on the screen. How to move or reposition it at the top left, for example ?

I would like to code a software capable of making many visual changes, while allowing to restore the origin work of TGC (in case of problem, because it does not take much to crash GG). But... I am a perfectionist programmer The products I code must be 100% functional and operational, if possible, without major bugs.

This could lead to access to a catalog (database) full of HUDs that some of you have created.

I specify that we can add all the features for the CrossHair (appearance and damage...), as well as all the management of HUD Head, in addition to HUD classic. Ideally, I would like to design a complete HUD Generator, taking into consideration all aspects and features of the HUDs offered by GameGuru.

Let's take the opportunity to do the work on the HUD, GUI and GAME MENU.

Important clarification : the software will be coded exclusively for Microsoft Windows (it will work perfectly since Windows XP, until now). There will never be a MAC version, Linux, or Web version. It is therefore useless to ask me...

What do you think ?
Does this work already exist somewhere ?
Are there specialists on this forum, able to help me, simply by answering technical questions for HUDs ?

You can start helping me with simple things :

- Find a name for this application (at the moment, I'm using HUDs Creator, for simplicity),
- Provide a list of essential features (with detailed explanations),
- Provide a list of secondary functionalities (with detailed explanations),
- For graphic designers who have created HUDs, provide a list of all the download-links to your personal templates (100% compatible with GameGuru, ONLY) that you want to embed in the default application, and keep this list up-to-date. I will not go looking here and there on the forum. Centralize the data to save time...

If so, I can work right away...
Thanks you.

NB : To moderators of the forum : if this post is in the wrong place, move it where it will be. And if my proposal is wrong, please specify. I will not be offended !

Sounds like a good project to me m8, as far as i know I've not seen anyone make a special Huds software
so I vote yes. I only wish I could give to tech info but I am only a beginner when it come to playing about with
scripting.

I assume you are using PasteSpritePosition(I'd,x,y) ?
Otherwise you use SetSpritePosition(I'd,x,y)
Then
PasteSprite(id)

The x and y are % of the screen so 0,0 is top left and 100,100 is bottom right (won't technically be visible as it is from top left corner of a sprite by default), so you would want to calculate your position with the size of the sprite in mind (the size is also a %).
So if you want it at bottom right it looks like 100-spritewidth,100-spriteheight

Thanks smallg,

I only used GameGuru very little... I am not a specialist of this product. I code some things (mainly for 3D and audio-mastering software) with other products. I need more information to do tests. In which file should the data be added ? I can read and understand the code. However, I do not know the GameGuru file structure. A little help would be appreciated.

You will not need to explain it to me two time.

The HUD position in GameGuru is hard coded, as are the images, though you can replace the image files with your own. To create your own HUD in GameGuru you need to use a script which contains the command hidehuds(e) to hide the hard coded HUD, and then uses sprites and text to add your own HUD.

Thank you for that clarification, Belidos.

I must first focus on the Creative and Visual aspect. Once that's done, I can go to the next step : modify a hard-coded HUD...

If you have suggestions, do not hesitate (it's for everyone here).

For the moment, I add a simple shapes creator (as for primitives in a Level editor) : Dashed Line Shape, Arc Shape, Burst Shape, Shape Star, Shape Gear, Wedge Shape, Polygon Shape, Shape Circle, Oval Shape and Rectangle shape. You can change the color of all shapes and outlines. It allows to create very quickly (and easily) "objects" (lines, shapes, texts and all that one can imagine), then, to assemble them to create new GUI, but in a very simple way. We can also add our own personal images : PNGs files can be used (with alpha channel).

Each object (or image) is a Layer (as with Photoshop) that you can move, rotate and have where you want on the screen. On each Layer, special effects can be generated : Opacity Filter, Bevel Filter, Glow Graphic Filter, Drop Shadow Filter, Blur Graphic Filter, and many more.

I have already coded everything I just explained. It's something simple. I naively thought that the position of the HUD was not hard coded in GameGuru... The rest of the work could have been done more quickly. But... OK.

I will post a screen of my app. in a short time.

i see, i thought you might be using this method

Yes of course, I will have to use a similar method, since GameGuru does not give me the choice. I can already create complex HUD images with my app., but I work for the HUD positioning, automatically written in a lua script. Clearly, I work to get a WYSIWYG positioning. I think it's easy to do.

A screen to show you what the HUD Creator GUI looks like at the moment.

I will do others, promised, whenever it will be possible

That looks nice, really nice. I'm not an expert with GameGuru myself yet so I'll answer some of your calls for suggestions. These are purely personal requests and if more people want different things listen to them.


A preview option with a few stock canvases to compare the HUD against. For instance you could have a grass background, sky background, and more to overlay the HUD on before exporting. This way the user can tell if there are certain backgrounds which make the HUD easier/harder to see.

Colour/Frequency/Threshold for critical health strobe. In GG when you take damage the HUD flashes red a bit. Changing the colour would be nice, changing the speed of the colour change would be great, and editing the threshold of HP when this occurs would be great.


Support for custom fonts. I know this probably comes with a lot of visual boundaries to set up but it's be a lovely little flourish. I'd love to build a custom font for the HUD to match the game's tone.


HUDGE (Heads-Up Display Graphical Editor)? Overlayer? Box Chalk? HUDdle? Corner Cutter? Counterpaint?

I could do this all day.

Thanks Caracc.



It's already done For exemple, you can use a color background : you choose the color in a Windows palette (type RGB). Note that the RGB color is "auto convertible" (100% compatible) in HTML and Javascript color coding. You can also use wallpapers of your own game. I also propose a list of wallpapers (in-game images) by default, in addition to backgrounds color with a simple or radial color. There are clear backgrounds (the day), others dark (night) ... and the user can add as much as he wants. There is no limit... The software remembers everything. Of course, you can also delete funds that you do not like.



Okay. It is very simple If everything goes as I think, my app. will generate a .LUA script file containing all parameters of the new HUD. It will be enough to declare it somewhere in GameGuru (I do not know yet where, but it is inevitably easy to declare !). If anyone could tell me how to do it, I will save time and start the graphic tests !



The app. already allows it You can use all Windows Fonts. To add a custom Font, just add it to Windows. My app. will use any Font of your choice, as long as it is available for Windows. Will the custom Font be recognized and accepted by GameGuru ? Honestly, I do not know for the moment. A clear answer from TGC (or someone who has already done so) would be much appreciated... Before going further.



I like HUDGE.
I vote for that ! Who says better ?

Meanwhile, another image of the GUI in action, with images on a black background to test my Transparency Editor. It works the first time There are many visual effects that can be applied to images-layers. It's fun to use


I also add a small test map (in real-time 3D) to test the HUD in a video game environment. It's more fun than a background image


Real-time 3D test, realized with a small 3D engine coded in DBPro, a few years ago I'm not sure that this is possible with GG (a test map with a .exe generated by GG, maybe ?) I do not care for the moment...

Test with a shape (Draw Arc Panel) generator :

When a new object has been created, you can select it and rotate it, simply with the mouse.


Test with the Dashed Line panel generator :


The Transparency Editor will save you incredible time. If you use an image for your HUD, with an unwanted background, this editor will delete the background in one second, and integrate the modified image in PNG format. Saving time is a great asset when working on a video game...


The result with a black background

Rotation Objects Editor for all Objects / Items / Layers. It is grafted to the Movement Objects Tool. Simply approach the mouse one of the four corners of the selected Object to get the cursor Rotation mode. All moving objects are done with the mouse. Fast and smooth...

Glowing effect integration is complete. The user can play with this graphic tool and get stunning visual effects (especially on transparent PNG image files). The Glow Graphic Filter tool allows you to add as many "effect layers" as you want. Set Colors (Predefined or Customized), Opacity and/or Transparency Glowing Effect, but also the Glowing Directions effect, in pixels ! A powerful tool and easy to use. Get beautiful effects in few seconds... As a bonus, you can add as much layer of glowing effect as you want! There must be no limit in the creative. In this demonstration, there are clearly 2 colors, for 2 glowing effects. For a HUD, the effects obtained are very interesting !

The red damage thingy is hard coded in the shaders, it can't be changed via scripts as far as I know, except to enable or disable it unless you edit the shader files.

And again fonts are hard coded, you can use the text command to choose between sizes 5 choices, which aren't really just sizes they're a mixture of fonts and sizes.

Hard coding such things, is sad... I have to look at how these shaders are made. But it's a huge waste of time. Meanwhile, nothing advances. It's paradoxical for an Easy Game Maker I say it with humor, of course

It's not an easy game creator, that tag line was dropped a while ago, the tag line Iso "game making for everyone" now

The goal is to make everything accessible through lua eventually, but thats a huge amount of work and its happening bit by bit, the engine code is available on github for anyone who owns gameguru now, so anyone with some coding knowledge can make changes and submit them for review by Lee. Maybe if you have a bit of C++ knowledge you could take a look to see if you can open up the bits you need?

They also say : « No technical knowledge needed! » So, I would not do that. It's not my job and I'm already busy. Obviously, there is not only one software to produce, but several. You probably know that when you take a look at a 3D game engine, you always know how it started, but you never know when it's over ! And I can not afford. I'm counting on the help of the community. The more help I receive, the more advanced features you will have. I only need clear and precise answers. Changing a existing LUA code is very easy for my app. But I need to access the files. Logic.

You don't need tethnically now ledge to use it out of the box, but if you want to do stuff that it's not designed to do then you can if you know how to code, that's what that means.

But I understand what you mean, nothe many people want to get into the technical side, unfortunately if you don't then you will just need to wait for someone to get around to adding what you need.

Start off simple, just make the output be simple png files which can then be loaded by Lua scripts at runtime. You could even auto-generate a text file defining the image positions and depths which the Lua script could read in so it is all more generic.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing, AmenMoses. But I need to visualize (in GG) how it works with LUA. I found these two LUA files, here and there on the forum. It's for the HUD. But I do not know yet how (and where) to declare them in GameGuru (?) for an LUA file to be taken into consideration. As I said earlier, I am not familiar with LUA in GameGuru. In C++ and Delphi, we declare dependencies in a file, with a sequence of "#include", but I do not know what is this file (its equivalent) in GameGuru and where it is. GG's file architecture is a little messy..., to be honest.

For them to be used in gameguru you have to add them to an entity in gameguru, it drop for example a barrel model, right click it, select properties, and then select the script files.

Is that what you're asking?

Or do you mean how to use one script to run another script? Thats simple, on my phone at the moment so can't check, but there's a command, for that, if I remember right it's very similar to C# the best scripts to look at to work it out would be the AI solder script, that's a modular system that has a base script which requires multiple other scripts as modules to do different tasks.

Belidos,

Thanks for the explanation. Both methods are very interesting. Hum, I could search a file for a long time with #includes : it does not exist with GG (except perhaps with an AI Solder, to check). Ok, just attach the script to a dynamic entity. So, that means it's up to the GameGuru user to do it, and not to my app to do it for the user. It's very interesting for the future !

If I compile a small map with GG, I must be able to edit "on the fly" (with my app) an LUA script for a dynamic entity present in the map, and assign it the script of a HUD. This would be very useful for quickly testing the HUD in real-time 3D environments from GameGuru.

Question : According to you, after having compiled a map, are LUA scripts still accessible after the compilation of a GameGuru .exe ?

No, in the standalone Lua scripts are 'pre-compiled'. Whilst creating the game they are just plain text though.

Editing Lua scripts "on the fly" isn't going to do anything anyhow, they are loaded once and, in test game, compiled once. From then on they only reside in RAM so there is no way of altering them.

Having said that you can replace global functions "on the fly" just by declaring a new one with the same name as an existing one.

OK. The Google translation is not always clear (I did not understand your last line.).

Working with GG RAM could make some things unstable. It's risky.

You mean that it is imperative to recompile a new GG.exe if I modify the LUA script ? So, there is no way, with a pre-compiled test map, to run a new LUA script ?

If that's the case, the 3D test map will not be a GameGuru map.exe ... So, the best is maybe to give up this idea of a map-test from my app ., and let the user compile a map with GG to test the HUD.

You cannot recompile the executable as a game maker, the executable is not modifiable. The Lua scripts can be edited by the game maker but not by the end user, i.e. the person playing the resulting game.

All images, textures and models are loaded at runtime, currently under Lua control images can be loaded "on the fly" for use as on screen sprites, for example as HUD elements but Lua cannot load extra models or textures.

Here is a 'HUD' completely generated by Lua script at runtime from static images:



This one has HUD elements about 2 minutes in:

AmenMoses,



OK. This is exactly what my app needs to do. It must generate a hud.lua file that will be attached to a dynamic entity in the game. What I need (ideally) is a template (a global matrix of a HUD), a complete LUA script for GameGuru, a really complete HUD, so that I can use it as a model. I will review the 2 LUA files I sent on the forum. But if the community could create a "hud matrix file", containing many features, the functions that you need, it would be ideal to avoid wasting time. Every minute I take on the LUA are "lost" to code my app. There is a lot of work. Your videos are interesting. I also thought about the MiniMap. Here too there is something good to produce.

To start with just generate a description file in plain text, for example use the name of the png + x/y/depth offsets and size, the Lua script can simply read the description file, load the images and display then in the correct positions.

Once you have static images working properly then worry about dynamic HUD elements and other stuff.

X & Y needs to be in % of screen, top left of the screen being 0,0 bottom right being 100, 100. Depth is likewise 0-100 but I can't remember offhand if 0 or 100 is the background.

Size is also specified as % of the screen.

There are other parameters but you can add those later after you have the basics working.

I've attached the radar script from the asteroids demo level, I did this one a few years ago and would probably do it a lot differently now that I have more experience with Lua!

Great ! The first tests are satisfactory with GG.
Thank you very much AmenMoses. I keep going.

For graphic designers : do not hesitate to send me graphic elements, simple or complex, for the editor. Transparent PNG images are required. No other formats will be accepted. Clearly, simple or complex graphicals HUD elements, such as Lines, Rounds, Angles, and all possible and imaginable shapes are welcome.

For angles, only one angle per model is enough, because my app. can reverse, rotate, etc... Know differentiate a HUD ready for use, another HUD that must be colored. For ready-to-use HUD, do whatever you want. For those who my app. will have to color, make a test with shapes in white background, without any outline. The more shapes available, the easier it will be to design original HUDs using the Data Bank of my app.

If possible, all images must have the same dimensions, as for a SkyBox (128x128, 256x256, 512x512, etc ...). It is an image database containing forms that the end user can color and modify with my app.

The application already knows how to generate the following forms dynamically :

- Bow / Arc
- Burst
- Square
- Circle
- Gear
- Line
- Dashed Line
- Oval
- Polygon
- Rectangle
- Star
- Wedge

Thanks for your help.

Just to clarify something, as you have posted this in 'Free Models and Media' I am assuming this tool will be free when you've made it.

Yes absolutely. I am thinking of a FreeWare or DonationWare, giving access to a graphical and public databank that the software exploits. What's bothering me in this vision, is the ability for other communities (that are exploiting other 3D engines or no TGC products) to use it, while they have not helped produce it. But, well, we can not have everything !

Well in that case I'm quite happy to help out with the Lua side of things.

haha! I would never have allowed myself to arrive in a free forum section by offering a paid software. But, it is true that some resources are paying in programming, and that is also why I will propose (maybe) a DonationWare. We'll see ! If I have to pay some graphic resources, I should get them back with the donations. But anyway, the app. will be a FreeWare or DonationWare. Be sure of that.

Some news from HUDGE...

I am now working on the implementation of Vector Drawing Technologies (compatible with Adobe Illustrator and others). I make sure that .SVG and .EPS files-formats can be imported - exported, for greater compatibility. This is largely what is most prevalent. Obviously, this technology has long been a master of PNG export, with transparency... To make HUDs, be sure this drawing technology will be invaluable. It will make your life easier !

I found some powerful graphic libraries, free and open-source, integrable in my app. They can help a lot with Vector Drawings. It's interesting but I have to think-work again.

Other news, I thought it would be nice.
Integrated LUA Script Editor :

- Unlimited Split Views
- Code Autocompletion
- Keyboard Driven
- Language Support default LUA-oriented
- Customizable Themes
... And many other things ...



Can be used in HUDGE internal window, or external (independent window). The LUA Script Editor is an independent program (.EXE). It will be provided with HUDGE, without any counterpart for the users. You can work graphically (Hudge) and program (Lua S.E) your new HUD with the same software solution. We'll see if it's useful, but I think so.

NB : The LUA Script Editor is not finished yet (contrary to appearances).