Difference between revisions of "Design"

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(Saving and Exporting)
(Saving and Exporting)
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When the Resources are ready to be tested, it is time to export. This is also covered on the designer resource page.
 
When the Resources are ready to be tested, it is time to export. This is also covered on the designer resource page.
  
See Main Article: [[Designer Resources#Exporting resources|Designer Resources]]
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See Main Article: [[Designer Resources|Designer Resources]]

Revision as of 06:32, 25 January 2010

Game Design is everything from creating this NPC, to being ready to export everything to be used in Game. This is all made via various sections of the Dragon Age Toolset.

Overview

The Toolset can probably be seen as multiple tools ,with the resources it creates being somewhat independently editable, with the connection being internal references. This is mananged thru a database ,and allows for multiple persons to work in only specific areas of the Toolset, without hindering another. As a whole it is probably too much to learn for one person alone. But the toolset gets it all together.

Anything you design is a single resource for the next step, so one can separate the tools into resource categories, as seen with the Resource palette. Dragon Age has two main classes of resources. Designer resources that are stored in the database and art resources that are stored as files in your filesystem, with art resources being supplemental to what is covered here.

The other important resource are two-dimensional Arrays (2DA's) ,which amongst other things contain variables and definitions, that the designer can "play out". Or are merely supplemental.

Designer resources

This is what the designer creates, and when talking about designing a resource the resource category is what matters here. Designer resources are stored in the toolset's accompanying database and are for the most part focused on the mechanics of the game - the stuff that makes an adventure "work".

Designer Resources include the following, but not exclusivly:

  • Areas - the fully interactive level
  • Items - any item that can be carried by the Player or NPC
  • Creatures - Creatures that are Monsters or NPC's alike
  • Conversations - a complete Conversation with any Voice over accompanying it
  • etc..

See Main Article: Designer Resources

Two-dimensional Arrays

2DA's contain various Data not only about the Resources, but for the whole game as well. 2DA's are packed into GDA Filetype, which are generated from XLS (Excel) Files. With the Toolset come the original XLS Files, to be editable and regenerated to GDA to allow for modding. They can be found at:

(Dragon Age install dir)\tools\source\2da

Main Article : 2DA

Saving and Exporting

For the new content to be playable, it has to go through a export process by the Toolset. This is some mumbojumbo database stuff i cant explain.

When the Resources are ready to be tested, it is time to export. This is also covered on the designer resource page.

See Main Article: Designer Resources