So, I found a good open-source scripting engine, and decided to just build modding around that. I decided that it would be in a separate application [MakeCrawleBetter.exe ;p], and all mods would be in one simple mdb file, rather than having separate text files.
As you can see, you can add a mod, edit a mod, delete a mod, test a mod, or add a mod from a text file. Everything is procedural based, and as a result, multiple scripts can be seperately used to make up one mod. The language in question is VBScript. You're probably going, "OMG THAT'S SLOW, ZOMG"...actually, if you're from Eclipse, you're probably going like that. Scripting can be made fairly fast, and because the EXE won't depend on scripts, unlike EE/ES, it won't be that much of a difference from the Crawle itself. If you're so against this option, we'll be releasing versions without modding support, so, take it for what you will.Adding or editing a mod will bring up this mini-IDE.
As you can see, it's just a washed down version of VB6. In the final version, I'll probably replace the large textbox with a coding formatting control. You can comment as normal, and code as you would in VB6, the only difference being you can't debug, but that doesn't matter, as you have the choice of what mods you'll use. Yes, we'll be endorsing people to make mods, and we'll have several official mods. The prospects!The code above demonstrates using the specialised class loading function. Hard coded will be several options designed for you to utilise. Ranging from incrementing/decrementing, playing sound/music, rendering graphics, rendering various controls that I'll be developing for good use, and more, it's all there for you to use! In a way, it functions a bit like a dll, it allows you to use a function, without the need for declaring it. I'll be supplying a total list of what's on offer, and you can make do with it.Above that, you can code as normal VBScript, so the possibilities are more or less endless.Testing a mod is the slightly tricky bit to grasp, as it tests it within the same EXE, so if it only contains native VB functions, you'll be able to test within MakeCrawleBetter.exe, but if it contains class methods from Crawle itself, it'll pop up saying you have to do so, and then you can go test it the normal way.And finally, objects will contain a load of preset stuff that I'll add in. I'm open to suggestions.Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you'll use the modding function to make Crawle better, in your own way!
Original topic: Sleepystudios.com
