RPG in a Box News

For anyone interested, I've updated the Demo Game Hub (and the project source files) from v0.4 of RPG in a Box to the latest version! The Demo Game Hub is a collection of tiny example games that I created with RPG in a Box. It's meant as a fun way of demonstrating the current capabilities of the engine and the variety of styles that are possible!

Demo Game Hub on itch.io:
https://zeromatrix.itch.io/rpginabox-examplegame


In addition to the main game download, the project source files are also available for anyone interested in seeing how certain things are done. Have fun! :)

Release Notes for v1.3.0

• Migrated Demo Game Hub (including the project source files download) from RPG in a Box v0.4 to v0.5
  
• Updated dialogue font to the new default font
  
• Updated item icons to use Pixeltier's RPG icons
  
• PETSCII World: Changed map to use isometric camera
  
• PETSCII World: Changed treasure chest to use a script file instead of a quick script
  
• PETSCII World: Changed treasure chest script to use "+=" assignment statement for incrementing coin counter instead of "Set Global Property" function
  
• Example Game World: Change "gem_chest" script to use assignment statement instead of "Set Global Property" function
  
• Example Game World: Added custom UI theme with a separate dialogue style for the slimes (with portrait position set to "top")
  
• Example Game World: Adjusted stats of hostile slimes, set up their behaviors as a preset
  
• Example Game World: Added script to slime goo to heal player for 2 HP
  
• Example Game World: Set blue gems and slime goo to be stackable
  
• Example Game World: Added transparency to "stone_wall_window" model
  
• Desert Racing World: Updated scripting for race position tracking to use a finish line script that's triggerable by the racer NPCs instead of relying on timers
  
• Desert Racing World: Set up behaviors for racers as a preset
  
• Desert Racing World: Added log messages to indicate when each racer finishes
  
• Desert Racing World: Slightly decreased speed of red racer
  

New Features/Changes:

• Added ability to customize font, font size, color, and spacing for the Main Menu title and text from the Main Menu editor (settings also apply to the options menu and pause menu)
  
• Added new scripting function "Log Message" for appending text to a message log (for now, this is displayed in the top left corner, customization to come later)
  
• Added ability to use "self" keyword when running scripts from the debug console ("self" will reference the entity that the cursor is over)
  
• Added "item" syntax to the scripting language for getting an item's name, description, image, or tag list (e.g. item["ITEM_0001"].name, item["ITEM_0002"].description, etc.)
  
• Added syntax to the scripting language for getting the tile(s) that a character or object is occupying (e.g. entity["bench"].tiles returns an array of tiles the "bench" entity is on)
  
• Added syntax to the scripting language for getting the character(s) that are occupying a tile (e.g. tile[3, 2, 0].characters returns an array of characters occupying that tile, or null if there are none)
  
• Added "Source Code" visual script node as a fallback for brand new functions that don't have their corresponding visual nodes implemented yet
  
• Added editor settings to remember the last used import and export paths for the Voxel Editor across sessions
  
• Added credits in the About dialog to DrPetter for SFXR and to Pixeltier for the example game's item icons, with a link to his RPG icon packs
  
• Added button to the Main Menu properties panel for restoring all settings to their default values
  
• Added "data" keyword to script syntax highlighting so it gets marked with the appropriate color in script source code
  
• Added "Sounds" section to the Game Configuration dialog for overriding certain default sound effects (menu hover, menu select, and speaking for now, with more to come)
  
• Added "Import" button to the main toolbar for importing external resource files (images, fonts, models, sounds, etc.)
  
• Updated script parser to support the "Box Drawing", "Block Elements", and "Geometric Shapes" Unicode value blocks (U+2500-U+25FF) within strings
  
• Updated Voxel Editor to allow animations to be played while in "mesh preview" mode
  
• Updated startup tip about the debug console to include alternate shortcut key (backslash)
  
• Updated default in-game sound effects for the menu hover and menu select sounds
  
• Changed default in-game menu font to PixelMplus (to match the default dialogue font and to allow Japanese kanji and kana characters by default)
  
• Changed Debug Console and Main Menu to be enabled by default in the Game Configuration settings
  
• Increased speed of "slide down" animation when opening and closing the in-game debug console
  
• Adjusted comment node borders in the Script Editor to match the new visual node style
  
• Adjusted overall volume of sound effects in the editor and in-game to be slightly lower
  

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed issue where speed/time-based camera scripting functions would sometimes fail to trigger when one was used right after another
  
• Fixed issue where the Theme Editor's "unsaved changes" state was not being properly updated after deleting a theme that had unsaved changes
  
• Fixed issue where scripts would get stuck when calling "Show Group" for a group that had not been previously hidden
  
• Fixed issue with setting a theme as default in the Theme Editor when it has unsaved changes (default name would incorrectly include the (*) indicator text)
  
• Fixed issue with exporting models to PNG where the frame number was not being appended to the filename (so only the last frame would be saved)
  
• Fixed issue where the Enter key was not working when pressed in the source/destination field to submit the dialog for importing and exporting models in the Voxel Editor
  
• Fixed issue where the cursor color was not being restored when using the "Revert Changes" toolbar button in the Main Menu Editor
  
• Fixed issue with the "map.name" syntax not parsing properly in scripts
  
• Fixed issue where the game title text was not being reset to "Game Title" when exiting to the Game Manager
  
• Fixed issue where the toolbar buttons in the Main Menu editor were not being disabled when exiting to the Game Manager
  
• Fixed issue where visual scripts were not being generated and saved properly when opening a script file without a corresponding .scn file
  
• Fixed issue where backslash would close the debug console instead of typing the character, allowed ESC to close the debug console
  
• Fixed issue where backslash would not work to open the debug console while on the pause menu
  
• Fixed first-person control issue when moving backward then strafing left or right
  

Documentation:

• Added built-in docs for the "Data Files" functionality (under "Scripting" heading)
  
• Updated images and linked various text for "Set Global Property" and "Set Entity Property" built-in docs and included info about setting values with assignment statements
  
• Updated images and linked various text for "Set Entity Script" built-in docs and included info about optional "trigger when" argument for tiles
  
• Updated images and linked various text for "Set Entity Tooltip" built-in docs and included info about using placeholder expressions within tooltip text
  
• Updated images and linked various text for "Rotate Camera", "Rotate Camera Over Time", "Rotate Entity Towards", "Rotate Player To Direction", "Set Character Name", "Set Dialogue", "Set Ambient Light Enabled", "Set Animation Speed", "Set Entity Model", "Set Entity Light Enabled", "Set Entity Light Color", "Set Entity Blocks Sight", "Set Directional Light Enabled", "Set Directional Light Color", "Set Group Light Enabled", "Set Group Light Color", "Start Battle", "Set Language", and "Sound FX Generator" built-in docs
  
• Brought built-in docs for "NPC Behavior", "Animation Types", "Cardinal Direction", "Character", "NPC", "Enemy", and "Font" up to date