Soul Schism Training Program

[Jason Tandro]

This is the full guide to the training program with lots of things you'll need.

Trainee Progress


Eureka Tips

Maps
General Map Stylization

Events
Treasure Chests With Multiple Items

[Jason Tandro]

Jason Tandro
Soul Schism Games, Head Programmer

Map Design: Great
Event Design: Master
Database Design: Excellent
Balancing: Great


Freedan
Soul Schism Games, Programmer

Map Design: Great
Event Design: Excellent
Database Design: Great
Balancing: Good


Neph
Trainee Programmer, Level 2

Map Design: Great
Event Design: Great
Database Design: --
Balancing: --




---

Scores Go:

--, Okay, Good, Great, Excellent, Master

This is relative to my own level of skill.

If I rate you "Poor" it is only because you are not trained yet, so don't sweat it.

If I rate you "Great" I consider you fully competent in the subject.

If I rate you "Master" I consider you at my level of skill and perhaps even a shade more skillful.

[Edit: I added what I would grade myself in these areas.]

[Freedan]

I'll get those to Excellent or higher in future lessons.

[Jason Tandro]

Freedan wrote:

I'll get those to Excellent or higher in future lessons.

For only five lessons into the basics, that's phenomenal. You got nothing to be ashamed of.

[inferiare]

...I think you forgot I signed up for it too.

[Jason Tandro]

inferiare wrote:

...I think you forgot I signed up for it too.

... Did I not send you the first lesson?

[inferiare]

No. The last stuff I got was back in October of last year. Unless I had to re-sign up, which... uh, that wasn't really noted so.

[Jason Tandro]

inferiare wrote:

No. The last stuff I got was back in October of last year. Unless I had to re-sign up, which... uh, that wasn't really noted so.

Ah. Well I changed the format. Don't worry, I'll hook you up! Sorry about that confusion!

[Jason Tandro]

Eureka Tip of the Day- Maps


Tip: General Map Stylization


There are a few schools of thought when it comes to interior map design.

Tilt View
My personal preference. You see the room as if viewing from a 45 degree angle. You see the front walls and the back walls. The sides you only see the top of the roof (for an example see the Library or Guide's House in the demonstration or any of the buildings in TerraEarth: Absolute).

Bird's Eye View
View the interior as if from above. You see no walls, just the roof tops, creating a box around the actual map.

Maximum Space
Borders of the map are ignored and exits are called out by a bit of rug or a different tile. My least favorite, but hey: different strokes...


As for exterior design the sky is pretty much the limit as far as views go. o with what feels best for you!

[Jason Tandro]

Eureka Tip of the Day- Treasure Chests With Multiple Items

You want a treasure chest with more than one item in it? That's easy.

1. Create a Treasure Chest quick event.
2. Double-click on the event in the Event Editor.
3. Add event commands as necessary for each item you want the chest to contain.
4. Be sure to change the text as well!

[Jason Tandro]

Is there anybody else who wanted to continue the Training Program? Neph, Val, Raini? How we doin'?

[Jason Tandro]

I hereby bestow the title of Programmer on Freedan, upon successful completion of his tenth lesson in the training program. He has created a wonderful piece of work!

[Freedan]

Woo! Programmer!

Hopefully, I won't drag my feet so much getting through the rest of the lessons.