Improving a C1 COB with a Tiny Bit of CAOS
The very best way to find something to develop for Creatures is to identify a problem. That “problem” can be rather unusual, like how one might have a problem with the limited number of specialized Ettin breeds. Or, the problem could be very real, when someone notices an issue while playing the game. In my case, I found a very real (yet fairly minor) problem in Creatures 1. I use the Multiple Grendel Button, by Slink, in order to monitor my C1 Grendels. The COB works wonderfully, save for one tiny detail! I hatched a tiny test subject to showcase this issue. I would like to point out that this isn’t necessarily a problem for everyone, and is not meant to portray Slink in a negative way. However, this COB uses the lift button sprite, which is partially hidden behind a column. Yet to any Creatures nearby, this object is within view and they often try to look at it. Poor Ronette was stuck looking up and down for a long time! What this COB needed was a way to appear invisible to Creatures, so that it would simply be a tool for me to use. Onto some CAOS to solve the problem!
It was back to the Creatures Editor 32 for me. I actually had a discussion about this with Amaikokonut a few weeks ago, and I owe her a huge thanks for helping me understand most of the CAOS commands! The small detail that needed a little attention had to do with the ATTR value: It took a little time, but I found out that a single value is the sum of all of the attributes. In this case, 68 meant that the COB was wallbound (64) and could be activated by the hand (4). 64 + 4 = 68: Not too difficult to understand! The attribute that was missing was the invisible one, with a value of 16. So with a few clicks, I changed the line to “setv attr 84” and hoped for the best!
One thing I forgot to do was to set an image for the COB. The default one from CrEd32 looked normal within the program, but Creatures 1 had a bit of an issue displaying it! Luckily, it was just a simple image error and nothing else appeared to be out of the ordinary. This was also the reason why I wanted to test this COB in a new world, where I wouldn’t lose any of my current Norns and Grendels. It’s always safer to do extensive testing of a new creation for Creatures, since the worst thing is for a COB to destroy a world.
After a second of worrying that I might take down Albia with the small change, the updated Multiple Grendel Button was in my test world! I immediately tried to get my test Norn to look at the object, which would confirm whether I knew anything about what I was doing with CAOS. Her eyes started tracking towards me… And then they stopped on the lift buttons! A Creature will attempt to look at the closest object to the hand at the command “look” so long as he or she is feeling cooperative. It was a success: My monumental accomplishment of the day was to make this COB invisible! There are still a few other updates I would like to try out: Sometimes experimenting with an existing COB is the best way to learn about CAOS. Just be sure to avoid directly copying others’ work when distributing anything. Keep the CAOS rolling!
I know nothing about CAOS, but its name appeals to me… It’s a useful programming language, from what I hear!
If all else fails, I always just imagine some terrible pun in my head while using it! C1 CAOS is much more limited than what C3/DS has to offer, although I can see a lot of useful things for it. We’ll see how this all goes… Better not be too… Chaotic? Ha!
Cool! :D I’m glad that you’ve made the Multiple Grendel Button more useful for yourself with the use of CAOS, and that you’ve shared that process with us. :D
Thanks, Malkin! I’ll likely write up some more in-depth CAOS tutorials eventually, provided I know enough about what I’m saying. I sometimes like “fixing” COBs I use pretty regularly, mainly because I’m familiar with what they do and where there might be some opportunities for improvement. I shied away from CAOS for ages because it seemed so complicated. I’m hoping that little tutorials like these ones might help other possible developers see how easy some things can be! We’ll just have to guess how long it will take me to do something silly and mess up something… That’s the best way to learn, though! And that’s precisely why I now keep backups. Extremely long-winded reply, mainly just to say that I’m glad you enjoyed this!
That’s how it works – start off with easy things, then you get familiar with it and it grows from there. Have you thought about making a ‘CAOS’ tag for your blog, just in case? ;)
Most certainly! I have the posts marked in a somewhat hidden way, but once I reach a so-called “critical mass” of CAOS stuff, they’ll be getting their own category/tag to make for easier browsing!
That’s awesome! Personally I love seeing these little changes. There’s a lot of content out in the community that’s great, but could do with a little tweak depending on your preferences.
Out of interest, do you think it would be possible to make the carrot seedlings in the garden invisible, them make them visible again when they’re fully grown? I know being unable to eat the seedlings confuse my Norns a great deal.
Arch, you must have gotten into my thoughts! There are a bunch of updates to C1 I want to learn about via CAOS, and one of the more important ones is to make the carrots invisible to Creatures until they’re full-grown. I really think this confuses them, too, and could be the reason why many have eating problems later in life. My guess is that they eventually learn that pushing a carrot (food) does nothing, so they try to do every other action. I’ve noticed that baby Norns tend to push food almost every time, while adults get into pulling, stopping, and looking at food because they don’t know what to do.
The CAOS is a little more complicated because this involves the various life stages of the carrot, but I’m hoping to make that one of my more advanced projects that will be available to download. I’m not outright claiming that project, though, as it could be a nice introduction to CAOS for others! I’ll just say that I will be making that into a download eventually, so if anyone else does, just be aware that there might be another version over here. Hopefully that’s not an issue!
I will say that CAOS can be easier than spriting, though, so perhaps that will be available sooner than some may think!
Oh hurrah! I’m so glad this worked out for you :>
Thank you again for all of your help! Admittedly, this is just a very tiny step into understanding CAOS. But as Malkin put it, that’s the best place to start! I’m sure I’ll have more fun stuff to share as I’m either successful, or completely awful during the learning stages. Ha ha!
Glad you brought this up! I’d actually stopped using the Multiple Grendel Button because of the attention problem but following your guide here, I was able to fix it in BobCob and I’m using the agent again. Thanks!
Awesome, Kezune, and you’re very welcome! There are a couple of other possible improvements to it, but I’ll be sure to share the details of how to do those in CAOS so anyone else can do the same thing. I’m hoping to work on a few more fixes for Creatures 1 soon, so that my next generation of Norns and Grendels will be able to enjoy themselves in a new world!