NESmaker 4.1.5 - UI/UX Improvement - Monster Number Indicator

Mihoshi20

Member
Much like how the zero sprite has an indicator in the HUD section, t would be nice to have some sort of indicator to which monster has been placed on a screen. It can often times be inconvenient when making adjustments to monsters and then go back and remember which one is where. This is especially true if you want to move a monster to a slight different position but have other identical monsters on screen or monsters that look similar but have different behaviors and you want to move a monster with that specific behavior.

It would be nice to have an immediate and at a glance indicator for what monster is in which of the 4 monster slots.

[A]MonsterNumIndicator.png
 

MistSonata

Moderator
Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple to put that functionality into the tool, assuming your talking about INSTANCES of objects, rather than the object's type which you would use to tell it what kind of monster to spawn. When the code spawns an object during screen load, it takes whatever is the next available object slot and that could be any number depending on how many objects are already loaded.

Alternatively, you could alter the screen loading code to store the slot number into a variable after the CreateObject macro for that monster (much like the way player1_object works), maybe something like monster1 monster2 and so on


EDIT: I just realized you meant the monster slots in the tool, which would oddly enough be helpful if you were doing the idea above.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
I think Mihoshi means in the tool itself. because when you put your monsters on a screen. Then you don't know if you put in "monster 1", "monster 2" the "Monster 3" or "Monster 4" slot. Always I try to move a monster and in fact I didn't choose the correct "Monster 3" slot, so another monster is moved or replaced.

So I +1 for Mishoshi suggestion (or a hint ballon on mouse over with the slot number used).
 

Mihoshi20

Member
Yeah, I'm talking about an indicator within the tool when you place a monster in the screen layout editor as a reminder as to which of the 4 monster slots that monster belongs to. A tool tip as Dale suggests would also be acceptable. Just some easy and quick way to remind yourself which monster slot has been placed where on the screen layout editor.
 

Mugi

Member
i support this, if for nothing else, then just for the sake of seeing where you placed your "invisible" monster spawning objects lol
 

Mihoshi20

Member
Mugi said:
i support this, if for nothing else, then just for the sake of seeing where you placed your "invisible" monster spawning objects lol

Same, in a current platformer I'm using the retractable spike enemy that start off retracted so when I place them down they look the same as the sky tiles. It's not what sparked this suggestion but also very handy for that too. I'm more often moving a monster I didn't intend to move and glad I'm not the only one who faces that issue.
 
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