simkn
Kai Lord
Posts: 111
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Post by simkn on Mar 26, 2010 22:12:07 GMT
Hello Project Aon,
I once started a project to develop a flow chart for each Lone Wolf book. More specifically, what I was building is a diagram in which each numbered section gets a numbered box, and for each choice at that section an arrow points from that box to other numbered boxes. For ease of reading, I also included a one-word or one-phrase description of each numbered section, as well as a one-word/one-phrase description of each choice.
The point of such a flow chart is that you can easily chart any possible path through the story. For instance, you can quickly answer questions like, "What choices must I make at the beginning of FFTD in order to meet Banedon?", etc. Among other uses, I was going to use such a chart to convert LW books into table-top RPG scenarios.
I got pretty deep into the project before I had to stop due to time-constraints. So, just in case I'm duplicating effort that others have already invested, I thought I would check with Project Aon... has anyone already constructed flowcharts of this nature? It occurred to me that it might be likely that such a tool could've already been constructed in connection with developing the online versions of the books.
Many thanks for any assistance!
Mark
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Post by prdwong on Mar 26, 2010 23:31:51 GMT
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simkn
Kai Lord
Posts: 111
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Post by simkn on Mar 27, 2010 23:16:25 GMT
These are great, thank you! This definitely gives me a huge head start. The Project Aon charts are a slight improvement because they include illustration and combat info. I'll ask in the other forum as well.
Out of curiosity, how were the Project Aon charts generated? Was that an automated process, and if so, can I use the same one?
Thanks!
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Post by outspaced on Mar 29, 2010 12:02:45 GMT
The process is mostly automated. We run a PERL script called gbtodot which scans the xml of a particular book for links and converts it into a text-based .dot file. We then use a program to convert the .dot file into an svg/z file (such as GVEdit, part of the Graphviz package).
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Post by kolinovic on Mar 29, 2010 13:04:33 GMT
Aside from being glad the Simkn is happy with the answers, I have absolutely no idea what happened in here! 8)
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Post by prdwong on Mar 29, 2010 23:20:58 GMT
I don't know if you're interested or not, Mark, but here's a small snippet of what I've put together to help me analyze paths. It doesn't quite have everything that you're looking for (the info is only limited to gameplay affecting info). The problem is that I only have charts for the first five books, and partial constructed charts for books 6-8. The below snippet is from the beginning of Book2.  |
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simkn
Kai Lord
Posts: 111
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Post by simkn on Apr 1, 2010 4:00:09 GMT
That looks cool to me! Does the color-coding mean something? The more information the better. Also, the first 5 books sounds like a great start to me, especially since as of posting here I am still on book 1!
I'm interested in using the tools outspaced mentioned. Is gbtodot meant to work on any hyperlinked XML source, or does it work only on Project Aon-specific XML pages?
This is cool stuff, thanks!
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Post by prdwong on Apr 1, 2010 5:35:35 GMT
Yeah, it's color coded, so it's fairly easy to look at paths and do a rough analysis. For example yellow/brown are combat, cyan involves a random path, red is injury, dark red is death, purple is a Special Item, etc...
I also color-code the connecting lines, so if a path requires you to have Healing (HL) or Mind Over Matter (MM) or something then you can tell that at a glance too. Other line colors indicate that you're running away from the battle, or you need a certain Item, etc...
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Post by outspaced on Apr 1, 2010 9:12:27 GMT
I'm interested in using the tools outspaced mentioned. Is gbtodot meant to work on any hyperlinked XML source, or does it work only on Project Aon-specific XML pages? I'm not really the right person to ask, but I'm 99.9% sure that it only works on PA-specific xml file. The xml is the 'all-in-one' source file that contains all the text in the book, all illustration placement and dimensions, and all extraneous PA-related matter, such as the book's specific errata information, acknowledgments page, etc. As such, it is quite difficult to read, since it contains a great deal of "structural" information. You can see some (out-of-date) xml files and inclusions here, to see what I mean. Maybe Thomas can explain this better than me!  |
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Post by Taryn on Apr 1, 2010 16:12:06 GMT
What do the numbers like 5/5 or 16/14 mean?
And I really like those flowcharts. Is there any chance if you sharing them with us in full, prdwong? I usually don't pay attention to section numbers as I play, so I forget what they mean in most flowcharts.
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Post by prdwong on Apr 1, 2010 17:38:14 GMT
For battles, 16/14 would indicate that there is an enemy with CS:16 and EP:14 to fight there.
For a random decision, 5/5 would indicate that there's a 50% chance of going down the left path, and a 50% chance of going down the right path.
So, if people are interested, is there a way to host the files with ProjectAon, or do I need to find some other way to post them online?
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Post by outspaced on Apr 2, 2010 13:44:00 GMT
You could contact the Project Coordinator via the Contact Form and ask for some space on the server--I assume he'd be amenable to it. Failing that, or if you don't want to ask, I could certainly host the files on my own gamebook-themed website. |
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Post by Thomas Wolmer on Apr 5, 2010 11:58:52 GMT
I'm interested in using the tools outspaced mentioned. Is gbtodot meant to work on any hyperlinked XML source, or does it work only on Project Aon-specific XML pages? I'm not really the right person to ask, but I'm 99.9% sure that it only works on PA-specific xml file. The xml is the 'all-in-one' source file that contains all the text in the book, all illustration placement and dimensions, and all extraneous PA-related matter, such as the book's specific errata information, acknowledgments page, etc. As such, it is quite difficult to read, since it contains a great deal of "structural" information. You can see some (out-of-date) xml files and inclusions here, to see what I mean. Maybe Thomas can explain this better than me! Yep! gbtodot.pl is 100% Project Aon specific. The generation is actually in two parts; the gbtodot.pl scripts knows how to find files on the PA webside (so that section links can be generated) and then an XSLT stylesheet (gbtodot.xsl) extracts the section/link/illustration/combat info from the XML files and creates a .dot file. |
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Post by prdwong on Apr 9, 2010 1:28:52 GMT
I've uploaded a little bit here: prdwong.tripod.com/index.htmlI'll host them for now so I better control over what versions are up. If they become very useful then I can think about hosting them somewhere else. They are in .xlsx format (Office 2003), sorry about that. I also wanted to upload the compatible .xls format, but I'm space constrained on this site for now (120kB vs. 3MB). If people like them I'll post more... |
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Post by Zipp on Apr 9, 2010 4:18:02 GMT
Having them for the original books would be awesome! I would probably use them for assistance with the MSN books (for which the PA flow charts have been INDISPENSABLE)
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