Items Improvements for Adventure Map Building

Would you like to see these changes implimented?


  • Total voters
    7

Khaios

Duke Fishron
Hello Terrarians! ^.^

I'm absolutely loving the 1.3.1 update. It's really opened up a new level of possibilities for aspiring adventure map builders, and I personally feel it's a very great step in a direction I've been dying for Terraria to go in for years now. I'll be perfectly honest. Up until now, I've spent a great many hour building in Terraria, but not once have I tried to create an adventure map. I've left that portion of my creativity to Minecraft (shun me if you will), as it has far greater tools for adventure maps than Terraria. With the release of the latest patch, however, I feel like we are finally getting closer to the tools we need to truly create some phenomenal adventure maps! With that, I've finally started creating my own, and I feel that there can be some improvements to help transfer our ideas into reality.

KBS Greek Divider.png

Improved Announcement Box:

I'll start with improvements to the announcement box. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful tool, and I love using it, but if it could be altered to also be able to issue the following commands, it would greatly open up adventure mapping possibilities:
  • Toggle day/night (or set time)
  • Toggle/disable weather
  • Add/remove items in player* inventory (using ID's)
  • Teleport player* to coordinates (no more blinking teleporter lights, trying to hide a tile, or immersion breaking sounds)
  • Toggle monster spawning (A disabled setting would not spawn monsters naturally, but they could still be spawned via statue, or monster spawner--see suggestion below)
  • Kill all monsters
  • Toggle tile destruction
  • Toggle loot drops (No adventure map builder wants to repeatedly type "don't use anything dropped by monsters")
  • Set spawn* (Not relocating the map's spawn, but more like setting a bed. It could either require specific coordinates, or it could set the spawn to the location of the nearest player when the command was issued)
  • Remove spawn*
*Any command that directly influences a player would target the nearest player (in case of multiplayer)

I'm sure that I, or others, could come up with more to add to this list, but at the very least, these commands would revolutionize Terraria adventure map making. I understand that these commands could be quite OP if used in a standard playthrough, but the main intent is obviously for custom adventures. During a Twitch stream, I saw @Cenx mention the possibility of a creative mode. If this in fact true, then perhaps the commands for the announcement box can only be typed in by Creative mode players. Alternately, there could be a special variation of announcement box that is only available through creative mode.

KBS Greek Divider.png

Monster Spawner:

Statues in Terraria are amazing. They look great, and most of them have wonderful additional functionality. There is just one minor issue. Not every monster is covered. While I think it would be very interesting to see hundreds of enemy statues, that is just not realistic. I recommend a monster spawner block.

Monster Spawner:
Monster Spawner.png


Every enemy is represented by an internal ID. Knowing this, the monster spawner would work similarly to signs or announcment boxes, in that you would right click on the tile to gain access to a menu. The menu would only allow you to type a number. Enter the ID of the monster you wish to spawn, and save. When activated through a wire signal, the spawner will summon the monster you have selected.

Monsters spawned through this tile should be slightly different from those naturally spawned (or spawned via statue). They should drop no loot. This removes any desire to create a farm out of the spawner. In addition, the monsters should behave in a hostile manner, no matter what time of day, depth, or biome they are spawned in. For example, if I currently spawn a granite golem in the sky during the day (through its statue), it will wander off to the right of the screen non-stop, completely ignoring the player as it attempts to flee. A granite golem from the monster spawner would turn and attack the player, regardless of where or when.

It should be considered "furniture," so that players can walk in front of it freely. Enemies spawned should appear above the spawner. If there are blocks directly above, it could function like the geyser (the enemy would spawn at the first gap available).

Again, assuming there will in fact be a creative mode in the future, this item should only be obtainable through it.

KBS Greek Divider.png

Delayed Logic Gate Lamps:

While this isn't necessarily an adventure map making improvement alone, I do feel it could be highly useful. Right now, any signal that fires through a wire is instantaneous. This carries advantages and disadvantages, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. While it is possible to create a delay, it requires quite a bit of space, either to encorporate several logic gates or a trap and teal pressure plate. Another smaller option are timers, but one second is quite long. This can easily be simplified by adding delayed logic gate lamps. There would be three varieties, to correspond with current logic lamps.

Delayed On:
Delayed Lamp On.png


Delayed Off:
Delayed Lamp Off.png


Delayed Faulty:
Delayed Lamp Faulty.png


When these lamps receive a signal, instead of turning on/off instantly, they would wait .25 or .5 seconds, giving a very slight delay, which could be exactly the amount of time you would need for your wire contraption. Other than the delay, they would work exactly like their standard counterparts.

KBS Greek Divider.png

Logic Sensor (Player Below) and Weighted NPC Pressure Plates:

Very straight forward. Sometimes, sometimes you might want to hide a sensor in the ceiling, or have a weighted pressure plate for monsters. ^.^

KBS Greek Divider.png

Pressure Plate Placement:

The placement options for 1.3.1's teal pressure plate is fantastic! I've always wanted to be able to place pressure plates on any side of a block. Only one slight problem...teal is currently the only type that is capable of this. I can see quite a few uses for having player (or NPC) activated pressure plate on the walls, or ceiling, particularly for parkour maps. In addition to those, however, I suggest one more pressure plate placement option: background walls.

Gray Background Pressure Plate:
Gray Pressure Plate Background.png


Yellow Background Pressure Plate:
Yellow Pressure Plate Background.png


Teal Background Pressure Plate:
Teal Pressure Plate Background.png


Weighted Background Pressure Plate:
Weighted Pressure Plate Background.png


These are only a few examples, but it could be done for every pressure plate variety. They would be placed on the background wall similarly to switches or levers, and function exactly as pressure plates normally do, triggering as the entity passes in front of them.

KBS Greek Divider.png

That concludes my Adventure Map Improvement suggestions. Thanks for sticking around! If you have anything you'd like to add to this, or if you want to comment on whether or not you approve of my suggestion, feel free to leave a comment! I haven't seen a suggestion like this yet, but if one already exists, my apologies. Thank you @Jestex for creating the custom sprites for this suggestion! ^.^
 
Great post. I agree that 1.3.1 was a HUGE step in the right direction for Adventure Maps, but it is still lacking some features. The monster spawner and several of the Announcement Box ideas are a must for a true adventure map IMO. Hopefully we'll get some of these suggestions. :)
 
I like this idea. I've personally felt that too much time was spent implementing controller features when being able to spawn any type of monster for adventure maps is a sorely lacking feature.
 
These ideas are great, and I think that the announcement box commands should only be allowed if they do add a creative mode. Otherwise I think it would be crazily abused. The monster spawner and NPC weighted pressure plates are one of the more helpful ones that have a chance of being added. Also I have another idea for the player sensor which is splitting it into multiple items. The player sensors would be color-coded and only activate if a player of a certain team color was above it. Here is a link to my idea: http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/sensor-wiring-team-player-logic-sensors.45380/
 
I like your idea, but I don't like the way you are trying to steer this game into a complex building program. Personally I have not mastered how the logic gates work. But that's another story. And I want Terraria to be a fighting and adventuring game. Sure creative mode is nice, but I don't want the developers to think that this game is a way to create your artwork and show to other people.
 
I don't want the developers to think that this game is a way to create your artwork and show to other people.

People have been creating and sharing artwork since 1.0. It's never detracted from the awesome adventuring and combat of the game, and I don't think it ever will. That's the beauty of this game. There are so many ways to enjoy it ^.^
 
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