Help file for the simple slideshow editor

A game is a challange. The current challange is to make the right descission.

Topics

start of the application
structure of a slideshow

start of the application

choose from the following actions:

editor
starts the slideshow editor

game
play an installed game

drawpane
paint a picture


editor:
you should be able to access all options by left clicks via the menubar

The menu shows the general options:
file, slideshow, slide, test, help

file has the options:
new:
creates a new slideshow without saving the current one.
All your work will be undone and lost, if you do not save before.
the new slideshow contains one normal slide.

load:
without saving the current slideshow, you can choose a slideshow from the available projects.

save:
This option will save the current project without building it.

exit:
Shut down the application without saving.
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editor

slideshow has the options:
add slide:
Adds a slide to the slideshow.

title:
You should always set the property title. That is the name of your slideshow story game.

preferences:
The preferences are a short description of your project,
the version, that's the amount of of building and saving operations,
the release date set by the last build,
an optinal start image, which you can edit with the drawpane,
and the non optional title. Right now this option is not implemented.

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editor

slide has the options:
edit:


edit image:


remove slide:
Remove the selected slide from the slideshow. If no slide is selected, nothing will happen. Click on the slide you want to delete.
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editor

test has the options:
build:
run:
build & run:

Build is the function to export the game. With run you can test your story game from within the editor. Build does make a copy of the current project and saves this story game to the games folder. After that step it does create a resource bundle named by the title of the game and the current date.
Run will start the copy, that resides in the games folder. You should build the story first, if you want to test the last steps you made. You can perform both steps all at once by choosing build & run. Build creates always a new resouce bundle. You can use them to archive your work.

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editor

help has the options:
about:
visit the http://funkfishgames.com website to receive the newest version and more informations about this application and project.

help:
shows this file and I hope it will help you.

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editor

game


This chapter depends on the implementation of the slideshow data model. The game is an interpretor of the data model.
We will discuss the default implementation here.
Later...

Very much later...
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game



DrawPane drawing tool

This is a simple polygon based vector image paint application. This is the way you can easilly create your own background images for your story. It has a overview pane for the shapes on the left, on the right you see the drawing area. You have following options: outline, close, fill, the important finish and colors with the submenu linecolor and fillcolor. You should always finish your shape. Finishing it allows you to draw the next one, but you must not close the shape.

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choose from the folling actions:
file, edit, colors, shape, help

file has the options:
new
This creates a complete new image without saving.
load
You can load an image - normally from the projects/images folder. The current image won't be saved.
save
Does indeed save the current image to the projects/images folder.
done
Tells a registered listener to take the current image. That's under normal circumstances the slideshow editor.
set name
Change the name of the image.
export
Save the image a png-file. Other image formats are not available.

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drawpane

edit has the options:
undo
Undos the last command. Sometimes this will have no or strange effects.
redo
If you have undo something, you can redo the undone command. And again, sometimes strange effects.
delete
If there is more than one shape in the image you can delete the selected (current) shape. Select it by choosing it from the overview tree.
width

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drawpane


colors: has the options:
set linecolor
If the outline property is set, choose the linecolor wisely. The line will be colored in the color you chose.
set fillcolor
If you've set the fill property for the current shape, you can choose the color, that will fill the shape.

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drawpane

shape has the options:
outline
Deactivates the outline property and switches it back again for the current shape. per default outline is activated.
fill
Activates or deactivates the fill property for the current shape. Default setting is deactivated.
close
Per default the any shape is open. Click close will change close the current shape. A second click will open it again.
finish
FINISH finishes the current shape and create autoatically a new one. Do not forget to finish the current shape.
delete
Deletes the selected current shape.
visible
Is setting this poperty to unvisible or switches this back to visible.
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drawpane

help has the options:
about
visit the http://funkfishgames.com website to receive the newest version and more informations about this application and project.
help
shows the file and I hope it will help you.

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drawpane

the drawpane overview tree:
You see the drawpane overview tree on the left.
It shows you all shapes in the current picture visible and unvisible ones.
You can select any shape by clicking on the wanted element. Now you can change the visibility of the element or paint or change it any how you like it.

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drawpane


Structure of a slideshow

slideshow
slide
background image
selection
text
target

Slideshow:
The slideshow is a simple storytelling application. It shows images in the background and text in the foreground. The applcation is organized as a collection of slides.

structure

Slide:
A slide represents one background image and a collection of selections. It shows the background image and one or more textelements, where you might choose "what is coming next".

structure

Background image:
You can draw and edit the background image. That is the only way to set the background image in the moment.

structure

Selection:
A selection is a collection of one or more texts. It is a possible target for a event thrown by a selection. You should not point to the selection itself. This might create a endless loop.

structure

Text:
A text is the basic textelement. It can have one target.

structure

Target:
A target points to a slide or to a selection. It is possible, that the target does not point anywhere. In this case the next selection of the current slide is chosen by default. If there is no next selection present in this slide, the slideshow stops immediately - pointing to the exit.

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