Side Stories - Putting it all together

My intentions for this page are to explain through example every aspect of a side story and how they are used. I will include documentation along the way so every command will explain what it's doing (at least the first time) and how it is used. Please do not edit this page, I'll get to it on a fairly regular basis.

I started writing in here right away without actually planning it out... caused a few problems as I started going through it in my head... So, I'm currently writing the actual Side Story - on the side - and will update here as I get it working properly... Ideally, I'll have a downloadable version available before it's completed here...

27/04/2014
Alright, so I've been working on a monsterpedia file, as well as a side story editor. Some of you may wonder, why bother with the side story editor? Since side stories are so limited in what you can do with them. Other's may wonder, why work on a monsterpedia? there's one in the game..? Well, I'll answer both of those questions here... Though, they are unrelated to the purpose of this page. So you can read them if you'd like, or you can proceed below them to the actual content of this page.

Side Stories / Side Story Editor
When I first came to the Monster Girl Quest Wiki, I had no idea about the limitations of Side Stories, I felt that creating a Side Story editor would be awesome! Then looking at the previously documented commands that you can use in a Side Story, I realized just how limited they were. My first reaction was - why bother making a side story editor? Then I thought, well people still make side stories, I can make it easier to do that, fairly easily since they're so limited... Then I thought, well... there are commands in some side stories that I've never heard of, and that I didn't understand how they worked. So I started doing research into the Monster Laboritory and discovered a bunch of new commands, figured out how they worked, then documented them in the 'making a side story' section of this page. Now I realize that a Side Story, though still inherently limited, can be quite elaborate, so an editor is something that could be a great tool for side story creators to both assist them in Side Story developement, as well as showing them just how far they can take their stories.

Monsterpedia
Creating a monsterpedia isn't so much about seeing all the graphics in the game, it's more about knowing what's available. The monsterpedia is meant for side story developers as well as people making a repatch, to show all the different graphics in the game, their filenames, and who they relate to specifically. Originally I had intended to create a monsterpedia that was limited to each individual monster entry, though early on I realized that there were some issues with doing that. Not all graphics are actually referenced in battle, and beyond that, extracting specific graphic to battle information is a very lengthy process. Anyway, not going to happen. I refuse. Instead, I've created a monster specific graphic list. This is not monster / fight specific, but monster specific. For instance, Granberia has multiple entries, though each entry references all of Granberia's graphics. This is the first test that I did with splitting them up on a fight specific basis. Granberia has 2 images that aren't referenced in battle, they are instead referenced later on in the Monster Lord's castle, during a non-battle scene. Not very useful to have undocumented images. Anyway, that's why we need a monsterpedia, so that people creating can have an actual image list that's already been broken down in a character specific way.

Putting it all together What I've decided to do in the interm, is create a Side Story, without an editor. The purpose of this side story is to show how everything that you can use in a side story is actually used. Hopefully I'll find a good reason to use the four remaining undocumented commands in side story developement somewhere in here... The creation of this Side Story will not be done privately however, instead I'm going to create it here, on the site. I will document the use of every command (at least the first time I use the command) and explain what they're doing as well as how they work. Hence, Putting it all together...

The Story
I've decided to create a Side Story that takes place in the coliseum. In it, Luka will battle every creature within the game. Winning a battle will award Luka a bonus, losing a battle will allow him to retry, though he will not recieve a bonus for the battle's completion. As a side story developer, you can go through to the individual sections (which will be linked somewhere on here) for each monster to see their specific image list. That's the plan... We'll see how it goes...

'' pre-story notes ...   all variable use is being remapped, I'm having issues with the battle development as, well - it's just slightly more problematic than I'd assumed it would be. I've decided that viewing the 'extra' moves with points earned isn't exactly a valid option, as tracking this over a number of monsters becomes problematic with limited variable use.''

''as such, all images and moves will be available to the user after they battle set character... at least, that's the plan... battle control is a little more problematic than I'd originally thought, the battles will not be exactly as they were in the original game, which is fine because they all take place in the Coliseum anyway, so they're not supposed to be exactly the same... doesn't matter, I'm getting to it... the first battle I'll be posting (001_SlimeGirl) will contain a fairly basic battle tutorial, as the battle's become more advanced, well... yeah... so will the tutorials I guess...''


 * [setting]
 * title="Luka vs The Coliseum"

notes:
 * [intro]
 * [intro]

background:
 * 0 = "bg,bg043,10,1500 "


 * 1 = "name,Leprichaun "

text/speech:
 * 2 = "Well, Luka... I'm sending you to the Coliseum as an example... "
 * 3 = "To show writers how they can create their own stories, "
 * 4 = "as well as reference specific monster girls from all over this world. "
 * 5 = "name,Luka "
 * 6 = "Reference monster girls? "
 * 7 = "For what? What do you mean? "
 * 8 = "name, Leprichaun "
 * 9 = "... Alright, so you're not going to remember this anyway... but, this... "
 * 10 = "... this is a game, Luka... and the writer's need to access images... "
 * 11 = "or their stories don't work... "
 * 12 = "name, Luka "
 * 13 = "A game? what do you mean a game!? You're not playing with me! "

flash: 
 * 14 = "flash,250,500"
 * 15 = "name,Leprichaun "
 * 16 = "Anyway, it's time for you to fight Luka. I've set your level back to 1. "
 * 17 = "You will get stronger after every fight, so don't worry. "
 * 18 = "Ontop of that, you will be awarded points for every new attack that hits you. "
 * 19 = "You can use those points later to view different attacks, if you wish. "
 * 20 = "name,Luka "
 * 21 = "..? wha..? what happened? The Coliseum? How'd we get here..? "
 * 22 = "name,Leprichaun "
 * 23 = "... lets just head in... "

var_ld: 
 * 24 = var_ld,v0,1
 * 25 = "goto,story"
 * 26 = "..."

end: 
 * 27 = "end"
 * [story]
 * [story]

var_cpa: 
 * 1 = "var_cpa,v0,=,0,0"

var_jump: 
 * 2 = "var_jump,intro"
 * 3 = "name,Luka "
 * 4 = "... alright, what's next... "

select: 
 * 5 = "select,Section 1 ,group1,Section 2 ,group2, Section 3 ,group3, Section 4,group4"

note re: '...': 
 * 6 = "..."
 * 7 = "end"
 * [group1]
 * [group1]

variable notes for group1: 
 * 1 = "name,Announcer "
 * 2 = "var_cpa,v6,=,0,0"
 * 3 = "var_jump,group1_FirstBattle"
 * ; if we're still here, the var_jump didn't fire... so we progress with the story...
 * 4 = "Alright Luka, lets see where you're at in group 1... "
 * 4 = "Alright Luka, lets see where you're at in group 1... "

var_out: 
 * 5 = "var_out,You've had ,v6, fights "
 * 6 = "var_out, and,v2, victories...@"
 * 7 = "Go on out, your opponent should be waiting for you..."
 * 8 = "var_cpa,v2,1,0"
 * 9 = "var_jump,003_SlugGirl
 * 10 = "..."
 * 11 = "end"
 * [group1_FirstBattle]
 * 1 = name,Announcer "
 * 2 = "Well Luka, It's your first battle. You're up against the Slime Girl, "
 * 3 = "don't forget your sword... "
 * 3 = "don't forget your sword... "

sprites with sp command: 
 * 4 = "sp,2,angersword,0,0,10,1000 "

deleting a sprite made with the sp command: 
 * 5 = "sp_del,2,10,1000 "
 * 6 = "Luka... it's time to fight! "
 * 7 = "goto,001_SlimeGirl"
 * 8 = "..."
 * 9 = "end"
 * [group2]
 * [group2]

variable notes for group2: 
 * 1 = "name,Leprichaun "
 * 2 = "this hasn't been written yet... lets go back to the story... "
 * select: 
 * 3 = "goto,story"
 * 4 = "..."
 * 5 = "end"
 * [group3]
 * [group3]
 * [group3]

variable notes for group3: 
 * 1 = "name,Leprichaun "
 * 2 = "this hasn't been written yet... lets go back to the story... "
 * 3 = "goto,story"
 * 4 = "..."
 * 5 = "end"
 * [group4]
 * [group4]

variable notes for group4: 
 * 1 = "name,Leprichaun "
 * 2 = "this hasn't been written yet... lets go back to the story... "
 * 3 = "goto,story"
 * 4 = "..."
 * 5 = "end"
 * [001_SlimeGirl]
 * [001_SlimeGirl]

notes 'n' stuff: 
 * 1 = "bg,bg084,10,1500 "
 * 2 = "name,Announcer "
 * 3 = "Welcome to the coliseum folks, have we got a show planned out for you today! "
 * 4 = "Monster's from aroudn the world, most of whome have never participated here, "
 * 5 = "have gathered to fight one man! You all know him, it's Luka! "
 * 6 = "name, "
 * 7 = "the audience stands and applods "
 * 8 = "name,Announcer "
 * 9 = "First up, Luka is going to face a slime girl! "
 * 10 = "And while her level is extremely low, we've set Luka's to match! "
 * 11 = "Welcome to the colesium's main event folks, I hope you're ready for a long show... "
 * 11 = "Welcome to the colesium's main event folks, I hope you're ready for a long show... "

restart: 
 * 12 = "restart,LukaVsAll\001_SlimeGirl
 * 13 = "..."
 * 14 = "end"
 * not a bad idea to list out the backgrounds you intend to use, just for your own reference...
 * delete them from your story when you're going to 'publish' it though...
 * ;background information
 * ;bg084 - the Coliseum
 * ;bg043 - stairs, going to use it as the entrance to the arena
 * ;bg043 - stairs, going to use it as the entrance to the arena

NOTES