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[weediz]

I'm looking to develop a sort of text based fighting game, but in order to do this I need a database of moves. Does anyone know of a good way to store a list of 100+ moves along with information about how much damage it does, when it can be used and so on?

My initial thought was just a big ol' text file which the game goes through and parses whenever it's run, but I was wondering if there were any other viable options out there.

[Kay12]

I'd suggest XML, which is parsed to in-game objects.

[Chris_24]

I haven't actually used XML before, but it sounds like a good choice. I'd split the moves into seperate files, as well, though. Not just one long one.

[weediz]

As in have a separate file for certain types of move? That seems sensible enough. I should probably have mentioned this before but I'll be using either C++ or VB depending on how I want the game to look.

Thanks for the advice so far.

[Chris_24]

Yeah, that's what I meant

[Kay12]

Yeah, a single file for several moves is the smart way to do it, I suppose. Here's an example you might find relevant, ripped from Liberal Crime Squad's XML files...

Code: [Select]

<weapontype idname="WEAPON_SEMIPISTOL_45">
        <name>.45 Semiauto</name>
        <name_future>.45 Laser Pistol</name_future>
        <shortname>.45 Semi.</shortname>
        <shortname_future>.45 Las.</shortname_future>
        <can_take_hostages>true</can_take_hostages>
        <threatening>true</threatening>
        <legality>0</legality>
        <fencevalue>100</fencevalue>
        <size>5</size>
        <attack>
            <priority>1</priority>
            <ranged>true</ranged>
            <attack_description>shoots at</attack_description>
            <skill>PISTOL</skill>
            <ammotype>CLIP_45</ammotype>
            <random_damage>181</random_damage>
            <fixed_damage>10</fixed_damage>
            <shoots>true</shoots>
            <bleeding>true</bleeding>
            <damages_armor>true</damages_armor>
            <armorpiercing>4</armorpiercing>
        </attack>
        <attack>
            <priority>2</priority>
            <attack_description>swings at</attack_description>
            <skill>CLUB</skill>
            <strength_min>2</strength_min>
            <strength_max>6</strength_max>
            <random_damage>6</random_damage>
            <fixed_damage>5</fixed_damage>
            <bruises>true</bruises>
        </attack>
    </weapontype>
That's probably quite close to what you want - as you may have figured, the XML above describes a weapon in great detail, including the bits that are probably relevant to your game's attacks as well. Feel free to ask any questions - I'm not an expert on XML parsing but I'll try my best to help.

[weediz]

Thanks for the advice, I figured xml would probably be the best option but last time I tried using it in a program I got overwhelmed by it.

However this time I'm making more progress, I'm using pugixml with C++ and I seem to be able to make it do everything I need.

[Kay12]

Great!

One of the key advantages of XML, by the way, is its relative human-readability. By storing game data in XML files, as you may have already realized, will allow modifications without having to compile.

Good luck with your project!