New En Garde Name Display System
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Recently a lot of players have had problems getting their names to display when playing En Garde, or on the leader boards. This was due to the system I had breaking down. The names are displayed with custom textures, which are auto-generated and uploaded to Second Life. The robot I used for this would frequently stop working.
Also, the process I used to make the name textures wasn't compatible with some third-party Second Life clients. The names would look all speckly and weird. There wasn't anything I could do about that, since it worked with the standard client and I can't control the code in the third-party clients.
But now I have a new system which should fix both of those problems. Now, everyone can make their own custom textures to display their names.
I'm sending out Name Display prims to all En Garde owners. To set your display name, you can make your own texture and drop it on any prim. Your custom name will be set in the system and will display on any En Garde piste you play. If you change your display name in Second Life, you can re-upload a new texture for En Garde. You can do this as many times as you want.
When you touch the Name Display prim it will give you a notecard detailing the process, and also some suggestions for the best way to format your texture. If you have problems, the owner of the piste should be able to help you. If you need to know how to upload a texture to Second Life, there's plenty of tutorials on that.
I hope I don't have to stress that everyone should keep their custom name display within the bounds of good taste.
This problem with the name display has been one of the most frequently requested fixes/improvements for En Garde, and I'm glad I finally got something up and running. Thanks to the owners who helped me debug the new system, and all the players for their patience.
4 comments:
Sorry, you're right! Here's an overview of how to use the system.
First, you need a Display Name prim. If you own En Garde, you should have received one when I sent out the update (if not, you can get one by touching any vendor and redelivering a new setup to yourself). If you don't own En Garde, you can use a Display Name prim from any owner to set your display name globally across the whole system.
Next, you need to have a texture to use as a display name. You can make this texture in any graphics program, as long as you save it
as a .gif, .jpg, or .png. For best results, you should also follow these guidelines:
* The texture should have a transparent background, with your name being the only foreground element
* The texture should be 1024 pixels long and 128 pixles tall (or it can be a multiple of those numbers)
* After you create your texture, upload it to Second Life with your client. You should see it in the Textures folder of your inventory. There is a L$10 charge for uploading images.
* You must have full permissions on the texture you use (this should be automatic for textures you create)
When you've got your name texture ready, touch the Display Name prim. You then have 30 seconds to drag your name texture onto the prim.
* Make sure your inventory window is open and you can see your name texture
* Hold down the CONTROL key, and drag the texture onto this prim. It should hilite in red.
* Drop the texture on the prim, and you should see a message that your texture has been accepted.
You should see your new name if you step on a piste. It will also appear in the high score leader boards.
Name textures should have your name and nothing else. People who upload inappropriate textures will be banned from the game.
When trying to introduce the game to new people and to have to take the time to design one's name before you can play with one's name on the score board or to watch a match with no names on the score board is a serious oversight and design flaw: It kills the game spontaneity for first timers!
IMHO the custom name texture should be an option, not a necessity.
The name display system is entirely optional -- the game functions fine without it. I recommend new players hop on and play (with help from a tutor) and see how they like the game before they take the time to upload a name texture.
So why don't you post the instructions or guidelines for creating this Display Name graphic here.
I have to fire up another computer to get to SL to get them. Been searching on the web but only found this reference.
Thank You.