Introduction

There are a lot of basic tutorials out there already, but I feel that most of them only cover some of the information a new creator needs to know, while other aspects (such as sprite making) usually fall by the wayside. This tutorial is designed to cover all the bases when it comes to making your own agent, including how to make sprites the right way, proper coding practices, and how to package your first agent.

My Dustdevil Grendel, Brux, will be helping to demonstrate proper agent creation procedures. Brux has been complaining of boredom lately. By the end of this tutorial, we will have created a proper toy for him to play with.

You are welcome to follow along as much as you want, even code the tutorial agent for yourself, which I would recommend if development is new to you. I will be offering any necessary files, such as graphics and sounds, for you to download to help you get started. You don't even need to worry about having a script range or classifier to use, although we'll get into that more later on.

Table of Contents

Part 1

1. Tools You'll Need
2. What Are Sprites?
3. Creating Sprites
4. Importing Sprites

Part 2

5. Understanding Classifiers
6. How Scripts Work
7. Getting Ready to Code
8. An Introduction to the CAOS Tool

Part 3

9. Creating the Agent
10. Agent Properties
11. Placing the Agent
12. Injecting the Agent
13. Removing the Agent

Part 4

14. Event Scripts
15. Activate and Hit Scripts
16. Pickup, Drop and Collision Scripts
17. Using Conditions
18. Testing the Agent
19. Writing the Catalogue File
20. Packaging the Agent