Enhancement Member Battles

[Senkusha]

A fragment of History...​

Many years ago, I had worked on my old forum an extension that simulated the ability for members to combat with one another. It was called the Battle MOD, and I was quite proud of that massive-hot-mess of code I assembled. I got to learn PHP pretty well during that process. Anyway, I bring that up, because while I was doing some more Digital Archeology, I stumbled across the posts where I talked about it, and saw the output it generated. I thought, ya know, XenForo doesn't have anything like that, and it would be an awesome way to get more use out of the Shop...

I'm two decades smarter... or maybe more determined, than I was the first time I created this, and I've been working with XenForo for about a year now. My energy is slowly coming back, and Winter time is nearly upon us. I'll need to keep occupied if I'm going to defeat these darn Seasonal Blues. I sat down and I thought about how I could make this...

I've got the Shop that can act as the Member Inventory. I just need to assign tokenized parameters to various items and they can trigger code snippets when used. I can use the Credits modification to store most of the variable data. And I can add that old, stupid Llama modification that SMF had back during it's infancy-- but I'll spice it up! We're an anime forum, not a zoo! And today, I don't have to write code line by line. I've got DeepSeek available to speed some of the mundane processes up.

So yesterday morning I sat down in my favorite chair, cracked my knuckles and gave Prismatica a good once-over. EEK! There's an upgrade! A tiny voice told me to ignore it, but of course, I ignored it. What if there's a major security patch?? So, I upgraded. And immediately broke the forum. The front page was a blank white page. Oh crap.

Turns out that there was a modification made a couple months ago that broke the forum, a security update. And some of the modifications that I really like and use are directly affected by this modification. Something to do with copyright info at the bottom of the screen. So, okay, the Developers patched their files. Good. I'll just go update my softw-- Crap. License Expired! Now I need money! It's okay. I'll just take it away from the birthday money I was saving. $100, and I can get an All-Pass, so I spend less money on renewals, because I use a lot from this one Developer.

A Spark!! YIKES that's FIRE!!​

So, I can't build my Renewed Battle MOD just yet, at least, not the way I had envisioned. I need to skip a couple of steps. But I can build the framework around the missing Shop and Credits modifications. First I need to create the Prize Generator, and the entrance into the Battle System, since I can use Shop Tokens right now. I'll use that Llama mod, because it was pretty and worked on a randomized basis. I'll modify the original version to include a file directory cache of images that can be spawned from randomly, so the same boring image isn't used over and over again. That was written in JavaScript. I haven't touched JavaScript in about two decades. It was a learning experience. (Again.)

The next thing I needed to work on was the Battle Engine itself. What this would do is create a separate thread or reply in a dedicated board, instead of just appending the text to a modified Message Footer-- I may add that option in for special cases later. So anyway, this also means that I need a way to track Health, and Energy, because why not? It's a simplistic RPG now. And that's when I though, why not just use Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd Edition RETRO as the core mechanic. I'm already fairly familiar with it. It uses a Roll Under mechanic, and it features a natural Bell Curve. I could write functions that would simulate the various Attribute abilities/powers too, because the system is open-ended enough that I can take certain liberties if needed to make things work.

After I got that to work, I decided, ya know, there's quite a few variables that are hard-coded right now. It'd be nice to tweak them via the Admin Control Panel. Let me tell you monkeyin' around with various code files SUCKS. There's a lot of different code files, because of the way XenForo layers everything. It's actually pretty slick, I like it, now that I've gotten used to how things are setup. So, I worked and created this page. But....

So, I'm using DeepSeek to help me write this bastard, because I don't know what I'm doing with XenForo, and I've poked around their Forum on the official site. There's VERY LITTLE developer tutorials or really anything. Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. Anyway, DeepSeek is my faithful companion as I slog through this modification. And it works pretty well, for the most part. I tell it what I want, it generates some code, I say, no, I want this, now, instead, and it spits out something totally different for me to try. I noticed a pattern. Every time it would generate a new install for me, something would break. I'd literally would have to retrace my steps to recreate stuff that was lost. I've gotten very good at knowing where various crap in the Admin Control Panel is now. And I'm beginning to understand why there are so many different files and why they're named the way they are. It all has to do with XenForo's layering design, and I gotta say, it's pretty brilliant.

Anyway, today I learned about all these files, and structures while I was working with DeepSeek. And then at around 08:30 this morning, I sent a request for information that I guess is considered taboo and found my account on DeepSeek had been suspended for three days. Oh shit. I'm literally standing in a dark closet, there's water filling the room and my pants are non-existent. Did I mention it's dark?

I still had a ton of work left to do, and now my guide has abandoned me at like the worst spot on the mountainside! So, I do what I've always done. I started looking harder at the code. I broke small pieces into minuscule pieces! Luckily, by this point most of the heavy lifting was completed. There were just little odds and ends, tiny enhancements that I could figure my way around. And that's exactly what I did. I had to use Google AI for a couple of tricky procedures, but I managed to muddle my way through it. Even did something I consider pretty advanced-- I took an Admin CP setting and had JavaScript read it!

And now I want to talk about Vibe Coding.​

This is my second time using this process. I have opinions about it. Some are pretty nasty, which I'll kindly [redact]. But here's the main point. I noticed while I was Vibing? Is that a thing? That I wasn't really learning much. I was craving the final output. The working pieces. Then after 08:30 this morning, I noticed I was actually absorbing the information I was reading. I can re-create some of the small things I had to figure out on my own. And the Pleasure-Response in my brain felt better. So I'll be taking the next three days to really look at this code that I have. Maybe I can figure how how to hack the Shop modification on my own to allow my Member Battles extension to do what I need it to do? Could I use another AI while I'm waiting. Probably, but that means all the back and forth, debugging and troubleshooting might get mixed up in the new codings that are developed. I could just wait the three days-- I mean, I really won't have much of an opportunity to do much while I'm working this week. But I do have like an hour before I leave for work in the morning that I can putz around. Maybe I can add one itty bitty tiny tweak here and there? And then by Thursday, I'll be golden to get the rest of the heavy lifting done.

What do you want?​

So since I"m in the process of writing the damn thing, do you like this extension idea? Is it annoying? (Yeah, it is. But you'll be able to turn it on and off at will once I get the Shop piece integrated. In the meantime, I'll probably deactivate it, because the floating images are kinda distracting while writing epically long posts, like this one.

But I'm interested in knowing if you'd like to see anything added? Reading the posts I'm finding in the Archive is bringing back fond memories for myself, and from what I can tell, people seemed to really like the Battle MOD. But, they're not here. You are. So, please, indulge me.

Have fun!

Edit: Of course I forgot to tell you all about what the damn thing can do!

So when you click on a floating image (good luck catching some of them buggers! Dey be FAST!), you'll not only initiate a Battle Challenge with an Archived Member, but you'll also receive a Prize-- a random goodie out of the Shop. These things could be enhancements to augment your Member-Character, things like armor, fashion accessories that do really cool stuff-- like spin?, or they could increase your internal Statistics.

I mentioned that the System will use BESM 2 RETRO, so if you're not familiar with it, look at the book. We got a copy floating around here somewhere... Basically you've got three primary values: Body, Mind, and Soul. Each of these range from 1 to 12, and some combination of them determines how much Health and Energy you have. (Yeah, I have the formula memorized in my head, but I'm not sharing that here. ) Anyway, these two values, Health and Energy are represented by a little bar graphic under your PostBit. (When you joined, post count, gender, etc.)

Whenever you enter a Battle, a new Thread will be created with your randomly chosen Challenger. If you've fought before, a Reply will be posted instead, continuing the Saga! There's a number of things that can happen during these Challenges. Items can be stolen. Goodies can be awarded, or found laying on the floor from another rotting corpse... This Battle cycles through until either somebody dies (Health = 0), somebody passes out (Energy= 0), somebody retreats (Health falls below a predetermined value, or in rare cases, there's just too many damn rounds!

So you're probably wondering what the hell an Archived Member is. I should define that. This is a special group of members that I had to create manually for my Digital Archeology escapades. The majority of these members are old Ayeka's Bliss members. Someday, I'd do the happy dance if even one of them tripped over Prismatica, but odds are, that probably won't happen. Basically, there's an automated rule that I've set up. If you're inactive for 180 days (that's six months), you're account will be "promoted" to the status of Archived. It's not lost, it just means that you've probably either totally forgotten about us, or you've moved on with your life and ditched us. It's okay. Because now you're cannon fodder! Note: that it is possible to redeem your account out of Archived status, simply by logging in again. The System will restore your Stats to a reasonable level before letting your rampage freely on the site at large.

There's also a special mode I'm thinking about implementing. A targeted duel. You can tag @membername one of your buddies and have a direct confrontation right there in that message. This interaction will be limited to a single attack (punch, kick, thrown item-- like a grenade, or a gunshot--probably from a bazooka, only because these really neat! )

So, how do you participate? Once I get the Shop back, there's going to be a Battle Token that you can purchase. Having one in your inventory activates the Image Drop. Not having one, completely bypasses it. And of course, you'll be able to purchase all sorts of goodies in the Shop with your Lumina. And how do you get Lumina, you ask? By writing messages, tee-hee And there's lots of ways to write stuff here, not limited to only general gossip and discussions about hobbies, but like...participating in a role playing game, maybe? (I know, I've been kinda bad about running them), but I'm not the only person who's allowed to run a game here, FYI.

Okay, so now, go have some fun!