Dreamweaving - Basics, Guide by Damian Silvermane Options

[Damian Silvermane]

Dreamweaving - Basics
Written by: Damian Silvermane

Table of Contents:
- Introduction

- Understanding the Dream Editor: Keys

- Understanding the Dream Editor: Floor tiles

- Understanding the Dream Editor: Walls

- Understanding the Dream Editor: Objects

- Understanding the Dream Editor: Dragonspeak Editor

- Making a Basic two-room House w/ Dragonspeak

- Dreamweaving - Intermediate

- Q&A

- Credits

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Introduction:
Hello, boys and girls, this is your favorite demon Damian Silvermane ready to teach you one of the fun things Furcadia has to offer. Do you know what it is? No? Well then let me tell you. Its Dreamweaving, the ability to make your own dreams and run them for other furres to visit them! What could be more fun then that? If its really good, it might ascend to being one of the most popular places to visit!

Here's a little about myself. Long before I found Furcadia, I was a gamer for the 2nd best MMO in the world and I hailed from one of its fansites called Zybez. What interests me most about some video-games is sometimes you have the ability to create things. Be it your character, your character's house and/or land, weapons, whatever, I was into that stuff because it lets you be creative with everything around you! How I wound up in Furcadia was because my fansite was down for daily maintainence and lo and behold! Furcadia was being advertised. When I saw that you can make your own little dreams and a better way to socialize, I knew right away this was the place to be! If you happen to also be in Zybez, look me up! My name there is Robert E. Lee!

If you have any questions about my guide or suggestions or comments you want private, feel free to contact me in-game. I'm always on!

Sure there are hundreds of Dreamweavers out there in Furcadia that are far better then me, but since I've spent maybe a good two years tinkering with it, I figured I should share some things I've learned while using this marvelous tool. Please take notice this is my first ever guide on Furcadia and is going to be one of many that involves using the Dream Editor and maybe all things related to it in some way.

Before we can continue though, you must have the Furcadia Dream Editor on your system if we're to learn how to use it. If not, then whats the point of this guide, right?

Here's an overview of the Dream Editor:

http://i26.tinypic.com/j7vmna.png

1: Minimap - Just a minimized version of the entire map which makes for better scrolling.

2: Current Object - Tells you what you've currently selected to place down, be it an Object, Floor Tile, or a Wall.

3: Information - Gives basic details such as what coordinates your cursor is currently placed, what item is currently present on that coordinate (Object/Floor/Wall) and also how big your map currently is.

4: Boundary - All maps have limits and the Dream Editor is not any different. The red acts as unwalkable space that your furre can't access to so try not to make areas you wanted to go in this red area!

5: Furre's Field of View - This is how far your furre can see in-game, this helps when spacing rooms apart from each other so you can't see into other rooms in the house if you make any.

6: Cursor Mark - This tells which tile is selected due to having your cursor hover over it. It'll also contain items you've also selected.

7: Shortcut Palette - In all due honesty, I have no idea why this is even here or what it does. If someone can get some more information for me, I'd be more then happy to add that speck of info.

8: Paint Bucket Tool - This paint bucket will completely fill a whole area with whatever item you chose. Randomized tiles with different item numbers can act as boundaries in case you only want to "paint" over certain areas only and not the entire thing.

9: Selection Tool - This button will let you highlight areas so you can copy and paste into another area. This seems unwieldly most of the time when trying to make exact duplications of rooms with floors, walls and objects included. Use at your own risk, but don't forget the Ctrl+Z Key is your friend if you mess up!

10: Drawing Tool - This is going to be the drawing button you'll use almost throughout the entire Dreamweaving process! This basically lets you place anything in only one tile at a time, think of it like using Paint and clicking and dragging around. Clicking once results in more accuracy.

11: Floor Tiles - This switches your current item palette to Floor Tiles so you can place decorative floors down.

12: Objects - This switches your current item palette to Objects so you can decorate with various objects to make things look better overall.

13: Walls - This switches your current item palette to Walls so you can make various boundaries for rooms and houses and whatnot.

Listen to me ramble! I almost forgot all about the guide, let us begin!

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Understanding the Dream Editor: Keys:
Before we begin on this subject, you should be told that I use a Windows model. Sorry Macintosh users!

In the Dream Editor, the keys aren't just there to make it look good, its also there to make your life much more easy when handling it! In this section, I'll be giving a brief explanation of what each useful key does. It will be detailed in each category as well.

File:
- Ctrl+N: Want to make a new dream? This makes a new blank file for you to work on!

- Ctrl+O: Have a previous dream you want to edit and/or polish? This key opens up a previous save file.

- Ctrl+S: This key basically saves the current file you're editing so you can open later.

- Ctrl+Q: Time for tinkering over? This key immediately closes the program and all things related. You will prompted to save if you didn't save earlier.

Edit:
- Ctrl+Z: Oops! Did you make a mistake? This is the Undo key, this'll set you back a click or more depending on how many times you press it. Be careful though, pressing too many times will make you go too far back!

- Ctrl+C: Sometimes going into the item pallette gets a little slow for your editing when you want to add another object of the same type. This key does just the trick, seems to work on Object Selection though.

- Ctrl+V: This compliments the Copy key (Ctrl+C) by pasting whatever you had copied earlier.

- Ctrl+R: Don't want to use the keys to increase its size manually? This nifty key will let you choose what size you want it to be to a maximum of 208W & 200H without Dream Package upgrade.

- Ctrl+T: Dream size tall for you? This key shortens the H size of your map, which is vertical length.

- Ctrl+Y: Care to guess what this does? This makes your dream taller, but any higher then 200H and you'll be prompted to buy the Dream Package.

- Ctrl+F: This make the dream thinner in a horizontal direction. Too wide for you? Thin it out with this!

- Ctrl+G: Same effect as Ctrl+Y, but makes things wider. Anything wider then 208W and you'll be prompted to buy the Dream Package.

Show:
- Ctrl+1: Pressing this key will temporarily make all objects set in the dream go invisable. Pressing again will make them visable.

- Ctrl+2: Same as Ctrl+1, but for floors.

- Ctrl+3: Same as Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2, but for walls.

- Ctrl+M: This odd little key affects the "Furcadia Field of view, meaning that little inverted box surrounding your cursor. Its supposed to show how far your furre can see in-game.

- Ctrl+H: Did you forget a key or want to see all you've got available? This key opens up a window which shows all possible keys you can use.

Dragonspeak:
- D: This simple key opens up the DragonSpeak Editor which'll be explained later in the guide.

- Ctrl+D: Now this is somewhat good for beginners and novices alike. This opens up basically 3 Notepads. First will have a list of all DragonSpeak you're currently using in your dream, the second one displays a list of all DragonSpeak lines and the third details a basic tutorial on how to properly use DragonSpeak.

- Shift+Ctrl+D: Basically the same as Ctrl+D, but without the other two notepads.

Patches:
- Ctrl+L: This is basically used when near completing your dream. This key opens up Dream Settings which lets you detail how you want the dream to be run.

- Ctrl+P: This command reloads the patches currently being used in the dream, provided you installed any into it.

- Ctrl+Shift+P: Opens the Patch Folder so you can tweak your patches, provided any into your dream.

Animation:
- Ctrl+J: This plays all animated items at the same time.

- Ctrl+K: This resets all animated items at the same time.

Help:
- Ctrl+H: As before, this opens up the command pane for call command keys should you forget any.

Unlisted:
- Ctrl+B: Quickly opens up the item pallette, depending what item you previously chose.

- O: Quickly switches current item palette to Objects.

- F: Quickly switches current item palette to Floor Tiles.

- W: Quickly switches current item palette to Walls.

- -: This goes back one item on your item palette. For example, if you had chosen item 9 in Floor Tiles, it'll move to 8 or less depending if you keep clicking/holding the key.

- +: This goes forward one item on your item palette. For example, if you had chosen item 9 in Floor Tiles, it'll move to 10 or more depending if you keep clicking/holding the key.

- Right-click: Copies the item in the cursor's square depending on what item type you have up. For example if you had Objects selected and you right-clicked a pillow with gold fringe, you'll copy it and then be able to place more of it down.

- Shift+left-click: Deletes whatever item you had within your cursor. For example if you shift clicked a pillow while Objects was selected, you'll remove it.

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Understanding the Dream Editor: Floor Tiles:
Now we begin with the essential tools of Dreamweaving, starting with the Floor Tiles. You don't want to make a house which has a floor of grass, do you? Well that is why the Floor Tiles have a pallette of many pre-designed tiles you can choose from to decorate your house with. Simply pressing Ctrl+B will open the pallette to show a large variety of different floor tiles you can use.

When placing floor tiles, all you need is to select the floor tile from the pallette and click anywhere to place it down. Please be sure the button that looks like a pencil is selected when you do this!

We'll start with some basic placing, make a 7x7 square of land using any floor tile you want. Basic floor designs like this is mostly for making rooms for the inside of houses. And to make floors more original, add more of the same tile type to it, but make sure they have randomized patterns on them. Notice the Cobblestone floor tiles (8-11) are all the same type except they have different patterns for example.

http://i26.tinypic.com/2qty5o5.png

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Understanding the Dream Editor: Walls:
Walls is more of an essential tool then it is decorative as it acts as a boundary between one room from the other. Whats interesting about these walls in particular is the fact they can be placed two ways on one tile! Careful movement of the mouse affects which direction the wall will face. It'll be hard to show both in picture and in writing so I shall leave it to you to find out what I mean.

Once you find out, you can practically start making rooms. Once you get the hang of it, it should no longer pose as a problem in the future. If you still have the 7x7 floor square, try drawing some walls around the edge of that square of drawn ground using only walls 1-11 as they're the same shape and color, but with different features.

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Understanding the Dream Editor: Objects:
Now this proves to be more for decoration as well much like Floor Tiles. Like the walls though, Objects are also unique in some ways. Some Objects are used to be sat on for example or also be picked up.

Sittable Objects:
- All Pillows
- All Pillows on stools
- All Chairs
- All Couches

Gettable Objects:
- All Keys
- All Weapons
- All Capes
- Most very small objects

Everything else is decorative to make your areas look more original and less bland with all that space. Well if you don't mind a plain open field, you won't mind the wide open space with no objects of course.

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Understanding the Dream Editor: DragonSpeak Editor:
And this is the biggest thing you must learn in the Dream Editor. DragonSpeak Editor is what breathes life into your dreams and livens them up. Its needed to do mundane things like where your furre spawns when you or others enter the dream and going from one room to the next if inside a house to advanced things such as making laser-tag games, cuffing and dragging other furres, and many other things! This thing has 1000 command lines and over 1000 ways to make different commands with them.

To open it, you can find it in the DragonSpeak tab in Dream Editor or simply by pressing D on your keyboard.

As I've said, there's like 1000 command lines but to keep it organized, they were placed in 5 different categories: Causes, Additional conditions, Areas, Filters, and Effects.

1. Causes - This catergory determines what your furre must do to trigger something. Step somewhere, say something, etc will be found here. This is the foundation of making a command.

2. Additional Conditions - This adds more detail to the causes to make it much more complex. Was the furre supposed to be holding something? Was he supposed to have something earlier first? Was he supposed to be a Digo or a dream local? This category covers it.

3. Areas - This can also prove vital in the creation of some commands as well. This affects things like if a furre was standing on a certain coordinate or a square/diamond erea of ground.

4. Filters - This also helps in adding even more finer detail into causes. Is it supposed to happen when its not around a certain floor? How about an Object? This is where all that goes into.

5. Effects - And now what you can do to the person who triggered the command. Will the Floor get changed to something because of what you or a furre did? Will you be sent to a prison cell you made? Stuff that revolves around what happens go here.

I'll give you an example of how to use DragonSpeak properly in the next section. Pay attention now, this stuff is going to be important!

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Making a Basic two-room House w/ Dragonspeak:
Do you think you've got a good grasp of your Dream Editor and you're ready for the real deal? Well this section is going to teach you how to make one of those standard structures you see in the main dreams of Furcadia like the Acropolis for example!

We'll go back to that 7x7 square with the walls I suggested to you earlier which I hope you made. If you didn't, I suggest you read up on understanding Floor Tiles and Walls before continuing.

Did you add a door archway to that box of walls? If not, we can start now. Pick whichever side of the building and click on the wall to add it then go to Objects palette and block it with an inaccessible object, like this:

http://i28.tinypic.com/2hnowwl.png

Now when that is taken care of, open up the DragonSpeak Editor and you'll come across something like this:

http://i26.tinypic.com/xepjqw.png

Now before we begin, we need to adjust the first DragonSpeak command so that it spawns you directly in the center of the house. Where is says (16,183) in (5:15) move the triggering furre to (16,183), or to someplace nearby if it's occupied, replace 16,183 with the coordinate of the tile in the center of the house. You MUST watch this info to find out what coordinate your cursor is hovering over before:

http://i30.tinypic.com/2n6wtqf.png
(Its located on the information panel on the Dream Editor. Refer to Overview at top of guide if you don't remember.)

And in the command line where it says (16,183), that right there is an XY coordinate and its identified like this: (X,Y) if you replaced the numbers like that. So, using the coordinates from the picture, I'll replace the numbers on the command line with that of the coordinates of the picture.

It'll turn from this: (5:15) move the triggering furre to (16,183), or to someplace nearby if it's occupied.
It'll be: (5:15) move the triggering furre to (14,15), or to someplace nearby if it's occupied.

That'll put me directly inside the blocked off building. Now we'll work on getting out of there. Now you must also pay attention to this. Remember what I said about the XY coordinate? Find out by placing the cursor right next to the door INSIDE the building near whatever object that blocked it.

1. Once you find out, memorize it because you'll need it later.
2. Go back to your DragonSpeak Editor and click on the Causes category. Look for and double click: (0:7) When somebody moves into position (#,#),
3. Be sure to replace #,# with whatever coordinate you memorized.
4. Look for coordinate for floor in front of the blocking object OUTSIDE the building and memorize.
5. Go back to your DragonSpeak Editor and click on the Effects category. Look for and double click: (5:15) move the triggering furre to (#,#), or to someplace nearby if it's occupied.
6. Replace #,# with memorized coordinates.

If you did all those steps properly, you should be ready to use that command to leave the building as soon as you enter it. Save both the Dream Editor file and DragonSpeak file before continuing. Now open up Dream Settings (Ctrl+L). Enter a dream name found at top left side of the window, preferrably I'd probably call it Dream Testing or something like that. When you're done, close it and save the Dream Editor file again.

Alright, now its time for testing! I suggest going to someplace that's probably suited for it, perhaps somewhere in Acropolis. When you're ready, press the "Place Dream" button on your character's menu in-game and the dream'll upload into Furcadia close to where you stand. When the dream loads, enter it. If you did your DragonSpeak right in Dream Editor, you should immediately be in the middle of the house you made.

When you're in there, the DragonSpeak command you previously made should let you warp out of there if you walk towards the blocked door. I can't really tell if you did so you'll need to see for yourself and do additional tweaking if you didn't manage it.

Otherwise, congratulations on making your first dream and knowing basic DragonSpeak! You're well on your way to making some pro dreams now. Practice makes perfect so make more dreams and fiddle around with the DragonSpeak Editor to see if you can learn more nifty tricks!

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Dreamweaving - Intermediate:
Now that you've gotten a minor grasp as using the Dream Editor, it'll be time to learn some more advanced techniques. This'll cover around how to make multiple floors and towers by fooling the eyes, a few more tricks with DragonSpeak, and how to make dreams involved only inside houses and such.

At the moment, this is just a reserved spot for the next guide's link. I need to observe and watch this current guide's popularity to see if its worth my time making the Intermediate guide. Don't want to waste my time making an add-on guide to one that wasn't so hot, right?

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FAQs:
Have a question to ask me either here or in-game? Please feel free to post and I'll post the question and my answer here.

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Credits:
And now to give credit where credit is due! Be sure to give a shout-out to those who helped make this (hopefully) wonderful guide the next time you see them!

- Damian Silvermane: For designing the guide.
- Furcadia Forums & Staff: For allowing me to write my guide here.

[Rat The Unloved]

Excellent. I vote for sticky!

[Frazzles]

Excellent work, dear. I wish I had had this guide when I was teaching myself. Covers everything a beginner would really need help with. I liked the visual aid you used for Dream Editor, too. You should definitely keep going.

[Jaredsgo]

This guide is awesome! *bookmarks*

[Kayna Tredwen]

This is brilliant, please keep going.

[World War II]

5 stars! This needs to be sticky!

[Charm Blade]

This must be sticky! STICKY! it's a great guide for anyone who's starting off.

[Rhys Brizna]

i definetly approve of this guide. very helpful!

[Damian Silvermane]

Well thank you all very much for your responses, I'm confident that my guide wasn't a complete failure and now I'm going to work on designing Dreamweaving - Intermediate guide.

,.;:'`Damian`':;.,

[Maladek Necadan]

Kudos to you, Damian. While I may already know most of this, this can be very benificial for newcomer. I definately support the idea of making this a sticky as I've never seen any other guide this well detailed.

By the way, when will your next guide be ready? I'd love to read it sometime.