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🚀 Echo Engine Suite Wiki

Welcome to the comprehensive documentation for the Echo Engine suite of tools, developed by Jack Murray (Nova Foundry).

The Echo Engine is a system for creating game projects, focusing heavily on GUI-based configuration and narrative content setup without the need for manual code editing. The suite consists of a central management utility, a project editor, and an auxiliary asset creation tool.

📂 Echo Hub: The Project Gateway

The Echo Hub is the central management utility and the primary gateway for all Echo Engine projects. It handles core project lifecycle tasks and provides one-click access to the associated tools. It manages the contents of your local Working Directory (Working_game/).

Main Actions

Button Function Description
New Project copy_folder_contents() Creates a project by copying template files into the Working Directory (overwrites existing files after confirmation).
Import Project import_zip() Extracts a compressed .echo project file into the Working Directory, overwriting current contents.
Export Project export_zip() Packages the current project contents into a single compressed .echo archive for backup or distribution.
Clear Working Directory clear_folder() Permanently deletes all files within the Working_game/ folder after confirmation, resetting the workspace.

Integrated Tools

The Hub provides launchers for the primary suite components, closing the Hub upon launch:

  • Open Project in Editor: Launches the main Echo Editor for configuration and level design.
  • ASCII Art Generator: Launches the auxiliary ASCII Art Converter utility for creating text-based assets.

🛠 Echo Editor: Project Configuration & Level Design

The Echo Editor is a GUI-based configuration tool for Echo Engine projects. It streamlines setup of game metadata, narrative content, gameplay parameters, and asset management—all without manually editing files or code.

Core Capabilities

  • Configure titles, fonts, icons, and background music.
  • Write or import narrative text (prolog, cutscenes, endings).
  • Set gameplay variables (health, damage chance, win conditions).
  • Build Tutorial and Main Levels using a grid-based editor.
  • Export your project into a distributable package.
  • Test your game directly within the editor.

🗃️ Documentation Index (Editor Tabs)

  • Getting Started: Overview of initial setup, UI navigation, and core interaction.
  • Game Setup Tab (Core Configuration): Defines essential settings (title, music, credits), narrative content, and gameplay parameters.
  • Tutorial Tab: Grid-based level editor for creating tutorial floors.
  • Main Level Tab: Editor for building the game’s primary multi-floor levels.
  • Export Tab: Instructions for packaging the Working_game/ directory for distribution.
  • Test App Tab: Allows running a playable preview of the game using the current configuration.

Best Practices

  • Manual Save: The editor only writes changes when you click "Save."
  • Validation First: Invalid fields turn red; resolve issues from top to bottom.
  • External Editing: Large narrative texts are best written in an external editor and then imported.
  • Prerequisite: You must have a valid Echo Engine project folder (Working_game/), usually created via the Echo Hub.

🎨 ASCII Art Converter: Text-Based Asset Utility

The ASCII Art Converter is a dedicated utility for transforming digital images (PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF) into customizable text-based art. It is accessible directly from the Echo Hub.

💻 Conversion Workflow

  1. Image Input: Selects the source image file via the Browse... button.
  2. Conversion Settings: Fine-tunes the output:
    • Art Style: Selects the character set for mapping grayscale values (e.g., Standard, Blocks, Complex).
    • Width (Chars): A slider (50 to 250) defining the horizontal resolution; height is auto-calculated to preserve the aspect ratio.
    • Contrast Multiplier: Adjusts image contrast (0.0 to 3.0) before character mapping.
    • Invert Light/Dark Mapping: Reverses the character-to-density logic (e.g., for dark-on-light printouts).
  3. Result and Output: Displays the final ASCII art and includes a Save as .txt button for exporting the result.

⚠️ Troubleshooting

Common issues across the suite often relate to invalid file paths (re-select via file picker), unsupported file formats (check extensions), or permission errors during save/load operations.