So, you might've heard of my 'Area Zones' script from various places. I'm getting everything together now, almost ready for a release. Most of the features are implemented, with the exception of the GUI at this point. I'm posting this as a last-minute warning for any requests/discussion on the topic, considering that I might not update my release (except for bugs) for a little while. Here is a current list of features:
- Cash. It works with the Cash Mod in order to give you a certain amount of cash per a certain amount of time, both settable. (Money can be made into a negative number, so you could LOSE money while in an area! Oh noes!)
- Cash based on People. You can get either more or less money based off the people inside the area, all settable.
- Owner Cash. The 'owner' of the area can get a different amount of money per time, or be the only one to get money, or not get any money at all.
- Shops. The owner can pay a one-time fee to add an item to the shop. When someone buys this item from the shop, the owner will get a certain default percentage, which can be changed by admins on a per-area basis. Items include descriptions (not live-settable at the moment, I'm afraid).
- Combat. There are two modes. 'Arena Mode' and 'Normal Mode'. In Arena Mode, PvP can only occur in zones marked as Arenas. In Normal mode, PvP can occur anywhere (unless in an area marked as a Safe Zone).
- Live placement. Using the Safe Zone placement system I made beforehand (found here: http://www.blockland.us/smf/index.php?topic=24773.0), anyone can make Area Zones. They can use a command to 'buy' a zone, and then they can go and place it someplace. I'm still working on how this will work out. Should there be 'template' zones, such as 'shop template', 'arena template', 'house template', each with their own price? Or should there be size limits? This is something I really want suggestions on.
- Names. Areas can be named. 'Entered Area Name' and 'Left Area Name' are fun.
- Large named areas. If two areas have the same name and overlap, you will not see 'Entered Area Name' or 'Left Area Name'. However, if they don't share the same name, you'll see the message. Which reminds me...
- Area Stacking. You can safely put areas in areas, or have them partially overlap one-another, without breaking everything. Of course, there's one more thing left to say...
- Complete GUI. Shops, areas, etc, you can use a GUI for it all. Shops have rotating little previews of their models, and descriptions readable on a click. You can see updates, etc, and get help. It's all pretty snazzy. No screenshots yet, though, it's extreme alpha, barely works (except for the shop, that works perfectly. It's more the tabs. I currently have 'buy area' in a tab, this might change though, going off of this thread).
There are a few known bugs at the moment.
- Vehicles.
Only the Horse Vehicle doesn't muck up the system due to a fix I pulled out my 
. Other vehicles start tricking the game into believing you're in an area when you're not. I'm fixing this first, it's pretty bad. Shouldn't be that hard though, just need to overcome the laziness factor. Fixed. Thanks, Terror/MrPickle/Trader! - Vehicle at the Edge of an Area: If you mount/dismount closely to the edge of an area, you may or may not be considered to have entered/left the area. These problems are fixed by leaving/entering areas a few times, but still. This can be exploited, and I don't see any way to fix it. Hm.
- Balancing Issues. The Shop charges a price to sell an item, based off of settings in a file. You can't change the default price ingame. And the formula to charge more or less is pretty locked. For an item that sells on default $20, if you sell it for more, it costs less to get it, but if you sell it for less, it costs more to get it. I'll have to get suggestions on how best to handle it. I currently have a pretty good system, but you can't really change anything without scripting knowledge. Also, using the Cash Mod, you can charge (or even grant money) for building bricks.
- Death and Area Zones. If you respawn before your body is removed from an area, the script starts getting confused. I'm not so sure how to fix this bug, but the current workaround is to set the respawn time to more than 5 seconds. That, or schedule a really quick removeBody.
Suggestions/feature requests are pretty thankful, and questions shall be answered. I'm not sure if I should release it pre-v9 or not, due to compatibility issues, though.
Also, I have a request of my own. Can someone model up an item (about the size of the Sword) of some sort of box representing an area? I'm trying to get an idea on how to implement buying areas, and if I have a model I can slap it into the shop, solving everything.
Edit: SECRET FEATURE! There's a command that sets music in an area. Sadly, instead of playing the music client-side, it plays it server-side. Out of your head. For everyone in the area. :D
