View source for Custom Items Guide

This page will serve as a how-to guide for the Astrophobia Custom Items system, as well as include helpful links, the server's rules, and helpful tips for formatting.

== Custom Item Guidelines ==
You can very easily give your items custom flavor with the commands below, just keep the following guidelines in mind: 

'''1.''' You can freely make items that have no mechanical effect and are strictly for roleplay flavor, but gear (Such as tools, weapons, armor) is limited to the item templates acquired with Storage Tickets or through the new Workshops system. 

'''2.''' Item descriptions should have no more than 20 lines, and no more than 60 characters per line (not including formatting codes)

Template Items are given out at each station's quartermaster, represented by an NPC Shopkeeper in a central location on each ship. Additionally, the '''/give''' command, and '''Creative Mode''' are both available for use by players.

== Commands ==
The following are some basic commands in the ItemEdit plugin, how to use them, and some things to keep in mind for each.

=== '''/aie rename <Name>''' ===
This command allows you to rename an item, it accepts basic text data, as well as all formatting codes including the traditional minecraft codes (represented with the & symbol), as well as hex codes (in the #FFFFFF format) to allow for the use of any color.

=== '''/aie lore <add/set/remove/reset>''' ===
This is the main command that you'll use to edit items. This command has multiple parameters that will allow you to edit different levels of text on your item. These apply to the '''body''' of the item's description, not the title.

'''Add''' will append a new line onto the end of your lore-text.

'''Set''' will allow you to choose which line to edit on an item, this will let you skip lines, leave them blank, or go back and edit previous lines. it will accept an additional parameter of the line number, the command looking like this /ie lore set <line number> <text>

'''Remove''' will remove the selected line from the lore text, helpful if you've added too many lines. This will accept a new parameter of the line number at the end of the command.

'''Reset''' will remove all text from the island, leaving it blank.

== Formatting ==
Formatting for custom item lore lines can be the most difficult part of using the plugin. Learning better formatting will help you not only look cooler, but gain less ire from your fellow players when trying to decipher your item's description!

=== '''Common Stylings''' ===
By the server guidelines, you're limited to 20 lines at 60 characters each. While it is up to you how to style your items, typically keeping the number of lines and characters per line at a minimum yeilds best results. A lot of the time, 30 characters and 16 lines maximum is the idea. Often times its helpful to begin editing your items in a text document, such as Google Docs, Notepad, or Microsoft Word. You can start by writing out the full text of what you'd like to have the item say - then work on counting the characters line by line to see not only how the formatting turns out, but also how many lines you'll be taking up. For smaller items, like food and drinks - its usually a good idea to keep the descriptions short and sweet. For more complex items, you may want to go above and beyond with formatting.

A common item text may look something like this before being put into the actual item in game:<blockquote>A long barreled laser pistol, equipped with a pink dot site. It is clearly worn from many uses, both as a method for firing laser projectiles, and as a blunt instrument. On the end of the metallic grip is carved the name "Wrynn", along with a number of tally marks. The laser fires a purple color, helping distinguish your shots in a crowded battle.</blockquote>From there, you can break it down line by line, select the coloring you want to use for it, and even add the brackets at the top and bottom.<blockquote>&5------------&d♦&5------------

&dA long barreled laser pistol,

&dequipped with a pink dot sig-

&dht. It's clearly worn from ma

&d-ny uses, both as a method

&dfor firing projectiles, and

&das a blunt instrument. On the

&dbottom of the metallic grip

&dthe name "Wrynn" is carved,

&dalong with a number of tally

&dmarks. The laser fires a pur

&d-ple color, helping to dist-

&dinguish your shots in a crow

&d-ded battle.

&5-----------&d♦&5------------</blockquote>Formatted this way, I can tell how long each line will be before I paste it in, and add in extra spaces, reword sentences, and break up words with - marks between lines to make sure it comes out more clearly. The end result, with some editing, adding a gradient text name, and changing up some of the words will end up looking like this:

[[File:Custom item example..png]]

==== '''Brackets''' ====
Typically its good to encapsulate your text on an item in some form of bracket. This helps encapsulate the text in a neat manner and can draw the eye to your item's description. Often its good to put brackets at the top and bottom of an item. Its up to you how to style them, here are a few good examples.

<Insert Examples Here>

==== '''Ascii Symbols''' ====
Aside from the typical alphabet of letters and brackets you can use, you also have access to special symbols in the Minecraft Font! [https://coolsymbol.com/ Here] is a list of all symbols that you can copy/paste into the text! Unfortunately, not all of them translate well to the minecraft chat, and adding in formatting codes like bold, italics, and colors, will change how they appear as well. Its recommended that you try the symbols out in chat first before you append them to your item, to make the process easier.

=== '''Colors, Styles, and Gradients''' ===
You can also add colors, styles, and gradients into your item's titles and description. There are a few ways to accomplish this, first with the typical Minecraft & symbols, as shown below:

[[File:Minecraft Color Codesss.png|191x191px]]

The &k symbol that causes the randomzing text should be used sparringly! It can cause major issues with people's computers! &r will reset the text back to a default value, the &l, &m, &n, and &o symbols will do formatting such as underline, strikethrough, or italics.

Hex codes are an additional way that you can format items. These are done with the same & symbol as the original chat color codes, but followed by a 6 digit hex value. To find out more about hex codes, and find a list of popular ones, you can check [https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_picker.asp this website.]

Gradient text is an option as well, this can be acheived through either manually selecting the hex colors between each of the two desired colors, or using a generator like [https://www.simplymc.art/Gradients/ this].

== Helpful Links ==
Here are some helpful links when working on your own custom items!

* [https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_picker.asp W3Schools Color Picker] has good tools for picking colors, also automatically providing alternative colors with more or less saturation, hue, or contrast for each color.
* [https://www.simplymc.art/Gradients/ SimplyMC Hex Gradient Generator] is a useful tool when generating Hex Gradients for titles, or item descriptions. It allows you to pick two colors, enter text, and it will generate your gradient for you to copy and paste!
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