///THIS IS NOT A SCRIPT!!! THIS IS DOCUMENTATION!!! DO NOT USE!!!
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This document is a guide on how to understand this program. This is not a script, and
should not be used as such, as it will do absolutly nothing since it contains nothing but
a giant comment. This is the Readme for Straticons, a game by Ramaraunt, Cheersey, and
LeapBeforeYouLook. It contains documentation for the game Straticons, and explains how
the different scripts and objects in this GameMaker 1.4 project interact with one another.
If you are confused with how something works you can read about it here, and if you are
adding something you should probably add it here so people can read about it if they get
confused.

This project is a remake of a wonderful game from the Lego website, known as "Spybotics:
The Nightfall Incident". Since this game is no longer on their website, and is now found
only on buggy and ad-ridden websites, I decided it was fair game to make a clone of it
for other people to enjoy as I once did during my childhood.

The concept of the game is rather simple: each unit on the board grows as you move, and
when a unit takes damage it loses parts, until it dies when it has no parts left. Each
level is comprised of up to 4 teams, duking it out against one another. At the time of
writing this preface,there is no plotline, but eventually a campaign with a story and
levels with increasing challanges will be made. For now, we need to focus on getting the
basics done, using an older version of this project for reference. Together, we can get
this game on the Steam Marketplace, and get our feet wet in the pool of the game
development industry.

 -- Ramaraunt

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-------------------------------PART 1: Scripts-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are many scripts in this game, all organized into groups. At the top of each script,
there is a small comment that explains what the script does, in the following fashion:

///scr_script_name(arguments);
/*
    A detailed explanation goes here.
* /

The scripts are also explained, in detail, bellow.

--sounds/music
    - play_sound - This script is used to play a sound at the proper sound volume, stored
    in the variable global.sound_vol.
    - play_sont - This script is used to play a song at the proper music volume, stored in
    the variable global.music_vol.
--utility
    - mouse_in_region - This script returns true if your mouse is within the rectangle of
    points given, or false if it is not. This is used for buttons, drop down menus, and
    sliders.
    - message_text - This script destroys all messages currently on the screen (to prevent
    pileup) and then draws a message on the given coordinates in lime green color. This
    message is drawn by an object, which gradually fades out and destroys itself after a
    few seconds.

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-------------------------------PART 2: Particles-----------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Particles are stored in objects, which are mostly stationary particle effects for the
background of a room. However, these also include mouse particle effects, which change
depending on what particle effect the user has selected in options. Each particle object
has a small explanation bellow.

--particles
    - obj_part_vortex - This object creates a purple-black-hole like particle effect in the
    center of the screen. It is used in the introduction screen.
    - obj_part_multiFire - This object creates an explosion of color-changing fire
    particles in the center of the screen. This object is not used yet.
    - obj_part_fire - This object creates fire on the bottom of the screen. This object is
    not used yet.
    - obj_background_particle - This object creates a color-changing cloud effect in the
    center of the screen. This object is not used yet.
    - obj_random_particles - This object creates random colored particles from random
    points on the screen. This object is not used yet.
    --mouse
        - obj_click_particle - This object is persistent, and creates a spray of particles
        around the mouse when you click.
        - obj_mouse-particle - This object is persistent, and creates the particle effect
        for the mouse, which changes depending on what color or effect is selected in the
        options menu.

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-------------------------------PART 3: Handlers------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Handlers are objects that do many things, and "handle" all the background scripts,
calculations, and drawing.

--handlers
    - obj_next_room_forcer - This object causes the room to change after 5 frames. Only
    one of these is used, in the rm_init, to cause the game to move to rm_introduction.
    --menus
        - obj_intro_handler - This object manages the intro text in the introduction room,
        and it checks for keyboard input to move on, or moves on automatically after a
        certain amount of time.
        - obj_main_menu_handler - This object manages the main menu of the game, including
        sound effects, and the buttons.
        - obj_options_handler_main_menu - This object manages the options menu that goes
        off of the main menu.
        - obj_creation_menu_handler - This object handles the creation menu. Fullscreen
        must be turned off for the level loading functionality of the creation modes to
        work.
    --sounds
        - obj_music_bot - This little guy handles all music scores. It looks at the room
        the player is currently in, and changes the music dynamically.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------PART 4: Rooms---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rooms are simply GameMaker rooms. Straticons has many different rooms for different
purposes.

- rm_ini_init - This room is where the ini is initialized, and where the game options are
either read or written if the ini doesn't exist yet. The ini can be found in local appdata.
- rm_introduction - This room is where the opening credits take place.
- rm_title_menu - This room contains the main menu of the game.
- rm_creation_menu - This room contains buttons to use the level creator modes.
- rm_options - This room contains the options of the game, accessable from the main menu.
- rm_ai - This room is where the player can load and play custom levels.
- rm_creation_room - This room is where the player can create custom levels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------PART 5: Sprites-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sprites are image data, used by the game.

--dropdowns - These sprites have to do with dropdown menus.
--backgrounds - These sprites are meant to cover the entire screen as a backdrop.
--option buttons - These sprites are used for actions in the creation room.
--glossy buttons - These are the buttons used in most menus.
--color slider - This is the color slider used in the options menus
--words - These are the word sprites used in the options menus. For each word, there is
 one sprite that is meant to be a white outline, while there is another that is meant to
 be a colorized fill.
--tilers - This group contains all of the sprites used in actual gameplay, from tiles to
unit icons.
--particles - This group contains sprites that are made to be used with particle effects.

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-------------------------------PART 6: Backgrounds---------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are backgrounds used by the game.

- bk_stars - This is a starfield background.

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-------------------------------PART 7: Fonts---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are fonts used by the game to draw text on the screen.

- fnt_buttons - This is the font used for menu buttons
- fnt_debug - This is a font used for debugging purposes, like a small fps counter in the
corner.
- fnt_dropdown - This is a font used for dropdown menus.
- fnt_main_menu - This is the font used for menu titles.
- fnt_popup - This is the font used for messages.
- fnt_title - This is the font used for title credits.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------PART 8: Shaders-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shaders are special commands that go directly to the graphics card. There are no custom
shaders used yet!

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-------------------------------PART 9: Globals-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There will probably lots of global variables in the final game, which will be used to
have a state-machine like system for the game and menus.

--options - These globals are used to store options information. These are stored on the
ini files of the game.
    - global.sound_vol - This is where the sound volume is stored.
    - global.music_vol - This is where the music volume is stored.
    - global.mouse_particle - This is the id of the current mouse style chosen. The values
    are:
        0: hard
        1: sparkle
        2: fluffy
        3: paint
        4: plasma
        5: crossed
        6: bubble
        7: neutron
    - global.mouse_color - This is the color id of the current mouse cursor color.

    *non global options*
    - fullscreen - This is whether the window is fullscreen or not.













*/