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Topics - Vincent

Pages: 1 [2] 3
16
Help, Errors, FAQ / Metroid-like Minimap
« on: 2009-10-06, 01:05:46 PM »
Okay guys, this one is a real bugger!

My game is going along well, and as the first level of the game is near completion (for the layout) I'm thinking of a way to add a minimap to the game.  And, if not possible, a minimap into the menu.

To get you in context, the game is a metroidvania: a recent game that came out and uses exactly the kind of mini-map I want is "Shadow Complex" available in XBoxLive arcade.
Starting around the 45th second of the video, the gameplay begins.  You can see on the top-right corner of the screen a rectangle subdivided in squares.  This is the mini-map. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7WI7XrLfKU
Notice, as the character moves around, that the minimap is revealed.  My game can easily be divided in such map squares.  It would definitely be a huge help in my game, since the levels can be confusing without a minimap.

I guess the first step would be to add an overlay map to manage the minimap, but I already have one specified that is used to show the stats of the player (current health, magic, current skill selected, current skill active.

So, I guess I would need 2 overlay maps at the same time.  Is that possible?

Also, what would be the best way to make a relation between the actual level and the minimap, the reveal the proper locations and scroll the minimap logically?

I guess, if it is too difficult, I will add a menu option to look at the complete map.  But I bet players would prefer to have the minmap rather than going in and out the menu to see where they are and where the are going every once in a while.

What do you guys think?

Thanks a lot! :D

17
Help, Errors, FAQ / Cutscenes, dialogs, etc
« on: 2009-09-24, 01:54:42 PM »
Hi guys, I'm fishing for ideas here! :)

I've got a couple of rooms done in the first level of my game now.  I felt like it was a good time to try to add something else, so I decided to implement the first dialogs / cutscenes.

In my game, almost all rules verify if the counter Pause equals 0.  If yes, they execute, otherwise, they don't.  When there is a dialog, I put the game in pause, I set another counter "InDialog" to 1 and I execute a special set of rules that execute only then...  But...  I don't know.  It seems like a lot of work and a lot of specific rules for each dialog...  And I'm a little afraid to mess up the sprites that will be used in the gameplay by mistake.

Would there be a better approach?  I thought that maybe I would make map only for dialogs, with sprites specifically designed for these cutscenes, so there would be no danger to mess up the sprites that will be used for the actual gameplay afterwards.  Hoping that swapping cutscene maps and gameplay maps would be invisible to the player... Would it make the game too big to have maps just for cutscenes?

Has anyone done something like this before and found a good way to do it?   :suspious:

Thanks a lot! :)

18
Help, Errors, FAQ / TestCollisionRect
« on: 2009-09-15, 11:25:01 AM »
Hi guys!

Usually, I use the TestCollisionMask rule.  I place it on a sprite, pass the sprite category I want to test collision with and then give one of the sprite parameters as output value, very easy.

For once, I used the TestCollisionRect rule, it didn't need to be pixel perfect this time.  So I added it on the sprite, then gave the proper sprite category to test collsion against and then...?  No output value?  I can't store the result of this function?  What am I missing here?  What is the proper way to use this rule?  ???

Thanks!

19
Help, Errors, FAQ / Save / Load game controls
« on: 2009-09-14, 01:42:20 PM »
Hi guys!

One of my friends that is testing my game was asking about this: when you start a new game (at run time), you modify the controls to bind new keys, then save the game, then close the game, then restart the game and load it, the controls you modified come back.  I wasn't even aware of that!  That's great!  :) 

The thing that upsets him though is that the controls are not loaded when you open up the game, he has to use the default controls to load up his saved game and recuperate his custom controls.

I wonder if it is a good idea the separate the save/load of the controls from the save files.  If they were separated, I could load the controls right when the game launches, but only one configuration could be saved... 

What do you guys think about that?  If it's much work to split the data, I think I won't do it.  My efforts would be better invested in making the game I think.  But if you have a good ideas, I'm all ears! :)

Thanks guys! :)

20
Help, Errors, FAQ / Pushing sprites
« on: 2009-09-09, 11:43:06 AM »
Hi guys!

I just updated to the latest SGDK2 version. :)

I looked at the CleanGame demo to understand the pushing behaviors between sprite, but I failed to reproduce it.  I think I am confused by the rules. (PushSprite, ReactToPush, ReactToPushBack, etc.)  ???
I want to use these behaviors for two things:
1- Like in the demo, I want to create boxes to push
2- I want to use these behaviors to create sprites that cannot be passed through even if they don't move (sprite walls that can be broken eventually for example).

What rules would I have to implement on which sprites to implement this.
Case 1:
I have a character sprite (binded to player 1 controls, so it will move)
I have a box sprite (can be moved)
Which rule goes where?

Case 2:
I have a character sprite (binded to player 1 controls, so it will move)
I  have a wall sprite (must not allow the character to pass and must not move when pushed)
Which rule goes where?

Also, in the help files, it says that the rules ReactToPush and ReactToPushBack are for "Pushers".  Is this "Pushers" a sprite category that is hard coded and must absolutely be named "Pushers"?

Thanks! ;D

21
Help, Errors, FAQ / Best approach for building a layer
« on: 2009-08-31, 11:03:54 AM »
Hi guys!

I need your suggestions. :)  I'm moving on to level design in my game.  So I found a lot a tileset on the web, I plan to alter them a little to make them unique to my game, etc.  I build my levels in photoshop.  For the moment not much is done, but I wanted to try to implement a room into sgdk2 to see how well it does... and boy: it's a lot of work!  :o

There are many different tiles in my tileset.  Look at the attached png image.  It's a not such a big room, but there are a lot of specific tiles.  (each tile is 16px by 16 px).  You can see the room and 2 backgrounds that will go under the main room.  The "floating" tower goes over the tower to the left on a "top" layer.  So when the character moves into the tower, I hide the wall and show the inside of the tower.

Is there a good way to recreate this level in sgdk2 without selecting each and every 16x16 tile and assembling them in the layer?  Because, since I want to optimize, each repeated tile is there only once in the frameset.  And it becomes a huge mess.  If I have to assemble a "jigsaw puzzle" for each level, I'm never gonna see the end of it. :P   (I plan for 7 different levels consisting of about 30-35 screens each.  This room makes a total of 4 screens.)

So, if you had to accomplish this, how would you do it?

I really need a hand here.  :-[

Thanks a lot!  ;D

22
General Discussion / New SGDK2 - folders
« on: 2009-08-27, 09:56:12 AM »
Hi!

I have a suggestion for a new feature inside SGDK2 that I would like very much in the (not yet officially released) 2.1 version: folders.  Let me explain!
With a new SGDK2 project, it's easy to find all the elements in the project: there is not many sprite definitions, tilets, maps, etc.  But as the project goes further, many more elements are added and soon, it becomes a complete mess.  Unless, of course, you decide on a method for naming the elements, but even with that, it gets too big eventually.

So, i would like to separate all the basic elements (except for sourcecode maybe) into folders.  So, whe you expand, let's say, Graphic Sheets, you would see a set of folders that you can can name and arrange the way you want, and separate your graphic sheets into categories like characters, furniture, special effects, anything that comes to mind.  For a new project, each basic element could have only a "main" or "default" folder and every new element would be assigned to it by default, but you could specify another folder in the element's properties form.

I guess, since it is in XML, it wouldn't be too hard to implement, and it would save me a lot of trouble to make my projects a lot neater.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

23
Help, Errors, FAQ / OpenGL problem when running an exe
« on: 2009-08-17, 12:56:22 PM »
Hi guys,

One of my friends is trying to run my game on his computer.  It worked fine for a while, but then he reinstalled his computer and since then, he can't get the game to work.
I don't visit him often, he lives a little far, so I can't try his computer to find the problem.  When he runs the exe (he knows where to put the files, dlls, etc), he gets this error:

System.ApplicationExeption: openGL version. 1.2 is required; your version is : 3.0.0

I don't know how to help him.  Anyone has already seen this error?

Thanks for your time! :)

24
Projects / Legacy of Kain: Revival - First preview
« on: 2009-08-16, 08:15:59 PM »
Hey guys!  :)

I will soon be done with the basic monsters in my game.  I wondered if some of you would be interested in trying them out.  There are probably some bugs and some glitches to find but I don't find any now, and if you could give me a hand in finding them, I would be very grateful.  Also, if you have any suggestions regarding the skills and enemies, I'm all ears.

Tell me if you volunteer to give a look into it: I'll post it this week.  If nobody is interested in seeing the game at this stage of development (only a test room, enemies and skills completed, main character attacks not finished), then I won't bother posting it.

Thanks for your time!  ;D

25
Hey everyone!

I was so shocked to find this out that I had to tell you.   :o  I was surfing on the web on Legacy of Kain web sites to find material, etc.  I found a website called http://lokfangames.webs.com/ and discovered that my game is announced!  It's the link "One game by Kellendil" that leads to my profile on a LoK forum.

I believe that I going to post information about my game on my profile, so people clicking on the link will actually have info on my game. 

Boy, it better be a good game...   :scared:

26
Off-Topic / PC problem: 1 long beep and 3 short beeps
« on: 2009-06-26, 02:30:57 PM »
Hey guys,

Wondering if one of you ever had that particular problem.  Sometimes, that seem totally random, when I boot my PC, my BIOS sends me this message: One long beep and three shorts beeps.  Then the PC doesn't shutdown, but nothing shows up on screen.  I searched the web a little to get an idea and I found out that it may be a video card problem or a memory problem on the motherboard...  But if it is so, why doesn't this problem occur at each boot attempt?

Since now, when the problem showed up, I simply turned off the PC, and let it cool down for one or two hours, and then boot it up again, and usually, it works fine.  If I don't let it cooldown, it keeps bugging repeatedly.  I didn't bother until now, because letting it cooldown was enough and since I'm don't know much about hardware, I don't really know how to repair it.  But know I bother, because I can't boot it up since the day before yesterday. :(

Just when I was able to take time to work on my game, my PC lets me down...   :hurt:  Oh well, at least I had time to create another two enemies.

27
Help, Errors, FAQ / Save game files
« on: 2009-04-28, 08:54:02 PM »
Hi guys,

I'm working on the save / load features of my game and it works like a charm.   8)  But I'm wondering, when the savegame function is called and it is not storing in memory, it should create a .sav file.  Where is that file created?  It doesn't seem to be in the exe folder...

Thanks! :)

28
Help, Errors, FAQ / In game menu
« on: 2009-04-15, 09:00:48 PM »
Hi guys, I got a question about in game menus.

I want to menu to be on a overlay map.  In fact, during the game, there is a status overlay map that displays HUD elements (life, magic, active skills, etc) and when the player presses ESC, the status overlay is replaced by the menu overlay.  And of course, they switch again when the player leavers the menu.  All of this works well. 

Here is the problem I am facing: in the menu, there are many pages.  The "main" page displays new game, load game, quit game and encyclopedia.  In the encyclopedia, there is a lot of info to show, learned skills, beaten enemies and the like.  I figured I would create a single map, named "menu" and put each page on a separate layer.  So is there a way at runtime to hide layers or make them completely invisible.  For the moment, there is a semitransparent base layer.  So the player can still see the game behind but it is still easy to read the menu, and on top of it, a lot of layers with text written in it (using the coolfont tileset).  I would need to hide all the text layers but the active one...  Is there a way to do this without changing the source code?

Thanks a lot! :)

29
Help, Errors, FAQ / Scroll Margins
« on: 2009-03-22, 02:09:20 PM »
Hi guys!

Guess what, I've another question.  I'm wondering, is it possible and / or a good idea to change the scrolling margins of a map at run time?

In my game, the character go go left and right, up and down, etc.  I would like to show about 1/3 of the screen behind the character and 2/3 in front of him.  So if he is heading right, 1/3 of the screen is ont he left and 2/3 on the right.  If he is goind left, I would like it to be other way around.

What do you think?  How would the map behave?

Thanks again! :D

30
Help, Errors, FAQ / Enemy Projectiles
« on: 2009-03-19, 07:19:42 AM »
Hi guys,

I was wondering about the best way to create multiple type of enemy projectiles.  They don't just look different, they act different.  For example, some are affected by gravity, some aren't.  Some will pass through solid tiles, some won't.  Some will be fast, others will be slow.  Some have special properties (can be blocked by attacking it, will pass trough certain type of armor, etc.)  Or course, they won't deal the same amount of damage.  But overall, a lot of behaviors will remain the same (they all move, they all deal damage, they all disappear if they get too far from the main character, etc)

What is the best possible way to realize that?  At first, I thought I would create only one sprite definition with a lot of properties and, depending on the value of the properties, they would behave differently.  But as most of the enemy projectile sprites will be dynamic sprites, I don't think there is currently of way to set these properties when the dynamic sprite is created (for example, lastcreatedsprite.IsAffectedByGravity is not a property defined in the SpriteBase class).

Is there a way to set particular properties of a dynamic sprite when it is created or is it better to create a sprite definition for all types of projectiles and then copy-paste the common rules between these sprite definitions?

Thanks a lot! :)

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