Lok Revival: first alpha version

[Vincent]

@bluemonkmn:
Yeah, it's LoK music from the official games.  It gives a much more authentic feeling.

@durnurd:
Open Codec: I use LAME mp3 encoder: it's free so I guess problem 1 is solved.
Size vs quality: Do you have a link where I could find a good OGG codec?  Will SGDK2 be able to play it right away, or will I have to import/write extra code to use a OGG format?
Looping: Yes, I did notice this short empty space!  That's why I didn't use Mp3 format for SFX.  Since the music loops are rather long, it's not too important, the short silence is hardly noticeable.  But if I could compress my SFX with OGG, I would certainly reduce the size of the game a lot!  Great!

Thanks guys!

[durnurd]

Using LAME doesn't get you off the hook for using the mp3 codec.  It doesn't matter what you use to encode or even decode the file with, it's just the fact that you are using the given format that requires licensing (for larger games anyway)

[SmartBoy16]

SGDK2's Fmod player is compatible with Ogg files. If I remember right, the Sample game actually uses Ogg music (right?).

[Vincent]

@durnurd:  So I would have to pay to use the mp3 format in addition to finding a codec to encode in mp3 format?  I didn't know a file format could belong to someone, I thought only the codec was important.

@SmartBoy16:  Good to know!  I downloaded the codec for Ogg.  I'll give it a shot eventually.

Thanks guys!

[bluemonkmn]

The sample games use music in MOD format, mostly, not OGG.  Although there may be some sounds (or maybe even music) in the sample projects that are in OGG format.  I don't remember any more.  In any case, I'm pretty sure FMODEx does support OGG without any additional configuration/coding.

Do you remember all the issues that rose up around the GIF file format a decade ago or so?  GIMP could not save/export GIF format because it was copyrighted by Compuserve or something.  Then the copyright expired or something, and now GIMP supports GIF, I think.  I don't know what kind of licensing is applied to the MP3 format (probably not as restrictive as GIF), but apparently formats can impose restrictions based on copyright and/or patent or something.  Not worth investigating if you're going to use OGG anyway, though.

[Vincent]

@bluemonkmn: Yeah...  That GIF story does ring a bell now that you mention it.
Well, my game "has" to be recognized as fan art, because otherwise I will spend a good deal of time in front of a court of law.  I took copyrighted graphics, music, tools and characters from a franchise.  All of this without any permission or spending money.  So I'm toast!  So using mp3 format or not is not so important at this point I guess.  It can't be a problem as long as it is a personal project for my own enjoyment.  And I guess I can release the game for free and put all these "unknowing generous contributors" in the credits.  I sincerely hope that nobody will be offended... 

[Vincent]

I got a co-worker to lend me some space on his ftp for my game temporarily.  If you want to try it out (with level 1, 2 and 3), you can download it here:
http://www.davidvdk.com/files/vc/LokRevival.rar

[bluemonkmn]

I took a couple minutes to try the beginning of the demo (I don't have a lot of time at the moment), but I noticed it's running pretty slowly -- about half the speed I'd expect/want.  My computer is 7 years old, but I would hope that it's possible for 2D games like this to still run at the speed they should.  Do you know why it's running slowly -- or is is supposed to run at this speed?  (I can't show the frame rate because all I have is the EXE.)

[Vincent]

Hum...   It's suppose to run at 60 fps.  It's not a fast game (nowhere near Sonic) but it still runs at a good pace.  I'll upload the .sgdk2 file for you.  It's there: http://www.davidvdk.com/files/vc/LokRevivalSGDK2file.rar

Have you tried to restart the game?  Sometimes it's slow and sometimes it runs at normal speed on my computer (5 years old).

[Vincent]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to thank Durnurd for the advice about switching form mp3 to ogg!  I just finished converting and it's much lighter: my project file went form 54175k to 41975k.  That's much better!  It loads faster at startup too. 

Thanks again!

[bluemonkmn]

Hum...   It's suppose to run at 60 fps.  It's not a fast game (nowhere near Sonic) but it still runs at a good pace.  I'll upload the .sgdk2 file for you.  It's there: http://www.davidvdk.com/files/vc/LokRevivalSGDK2file.rar

Have you tried to restart the game?  Sometimes it's slow and sometimes it runs at normal speed on my computer (5 years old).

Sorry for the long delay.  I just tried downloading and playing the file posted there this morning, and it runs great now.  Even at 640x480 size I am getting 60 FPS.  As usual I don't have time to play the whole thing now, but I played to the first save point and things are working well.  I noticed a couple odd things:
1. There's no startup screen -- I thought you had a screen that displayed while the game loaded, didn't you?  Is that separate from the code generated by SGDK2 or something?
2. One of the messages says to press [ESC] to access the menu, but that appears to no longer be the way to access the menu -- now it's [Select] + [Attack].

I look forward to playing through the rest of this to see how far things have gone since I last tried it.

[Vincent]

Hi Bluemonkmn,

No problem for the delay: I can't complain, you help me a lot after all!

1:  Yeah, I removed the starting screen momentarily to make the project "work safe"...  hehehe.  I'm going to put it back before the final release (I just commented out the lines).
2:  You're right, thanks for pointing this out.  I'm going to change the message.

I've been working double time since the last time you played.  I'm coding the 4Th level now and I finished drawing the 6Th level yesterday.  I think I might actually finish the whole game this year.

Thanks again for your interest!

[Vincent]

Hi guys!

Here's a little update for those interested:
In my last post, about a month and a half ago I said I was coding the 4th level and drawing the 6th level, well things are really going fast now: I'm done drawing all the levels and there's only a few little sprites todo: so about 99% done for the graphics.

And I'm coding the 6th level now.  The 6th level boss is already done.  I thought I might be able to finish this year, but now I'm mighty sure I will! 

Yeah!!!

[bluemonkmn]

Exciting!  We'll have to think of some good ways to publicize and release your project... I wonder if copyright holders have problems with fan art and fan games based on their copyrighted material... and if they have the right to stop distribution of it.  I think you maybe mentioned this before, but I don't remember the conclusion.

[Vincent]

Hi bluemonkmn!

Well, I don't think now is agood time to publicize it for two reasons:

1- Who knows what might happen until my estimated release date and now.  I might bump into problems that will push the release date further.   Also, when I say my project will be finished before next year, I mean a beta version.  A completed one, with all the core elements of the game, all the levels, bosses, alternate endings, etc.  But there will probably be some balancing issues (game too hard or too easy at some points) and, let's be realistic, some bugs...  So I will still have work to do until there is a final release.  But yeah, most of the work will be completed.

2- As you pointed out, there is still the copyright problems.  I don't want to receive a cease and desist letter.  So why not wait until the release date of the beta or, if we want to test the beta amongst ourselves, until the final release.  That way, even if I receive a cease and desist letter, the game will be out there.  I guess there will be no way to stop the spread at that point.  That's just to be uber-cautious, but at the same time, I have seen other fangames of the Legacy of Kain series and, although the completed ones are pretty basic games, the legal owners don't same to care much about them. 

I guess I will have to include a solid disclaimer in my game just to be sure...

Hehe!  I'm excited too!