Author Topic: A sample project  (Read 16782 times)

durnurd

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A sample project
« on: 2007-03-29, 12:45:37 PM »
I've been working on this project for the past few days.  Just to see if SGDK really does what it set out to do in the beginning.  Answer?  Yes ;D

http://www.beardedchild.com/files/project.zip
Edward Dassmesser

bluemonkmn

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #1 on: 2007-03-29, 05:48:43 PM »
 :o ... my mouth is literally hanging open ... I can't believe you actually managed this without me even knowing about it ahead of time!  I suspected you were up to something with all the shortcomings in SGDK2 that you were finding and reporting, but I never would have guessed it was this.  What can I say?  You are the man! :)  How many more problems did you find and hide away to report later while working on this project and waiting for me to finish the documentation?  Did you find a lot of issues while working on this project?  Were there particularly difficult parts?  Is it hard to make new levels or are most of the rules set up so that adding new levels would be easy now?

So did I say at one point that it should be possible to recreate TechnoVenture using SGDK?  Or maybe TechnoVenture is just representative of an average home-brew platform game, and the goal is to make those do-able?  I'm so glad it lived up to that goal if that was "what I set out to do".  I don't even remember that.  This is remarkable considering I didn't even remember or think about this being a goal.

I mean how did you even... you got the beams and the recursive explosions and everything! Look at me, I'm giddy, and almost speechless!

Wow

Jam0864

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #2 on: 2007-03-29, 09:28:02 PM »
WOW!  ;D  Nice work!  :)  This game is really good! So far I just opened the black lock inside the tunnel. I'll get farthur when I try again.

durnurd

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #3 on: 2007-03-29, 10:21:01 PM »
I can't take all the credit.  BlueMonkMN did make the graphics, most of the sound effects, the music, and the idea behind the game.  I just made it all work in SGDK2.  (Also, I did some reworking of the graphic sheet, so that there are fewer actual graphics, and I just reuse them, as that's what the framesets are meant for.)

Specifically, the beams and the recursive explosions were, in fact, the two hardest parts.  Thank goodness for custom objects for the beams, that's all I can say.

I just figured that, since SGDK1 was originally based on TechnoVenture, it should be possible to recreate it thus.  In SGDK1, I don't see an easy way of doing so, but as I looked through what SGDK2 had to offer, I became more and more aware that it seems like the perfect engine for just that kind of thing, just what SGDK1 was originally based off of.

Mostly, I have minor complaints, some of which I expanded on in my other thread just now.  Many of these are the need for more built-in functions to work with, which I know you're still working on.  The other big thing was dynamic sprites (10 bullets per level, 5 bombs, 10 explosions, 5 beam handlers, it gets annoying).

I downloaded the latest Alpha to finish the project, and I noticed that the Undo was still acting funny in the code editor.

A few other suggestions:  Add some tools in the map editor: Fill, Rectangle, Line.  (Specifically, for filling in large areas).
Make placing plans easier: Add an option to turn on grid-snapping to the tile size, and an option to draw straight lines.
Add  options to copy: rules within a plan or sprite, plans within a layer, plans between layers (and maps).
Add (optional) default values to sprite parameters so you don't have to remember to set them for each sprite you place.  Can this be extended to choosing default built-in parameters like Solidity, and initial DX/DY as well?

Along the lines of more functions to add: When displaying counters as numbers (i.e. in inventory), make it possible to choose the font, or something so that it can fit in a smaller box (i.e. 16px), or some other method of counter display.  I'm sure this is on its way eventually, but it's noticeable specifically when you have 100 fuel cells, it cuts off the right half of the second zero.

Also along these lines: A function to tell when the player lands down on a solid (i.e. so I could play a step sound effect).  I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but my code for figuring out when to play the step sound effect is kludgy and doesn't work well.  It looks like it's supposed to work, to me, but it sounds funny when I play the game.

Would it be possible to add code to either sprites or maps or plans that only runs once upon creation/activation, without having to use extra flags/parameters?  For things like initialization, it's odd to have to check each frame if it's initialized.  Why not just put the code in the (layer/map) constructor (for a layer/map/plan), or in a public bool isActive {set{}} scheme for a SpriteBase?

Oh, and one more:  Copying code objects.  (I had a lot of sound effects to import).  I know, I could just copy/paste, which is what I did, but it would be just that more convenient.
« Last Edit: 2007-03-29, 10:30:58 PM by durnurd »
Edward Dassmesser

Jam0864

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #4 on: 2007-03-30, 03:29:24 AM »
well kudos to both of you then!  ;D

sam

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #5 on: 2007-03-30, 03:48:55 PM »
...I can't unzip it for some reason...
It says, "File skipped unknown compression method."

Jam0864

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #6 on: 2007-03-30, 05:37:46 PM »
That happened to me also. But I happened to have a second zip-program on my computer that unzipped it. It must have been a different type of zip. (rar, lzh, 7z.) If you want UltimateZip, (It will unzip all these and more.) go to http://www.gamehippo.com/free_util/ultimatezip.shtml

sam

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #7 on: 2007-03-30, 06:37:06 PM »
I downloaded the program...Wouldn't unzip. I got another error...

Jam0864

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #8 on: 2007-03-30, 07:37:29 PM »
After installing UltimateZip, don't click extract all. That will just use your old program again. Instead click extract to... if you do that, it will use ultimatezip to extract and not your older program.

sam

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #9 on: 2007-03-31, 08:30:25 AM »
I know. I was using UltimateZip to extract and the error was from UltimateZip.

bat

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #10 on: 2007-03-31, 04:23:42 PM »
Hey Durnurd, what did you use to compress the file? I can't get either unzipper on my PC to unzip it right...
~bat

bat

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #11 on: 2007-03-31, 04:32:51 PM »
Maybe it has something to do with dial-up, Sam...
~bat

sam

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #12 on: 2007-03-31, 04:46:26 PM »
I'm on high speed now...Besides, can't you see I'm having the same problem as you.

Jam0864

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #13 on: 2007-03-31, 04:56:04 PM »
Well it worked for me. I used ultimate zip and I was on dial-up at the time. (I got capped on my broadband connection) So I don't know why it won't work for you.  :(

cbass

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Re: A sample project
« Reply #14 on: 2007-03-31, 06:35:59 PM »
I tried to unzip it with winwip, winrar, ultimate zip, and windows xp unzipped.  None worked, finally 7zip worked.

Cool, I didn't know 2.0 was so far along, I always assumed it was years off.