One Game A Month: Where everything is made up and the points don't matter

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > One Game A Month: Where everything is made up and the points don't matter

Svampson: Jul 29, 2006; I didn't kill Rita!

ShinAli posted:

This looks so awesome! I totally need to get into some cellular automata (for generating caves and stuff!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MqDXDUdOYo

The little game dev time I had this week all went into bug fixing and optimization (Really important optimization in the "every turn doesn't take 1-5 seconds now" sense), I did manage to take some time to make a better camera system that tweens around instead of snapping around and also added the ability to zoom in and out

# ? Jan 6, 2013 18:16

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# ? May 24, 2013 12:54

SnowblindFatal: Jan 7, 2011

_jink posted:

I made some more progress on my game in python, but the process of compiling(is this the right word?) it into a standalone executable is beyond my programming level. I think next month I'll dip my toes into stencyl/flixel/flashpunk or maybe just throw up the bird & join a team as an artist.

Before you do that, please check out pyinstaller (manual). I've used it before and have made working distributable binaries with it. If that doesn't work out for you, try py2exe (manual). They're not very difficult to use! In some conditions they don't include the libraries properly, but I can't remember how that worked out.

# ? Jan 6, 2013 18:18

Face Melter: May 24, 2009

_jink posted:

I made some more progress on my game in python, but the process of compiling(is this the right word?) it into a standalone executable is beyond my programming level.

Look up py2exe. It's pretty easy to use and pretty hassle free. Just an include and a batch run really. I've done a few roguelikes in python with libtcod and that's what I used to make executables. There is a wiki with a tutorial on how to compile hello world, so just use that as a base.

# ? Jan 6, 2013 21:57

FinalSin: Mar 29, 2011; THE FUTURE, YOU GUYS

I sat down during the last Ludum Dare and spent an evening + a few extra hours making a half-finished prototype level for a game. It was great. I was adding little things as I extended the level, I drew some art I didn't hate for once, I loved it.

I thought "I'll remake this proper, like, for One Game A Month" and I can't get off the ground with it. I hate it. I can't design levels for it. I tried learning Tiled and that made me miserable because it didn't work. What the hell is wrong with me? Is there something magical about Ludum Dare's throwaway nature?

# ? Jan 7, 2013 01:40

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

FinalSin posted:

I sat down during the last Ludum Dare and spent an evening + a few extra hours making a half-finished prototype level for a game. It was great. I was adding little things as I extended the level, I drew some art I didn't hate for once, I loved it.

I thought "I'll remake this proper, like, for One Game A Month" and I can't get off the ground with it. I hate it. I can't design levels for it. I tried learning Tiled and that made me miserable because it didn't work. What the hell is wrong with me? Is there something magical about Ludum Dare's throwaway nature?

If you're anything like me, a big issue is goal setting. With a very short time span like LD, you're absolutely forced to restrict your scope and scale to something limited. This has some advantages: your goals are straightforward and achievable with a lot of immediacy, so you get a nice little reward when you complete your short term goal in a way that functions efficiently. We've got a whole month here, and that can shift how the project is viewed. Looking at the big picture can make it seem overwhelming. I've found that, at least for me, one important step is to just go through and list out the things I'll need for my idea. Something like this:

quote:

Textures:
Wizard Animations - Multiple colors.
Magic Beams - Four elemental types, 3 power scales each.
Main Background
HUD - Timer, Buttons
Main Menu, Pause Menu, Summary Menu

Scripts:
Game Class, Battle Class, Wizard Class, Magic Beam Class, Animation Class

And so on. Starting with this month's game I also started off by writing in pseudo-code: basically, commenting in steps where I want them and reminders of things as they are needed. The combination of a list of things I still need to do and the pseudo-code allows me to focus in on narrow, specific goals much like a short term build does: I can say "I want to get my placeholder art assets done" or "I want to find some music and also implement the pseudo-code section that handles player input today". By keeping my goals listed I make the whole picture seem much less overwhelming.

As for level design, that's one that I tend to leave for the end, but I do fret over it. The other thing that I have to constantly stop myself from doing is worrying too much about game balance when the game doesn't even exist yet. Even now in the back of my mind I keep asking myself "How can I balance out the three power levels so gameplay is fun and dynamic but not overwhelming if you lose a couple rounds" when the question isn't particularly urgent right now.

----

No updates for my project today, decided to take a day to not look at the code or art assets and just let it relax a bit. I would like to talk about comparing progress as a matter of personal reflection though, as that's a natural outcome of sharing all these cool stages so far. While it is very important to look at what others are doing and attempt to learn from their examples, it's easy to get down on yourself when you see some awesome games being put together and then see your own and think "man, my game looks clunky and that game looks awesome, I can't do this." A better way of viewing it is "Man, that game looks awesome. I want to make a game like that one day, so I'm going to keep trying and practicing and learning from my mistakes and improving." I'm not certain, but I very much expect that the indie devs taking part that have made games in the past and know their way around the process didn't just wake up one morning and have that skill and knowledge; it takes putting in the effort to give it a shot, make incremental improvements, researching and discussing and collaborating and getting feedback. It also takes believing that you can do it, and I think that's a pretty fundamental requirement. If you believe you can make a game that shines, then you can do it. It might take time, and effort, and setbacks, and trial and error, and believe me pretty much everything I've made so far is ugly as sin. But I think I'm capable of making great games, and I'm going to keep at it. You all should too, so keep sharing your progress here and on twitter and be proud of it, every little step of the way.

Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at Jan 7, 2013 around 05:16

# ? Jan 7, 2013 05:13

Enos Shenk: Nov 3, 2011

One of my favorite aspects of working in 3d is figuring out how to get the most milage out of your assets. A lot of 3d work in games really comes down to smoke and mirrors. How much can you simplify, how much detail can you fake with various techniques.

Then there's just neat tricks like this.

I was talking to a friend about some of my plans for Orbs, mainly making this creepy painting of a kid move around. He suggested trying the old trick of cutting the eye holes out and setting the image back to give a "Watching you" illusion. It works fantastically, and fits with the subtle creepy vibe I've gone for with this game.

I also got most of the code working to relocate the painting around the level. When a trigger is hit, the code runs to move the painting. It looks around the level for all placeholder PaintingHanger objects I've placed and figures which is closest to the player's location. Then it moves the painting to match that location.

Seen that video of that cheapo Sherlock Holmes game where Watson keeps creepily appearing behind Holmes? Yeah, something like that. With a creepy little kid painting. With eyes that watch you.

One of the last "major" bits of code I need to add is some logic to prevent the painting from moving if the destination is in the player's current view FOV. That one ought to be fun, it's just far enough into tricky and irritating math to be difficult for me. But the illusion would be ruined if the player saw the painting suddenly pop in.

Hopefully tommorow I'll have the "Shadow man" up and running. That will be fun to show off.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 05:37

leper khan: Dec 28, 2010

Late to the party, but I'm in: @codethulu

Been meaning to stop being lazy for a while anyway.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 05:41

NorthByNorthwest: Oct 9, 2012

I've been making good progress on my puzzle game. The goal is to get the bottom tiles to match the top.
Clicking on one of the bottom tiles flips all touching ones (except corners)
Right now, I can make puzzles. Still no win or lose conditions, but I have plans for Time attack and endurance modes.

To win this puzzle, you'd click on the left/middle tile.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 07:15

Red Mike: Jul 11, 2011

I recommend an alternate color scheme, or, if possible, customisable. I can barely read the top tiles if I lean in and squint, on account of being colorblind.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 07:30

NorthByNorthwest: Oct 9, 2012

Red Mike posted:

I recommend an alternate color scheme, or, if possible, customisable. I can barely read the top tiles if I lean in and squint, on account of being colorblind.

Thanks for the advice!

Red/White actually looks pretty good with the gold.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 07:51

FinalSin: Mar 29, 2011; THE FUTURE, YOU GUYS

Mo_Steel posted:

Useful

Thanks! That was actually really helpful. I'm going to go back and chop the work into bits so I can something meaningful done every day.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 12:00

Enos Shenk: Nov 3, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2T9ETR4A1s

This was fun. Setting up logic to check the player's visiblity wasn't as tough as I thought. I need to add the reverse though, to prevent the painting from moving if the player can see either the source or the destination.

But it's still creepy.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 15:45

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

Enos Shenk posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2T9ETR4A1s

This was fun. Setting up logic to check the player's visiblity wasn't as tough as I thought. I need to add the reverse though, to prevent the painting from moving if the player can see either the source or the destination.

But it's still creepy.

Oh god. I am excited and terrified of the prospects that lie ahead in your game.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 16:13

HiriseSoftware: Dec 3, 2004; Two tips for the wise:
1. Buy an AK-97 assault rifle.
2. If there's someone hanging around your neighborhood you don't know, shoot him.

Enos Shenk posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2T9ETR4A1s

This was fun. Setting up logic to check the player's visiblity wasn't as tough as I thought. I need to add the reverse though, to prevent the painting from moving if the player can see either the source or the destination.

But it's still creepy.

Reminds me of the "creepy Dr. Watson" from some Sherlock Holmes game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13YlEPwOfmk

# ? Jan 7, 2013 16:41

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

NorthByNorthwest posted:

Thanks for the advice!

Red/White actually looks pretty good with the gold.

I like it so far; I'm a big fan of puzzle games, even ones that seem straightforward. It'd be easy to imagine making it more complicated by adding multiple colors to flip through or more squares.

Mid-Day break to run some errands and get some lunch, but I've already managed more progress this morning: the display of beams adapts to player input and updates when the next round hits.

Right now those lengths are static (had to debug an issue with them being draw completely off position because of the way I was trying to handle the animation rectangle that boxes them in). I think I'm going to wrap up today by making a working hud and maybe starting on the code to determine the outcome of each round.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 18:07

the chaos engine: Jul 14, 2006

Here's some footage of me playing what is now called GHOST PARTY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2uB6KBQBA

(Screen recording flash on my aging computer murdered the framerate but I like how silly it all looks)

# ? Jan 7, 2013 18:25

Ulu: Nov 7, 2005

I really need to finish some games et gain some game coding experience, so I registered as @ULuIQ12.

I've been designing/coding flash websites and advertgames for more than 10 years, even occasionaly worked for Ubisoft on some prototypes. I've always wanted to make some games, but never really took the time to make/finish them.

So yeah, i'm in !
Last month I tried my hand at Unity, and of course, i didn't finish the game because of christmas/new year. So first I think i'll finish that.

I have the general framework for a very simple puzzle/arcade game, already made some music, some UI, etc. I MUST be able to finish it before the 31.

Here's the title screen. Not worth much, because it'll still change quite a bit :

# ? Jan 7, 2013 18:44

grimdarkkrieg: May 12, 2009

I think I've locked down my January project. Working title "Ghost Problems" is a 1st person adventure game where the player is a Paranormal Detective Magician, that helps people solve their problems with ghosts and such. A bit like John Constantine, maybe? My design is very adventure gamish with few "moving parts", just so I don't have to deal with too much AI yet.

I'm planning on doing this simple haunted house scene which the Player has to investigate and gather clues about what's going on, what kind of haunting they're dealing with and then use appropriate methods to banish the spirits and get paid.

Work wise I've been mostly getting reacquainted with Unity this past week implementing some basic stuff, doing some puzzle design, writing, embarking on quests into the internet's pagan websites for fun rituals and weird stuff like that I could use. It's been fun.

Here's a short video of my test scene! Not much yet to show at this stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY6mGDazz04

We'll see how this goes, if during the final week of January it's looking bad, I'm just gonna whip something up quick and move this project to February.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 19:13

limaCAT: Dec 22, 2007; Not currently available in the BROUHAHA store

In as @limaCAT

# ? Jan 7, 2013 20:29

Tayacan: Dec 8, 2012

the chaos engine posted:

Here's some footage of me playing what is now called GHOST PARTY:

Wow, that looks really nice and polished! I loved the dancing ghosts at the end.

I'm hacking together a level editor for my platformer, because typing coordinates is kinda dull and error-prone. Forced me into re-thinking some decisions about how my framework handles drawing, so that's pretty great.

# ? Jan 7, 2013 20:53

Stiggs: Apr 25, 2008; Miles and miles of friends!

Everyone's games seem to be coming along nicely!

I'm making a simple little split screen tank game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZm0LLw33Fg

# ? Jan 8, 2013 02:30

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

Stiggs posted:

Everyone's games seem to be coming along nicely!

I'm making a simple little split screen tank game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZm0LLw33Fg

Psychedelic, very nice. You're doing this in Unity, right? Are you using a premade framework for handling 2D like Orthello2D, or did you write up your own system?

# ? Jan 8, 2013 02:34

Stiggs: Apr 25, 2008; Miles and miles of friends!

Mo_Steel posted:

Psychedelic, very nice. You're doing this in Unity, right? Are you using a premade framework for handling 2D like Orthello2D, or did you write up your own system?

This one is actually just in XNA. I'd started this before I'd discovered my new found love for Unity and thought I may as well finish it.

As for Unity, I'll probably look into ex2D for February's game.

Stiggs fucked around with this message at Jan 8, 2013 around 02:50

# ? Jan 8, 2013 02:47

thegasman2000: Feb 12, 2005; Moneyspider Design

I am after an opinion or seven on my game map idea... I am thinking the shooter should be based in a prison and you have to escape and found a nice sat image of GITMO... Do you reckon scening a game there would be cool?

# ? Jan 8, 2013 15:20

Amstrad: Apr 4, 2007; To destroy evil you must become an even greater evil.

thegasman2000 posted:

I am after an opinion or seven on my game map idea... I am thinking the shooter should be based in a prison and you have to escape and found a nice sat image of GITMO... Do you reckon scening a game there would be cool?

My theory on this sort of thing is: "if you had to ask"

# ? Jan 8, 2013 15:41

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

thegasman2000 posted:

I am after an opinion or seven on my game map idea... I am thinking the shooter should be based in a prison and you have to escape and found a nice sat image of GITMO... Do you reckon scening a game there would be cool?

It might detract from the focus on the game itself to be honest. Most people might not think anything of it, but for some people putting a real life name and face on things (and that face ostensibly being the U.S. military as the enemy) could distract them from the actual game under the notion you're making a political statement. Certainly if you feel it adds to the game go for it, it's your game and your world, whatever detractors might think; I personally don't see what it adds and wouldn't be for or against the proposal.

---------

Inspiration to get me going on making a game for today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gIztqPlJ3w

# ? Jan 8, 2013 18:20

thegasman2000: Feb 12, 2005; Moneyspider Design

Mo_Steel posted:

It might detract from the focus on the game itself to be honest. Most people might not think anything of it, but for some people putting a real life name and face on things (and that face ostensibly being the U.S. military as the enemy) could distract them from the actual game under the notion you're making a political statement. Certainly if you feel it adds to the game go for it, it's your game and your world, whatever detractors might think; I personally don't see what it adds and wouldn't be for or against the proposal.

Hmm the idea of making it political appeals as i think contravertial games tend to sell well. But if I cannot spin a plot worth of the hype its a no brainer. I do like the map layout though.

EDIT: JESUS CHRIST DUDE, check the size of your images before posting them. That's big enough to bog down mobile browsers.

Somebody fucked around with this message at Jan 8, 2013 around 21:37

# ? Jan 8, 2013 18:27

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; Can I buy you a root beer?

I'm finally to where I can show the game I'm releasing this month... which, as it happens, will also be my #1GAM entry. Well, it'll either be this month's entry or next month's - I guess GGJ would also be this month's. Anyways, teaser trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfWj-PHaHWk

Shalinor fucked around with this message at Jan 8, 2013 around 21:43

# ? Jan 8, 2013 21:39

Face Melter: May 24, 2009

Managed to put some time into this today. I've given the viruses the ability to infect nearby tiles. It's coming along now that I have the base game loop down. I'm thinking of adding mobile viruses and whatnot. Maybe add different types of infections by each virus. Not sold on the idea yet.

I really need either an artist or a decent quick and dirty tutorial on tile art n' stuff. Everything in game now is shoddy placeholder art from other games that I started/gave up on. It's great for prototyping, but that's about it.

Also, I guess at some point I'll have to actually host this thing somewhere other than dropbox. I really have no idea where to start with web hosting. Suggestions? Cost?

Demo in progress:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11063814/1GAM/Jan/index.html

Same mouse/WASD controls as before.
F5 that sucka if the update doesn't kick in.

# ? Jan 8, 2013 21:45

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

Shalinor posted:

I'm finally to where I can show the game I'm releasing this month... which, as it happens, will also be my #1GAM entry. Well, it'll either be this month's entry or next month's - I guess GGJ would also be this month's. Anyways, teaser trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfWj-PHaHWk

Rescuing cats as a blocky little fireman? Very nice.

Face Melter posted:

Managed to put some time into this today. I've given the viruses the ability to infect nearby tiles. It's coming along now that I have the base game loop down. I'm thinking of adding mobile viruses and whatnot. Maybe add different types of infections by each virus. Not sold on the idea yet.

I really need either an artist or a decent quick and dirty tutorial on tile art n' stuff. Everything in game now is shoddy placeholder art from other games that I started/gave up on. It's great for prototyping, but that's about it.

Also, I guess at some point I'll have to actually host this thing somewhere other than dropbox. I really have no idea where to start with web hosting. Suggestions? Cost?

Demo in progress:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11063814/1GAM/Jan/index.html

Same mouse/WASD controls as before.
F5 that sucka if the update doesn't kick in.

Interesting setup so far. Because I try to perpetually break my own games to make sure I didn't forget something, I tried to screw with yours: if you run up to a block with an infection you can make it switch from red to green even if an enemy if occupying it; however, infected squares will continue to appear around that area until you kill the enemy. If you flip a square to green while an enemy is on it, it appears to make it impossible to advance because after turning all the remaining infection tiles from red to green my count was still at however many tiles I flipped that had enemies on them at the time. Easiest solution is probably just to check if an enemy is occupying that tile and if so, flag the tile as unchangeable until the enemy is killed.

------------

As for my own game, HUD stuff took a bit longer than anticipated. I've got a temporary visual setup now, with a radial timer as a workaround because apparently Monogame doesn't support Spritefonts that are needed for the XNA DrawString method.

Next month I think I'm switching over to try Construct 2, Monogame is familiar but these annoyances are building. Still on a fixed width setup as the battle round calculations aren't setup yet.

Making the buttons clickable is a fairly straightforward task, possibly something I'll implement tonight or tomorrow. Hoping to actually get some battle calculations and make a super basic random AI to test against in the next couple days, then setup Win and Loss conditions and add Title and Pause menus. I should have 2+ weeks left by the time that's done, so my code will be left to making proper AI, attempting basic networking (probably peer-to-peer), putting in some audio, and trying to improve my artistry with some replacements for these placeholder textures. I think that's the part I'm most excited for: making the game look better and adding juiciness are fun and responsive changes, handling backend animation class setup not so much.

Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at Jan 8, 2013 around 23:23

# ? Jan 8, 2013 23:20

Thievery: Jul 15, 2008; What happens in 3rd Street stays in 3rd Street.

If anyone would like art assets i'm happy to help. I'm not outstanding or anything but if artwork's an issue for you I don't mind lending a hand. Twitter is @Thievery52.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 01:18

Highblood: May 20, 2012; Coo.

In as @appearifier. First time trying to code anything serious, probably going to die trying. Time to learn SDL properly, if anybody knows some good resources on it, I could really use it

# ? Jan 9, 2013 02:06

ShinAli: May 2, 2003; The Kid better watch his step.

I more or less just had a standard template for an SDL app saved off and mostly just programmed using OpenGL; didn't really have much in the way of general game drawing stuff. Did you ever check out SFML?

# ? Jan 9, 2013 02:43

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

Going to have to sleep on my problem for now: having issues with spriteBatch.Draw when it comes to changing how much of a texture is showing up on screen, and I think it has to do with the origin but I'm not certain. The basic setup is like this:

code:

/// <summary>
        /// Advance the animation if the frame interval is met, then draw the animation.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="gameTime">Provides a snapshot of timing values</param>
        /// <param name="spriteBatch">Used to draw textures</param>
        /// <param name="position">Position to draw the animation</param>
        /// <param name="scale">Scale of the animation, default 1.0f</param>
        /// <param name="effects">SpriteEffects for the animation</param>
        /// <param name="specialWidth">Special Width for the animation, if applicable</param>
        public void PlayAnimation(GameTime gameTime, SpriteBatch spriteBatch, Vector2 position, 
                                  float scale, SpriteEffects effects, int specialWidth)
        {
            // Creates the animation rectangle based upon what frame the animation is on.
            sourceRect = new Rectangle(currentFrame * spriteWidth, 0, spriteWidth, SpriteHeight);

            // If a special width is set (done for beam animations) truncate rectangle width appropriately.
            if (specialWidth != 0)
                sourceRect.Width = specialWidth;

            // Sets the origin to the center of the rectangle.
            origin = new Vector2(sourceRect.Width / 2, sourceRect.Height / 2);

            // Update the position before drawing.
            this.position = position;

            // Increment the timer.
            timer += (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds;

            // Check if the timer is longer than the interval to animate the next frame.
            if (timer > frameInterval)
            {
                // Increment the current frame to the next one.
                currentFrame++;

                // Check if the current frame is higher than the total number of frames; if so, loop back to the start.
                if (currentFrame >= TotalFrames)
                {
                    currentFrame = 0;
                }

                // Reset the timer.
                timer = 0f;
            }

            // Finally, draw the texture.
            spriteBatch.Draw(spriteTexture, this.position, sourceRect, Color.White, 0.0f, origin, scale, effects, 0);
        }

The only animations that need to be truncated after splitting it into constituent frames and picking one is the magic beams, so all other animations just pass in 0 for that value; every first round of battle works great, regardless of what special length I pass in for the beam, rendering in the correct position and width. But the next time it comes up and the width of the beam has changed, the position on screen shifts as well. I suspect it's the origin because the position variables don't actually change when I setup breakpoints and manually step into the program, but the origin looks to be updating correctly too if I'm not missing something. For instance, if the first beam length is 400, the origin sets itself to the middle-bottom as it should, and the position renders correctly. If the next time it changes length, the length becomes 500, then the origin properly updates to 250 (the middle of the texture that's visible again) and the position remains the same, so it should stay in place but it doesn't.

Round One - Renders properly:

Round Two - Beams move on the screen to new positions:

I'm probably missing something obvious that's causing things to compound when they shouldn't be. The widths properly changed, and if they were displaying in the correct spots everything would be spot on.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 05:32

chiefnewo: May 21, 2007; the chief of newo

Where does the position come from? You pass it in and set this.position to that passed in value. Should that position be modified by the calculated origin at all? Without seeing your drawing function I can't be sure but it seems like you should update the position of the animation based on the new origin. Unless I've completely misunderstood how you use that origin value.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 06:00

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; "We don't need a toilet. The pile of clothes in the hallway has worked fine for us for years, and it will continue to work."

chiefnewo posted:

Where does the position come from? You pass it in and set this.position to that passed in value. Should that position be modified by the calculated origin at all? Without seeing your drawing function I can't be sure but it seems like you should update the position of the animation based on the new origin. Unless I've completely misunderstood how you use that origin value.

Yeah, it's passed in when the sprite is called to be drawn. Had to remind myself of this one too, because I used a bunch of animation code from a prior project that I had forgotten about all the fine details. Basically, the origin is a way to manage a relation to the position. By default the origin is the upper left corner, but the code I borrowed from was a platforming game so it made more sense to have the position of the sprite be related to the bottom center of the texture. As an example, if the origin is set for the bottom center of a 100x100 texture and I tell the program to draw it at position (0,0), it will draw the texture centered horizontally at x = 0 and with the bottom of the texture at y = 0. This can help keep things intuitive until you forget about how the method works like I did.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...studio.40).aspx

Anyway, I think I figured it out. I noticed a few flaws in the way I was handling things that hadn't shown up when things were stationary: I hadn't been updating the magicbeam classes with new positions because I never thought it'd be needed. However, the way the drawing works is the beam on the right is utilizing SpriteEffect.FlipHorizontally, so if I want it to remain in position visibly and still shrink, I need to move it over at the same time. The origin issue was making things even more of a mess: I'm much better off keeping the origin preset to the maximum potential size of the texture and maintaining that position for the left beam and adjusting the position of the right beam by the length of the left beam. So I rearranged my order of operations to prevent the origin from using the special width display:

code:

public void PlayAnimation(GameTime gameTime, SpriteBatch spriteBatch, Vector2 position, 
                                  float scale, SpriteEffects effects, int specialWidth)
        {
            // Creates the animation rectangle based upon what frame the animation is on.
            sourceRect = new Rectangle(currentFrame * spriteWidth, 0, spriteWidth, SpriteHeight);

            // Sets the origin to the center of the rectangle.
            origin = new Vector2(sourceRect.Width / 2, sourceRect.Height / 2);

            // If a special width is set (done for beam animations) truncate rectangle width appropriately.
            if (specialWidth != 0)
                sourceRect.Width = specialWidth;

            // Update the position before drawing.
            this.position = position;

And then set this into the code segment I'm using to modify the beam lengths during a round:

code:

playerTwoBeamPosition.X = 560 + playerOneBeamLength;

Where 560 is the default position for the right beam. My code is probably pretty sloppy and hamfisted but I'll definitely be sharing it at the end of the month so folks can learn from my horrible monstrosities. This at least seems to have the right effect with single frame animations, we'll see how it fares once I start replacing placeholder beams with animated ones later on.

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Time to sleep.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 06:25

field balm: Feb 5, 2012

update 3!!

I've uploaded the latest build here: http://fieldbalm.cu.cc/works/1gam/

Controls are:

Left or right to move
Z + up or down to change tiers
X + directions to shoot
C to change polarity

You can now hit N to double the resolution for fullscreen play (hit n then fullscreen your browser, usually f11) - there will be a viewmode that will stretch to your exact resolution eventually.

I've added in more scoring mechanics, including chains and an element on the GUI that shows your chains (ie killing 3 of the same colour enemy or alternating colour will get you more points).

Something I wanted to do was to make this game super juicy, so I've implemented a little particle effects system that I think adds some impact (sound will really help too). I also drew a new explosion sprite and added hit sparks for when you are shooting an enemy. Still working on a player sprite (I'm going for a sort of fantasia theme (I think), where you are a sorcerer who has accidentally summoned a load of ghouls etc and have to take care of them).

Still no way to die and no real enemy patterns, but I've nearly got all the mechanical side out of the way (bar enemy bullets, attacks and types) so I can start working on those soon.

I'd love some criticism/feedback! Also, I have only tested this on chrome so if you try it in another browser please let me know how it goes.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 06:33

Amstrad: Apr 4, 2007; To destroy evil you must become an even greater evil.

field balm posted:

I'd love some criticism/feedback! Also, I have only tested this on chrome so if you try it in another browser please let me know how it goes.

Just tried it out in Firefox 18, right now the changing tier's mechanic isn't working for me, I'm stuck on the lowest rung. Other than that the entire playscreen is flickering, especially when firing.

Though i'm assuming you're using html5, so this may just be on my end as in my experience for whatever reason Firefox and html5 on my system don't really work 100%. Usually it's just audio stuttering issues though.

# ? Jan 9, 2013 07:01

Thievery: Jul 15, 2008; What happens in 3rd Street stays in 3rd Street.

It's 7:20am, i've been up for 7 hours, and i'm currently working on this guy. I did have a version of him that was way more detailed then realised it would be hell to animate and now I don't have it anymore

The worst bit is I can't decide what film to watch in the background while working. It's a real problem!

# ? Jan 9, 2013 07:27

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# ? May 24, 2013 12:54

field balm: Feb 5, 2012

Amstrad posted:

Just tried it out in Firefox 18, right now the changing tier's mechanic isn't working for me, I'm stuck on the lowest rung. Other than that the entire playscreen is flickering, especially when firing.

Though i'm assuming you're using html5, so this may just be on my end as in my experience for whatever reason Firefox and html5 on my system don't really work 100%. Usually it's just audio stuttering issues though.

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely have a look at firefox, at this stage there is a bunch of webkit specific code, it should be easy to add the mozilla versions as well. Performance is fairly different between browsers with html5 at the moment, unfortunately (which sucks because otherwise development for it is pretty drat easy).

# ? Jan 9, 2013 08:34

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