[A-Guymzx]

RyanThunder, on Sep 22 2009, 05:50 AM, said:

the game will be finished at some point.

That's good to know! Instead of my projects (which will face the 'Will never complete' sickness), this one will actually be finished.

[allison]

A-Guymzx, on Sep 22 2009, 04:26 AM, said:

That's good to know! Instead of my projects (which will face the 'Will never complete' sickness), this one will actually be finished.

Well then.... GET TO WORK ON LOZ!!!

[A-Guymzx]

crazyal02, on Sep 25 2009, 03:52 PM, said:

Well then.... GET TO WORK ON LOZ!!!

That's easy for you to say. Do you know what PDD-NOS is? This is some kind of authism, and i have PDD-NOS, which makes me change my inspiration all the time(and much more stuff in real life), making it hard for me to keep working on the same thing.

Oh, and by the way, check down on my LoZ journal and you'll see that i'm working on it again, in case you didn't knew that already.

[RyanThunder]

A-Guymzx, on Sep 25 2009, 11:31 AM, said:

That's easy for you to say. Do you know what PDD-NOS is? This is some kind of authism, and i have PDD-NOS, which makes me change my inspiration all the time(and much more stuff in real life), making it hard for me to keep working on the same thing.

Oh, and by the way, check down on my LoZ journal and you'll see that i'm working on it again, in case you didn't knew that already.

Oooo, sick burn.

[Jester]

journals are great for hammer engines and autism

RT: You really need to finish this game. i have played all your RT games and i have not liked any of them, including this one. BUT since you have used so many years trying to make the RT game of your dreams, i finally have formed some sick and disgusting urge to play the finished RT game just to see if all those wasted hours and powers bear any fruit.

That may have sounded a bit negative, but seriously, try to finish this ASAP.

lolz @ bear

This post has been edited by Jester: 27 September 2009 - 02:20 PM

[RyanThunder]

Jester, on Sep 27 2009, 09:17 AM, said:

journals are great for hammer engines and autism

RT: You really need to finish this game. i have played all your RT games and i have not liked any of them, including this one. BUT since you have used so many years trying to make the RT game of your dreams, i finally have formed some sick and disgusting urge to play the finished RT game just to see if all those wasted hours and powers bear any fruit.

That may have sounded a bit negative, but seriously, try to finish this ASAP.

lolz @ bear

I understand your point of view. I feel the same way about my previous RT games, as none of them portrayed RT as the admirable character that I want him to be and didn't start his story from the beginning. Each one just kind of jumped into the middle of his universe. However, this one is a true portrayal of the young version of RT, as the story has been ripped straight from my homemade 1996 comic books, and a bit more modernized to fix plot holes and nonsensical plot devices. The game itself isn't going to be very long (about 8 levels), but that's the point, and is about the length of the original story. As you know, early side-scrolling games really didn't contain that many levels, but some had a high replay value (i.e. early Sonic games, Kirby games) and each had a nice little story to tell. This is the kind of category that I want this game to fall into. But, most of all, I want this game to be remembered, if only by a few people, despite me making this game for myself.

So, in summary, this game is the true beginning to Ryan Thunder's story. This is the game that starts him off on a clean slate.

Thank you for your "support." One more person wanting this game finished only gives me more incentive to finish it.

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 28 September 2009 - 01:49 AM

[T-Bone]

You asked something of me a while back... what was it?

[RyanThunder]

T-Bone, on Sep 29 2009, 06:00 AM, said:

You asked something of me a while back... what was it?

I believe that I just wanted to confirm the fact that you still wanted to beta test.

[RyanThunder]

Introduction sequence complete! Save file system is next.

In terms of design, quite possibly the hardest part of this game to make was the introduction sequence. Thanks to 2-3 hour coding sessions during the weekday nights, I am very pleased to say that it is finally complete, and, man, it is awesome! As much as I'd like to post a preview of it on here, I'm going to wait until the official release of the full game, just because I don't like to give too many details away in the middle of development.

The next milestone to tackle is the save file system. With the use of the FWRITE function, at the beginning of each level, it will save these details to a TXT file:

- Level #
- Number of lives
- Your current score
- The player CHAR

The game will save to the file that you choose before starting the game. It will also save a custom 8-character string that players choose to be their filename to whichever file number they choose (i.e. file1, file2, file3). When players return to the game, they can choose their save file from a load file screen, and this is where the FREAD function will take it's course to list the counters and strings listed above. When players choose their game, it will load their game by simply opening the .SAV file of the given file number.

Even though I'm sure I'll eventually figure this out, you can, of course, make my life easier by posting up some code of your own.

There is finally a small glint of light at the end of this 4-5 year long tunnel.

[A-Guymzx]

Actually, i still have an old sandbox where i tested my save system for LoZ.

With this i figured out how to use the fwrite counter and how to use it to save my game:

And i used it to bring back the use of Flags to megazeux. what you see below is a block of buttons which only use only 1 counter to see what item you have and have not.

Here's the code of the buttons:

The 'remove item' button:

end
: "touch"
set "items" to "('items' a ~1)"
end

The 'give item' button:

end
: "touch"
set "items" to "('items' o 1)"
end

And the 'show have/have not' display:

: "lp"
wait for 1
if "('items' a 1)" != 0 then "green"
color c6c
goto "lp"

: "green"
color c6a
goto "lp"

the remove button simply counts down the given number to the counter 'items', IF the counter contains that number in a bitflag. the give button does the very opposite; it adds up the given number to the counter. and the display turns red or green depending on the result being 0 or 1.

here's the code of the saving system, and below the loading system:

end
: "keys"
lockself
set "savetest.tmp" to "FWRITE_OPEN"
set "local1" to "(1398427468)"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "local1"
set "local1" to 21581
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "local1"
set "FWRITE" to "inuse"
set "$PLNAME" to "FWRITE"
inc "FWRITE_POS" by "(9-(&$PLNAME.length&+1))"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "hp"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "maxhp"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "items"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "num1"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "num2"
set "FWRITE_COUNTER" to "num3"
set "" to "FWRITE_OPEN"
* "Saved as 'savetest.tmp'!"
wait for 21
unlockself
end

end
: "keyl"
lockself
set "savetest.tmp" to "FREAD_OPEN"
set "local1" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
if "local1" != "(1398427468)" then "badmagic"
set "local1" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
if "local1" != 21581 then "badversion"
set "local1" to "FREAD"
if "local1" = 0 then "notinuse"
set "$PLNAME" to "FREAD"
inc "FREAD_POS" by "(9-(&$PLNAME.length&+1))"
set "hp" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "maxhp" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "items" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "num1" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "num2" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "num3" to "FREAD_COUNTER"
set "" to "FREAD_OPEN"
[ "File has been loaded succesfully!"

[ "The following data has been loaded:"
% "Your name has been set to: ~e&$PLNAME&~f."
% "The ~e'hp' ~fcounter has been set to ~e&hp&~f."
% "The ~e'maxhp' ~fcounter has been set to ~e&maxhp&~f."
% "The counters ~e'num1'~f, ~e'num2' ~fand ~e'num3' ~fhave been set to:"
% "~e&num1&~f, ~e&num2& ~fand ~e&num3&~f."

: "resume"
wait for 21
unlockself
end

: "badmagic"
* "Magic number invalid!"
goto "resume"

: "badversion"
* "Version number invalid!"
goto "resume"

: "notinuse"
* "The file is not in use!"
goto "resume"

The saving system is very simple: it just writes down the magic number, which is 1398427468 (LOZS) and the version number, 21581 (MT ). Then it writes down all the given information, like the player name.
The loading system is also simple, but instead of writing, it reads. first it check the magic number, then the version number, and then if it is in use (one of the counters). if all that is correct, it shows the loading results.

pretty neat, huh?

NOTE: If you guys use items in your game, use this bitflag system. using this you only need 1, or maybe more counters (32 items per counter) to see what items you have, or have not.

This post has been edited by A-Guymzx: 14 November 2009 - 11:53 PM

[RyanThunder]

I've only skimmed over your code, but this seems needlessly complicating, especially for the type of simplicity I'm looking for. All I want to do is write 2 strings and and 2 counters to a TXT file, then able to open them up again for display.

I'll probably go back to your system later and just extract the lines of code that I'll need.

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 15 November 2009 - 12:22 AM

[A-Guymzx]

yeah, my system currently uses over 50 counters and 5 strings, split up in 3 'save blocks', all put into 1 file. I suggest you should try making a multi-block TXT file, like i do, instead of making several SAV files, which can be loaded from other games. All you need to do then is to make a specefic number of characters a save file can consume in the TXT file. Also, try putting in a string like this:

set "$PLAYERNAME" to "FWRITE"
inc "FWRITE_POS" by "(9-(&$PLAYERNAME.length&+1))"

Using this, the player name ALWAYS takes up 8 characters in the file, but when reading, it knows exactly how many spaces the the name actually uses. Instead of getting "test____." as result, you will get "test." without the unused spaces.

This post has been edited by A-Guymzx: 15 November 2009 - 01:13 AM

[RyanThunder]

Hmm, perhaps that might be a bit more formal to not use .SAV files.

In that case, all I would need to do is add some lines of code that would decide where to teleport the player based on what level was written to the given TXT file. From there I just set the player's lives and score to the counters that were saved within the TXT file when their save file is loaded.

I'll probably get started on this tomorrow. I think the only concept that I still can't fully grasp is FREAD_POS and FWRITE_POS. I know that stands for the position where it reads/writes from, but I need to know how these FWRITE TXT files are structured to understand it. Are all of things written to one line of text in the file, or multiple lines?

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 15 November 2009 - 02:12 AM

[A-Guymzx]

The TXT file decides when to go to the next line of text, but you should just forget about that. Instead, make your life easyer making a save file draft. With this you know exactly how many spaces 1 save block uses. Here's another hint: save the score counter for last, because it can count up into a huge number, and can wreck other information if put in the middle or something.

[Wervyn]

A-Guymzx, on Nov 14 2009, 09:12 PM, said:

yeah, my system currently uses over 50 counters and 5 strings, split up in 3 'save blocks', all put into 1 file. I suggest you should try making a multi-block TXT file, like i do, instead of making several SAV files, which can be loaded from other games. All you need to do then is to make a specefic number of characters a save file can consume in the TXT file. Also, try putting in a string like this:

set "$PLAYERNAME" to "FWRITE"
inc "FWRITE_POS" by "(9-(&$PLAYERNAME.length&+1))"

Using this, the player name ALWAYS takes up 8 characters in the file, but when reading, it knows exactly how many spaces the the name actually uses. Instead of getting "test____." as result, you will get "test." without the unused spaces.

50 counters, boy howdy! I mean, that won't even run in MZX 2.51! Sorry, that just sounds funny in the context of games that use thousands of counters now (or even millions, looking at you kenohki).

Anyway, your string-writing routine is okay, but a bit naive unless you have some hard logic in the game forcing the player's name to be 9 characters or less. Your code creates a 9 character block in the file, which is enough for 8 characters of string plus 1 "null" terminator (actually an asterisk, why Exo why). If the player inputs his name as "Rumpelstiltskin", say, what will be written into the file is "LOZSMT 1RumplestiCOUNTERDATABLAHBLAH". So all that counter data will end up appended to the player's name, up to the end of the file or the first asterisk. To your credit, this won't mess up the rest of the counter reading if the counter data contains a number that has char 42 in it (roughly 1.5% chance per counter for a random distribution, likely less than 0.8% per counter in your case). If it doesn't however, you'll be off by one for the rest of the file, which assuming most of your game counters are less than a million, means all of them are going to get multiplied by 256. This is, in a word, bad.

All basically to say, you should probably have a routine to clip the player's name to 8 characters, which is really as simple as just saying set "$PLAYERNAME" to "$PLAYERNAME#8". Then you only have to worry about the player using asterisks in his name... (Hint: this doesn't do anything but shorten the name once it's saved.)

Or, you could just let the name be however long the player wanted. I mean, you're already setting the file pointer based on a relative position, so it's not like you explicitly care that all fields have fixed widths and absolute offsets. Then the asterisk thing becomes a slightly bigger problem though, since anything after the first asterisk in the name becomes counter data. The correct way to do that is to not use a null-terminated string to begin with. Write the length of the string followed by the string itself instead:

set "fwrite_counter" to "$PLAYERNAME.length"
set "$PLAYERNAME" to "fwrite&PLAYERNAME.length&"
. "..."
set "local1" to "fread_counter"
set "$PLAYERNAME" to "fread&local1&"

This has been your robotic tutorial of the day.

"This would be a security talk, if anyone cared about the security of MZX games."

[A-Guymzx]

Well, you have a point there, but i made it impossible to imput a name longer then 8 characters at all. And what my system does is writing the player name, then set FWRITE_POS ahead like the name WOULD be 8 characters long, so the file stays organized. So instread of getting a file like this:
[LOZSMT


Link 
ô
](unorganized)
I get it like this:
[LOZSMT


Link*


 
ô
](organized)

Using this, 1 save block always uses, say, 20 characters in a TXT file, instead of 16, or 19.

This post has been edited by A-Guymzx: 15 November 2009 - 05:32 PM

[RyanThunder]

Another delay? Perhaps...

As we all know, life is full of curveballs. Now, I'm not gonna get all sappy on you, but I wanted to update the journal with some goings-on so that anyone following this game can rest knowing what's going on with its development.

":boringdelayreason"
Let's make this quick. This year I graduated college, managed to land some sort of job, and saved up enough cash to move out. Ironically enough, this was one of the most active years (if not the most active year) of the development of Ryan Thunder. Most of it was "retrofitting" the game to new reworks of engines and different coats of polish, as it were. After all is said and done, it turned out to be a huge pain in the ass. But, the hard stuff is done, and the light at the end of the tunnel has become even brighter.

However, I mentioned that curveball statement for a reason. My recent curveball has come in the form of student loan debt. I won't get into the gritty details, but let's just say that I got some important information a little too late, which in turn completely threw off my calculations of monthly expenses for living at my own place. Of course, I got this information after signing the lease. Damn it. The reason why I mention this is because this chaos may affect the development of RT, and it may not see a release by the end of this year like I had intended.
"end"

":thegoodstuff"
All of this is probably just a bunch of hot air to you, so I figured that you probably needed some kind of proof. Some kind of proof that I'm still working on this little game. Some kind of proof that I still give a damn about finishing this story. Well, I'm the type of developer that doesn't like to give too much away, so here's the best I could think of:

Old Vs. New

Below is the very old version of the title screen. This was made when the game first started development which I believe was approximately summer of 2004:


And here is the new version of the title screen. This one's hot off the press, made in autumn of 2009:



But you know what? Maybe that wasn't good enough for you. So, how about this?:

Release Date: March 30, 2010 (if not before that)

That's right, a CONCRETE release date, and on my birthday no less! However, there's a very strong possibility the game will be released before then.
"end"

So that's what's up. I have my own thoughts on the title screens, but I'm curious to see what you think of them.

Your comments are always encouraged, even if you're part of the DigitalMZX "motivational meat grinder." If you're supporting the game on the inside, though, I am also very grateful for that too.

Thank you for reading, and keep on Zeuxing!

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 18 December 2009 - 09:10 AM

[Risu2112]

It looks like the stick of butter on his head has now melted to the point where the runoff is about to drip into his eyeballs.

Also why are his pants tucked into his socks? Is he concerned about mice?

[Hoof]

On topic: Consider deferring your student loans (and consolidate, if you haven't already). As I'm no expert and I don't know the details of your misfortune, I don't have any specifics. However, I deferred my loans after grad school based on unemployment, and there is also the reason of "economic hardship" which is pretty rampant these days.

Do not DO NOT do like I did and try and pay any amount through credit cards. Student loans (especially federal) are far more forgiving than credit card companies. (Actually, I was paying tuition on my credit card and paying back MOST of my credit payments, but it was dumb. The interest on a student loan is like ~20% less than the interest on a credit card).

Article of interest:
http://www.nolo.com/...icle-29791.html

[allison]

Hoof, on Dec 18 2009, 08:14 AM, said:

On topic: Consider deferring your student loans (and consolidate, if you haven't already). As I'm no expert and I don't know the details of your misfortune, I don't have any specifics. However, I deferred my loans after grad school based on unemployment, and there is also the reason of "economic hardship" which is pretty rampant these days.

Do not DO NOT do like I did and try and pay any amount through credit cards. Student loans (especially federal) are far more forgiving than credit card companies. (Actually, I was paying tuition on my credit card and paying back MOST of my credit payments, but it was dumb. The interest on a student loan is like ~20% less than the interest on a credit card).

Article of interest:
http://www.nolo.com/...icle-29791.html

interesting. ^_^

[asiekierka]

RyanThunder, on Dec 18 2009, 10:08 AM, said:

Release Date: March 30, 2010 (if not before that)

you know
there is a COMMON law in megazeux

"Defining a release date grinds all work on a game until that date (and possibly further) to a halt."

[Micah]

You know Ryanthunder up until this point I thought you were like 12. So my bad.

[asgromo]

Hi RyanThunder. I'm going to be mean to you, partially to sate my thirst for virgin blood, but also because I have real concerns about your attitude regarding your own bad video game.

asiekierka has a pretty strong point, but there's more to be made of his post. Why are you setting a release date? Do you think you have an audience that's trembling with anticipation to see your work? Wouldn't it be healthier to realize you actually didn't, and that you have more important problems to deal with all of the time than even thinking about satisfying the fictional audience?

Risu has a pretty good point as well, but if he wasn't clear: your title screen is bad and it doesn't mean anything to anyone and the only decent reason for a person to care about your work is if they've a certain emotional investment in seeing you improve it. Improve it a great deal. For most people here your title screen represents maybe seven and a half minutes of under-planned scribbling, an irrational fear of the palette and character set editors, and a lack of familiarity with typography, color theory, human anatomy, and other MegaZeux title screens.

You could probably improve on your title screen in a few minutes time. Here's where I'd start:

Learn to save and load palettes and character sets immediately. Then look at a real pair of jeans. Discern that they do not glow. Now adjust the color of Ryan Thunder's jeans such that they do not glow. That is, of course, assuming the character design does not entail glowing pants.

Look down at your own legs. Discern that when you stand up straight the gap between your pant legs is substantially less than width of either leg. Now fix your title screen to suit. Now look at every other part of your body and do the same thing. Try this with pencil and paper first. I'd suggest spending a few afternoons at it, but after college you'll probably never seem to have that kind of time again.

If you've learned to use the palette editor, you can simply pick a color you don't otherwise need for your title screen and use it for the color of hair. Bright EGA yellow is an adequate color for cartoon lightning; bright EGA yellow on black ASCII halftones is a very bad choice for hair. You're better off just using solids and fixing the color.

The title text looks bad because the font is difficult to read. It's difficult to read because the pieces of the letters are of inconsistent widths. See how the verticals tend to appear narrower than the horizontals? (I mean, sometimes. But not always. You seem to have taken a whack at this but I can't really tell what you had in mind.) The overall design is salvageable, but not impressive and not important. Just find a way to draw the characters with consistent line widths. You could always copy off of a preexisting font or graphic.

Make the PRESS 'P' notice less obvious. Everyone knows how to press P to play. These days MegaZeux even has a help dialog again, that blinks at you and tells you to read the documentation and whatever. But your patronizing reminder is white on black and it's in all caps and it's in the middle of the screen, so it's probably what people will read first when the screen appears. Kind of silly, right?

Finally, get rid of the yellow ice. No one's impressed!

Just out of curiosity, what's your major?

[Goshi]

Looks like something out of a Touhou game.

Quote

"Defining a release date grinds all work on a game until that date (and possibly further) to a halt."

Good advice.

[RyanThunder]

asgromo, on Dec 18 2009, 07:42 PM, said:

Motivation meat grinder

Holy shit. You weren't kidding.

However, you did make some valid points, some of which I have taken into account.

Huh. I really don't know what to say. Coming home from a long day at work to see that post is really discouraging, not to mention the other posts above it.

I think you're taking my optimism the wrong way, like you think that I think of myself as the MegaZeux Messiah or something. Completely wrong. I'm optimistic because I'm proud of the game that I am making, despite of what you think of it. It showcases a lot of the new things that I've learned in MegaZeux, which I am also proud of. Yes, there are some design flaws graphically-wise that need fixing (and I thank you for that perspective from fresh eyes), but keep in mind that I'm not aiming for a completely realistic looking game; it's supposed to look like a cartoon or anime. Also, that slow blinking "Press P To Play" is there for other non-MZX players, since I plan on sharing it around the internet.

I honestly don't know why you have expressed so much anger towards my project if all you have to judge by is a few screenshots and a demo that was released 3 years ago (if you even played it). But that doesn't matter either, since even if you do play the finished product I know you're going to hate it on purpose anyway just because you want to.

As for the release date? Yea, it was a bold statement. I plan on meeting that deadline. If I don't, then sorry to disappoint. Judging by the recent posts, I doubt much of any of you will give a damn anyway.

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 19 December 2009 - 05:05 AM

[Goshi]

Quote

As for the release date? Yea, it was a bold statement. I plan on meeting that deadline. If I don't, then sorry to disappoint. Judging by the recent posts, I doubt much of any of you will give a damn anyway.

Assuming you've played the most recent MZX games you would know that expectations are pretty high around here.

That said making good looking MZX graphics only requires a little bit of extra effort. Don't let asgromo's post let you down though, he's only trying to help.

[Hoof]

I think the point of Asgromo's post ultimately was that there are some really simple ways to make your game more attractive to potential players. One thought that I have that is extremely simple and effective is to "tint" your palette. For instance, I rarely/never use solid black or white any more. Instead, add a desaturated hue (greyish colored tint) to those two colors. After that, adjust your colors accordingly to get a "warm" or "cool" feeling. Add some red and green to solid floor colors. Or add some blue to darker brick walls. And consider making the most of the 16 colors you have (bright color dithered with black/dark color doesn't work well outside of ZZT).

Just a thought. Good luck.

[RyanThunder]

Yea, I gathered that expectations were high around here.

Risu2112 made a good point last night in #mzx that MegaZeux graphics have a lot to do with consistency. For example, if there is a lot of detail in a level or scene, then almost all of the chars have to be detailed as well. As for the color palette, that was an intentional move; the game is supposed to look bright and vibrant.

Since my graphical style needs room for improvement, I'm going to go ahead and upload the introduction sequence after touching it up today with its own .CHR file.

[Val]

Goshi, on Dec 19 2009, 01:38 AM, said:

Looks like something out of a Touhou game.

ZUN draws far, far better than that. Also, ZUN doesn't draw dudes.

[CJA]

Guy, on Dec 19 2009, 04:56 PM, said:

ZUN draws far, far better than that. Also, ZUN doesn't draw dudes.

Thank you so much for pointing this out. Thank you so much! Thanks. Thank you! God Bless you. Thanks

RyanThunder, on whatever, said:

I honestly don't know why you have expressed so much anger towards my project if all you have to judge by is a few screenshots and a demo that was released 3 years ago (if you even played it). But that doesn't matter either, since even if you do play the finished product I know you're going to hate it on purpose anyway just because you want to.

Despite what you may have read, that wasn't anger, and most importantly, it wasn't personal. Having your work fuckin' chewed out is probably the best source of that horrible, gut-heavy "ugh" feeling, and it isn't fun at all, and it makes you want to quit. But I think that you should shoot for the goals outlined here. Listen, I've never been able to draw humans at all, and I probably wouldn't do a better job than you could. For this reason, I don't draw humans. Therefore, I applaud your effort, at least.

My title screens are all just big, blocky letters, maybe with a couple extra graphics. I'm a horrible artist, so I don't attempt art. You should immediately improve the letters, adding half-chars where needed (go ahead and use up several characters on that). Additionally, yes, change your palettes. Make your colors 'dusty' by adding a little bit of the wrong color (like add red and green to your blue); take some green out of your yellow and add a tad of blue. I usually mess with saving/loading palettes, but not with character sets.