[T-Bone]

One of the robots that was was failing to return was the one I posted on 22 November 2014 - 07:29 PM a few posts back. The label "March" is pretty much sent from another robot when it feels the level is ready to begin.

Could it be related to the fact that I'm using zap and restore for the subroutine labels? Should unpause use a hashtag as well?

Quote

: "#pause"
zap "#pause" 1
end
: "unpause"
restore "#pause" 1
goto "#return"

Updates

Fixed flashing screen bug when entering a new stage. Related to an incorrect value in overall color intensity.

Will be adding "remaining time" to the score counter at the end of each stage.

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 17 August 2015 - 02:17 AM

[Graham]

T-Bone, on 24 December 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

One of the robots that was was failing to return was the one I posted on 22 November 2014 - 07:29 PM a few posts back. The label "March" is pretty much sent from another robot when it feels the level is ready to begin.

Could it be related to the fact that I'm using zap and restore for the subroutine labels? Should unpause use a hashtag as well?

No, you are doing it just exactly how I am. And it works fine for me. You should be able to use a combination of regular and subroutine labels. Remember, if you used a hashtag at 'unpause' that would start a new subroutine, and you would need to return from that as well.

One thing you could try is goto "#top" this will back you out of all subroutines and return you to the line after the first subroutine regardless of how many nested subroutines you are in. If you are using any other subroutines in the program, and it was in one of them when paused, it would back you out of that too, so it may give undesired results.

[T-Bone]

Quote

One thing you could try is goto "#top" this will back you out of all subroutines and return you to the line after the first subroutine regardless

Oh wow! I actually thought #top would send the robot to the very top of its programming.

Almost forgot I have other subroutine commands in the enemies as well. I wonder if I should just change it to a normal label since it has no need to be subroutine since it dies (the sprite) after its called.

: "#bumpy"
. "bump comes from if mario hit a block from under this sprite"
. "and kills it"
play "&sound10.ogg&"
give 10 SCORE
set "pounce" to 1
dec "spr&local5&_y" by 1
wait for 1
set "spr&local5&_off" to 1
end

From the main Mario script that calls #bumpy

set "spr0_clist" to 1
if c?? Sprite_colliding p00 at 0 -2 then "bumpsomething"
goto "bump"

: "bumpsomething"
if "&spr_clist0&" = -1 then "solidhit"
send "&spr_clist0&" to "#bumpy"
goto "bump"
: "solidhit"
play "&bump.wav&"
: "bump"
wait for 2
goto "fall"

UPDATES

- Red Turtles can now be put into shell by hitting blocks below them (bricks, coins, powerup)
- added local value for turtles to check if they are walking or hiding in shell
- added local value for facing direction for enemies, to retain walking direction when they fall
- Spike (green creature that throws spikeballs) no longer attempts to spawn twice at start
- can no longer pause while shifting viewer further left or right (prevents bug)

To add to my motivation I've started a WIP thread in a popular game making forum which I feel helps bring back that same feeling of when this project was fresh in its infancy. Although I'll be primarily providing technical up dates here. Also hope some people get inspired by what they see and jump over here to try MegaZeux out for themselves

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 01 June 2015 - 09:50 AM

[T-Bone]

Fixed up the issue I was having with the turtles. I kind of just left the turtles being dysfunctional for a long time, as I was getting too lost in the code after a while and I just couldn't figure out a solution. Stepping away for a while has helped me realize how simple the solution was.

When you kick a shell towards a bunch of enemies, the shell no longer bounces back after hitting an enemy. It continues its war path, traditionally.

I also made it so enemy and item sprites collide rather than overlap. Previously they would only bounce into each other if on the left or right side of the sprite. It was pretty funny finding a mushroom that actually had a goomba hidden under it. Was wondering why there was this one mushroom that would hurt Mario than grow him.

Made it so that from the title screen you go to the Game Select screen rather than directly to the first stage of the game. Also if you die and game over in the game (and run out of continues) you return to the title screen. From there you can return to the Game Menu by pressing P (without actually exiting the actual MZX play mode). This gets rid of the whole "GAME OVER - PRESS ESC".

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 03 June 2015 - 09:17 AM

[Otto Germain]

I basically need this game in my life.

[T-Bone]

I'm excited to say that things are going quite smoothly with the development

Change Log

- Red Turtles now turn around when reaching a ledge (previously they would take 1 step off then back on)
- Turtles now die when they fall off the screen or into water (ironic i know)
- Turtle shells have been fixed to kill enemies and smash bricks
- Turtles now drop to the ground when jumped on (and turn into shell)
- Piranha Plant animations have been fixed
- Trouter animations have been fixed
- Changed the placeholder music for Stage 1-1 to the actual music that will be used
- There are now an average of about 3 to 4 soundtracks per world
- how many coins you collect in a stage will carry over to new stage
- Debug quick-save and quick-load now display a dialogue box to confirm their actions (this feature will be removed when game is out of beta)
- New Desert and Beach World stages

June - To Do List

- coins seem to still reset to zero when you die
- physics for fireballs so they bounce around instead of just shoot diagonally straight into the ground and die
- Forest World (in attachment is the work in progress)
- I have yet to work on the continue system. At the moment when you game over, there is no way to recover to the last save
- Red Coin collection mini-bonus game
- Flying Turtles (Koopa Troopas) - will need these soon as they are in World 1, Stage 3
- 1-Up Power up seems broken
- Grabbing a Fire Power Flower after Grabbing an Ice Power Flower has no affect
- Finalizing World 1
- prevent player from beating game by holding right button and jumping (need more obstacles)
- Mario freezes if you hold down while riding trouter (not sure why)

Its really awesome to still see other members of the community cracking at their age old projects. Check out Servo by Graham when you get a chance. I know I am awaiting that game's release for sure!

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This post has been edited by T-Bone: 11 June 2015 - 02:32 AM

[Graham]

Do you think we could benefit from playing each others games? They are so similar in many ways that it kind of makes sense that we might gain insight as to how some feats are accomplished by checking out each other's games and asking questions. We could genuinely benefit and come out with better games because of feedback.

Then again, I don't want either of us to get more ideas of things we must implement into our games because we saw something cool and got an idea we HAVE to do now. I also don't want to democurse either game. I'm not superstitious but I believe in the real idea that getting too much positive feedback can lessen your drive to finish something that you desperately want to get out there to show the world. So I don't know, it could help or possibly hurt. What do you think? Good idea, or bad one?

[T-Bone]

That is quite possible, though you bring up a pretty interesting point about how we may just end up recommending new features. Which is not a bad thing at all lol just may slow down the projects. I'm going full throttle this month. I hope to get 25% of the entire game done.

[Graham]

T-Bone, on 14 June 2015 - 05:02 AM, said:

I'm going full throttle this month. I hope to get 25% of the entire game done.

That's great! I hope I can be one of your testers when the game is ready to debug.

[Dr Lancer-X]

T-Bone, on 14 June 2015 - 11:02 PM, said:

I hope to get 25% of the entire game done.

Does that mean you hope to complete 25% of the game this month, or that you hope to get the game up to the 25% completion mark this month?

[T-Bone]

Get the game up to the 25% completion mark this month. Most of what's left from there after will be strictly level design.

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 16 June 2015 - 08:28 AM

[T-Bone]

Been looking up some of the Mario lore to tie in a bit of story into the game as I have scrapped the original idea of Kirby's Dreamland clashing with Mario's own dream. Its interesting to see how dynamic the mario lore actually is. Also very difficult to construct any sort of timeline to it.

I just bumped into a pretty interesting video of The Game Theory attempting to put together the Mario timeline:

https://www.youtube....h?v=alcxiiN6xkU

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 01 July 2015 - 06:08 PM

[Graham]

So how excited are you for Mario Maker? I've decided it's time to get a Wii U.

[T-Bone]

I've actually been using Lunar Magic since the year 2000 which was the Super Mario World editor. I would actually occasionally break from Super Mario for Megazeux and make a couple maps with Lunar and upload them to that community. Its extremely fun and easy to use. Even allows you to edit your own sprites.

I however think I've exhausted myself from making Mario worlds now that its been something like 15 years lol I think what Nintendo is doing is pretty awesome; as ROM hacking has been really popular. I'm assuming that's why they decided to make the game/tool. I personally may not use it but who knows... maybe when im doing with this game here on MegaZeux I may poke around with it.

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 02 July 2015 - 11:54 PM

[T-Bone]

I'm dead set on the 5 stages per world now. I have each stage fully planned out. There is 8 worlds with 5 stages and a boss battle occupying each last stage. That's 40 awesome levels in total. Gave will also consist of about 25 to 30 soundtracks from all Super Mario games to appropriately fit with the them of each world and stage.

The World Themes (non official titles yet)

World 1 - Grass Land
World 2 - Desert Land
World 3 - Beach Land
World 4 - Forest Land
World 5 - Stone Land
World 6 - Ice Land
World 7 - Toxic Land (Industrial)
World 8 - Lethal Lava Land

So right now im focusing on making all sprites and robots transfer to each stage rather than manually making them for each or copying for each manually. Basically referencing their external data from files and loading them in once a new stage is opened. Additionally I've added it so players cannot test any level they want via the editor. Basically cheat prevention; as I'd love everyone to experience the game in the way it was meant enjoyed. Progressive with some hints of challange. I may add some debugging codes to allow for traveling to any stage once the legit complete Beta is done. But however it will be removed once the game is finally released.

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 27 August 2015 - 01:27 AM

[T-Bone]

Working on a stage that has a more retro feel to it by using the same type of blocks that can be found in SMB3. Wondering what the community prefers in terms of the colours and contrast. For instance you'll see blocks with green and dark green outlines. Should the dark outlines be black like the white and yellow examples? Which looks better to you? I think they are higher in contrast with black and im unsure if that is a good thing or a bad thing compared to using darker colour variations rather than black.

I've included a screenshot from SMB3 so you can see what color style they used. Also keep in mind my screenshot in MZX is from a board i put together in a few minutes just as a sandbox to play around with colour palettes. So its not the actual game and the enemies do not reflect how they will appear in game.

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This post has been edited by T-Bone: 17 August 2015 - 04:39 AM

[Dr Lancer-X]

In MZX lower contrast means that the clash is less apparent when you draw a sprite over it. So that's definitely something to take into account.

[T-Bone]

Very good point and it was something I wasn't even considering at first. Its very noticeable when you have any of the sprites in front of those blocks when using the black outlines.

When using Mario it makes Mario's skin change color regardless I have noticed, which is just not an option. Kind of why all my backgrounds are mostly white. So I think I'm going to make those blocks impassable so you cannot walk in front of them. They do look much better with black outlines. I might have to consider if I want the blocks to overlap each other as it may suggest you can also overlap them.

Stuff like this makes me wish I had used a different color mode

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This post has been edited by T-Bone: 19 August 2015 - 02:52 AM

[Lachesis]

looks cool! so when's it coming out?

[T-Bone]

Thanks! The game is coming along quite well. There isn't any game breaking bugs anymore so I've been focusing a lot more on the level design and just building up the themes of each world and each stage. Won't be creating any new sprites at this point, since I believe I have well over 100 unique ones (items, enemies, bosses, blocks, scenery and unused NPCs).

I've scribbled out the overall plot 3 times over. I'll be making sure to create one with a decent unexpected plot twist. Everyone loves plot twists....

[Graham]

Lachesis, on 18 August 2015 - 08:47 AM, said:

looks cool! so when's it coming out?

Careful, don't give him a false sense of accomplishment or it never will ;-)

I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, it seems you are making real progress and that's good. Don't let perceived flaws demotivate you or cause you to go back to the drawing board. Remember: no one who plays it is going to notice or care about any of the short comings that you, as the creator, will notice.

[T-Bone]

Bit scary start to the new year, I had a failed hard-drive which contained the only latest build of the game. Thankfully I was able to recover it.

Couldn't imagine losing something I've worked so long on

[Dr Lancer-X]

Dropbox that shit. If it isn't backed up you're just asking for this to happen again.

[GetDizzy]

I triple-back-up all my projects now. Dropbox, OneDrive, and my external hard drive.

[T-Bone]

This project is now 12 years old. God damn. Might release a demo-curse "soon".

[Galladin]

T-Bone, on 06 April 2016 - 09:44 AM, said:

This project is now 12 years old. God damn. Might release a demo-curse "soon".

I dare you!

[T-Bone]

Latest build test:

https://youtu.be/H2P-nYuxy5g

(for whatever reason it didn't record in full screen)

Jumping still needs some work after all these years. Also noticing yet again collision issues with the enemies whereas the player falls through some of them without getting hurt. While east things to fix... there are dozens and dozens of separate enemy robots (external files). May have to put those tweaks on hold and start flushing out all the stages.

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 20 November 2016 - 08:16 AM

[Graham]

I watched that on my iPhone so I think it was about 0.5" in diameter, haha. I'll have to check it out on my laptop. It looks as good as I remember it from what little I could tell. It'd be great if you did another one full sized.

On another note, if you want any specific advice or help on the problems you mentioned, ask away. I've pretty much got movement/jumping and enemy collisions working the way I want in my game so I might be able to offer advice.

[Dr Lancer-X]

Might be best to record in windowed mode if fullscreen recording is causing trouble (might have something to do with the currently selected renderer). Game is looking pretty good though.

[T-Bone]

Okay here is the latest test (full screen) and you can see some of the new bugs I'm currently fighting. Coin blocks placing hit box at incorrect locations. I might have to make Mario record each x/y data of when he hits a block and reference that. Instead of placing them directly above Mario's head assuming he hasn't moved from that location in that cycle.



Some other issues

- powerups not all loading up from question boxs
- Red turtle shell being stationary
- repawning invisible enemies after being killed (new bug)
- left direction animation frames are skipping a frame or the frame is lost
- super jump sound effect not emitting
- menu screen speed is too fast (need to make the cursor only respond to pressing arrow keys rather if held)
- robot some how became visible at bottom of screen (an overlay tear must have occurred some how)

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 24 November 2016 - 03:06 AM