The VG Resource

(09-08-2012, 08:38 PM)TheShyGuy Wrote: [ -> ]How bout keeping the actual parallax value and when drawn, just round the value(not the actual value). Ignore if you did this. I thought you were rounding the actual value when its set which would probably break it.

Unfortunately, the way Game Maker handles tiles, that doesn't really work. Tiles, the way Game Maker sees them, are just empty objects. There's no drawing function for them, they're just there. They have an x and y value, and that's where they're going to be drawn, there's no way to change that drawing value without moving the tile itself. Layers are even more stubborn to control, there's only a handful of layer functions in GML.

Were there a relative drawing function for tile layers, I wouldn't be jumping through hoops as it is.

EDIT: Mmmmmyeah it's become apparent now that parallaxing with tiles is not going to work with this game. I get pixel-stretching every time there's a not whole-number-value, and whenever I force them to be whole numbers, the parallax effect breaks, either scrolling everything at the same rate regardless, or not scrolling at all, or scrolling more in one direction than the other meaning you can run back and forth in one place to scroll the background off the screen, great.

Which is a shame because it's almost effortless to add a parallax with backgrounds:



The only problem is looping backgrounds are hard to find - they either feature the castle which means you're passing a bajillion castles throughout the course of the game, or they're just a sky. Which I already have. Neato.

The backgrounds I used in that video were made by a cool dude named Copper Mario for something completely different and it shows in the video which is really just a demonstration of the parallax effect anyway. I might just edit backgrounds from other Mario games to fit the style I'm aiming for. But for right now I'm going to focus on the Options Menu and finishing Mario's behaviors - the backgrounds can wait, as far as I'm concerned.

Quote:Were there a relative drawing function for tile layers, I wouldn't be jumping through hoops as it is.

You could always use a surface, render the tiles to that, and draw it somewhere. Or use two views. I learned a nifty little trick: if you have a view outside the room region (Behind The Black of the top-left corner) and have background color disabled, the stuff drawn on it will feature transparent pixels where there is nothing. If this view is drawn on the screen on top of another view, you can use this effect to e.g. create a non-rotating HUD on a view_angle'd view... or use a normal view for the background and the BDB view for the game.


As for the pixels:
Use a counter so that you move the tiles, say, 1 pixel every 2nd step or so, or every 4th step. (Basically, use a counter to see how many fractions of a pixels the background oughta have moved, and when it's a whole pixel or more, move the tiles and adjust the counter accordingly). I did that with the intro parallax in Shattered World to get the mountains right.

(09-11-2012, 02:48 AM)Yal Wrote: [ -> ]You could always use a surface, render the tiles to that, and draw it somewhere. Or use two views. I learned a nifty little trick: if you have a view outside the room region (Behind The Black of the top-left corner) and have background color disabled, the stuff drawn on it will feature transparent pixels where there is nothing. If this view is drawn on the screen on top of another view, you can use this effect to e.g. create a non-rotating HUD on a view_angle'd view... or use a normal view for the background and the BDB view for the game.


As for the pixels:
Use a counter so that you move the tiles, say, 1 pixel every 2nd step or so, or every 4th step. (Basically, use a counter to see how many fractions of a pixels the background oughta have moved, and when it's a whole pixel or more, move the tiles and adjust the counter accordingly). I did that with the intro parallax in Shattered World to get the mountains right.

I used that second method, the steps and counters and rounding and stuff, and it works beautifully! I can't believe I didn't think of it before, it makes so much sense seeing the actual code.

Thanks a bundle!

So hey, actual progress! (I never can stick to one project at once.) I've decided to rework how the Boost Jump works - I figured that, as it was, it kind of overrode the Ice Flower as the jump was supposed to be very very high or long - whereas the Ice Flower was supposed to be usable to reach out of reach places by freezing enemies to use as platforms. So I've changed how the Boost Jump works to make it more of a Double Jump with a direction, just like Fox's Fire Fox attack from Super Smash Bros..



And of course, like I said, you can use it to pulverize walls of Brick Blocks, which means it WILL access some places other powerups simply can't. You can't Boost Jump in any downward direction, though, unless you're skydiving, so for downward block bashing, Metal Mario's still your main man.



It still needs some tweaking though. Oh, and it does have a cooldown timer...



Also, I was thinking of a weird little extra thing that I dunno if I'm gonna do yet, but in each World there'd be one level with a jukebox in it playing music from a Sonic game (that doesn't feature Mario - that's gonna be an important distinction if I get to make a Doomship level since there's an awesome Flying Battery Zone mix in Mario and Sonic at the Olympics). Finding and smashing the first jukebox unlocks the Sound Test and all the ones afterward unlock something different, like an extra HUD or something. It's an extension of the first level joke using Green Hill and a jukebox.

Again, something I might do, something I might not. It depends on what I can get done or not.

You may want to look out for your shadow algorithm. It doesn't seem to update them properly when blocks below it are smashed. Take a look at the wall of blocks.

(01-20-2013, 12:56 PM)Hoeloe Wrote: [ -> ]You may want to look out for your shadow algorithm. It doesn't seem to update them properly when blocks below it are smashed. Take a look at the wall of blocks.

Yeah I gotta fix that but considering I'm not the one who programmed them it might be a little tricky

Still, I'll get around to it

EDIT: I lied it was really easy and now it's done.

Doomship tileset. Coming along very slowly. Made out of the Koopa Cruiser.

Wacky humor joke.

given that view shouldn't you have the background drawing further up the screen, or at least remove the lower set of clouds and replace them with a sea / land line?

(01-22-2013, 12:13 PM)Bombshell93 Wrote: [ -> ]
given that view shouldn't you have the background drawing further up the screen, or at least remove the lower set of clouds and replace them with a sea / land line?

I could do that, sure. Not really gonna prioritize that right now, though.

Progress on this game is still kinda slow (what else would it be, really), but I've been giving a new art style a try:



I was aiming for something more... alive and handdrawn-looking than my old one. And looking back, this image is really really stiff with a somewhat drab pallet:



Also debating between having dialogue in cutscenes and not having dialogue in cutscenes. What would you prefer: goofy pantomime antics by itself or with goofy dialogue?

The dialogue would be along the lines of "It's Wednesday! Bowser always kidnaps Peach on a Tuesday so clearly, his latest plan must be extra dastardly!" and "Well, if it isn't Mario! And his lime-coloured shadow! He actually brought you along for the adventure this time!" and "Figured it wasn't over yet. Sunset Heights was in plain sight of the drawbridge and the Princess was moved to another castle."

Self-referential humor like that.

I think I'd personally prefer it without dialogue. If it isn't vital to how the story/game develops though, maybe you could make dialogue optional?

But either way I don't think it matters much, I don't think people will play it for the story anyhoo since it doesn't seem extremely unique or significant (correct me if it is).

I figured people would bend one way or the other but so far most people think it should be an option. Which is kind of weird. But heck, I'll try it out.

Also bam:



Super special idle animation for boss fights. (Complete with angry eyebrow action!) And it's already in the game.

And I had a huge-ass post on MFGG about a special announcement for fans of Luigi, so I'll just cross-post it even though I do think some of it will be lost on you guys but I am too lazy to edit it for tSR-topic-land.

MFGG Land Wrote:So wow! It's the Year of Luigi in the Nintendo calendar! He's getting the spotlight this year and nobody could be happier.

So I guess it's fair to say Luigi is gonna be a playable character in the game?


Oh yes, it is Luigi time.

There's no doubt some of you had already figured this out though - I've been dropping hints since the beginning of production!

For those of you clever enough to have figured out the Imanok* Code in the first few builds...


You know, when it still looked like this.

You were treated to Luigi saying "Let's-a go!" fairly tentatively. Also good job! Post here if you figured it out back then. Don't post if you just went and tried it now, though, shame on you, because I had to tell you it existed in the first place. Loser. Charlatan. And I will know. Oh yeah, I will know.

And back when I revealed Achievements...


Why specify clearing as Mario? I pretty much spelled it out here.

So yeah, Luigi's a playable character with his own spiff costumes for you to see!


Aside from reversed colours for every powerup, his Ice pallet is a little purpler than Mario's, yet still a lighter purple than his overalls. Metal Luigi hasn't been made yet but won't differ from Metal Mario.

And if I do make unlockable costumes, don't worry. He has his own set too.


Normal! SMB! SMB3! SMB Fire! Official Fire! Reverse Ice!

He even has an important role in the story. Good for him! We love ya, Weeg.

There is a catch, though, to playing as the Lean Green Machine. You have to finish the game as Mario before you can start a New Game Plus as Luigi. He'll have his own story an' everything, but you'll only be able to play levels you already cleared as Mario, so unlocking a new path in Luigi's game will lead to dead ends until you go back and unlock/clear them as Mario. But you needn't worry about that too much! You'll be able to swap between Mario and Luigi freely on the Map screen, and levels you can or can't play as Luigi (or Mario - unlocking a path as Luigi does not unlock it for Mario!) will be apparent - Map Paths and Levels inaccessible with one character will be transparent.

That all needs to be programmed, mind you, but it shouldn't be too hard!

But Luigi will play as... well, Luigi. Higher, floatier jumps and slower move speed is the name of his game, along with worse traction. So some levels might be easier and some might be harder.

And speaking of story - what would you guys prefer? Cutscenes entirely in pantomime antics, or with dialogue like the original Classic games? The dialogue would be along the lines of "It's Wednesday! Bowser always kidnaps Peach on a Tuesday so clearly, his latest plan must be extra dastardly!" and "Well, if it isn't Mario! And his lime-coloured shadow! He actually brought you along for the adventure this time!" and "Figured it wasn't over yet. Sunset Heights was in plain sight of the drawbridge and the Princess was moved to another castle."

Self-referential humor like that. Oh it was worse in the first Classic game. Mario was gonna pay Bowser $20 to kidnap Peach only for him to have done it already. (Incidentally, that's why the Saved $20 Achievement is so named. I'm guessing a lot of you probably thought it meant "Free Mario Game I Didn't Have To Pay Twenty Dollars For." So it's a double entendre. Yes, I did that on purpose. I am the cleverererest. A lot of the Achievement names are either references to my stuff or Chip and Ironicus videos. At least a couple to MFGG. There's even one to Batman Beyond, too!)

So yeah. Just let me know so I don't make a dialogue engine only to find out nobody even wants it.

*Ha, I didn't forget the asterisk! Confused about Imanok? Look at it in a mirror or something, I'm not gonna baby you all the way. Christ. And don't complain about it being totally obtuse because I did give you hints to its existence! Helpful hints!

Also I lied when I said I wouldn't edit it. I had to change the size thing because a text size 75 on MFGG is actually tiny. It's kind of like how a frigid 30 in Fahrenheit is very very hot in Celsius-world. (It is not like that at all.)

And there were a couple other things I added. Here and there. So what I'm saying is that I lied about everything in this post (except the boss battle idle and Luigi being playable and the details of that, those parts were true).

So how about I post stuff I actually did in the game that kinda matters for once



All of the Achievements listed above are references to something! Some more obscure than others. In fact, I daresay the top two will never be found out by anyone here ever (except for like, maybe the most dedicated to the history of this game because they're just that excited for it) but if you do figure them out...

Don't post about it. Seriously. Spoilers, mate.

41 out of 45 have been figured out so far.

So! Here's some concept sketches.



So this is Fire and Ice Mario's dynamic! Fire Mario's a much more offensive-type powerup. Unlike official 2D Mario games you can ricochet the fireballs off of walls and such, but they only last for five bounces! Whereas Ice Mario's iceballs don't bounce at all but, you can aim them for different parabolas. Fireballs defeat more troublesome (but not all!) enemies while iceballs freeze them for use as platforms (or in the case of fire enemies, puts them out).

Finally, feedback from the beta testers on the Boost Jump amounted mostly to "I like the idea but not the execution so much" so I've taken their concerns, a few of my own, and redesigned it once more. (Since this is a common mechanic and not a boss I'm not worried about this leaking - it's mostly secret stuff like later locations and bosses I don't want spoiled by the beta testers.)



Now, once you begin charging the jump, Mario will start spinning in the air and you'll lose most control over him (while skydiving you'll be able to control him a little bit but it'll be nowhere near as much as if he weren't charging so you gotta be careful). If he's in the air or skydiving he'll be slowly descending, so that's something to be aware of. Once you let go of the button he'll blast off in the last direction you were holding at speed (again, can't Boost down unless you're skydiving), and once you slow down a bit you'll exit the Boost Jump. Hitting stuff like enemies and Brick Blocks extends the jump slightly by speeding you up (kinda like the roll attack in the SNES Donkey Kong games). You aren't invincible while charging and there is no grace period of invincibility after the Boost Jump ends. And of course, you need to wait a while between Boost Jumps. This is done, it just needs to be retested.

And work on the Options Menu is actually progressing!



You can change the volume of the game's sounds and music, and it gets saved to the Options file for when you reopen the game.

And if you suddenly decide to change your mind you can hit the cancel button and it goes right back to what it was.

Controls is still the trickiest part of the Options menu but I'm gonna try and get it done. It might require a hilariously large rewrite (or at least copy-paste) of the game's code but I'mma try it anyway.

(03-04-2013, 02:29 PM)Zero Kirby Wrote: [ -> ]And if you suddenly decide to change your mind you can hit the cancel button and it goes right back to what it was.

This happens surprisingly often to me in games.

Anyway yeah this is all sounding awesome. Not sure if I actually said this before but I'm totally playing this as soon as it's done, whenever that may be.