Recent Posts

9101

General Software Discussion / Re: If you have to use Vista buy the upgrade version ... a true WindowsSecret

« Last post by Deozaan on April 13, 2007, 10:06 AM »

All I can say to this is, watch out companies, what you tell your customers, they will hold you to it. Just like the guy who was told by verizon that his data rate was 2 hundredth's of a cent and not 2 hundredths of a dollar. Be careful what you say!

-Josh (February 09, 2007, 05:38 AM)

Completely off topic, but when I called in to order Cable internet, the lady told me I would be getting 1.5 MegaBYTES per second speeds. I knew this was wrong so I asked her, "is that megabytes or megabits?" Her answer was somewhat surprising: "It's really megabits but I just say megabytes."

That might sound like an evil, misleading ploy, but in truth I was under the impression that she just didn't know the difference. Come to think of it, I should have let her know that she was telling me my speeds would be up to 8 times as fast as they really were. . .

9102

Living Room / Re: One of the better if not best examples of flash based navigation

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 05:58 PM »

can't be bookmarked

really good point - you cant bookmark subpages, etc... i wonder if adobe is thinking about this..

-mouser (February 19, 2007, 02:24 AM)

Flash has something nifty called SharedObjects which can be handled similarly to cookies. You may not be able to bookmark subpages, but the Flash menu could remember where you last were. . .

9103

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Application for Simple Game Development?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 05:32 PM »

I recently found http://www.byond.com/ through another post somewhere here and it will make a simple game. Best part is that it has multiplayer/networking built in!

A few of us here at DC have enjoyed playing a Tower Defense game together. Fun stuff.

9104

Living Room / Re: Keep your Back Healthy While you Work

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 04:20 PM »

This tip on the website really caught my eye (no pun intended) because i hadn't really noticed it but my monitors were way below my eye level

-mouser (April 12, 2007, 03:32 PM)

Both of mine are way above eye level. This one I'm looking at right now has the bottom of the screen at about eye level, while my other one is about mid-screen at eye level.

9105

Living Room / Re: $2 Credit Bounty: Animation of Hamster on Wheel

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 04:18 PM »

Hamsters with long furry tails.

-Cpilot (April 12, 2007, 03:52 PM)

Aww so cute!

I wasn't trying to invalidate your hamster image, I just didn't know hamsters had long tails.

9106

Living Room / Insane Super Mario Bros. Mod

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 03:37 PM »

You think you've got it hard in life? Picture yourself trying to figure this one out.

http://endangeredgam...-mario-mod-ever.html

Mouser puts it best:

It's like a testament to human suffering and perseverance. It's heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. It's soo damn cruel!

So cruel, yet so hilarious! 

9107

Living Room / Re: $2 Credit Bounty: Animation of Hamster on Wheel

« Last post by Deozaan on April 12, 2007, 03:32 PM »

Not to be a jerk, but that hamster looks surprisingly like a squirrel 

-Darwin (April 12, 2007, 02:43 PM)

I think it's the tail. I've never owned a hamster, but I don't think they have big tails like that.

9108

Living Room / Re: Flow-inspired game: Bubble Tanks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 06:46 PM »

Ah, just what you need after a dull & repetitive day at work

Does it get any larger than this, though?

-f0dder (April 11, 2007, 06:37 PM)

I never got anything beyond that, grew bored and closed it out.

Interesting thing, though: I went almost exclusively up and reached the end of the world. I figured each bubble was dynamically created on passing from one to the next (but remembering the last one or two you were in) but I guess I was wrong.

9109

Developer's Corner / Re: XNA Magic

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 06:08 PM »

Yeah I got an e-mail some time ago about Blade3D and I was like, what the heck is that? XNA Magic.

9110

Living Room / Re: Boomshine: Flash Game of the Day

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 06:05 PM »

Fun game.  Beat it with a low score of 280-something.

9111

Living Room / Re: Flow-inspired game: Bubble Tanks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 06:02 PM »

Smarty-pants... 

-Darwin (April 11, 2007, 05:57 PM)

9112

Living Room / Re: Flow-inspired game: Bubble Tanks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 05:53 PM »

The problem I encountered is that I don't find using the a-w-s-d keys to control movement intuitive and kept getting "cut down to size" because my fingers had inadvertently moved to different keys. Also, once the other tanks start actually hitting you, you can't move for a few seconds, which makes things interesting... Anyway, if the controls were changed/customizable I'd be more "into" the game...

-Darwin (April 11, 2007, 05:52 PM)

I never stopped when the enemies hit me. And the keys are customizable. Just go into the options.

I killed tons and tons of enemies and rarely got hit. Got boring real quick.

9113

Living Room / Re: Flow-inspired game: Bubble Tanks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 05:21 PM »

Oh yeah I know. I got to a huge bubble around me and I was shooting a huge red dot and one small dot and I'd have to click five billion times to kill an enemy who would also shoot red dots, some big, some small, some with a mind of their own that came after me. Maybe it was fun for 5 minutes, but still no challenge.

9114

Living Room / Re: Flow-inspired game: Bubble Tanks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 11, 2007, 04:51 PM »

Fun for about 3 minutes until you realize there is no challenge to it.

9115

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on April 09, 2007, 02:37 PM »

Hi everyone,
I may have discovered why the ball will not function correctly once the gravity catches it. The additions that Deozaan added tell the ball to accelerate in all directions (this is correct). However, would that not also accelerate the gravity as well? I am aware that it should only accelerate when the keys are pressed but it is now under Create, so I am not sure if I am correct in this or not. Not to sound stupid, but I really don't know.
-Brandon

-wreckedcarzz (April 07, 2007, 03:06 PM)

Did you move the gravity to the Create or do you have two of them now? One under On Enter Room and one under Create? That might explain why. You might have double gravity.

9116

Living Room / Re: nintendo wii

« Last post by Deozaan on April 08, 2007, 03:06 PM »

The Wii Internet Browser is powered by Opera. It's still kind of in beta testing mode right now. I think the final version will be released this month, but I'm not sure on that. It was scheduled for March but got delayed.

Typing without a keyboard is tough. Especially because they don't have any of the Wiimote buttons mapped to backspace or space, so if you make a mistake or want to move on to the next word you have to click those buttons on the on-screen keyboard, which gets old fast.

9117

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on April 07, 2007, 03:06 AM »

Mouser is right. This game isn't very fun without manageable control over the ball. I think your highest priority needs to be to fix the control. Once you've got that, the rest is gravy.

Or something. . .

And just something for you to think about: When you're programming a game and allow people to beta test it, and they tell you something like "I hate it when the ball falls onto the Tutorial mode before I have a chance to move." Don't just say it's supposed to be that way. I understand that it was made that way intentionally. But by doing that intentionally you've unintentionally made all your players inconvenienced.

Don't ask for people's opinions and then don't take it. When someone tells you (especially as nicely as mouser did) about something that might be improved upon, you need to assess your original idea with the feedback you've received. You may just need to change your idea because what makes sense to you as a programmer doesn't make sense to other people as players. Yes it's true that people will complain about anything and everything. So that's why you need to think about it and determine if you really should make that change or not. Don't just dismiss it because you designed it that way on purpose. When you have new information, you need to take your old decisions and come to a conclusion of whether or not your old decisions need to be updated because of the new information. This goes for all aspects of life, not just programming.

We're here to be helpful. We see potential in you and are trying to help improve your game and your abilities as a programmer. This is constructive criticism. It isn't meant to make you feel defensive in any way. Take the insight of others and learn from it. Judge for yourself whether what we say makes sense. If it doesn't make sense, don't take the advice. But don't just dismiss it right away without really considering it first.

Focus on the controls and the player's experience. If it's not fun to play, it doesn't matter how cool it is, people won't like it.

9118

Living Room / Re: nintendo wii

« Last post by Deozaan on April 06, 2007, 12:57 PM »

I'd be happy to exchange Wii Codes with anyone on DC who has a Wii. I only know two people who have one, so my friends list is small.

9119

Living Room / Re: nintendo wii

« Last post by Deozaan on April 05, 2007, 11:17 PM »

f0dder has a wii?

cool. Want to exchange Wii codes?

9120

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on April 03, 2007, 12:57 PM »

I just re-browsed the GM Forums and couldn't find the darn topic but I think the code I used originally had an error in it. I will keep looking.

-wreckedcarzz (April 02, 2007, 08:51 PM)

I would be glad to take a look at your source and help you out. Send me a PM if you're interested.

9121

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on April 02, 2007, 06:45 PM »

That is what I tried the 1st time was to have "When action <UP key is pressed> then object player 1 will go 3 speed up" and that was followed by several "When action <UP key is pressed> then object player 1 will go speed Relative 1 up" However it practically shot up to the speed (I don't recall what it was) instantly. I am thinking of trying the snooze timer but I am not sure how that would work (read the Help...wasn't much Help). I will fiddle with it now so I can remember everything (I have bad short term memory) and try to get it working right once and for all.

-wreckedcarzz (March 31, 2007, 09:34 AM)

This method for acceleration doesn't sound like what you want. You should simply be able to say something like (in pseudo-code):

[Select]

if (UP is pressed) { xspeed -= 3; }
playerX += xspeed;

There is a flaw in this simple example because eventually the player could be moving so fast you couldn't control him, so you can add a check:

[Select]

if (KeyUP is pressed && xspeed >= -15) { xspeed -= 3; }
playerX += xspeed;

This will make it so that if the xspeed is lower than -15 (going up at a speed faster than 15) it will not accelerate any more.

I know I had some method of acceleration working as I'm describing here when I played around with making a Game Maker game sometime last year, so I know it's possible.

9122

Living Room / Re: Downloadable Game for the Weekend: Bloodmasters

« Last post by Deozaan on April 02, 2007, 04:01 PM »

Anyone still playing it? I'm a little late to the show but I'd like to give it a try.

9123

Living Room / Re: Why maple story sucks

« Last post by Deozaan on April 02, 2007, 03:54 PM »

It sucks for many more reasons that just your keyboard problem. . .

9124

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on April 02, 2007, 02:20 PM »

That is what I tried the 1st time was to have "When action <UP key is pressed> then object player 1 will go 3 speed up" and that was followed by several "When action <UP key is pressed> then object player 1 will go speed Relative 1 up" However it practically shot up to the speed (I don't recall what it was) instantly. I am thinking of trying the snooze timer but I am not sure how that would work (read the Help...wasn't much Help). I will fiddle with it now so I can remember everything (I have bad short term memory) and try to get it working right once and for all.

-Wreckedcarzz

-wreckedcarzz (March 31, 2007, 09:34 AM)

There is a tab thingy you can drag in there that will execute a piece of code (I think) which might make it easier to do this acceleration thingy. If you'd like, you can send me your source and I'll take a look to see if I can get the movement more like what Mouser is describing.

9125

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Maze Craze - Fun 2D game by Wreckedcarzz

« Last post by Deozaan on March 30, 2007, 11:01 AM »

Mouser: The reason the controls are wonky is because of the way Game Maker works. It's so "user friendly" that it doesn't easily (for a beginner/without going into advanced mode) provide a way to change the object's movement direction without stopping the other direction. As you say, getting the physics and gravity working properly wouldn't be too hard if you were typing in regular code, but the way Game Maker organizes everything, it tries to simplify it to the point where it makes simple things (for somewhat experienced programmers) kind of difficult to do without going into advanced mode.

Wreckedcarzz: My opinion on the game is that with the current control system you should get rid of gravity completely. Once you get a more natural movement working then gravity can come back in. I think that what mouser means by acceleration is that when you press a direction, the ball doesn't immediately start moving at a speed of 10, but increases its speed in the direction you're pushing by a smaller amount as long as the button is being pushed until it reaches a max speed. This would be something like speed += 2 (or speed = speed+2). I just opened up Game Maker and took a look at it and what you need to do for proper acceleration is click the little "Relative" box when changing the speed. That will make it whatever it is plus the number you set.

And also what I think mouser means by not having the horizontal movement affect the vertical movement is that when you are moving to the right and you press up, you go straight up and are no longer moving to the right. More natural movement would allow the ball to keep going to the right while also starting to accelerate upwards. Unfortunately, I don't know if that is possible using the little Game Maker blocks for changing movement. You might need to put in some custom code--which you can actually do in Simple Mode (I think).

Anyway, I think that it might be useful to have a couple of tutorial levels that explain what the objects do in the game rather than just linking to the help file, which most people will not read.

Keep working on it.