I haven't been able to do much in terms of Zep's Dreamland lately due to midterms and another test on top of that in the past week. I did manage, however, to get started on what the game should do once a level set is actually completed. I'm not going to divulge too much information, but I would just like to let it out that the levels will no longer just repeat themselves! There will be something that will signify that you've finally completed a level set!
As for levels, 39 of them are complete. It will take only one more to hit 40. It's at this point whether I decide if I'm going to go the extra 10 to make a total of 50 original levels for the release. It's a tough decision.
Archives - October 2003
2003.10.27
2003.10.22
13,000+ Hits! I'd like to thank everyone for visiting! I really appreciate your inerest in whatever it is that brings you here: the games, tutorials, articles, or just for the latest news. Remember, always feel free to send a comment or suggestion whenever you like. It is your feedback that helps makes the site and games better! Again, thank you!
Now onto the news. There's a lot of good stuff today. The level editor graphics and buttons are now totally revamped. All of the button graphics were redone. I made it look a lot more user friendly now by removing the debugging information all over the screen. I also finalized the creation of Level Set creation. Now the system will check if all of the levels for the current set are actually "linked" together. Each map contains information as to what map should come after it. The system will check and make sure each of these maps actually exist; untill it finds a "stopper" in one of your levels that says it's the last level. This works great because it stops the user from creating faulty level sets.
I also started writing a documentation file for the editor. I didn't think I was actually ever going to do this. I was intending to just release the editor as is, without any written support at the time of release; but I feel like adding some documentation can't hurt; and it makes the usagae of a semi-complicated editor a little easier. The editor is less user friendly than the game, for obvious reasons.
Through writing the documentation files I did find some minor bugs in the editor that would have probably slipped past my own testing. They weren't the kind of bugs that crash a game; but simply bugs that made the editor run in a way other than what I had intended.
There was a lot of work done on the editor-half of the whole production, so I'm quite happy. I didn't think I would get to the editor this soon. It seemed like something I was putting off for a while; but it was so much easier than I had anticipated. The idea I had in my head was that I would have to change a lot of features around; but they work perfectly fine the way they are. The file selection does use the allegro gui file selector which is kind of ugly, but this is something I can live with because it is the simplest and easiest way to select and save files. Other than that one main point, the editor really all it can be. It could use a few more features that might allow the user to be a little more lazy; but I don't want you to be lazy!
Just a few more levels. These last levels seem to be holding me back a bit.
Now onto the news. There's a lot of good stuff today. The level editor graphics and buttons are now totally revamped. All of the button graphics were redone. I made it look a lot more user friendly now by removing the debugging information all over the screen. I also finalized the creation of Level Set creation. Now the system will check if all of the levels for the current set are actually "linked" together. Each map contains information as to what map should come after it. The system will check and make sure each of these maps actually exist; untill it finds a "stopper" in one of your levels that says it's the last level. This works great because it stops the user from creating faulty level sets.
I also started writing a documentation file for the editor. I didn't think I was actually ever going to do this. I was intending to just release the editor as is, without any written support at the time of release; but I feel like adding some documentation can't hurt; and it makes the usagae of a semi-complicated editor a little easier. The editor is less user friendly than the game, for obvious reasons.
Through writing the documentation files I did find some minor bugs in the editor that would have probably slipped past my own testing. They weren't the kind of bugs that crash a game; but simply bugs that made the editor run in a way other than what I had intended.
There was a lot of work done on the editor-half of the whole production, so I'm quite happy. I didn't think I would get to the editor this soon. It seemed like something I was putting off for a while; but it was so much easier than I had anticipated. The idea I had in my head was that I would have to change a lot of features around; but they work perfectly fine the way they are. The file selection does use the allegro gui file selector which is kind of ugly, but this is something I can live with because it is the simplest and easiest way to select and save files. Other than that one main point, the editor really all it can be. It could use a few more features that might allow the user to be a little more lazy; but I don't want you to be lazy!
Just a few more levels. These last levels seem to be holding me back a bit.
2003.10.16
The level set loading and saving is now complete. I could make it a little more "pretty" in the editor, but for now it will do. It uses the same exact structure as the new saving and loading menus. I added a nice little indicator as to whether there are save/loads/level sets that are "off the screen." They utilize the same graphic as the little arrow used for the message boxes. Yes, they bobble up and down just like the message box arrow, too!
The option to name level sets was obviously added, as this is the only real way to effectively differentiate between the actual level sets. The engine that loads them up for viewing in a list is great as well. Basically the user will be able to put a set of levels and a level set in a single folder anywhere below the main Zep's Dreamland folder. This will make thing a lot neater when adding level sets to the game, since each set of levels can have its own folder in the "levels" folder!
There are some issues with level name and level set length. The font I currently use will allow for most strings to fit within the bounds of the screen; however if too many big characters are used it will be truncated at the edge of the screen or will overflow out of the box which should encapsulate the text. I may just leave it as is, and user beware of typing strings that are excessively long with many of the wider characters of the font. I may also shrink the font size down, or even limit the amount of characters allowed for naming levels and level sets. Then again, I may always use a completely new font. I'm not too sure on this one. I think I am going to let a few friends test it and see what they think about the situation.
All in all, everything is done. Now it's really just time to finish up the last few levels, and make the level editor a little more user-friendly.
The option to name level sets was obviously added, as this is the only real way to effectively differentiate between the actual level sets. The engine that loads them up for viewing in a list is great as well. Basically the user will be able to put a set of levels and a level set in a single folder anywhere below the main Zep's Dreamland folder. This will make thing a lot neater when adding level sets to the game, since each set of levels can have its own folder in the "levels" folder!
There are some issues with level name and level set length. The font I currently use will allow for most strings to fit within the bounds of the screen; however if too many big characters are used it will be truncated at the edge of the screen or will overflow out of the box which should encapsulate the text. I may just leave it as is, and user beware of typing strings that are excessively long with many of the wider characters of the font. I may also shrink the font size down, or even limit the amount of characters allowed for naming levels and level sets. Then again, I may always use a completely new font. I'm not too sure on this one. I think I am going to let a few friends test it and see what they think about the situation.
All in all, everything is done. Now it's really just time to finish up the last few levels, and make the level editor a little more user-friendly.
2003.10.14
All of the tutorials are now complete. This is great news! They may still have such errors as incorrect spelling and such, but as for the technical stuff; it works exactly as it should. I'm happy about this. I've gone from absolutely no in-game instruction to a full, interactive, explanation of how every concept in the game works. This is a great addition to the game and it adds a nice touch. After I completed the tutorials I was left free to make some new levels, but I didn't touch the editor at all (for making levels). Instead I started to really delve into the code.
The teleport bug is, for the most part, smashed. I added those teleporting functions that I mentioned in the last news post. It works flawlessley. Instead of the old "flying in the air" teleport animation, Zep now swirls into the teleport circle. It's a neat effect. The color smudging effect is still in place, however. This effect was actually achieved by using a transparency blender and giving it values which were out of its range. Ironically enough it produced a better effect than I had anticipated, and it stuck for the duration of the game (so far, at least!)
Besides all of that boring stuff; I've added a lot of new features to the game. As I mentioned above, I didn't touch the editor at all to create levels; but I did, however, add a little code to it which would allow users to name their levels. This is a nice feature; but even better is when a level is started up in-game; and the name of the level scrolls by quickly, stops for a moment, and then scrolls out of view. I'm really happy with this feature of the game. It makes things look really great! It has a few flaws with longer level names, however. Sometimes the level names are so long the complete text gets chopped off at the ends of the screens. I'm still looking into this. I'm in search of a mono-sized width/height font. I'm sure there is another term for this, but I don't know what it is.
I also completely re-wrote the saving and loading code for the game. Before this rewrite I was using allegro's simple file selector gui; which, no offense, is quite ugly. Beceause of this fact I went ahead and wrote a completely customized structure for saving, loading, and erasing saved games. There is now an animated menu for saving, loading, and managing save files. It took a few days work to get out all the kinks and little elusive bugs, but everything works as it should. I may post some screenshots in the future, but right now I'm uncertain as to whether I want to unveil what all of the new content in the game looks like before its release.
Currently I'm working on finally creating a way to save and load "level sets," which will basically be a set of user created levels which they can play as a "set (successive levels)." I hope to use the same menu system as the saving and loading screen. Nothing would beat picking a level set from a list of many in a nice animated fashion. So far the basics of the level set works. The editor already allows the user to create a level set for their levels; and the game engine can actually load that level set and begin playing levels other than the original levels. I just need to make it user-friendly and graphically appropriate.
So, I've finally written one of the longer posts which I've been dying to write for some time now. Over the past few days I've done a lot of work on ZD, and now it's looking more like a complete, professional game, than ever. I wonder if I'm more excited about it's release than all of you who have been waiting so long for a new playable version. :)
The teleport bug is, for the most part, smashed. I added those teleporting functions that I mentioned in the last news post. It works flawlessley. Instead of the old "flying in the air" teleport animation, Zep now swirls into the teleport circle. It's a neat effect. The color smudging effect is still in place, however. This effect was actually achieved by using a transparency blender and giving it values which were out of its range. Ironically enough it produced a better effect than I had anticipated, and it stuck for the duration of the game (so far, at least!)
Besides all of that boring stuff; I've added a lot of new features to the game. As I mentioned above, I didn't touch the editor at all to create levels; but I did, however, add a little code to it which would allow users to name their levels. This is a nice feature; but even better is when a level is started up in-game; and the name of the level scrolls by quickly, stops for a moment, and then scrolls out of view. I'm really happy with this feature of the game. It makes things look really great! It has a few flaws with longer level names, however. Sometimes the level names are so long the complete text gets chopped off at the ends of the screens. I'm still looking into this. I'm in search of a mono-sized width/height font. I'm sure there is another term for this, but I don't know what it is.
I also completely re-wrote the saving and loading code for the game. Before this rewrite I was using allegro's simple file selector gui; which, no offense, is quite ugly. Beceause of this fact I went ahead and wrote a completely customized structure for saving, loading, and erasing saved games. There is now an animated menu for saving, loading, and managing save files. It took a few days work to get out all the kinks and little elusive bugs, but everything works as it should. I may post some screenshots in the future, but right now I'm uncertain as to whether I want to unveil what all of the new content in the game looks like before its release.
Currently I'm working on finally creating a way to save and load "level sets," which will basically be a set of user created levels which they can play as a "set (successive levels)." I hope to use the same menu system as the saving and loading screen. Nothing would beat picking a level set from a list of many in a nice animated fashion. So far the basics of the level set works. The editor already allows the user to create a level set for their levels; and the game engine can actually load that level set and begin playing levels other than the original levels. I just need to make it user-friendly and graphically appropriate.
So, I've finally written one of the longer posts which I've been dying to write for some time now. Over the past few days I've done a lot of work on ZD, and now it's looking more like a complete, professional game, than ever. I wonder if I'm more excited about it's release than all of you who have been waiting so long for a new playable version. :)
2003.10.10
Tutorial #3 is now complete and works perfectly! I've also updated a lot of miscellaneous image data that was out of date and didn't reflect some new tile-work that I've received.
While playing an updated beta-style demo of ZD, my friend Craig found a nasty little bug with my teleporting system. I quickly addressed it, and after I saw that I had "fixed" it, I started to work on other things. Just yesterday I noticed that the bug was not completely fixed. Although I managed to eliminate the worst part of the bug, there was still a little quirk lingering behind. Needless to say, I completely updated the teleportation code and even added some new things (such as new animations) to it; while taking out some of the problematic code. I would have never noticed the bug on my own, so thanks Craig!
I have to make the new teleportation code a little more intuitive, as I'm using repetitive code all over the place in separate functions. What I want to do is condense the teleporting code into a single easy to use function which can simply be called from anywhere in the game's code. Right now I'm executing the same lines of code over and over just in separate parts of the code. For instance, when you step on a teleport pad, it will begin the teleportation animation. Again, when you step into the level exit pad, it will begin the teleportation animation. Instead of using a single function, there is simply code for teleporting in each of these separate functions. I want to eliminate this and make things a little nicer to look at. I gave it a shot real quick two days ago, but it came out a little buggy, so I'm starting it over.
Everything is coming together nicely.
While playing an updated beta-style demo of ZD, my friend Craig found a nasty little bug with my teleporting system. I quickly addressed it, and after I saw that I had "fixed" it, I started to work on other things. Just yesterday I noticed that the bug was not completely fixed. Although I managed to eliminate the worst part of the bug, there was still a little quirk lingering behind. Needless to say, I completely updated the teleportation code and even added some new things (such as new animations) to it; while taking out some of the problematic code. I would have never noticed the bug on my own, so thanks Craig!
I have to make the new teleportation code a little more intuitive, as I'm using repetitive code all over the place in separate functions. What I want to do is condense the teleporting code into a single easy to use function which can simply be called from anywhere in the game's code. Right now I'm executing the same lines of code over and over just in separate parts of the code. For instance, when you step on a teleport pad, it will begin the teleportation animation. Again, when you step into the level exit pad, it will begin the teleportation animation. Instead of using a single function, there is simply code for teleporting in each of these separate functions. I want to eliminate this and make things a little nicer to look at. I gave it a shot real quick two days ago, but it came out a little buggy, so I'm starting it over.
Everything is coming together nicely.
2003.10.06
Not again!? It has been entirely too long since I've last posted about the status of my game. To tell the truth, throughout the duration of the hiatus in posting, I have not done much in terms of ZD. I've been doing a lot of developmental thinking about what kinds of projects I would like to pursue in the future once ZD is done. One of my ambitious projects is to try and learn some GBA programming. I think it would be a really good experience to learn about the specific hardware and how to program for it. I think about this subject a lot, and can't wait until it eventually becomes a reality.
As for ZD, I've kicked up working on it again over the past few days. I've just about completed the third tutorial. I have about 1/4 of it left to go, which shouldn't take too long. I updated all of the old graphics that were hanging around since before the update of tiles. There were a lot of places missing the updated images. I'm pretty sure I've covered all of them, though. After I complete the third tutorial, that leaves just one more to go. I probably mention this in every news post, but it makes me feel better when I mention it. Each time I talk about what I've accomplished it helps me visualize just how much more of the game I've got to go until it is complete. I can't wait for that day.
I'm currently in the process of downloading Visual Stuido.net Pro which I can't wait to get started using. I get it free through university so I figured I might as well go for it. I've been using MSVC++v6.0 for so long now; it's pretty much outdated, not to mention I'm using a very old service pack. The only thing I'm wary about is that updating my compiler from MSVC++6.0 to MSVC++.net (whatever version that is) might break some stuff with my code. Most likely it will not; but I want to stay on the safe side. I'll probably ask around first. My main concern is that the allegro library doesn't break once I migrate. Everything else should be fine. I would have no problem making a new workspace and having to manually insert all of the source files, etc.
As for ZD, I've kicked up working on it again over the past few days. I've just about completed the third tutorial. I have about 1/4 of it left to go, which shouldn't take too long. I updated all of the old graphics that were hanging around since before the update of tiles. There were a lot of places missing the updated images. I'm pretty sure I've covered all of them, though. After I complete the third tutorial, that leaves just one more to go. I probably mention this in every news post, but it makes me feel better when I mention it. Each time I talk about what I've accomplished it helps me visualize just how much more of the game I've got to go until it is complete. I can't wait for that day.
I'm currently in the process of downloading Visual Stuido.net Pro which I can't wait to get started using. I get it free through university so I figured I might as well go for it. I've been using MSVC++v6.0 for so long now; it's pretty much outdated, not to mention I'm using a very old service pack. The only thing I'm wary about is that updating my compiler from MSVC++6.0 to MSVC++.net (whatever version that is) might break some stuff with my code. Most likely it will not; but I want to stay on the safe side. I'll probably ask around first. My main concern is that the allegro library doesn't break once I migrate. Everything else should be fine. I would have no problem making a new workspace and having to manually insert all of the source files, etc.