Steven M

http://endpiece.deviantart.com/art/Adventures-in-Space-and-Space-152613972

Why do you even have that picture saved anymore? It sucks shit.

http://endpiece.deviantart.com/gallery/#Alphabet-Draw___-Comics

Batman - The Nude Adventures (SFW) Cleo Surprise

I'm saving my money for Super Street Fighter IV Turbo HD Remix.

Even A Fruit Fucker Knife Fight Sprite Collection

I'll have a look through that. Thanks again, LarkSS!

Never mind, I think I've got it sussed. Keyword, think. Mostly it's do with delaying the action of the trail segment as it takes the same path as the Main Object, thanks to the number-crunching script I've got half my head around. Thus: ON LOOP "init_trails" + ALTERABLE VALUE A OF ("Trail Segment") = LOOPINDEX("init_trails") ---- TRAIL SEGMENT Set Alterable Value B to [i]DimX( "Array" )-(Alterable Value C( "Main Object" ) +Alterable Value A( "Trail Segment" )*Alterable Value C( "Main Object" ))[/i] Some further code copying/altering was required for the second trail segment, but the crucial difference seems to be this simple: ON LOOP "init_trails" + ALTERABLE VALUE A OF ("Trail Segment") = LOOPINDEX("init_trails") + ALTERABLE VALUE A OF ("Trail Segment 2") = LOOPINDEX("init_trails") ---- TRAIL SEGMENT 2 Set Alterable Value B to [b]([/b][i]DimX( "Array" )-(Alterable Value C( "Main Object" ) +Alterable Value A( "Trail Segment 2" )*Alterable Value C( "Main Object" ))[/i][b]*2)[/b] Given some time I'll be able to better comb through the script, and then probably simplify it. Edit: thanks for the link, gsoft!

Alright. The array's set dimensions are x=500, y=3 and z=1, ergo the array's 2-dimensional. My assumption was that this was a fixed-size array. Ha! But the script goes as follows: START OF FRAME Special Conditions - Start loop "init_array" DimX("Array") times ON LOOP "init_array" Array - Write Value X("Main Object") to (LoopIndex("init_array"), 0) Array - Write Value Y("Main Object") to (LoopIndex("init_array"), 1) Array - Write Value Dir("Main Object") to (LoopIndex("init_array"), 2) So if I understand this right (and I probably don't), the Array object writes three different variables to the loop as it goes on, each variable having a seperate 'depth' from the other (so 0/1/2 would be the Z/depth axis, so to speak... even though the manual states setting a dimension to 1 renders it null?). So does that mean the X value of the "Main Object", which is being written to the loop, determines the number of times the loop runs? [NEGATE] "Main Object" IS STOPPED Trail Segment - Set X position to ValueAtXY ( "Array", Alterable Value B( "Trail Segment" ), 0) Trail Segment - Set Y position to ValueAtXY ( "Array", Alterable Value B( "Trail Segment" ), 1) Trail Segment - Set Direction to ValueAtXY ( "Array", Alterable Value B( "Trail Segment" ), 2) And if I'm assuming that 0/1/2 does refer to the Z axis, that leaves "Array" as the X and "Trail" as the Y in the "ValueAtXY" equation, yes? Or no? I'm horribly, horribly confused! The actual tutorial, if you're interested, can be found here - though it's halfway to what I'd really like, which is the aforementioned Centy/Mother party system.

Alrighty then, new conundrum. I'm studying Retriever II's Caterpillar tutorial (which allows a group of the same object to follow a 'main' object), and part of the script asks for DimX("Array") as a value. For example: IF start loop "init_array" DimX("Array") times IF Alterable Value A of "Main Object" > DimX("Array") Array being the Array object with X, Y and Z dimensions. I get that Dim stands for dimension, and Dim(X,Y) returns the difference between the two integers if it has a positive result. I also understand that - in VBasic at least - "Dim array_name (upper_bound)" is a fixed-size array declaration. So what does DimX in MMF2 stand for, exactly - Dim(X,Y), DimX where 'X' is the name of an array, DimX where X is the X value given to Array, or what? It feels pretty embarrassing being confused at this point, but it's something I have to understand properly.

What, no mention of Heracross or Gyarados? Disappointment!

Magic floating ring, mind. [/srsbsns]

I remember that special stage, it was aces. And descending Z position? If I remember right you didn't use Mode 7 for the engine, though it probably wouldn't have been that useful anyhow. I can't imagine how you'd get that to work (lots of advanced maths and juggling alt values, I guess). No, but the layering works like a charm now - I can get all four characters (including the guard) working properly now, whereas before I'd be tearing my head out. Thanks again!

LarkSS you beautiful, beautiful man, you've saved my day (for the umpteenth time)!

IF Y position of (Group.Good) > Y position of (Group.Neutral) THEN Move (Group.Good) in front of (Group.Neutral) IF Y position of (Group.Good) < Y position of (Group.Neutral) THEN Move (Group.Neutral) in front of (Group.Good) Tagging everyone but Hero as Neutral and Hero as Good, he can overlap/underlap(?) properly in front of one object, but it doesn't seem to work with the others - I think the way its working is, he has to be behind ALL the Neutral-tagged objects (e.g the whole group) for the underlap to work, but if he's just walked in front of one Neutral object, the script puts him 'in front' of all the rest. Obviously I don't want that, I want it to work so he can under/overlap every other Neutral object individually. Tagging Hero as Neutral and Good, it just doesn't work at all. Tagging everyone as Neutral and Good doesn't work, either. I'm going to keep pissing about the script and see if anything works, because I think I'm just not getting it properly. Edit: and this is just Conrad (the hero) walking around on his own! I haven't even gotten far enough to getting his party following him properly yet! Double-edit: It's definitely this. Confirmed with counters.

You've seen games before where Hero McNiceguy walks around the level, tagged along by party members Sidekick McScrappy and Princess Bipolar. Where he walks, they walk. If he decides to do a U-turn, they'll gladly walk through him to progress. We're talking games like Mother 3/Crusader of Centy/Zelda where, even if you can't walk through NPC characters, you can still appear 'in front' of them (you overlap them) and also appear 'behind' them (they overlap you). And this is where I come in. Our red sprite is the 'hero' in this case. If he's in front of the other two characters because he's lower down on the screen, he should be first in 'order'. If he's higher on the screen and the characters are following, he should be last in 'order' (so the other characters overlap him). Simple, right? I can easily write a script in MMF2 to the point of "if (A)'s Y coordinate > ('s Y coordinate, move (A) in front of (B)". But I don't want to have to write that for every character overlapping every other character, especially when NPCs, enemies, items, etc are factored into account. How do I write it so that if any object has a higher Y coordinate than any other object, they're placed higher up on the order chain?

I'm assuming your face is stupid.

Oh wow, what a freaky coincid- hurf and/or durf

Looking at it again, I though the ground looked a bit too bright considering the light source, so I've darkened it a bit. If I get any ideas as to how to decorate the thing I'll have at it - if you get any ideas, let me know as well.

Added scrolling clouds. Preview of the final draft! http://endpiece.deviantart.com/art/StevenArt-Menu-Screen-138016776 Edit: also the background graphics if that's your sort of thing.

"Handheld Mega Drive" and "new titles" sounds like a delicious prospect. As long as they get the compatibility issues and battery life sorted out, I'm sold. ...or at least I would be if I didn't have a PSP already. Ah, well.

Fixed the links in the second post. Clouds duly noted. Decided that having the cursor hover over the guy will bring up a floating FAQ/About/Email link. As for the tiny sprite issue - there's only one way to find out! =D Edit: I may as well 'fess up. The idea I had in mind was for a game that had loads of mini levels in three different 'styles' - beat-em-up (ala Turtles in Time), linear platforming (using the Sonic Spring engine) and more methodical platform/puzzling (like Disney's Quackshot). So the sprites generally stay the same for each subgenre. Having huge sprites in a platform game is generally a bad idea since you can't see what's around you in all directions, which is usually less of a problem in beat-em-ups.

23/09/09: This probably won't be permanent - the background needs a greater sense of spatial depth (the character outlines clash with the background even now) and it's mirrored at the moment. I had also intended a bleaker graveyard theme in this mockup, but as I started studying previous Game Boy and Neo Geo Pocket screenshots, the palette got a tad out of hand. The giant mook isn't finished either - still has an excess palette, and dodgy lower body. We'll see how things go later on. The characters are just standing around at the moment, yes. I'd anticipated a cutscene before the actual fight starts to get underway. Once I've got the designs sorted out properly, I can get into drawing attack/hurt sprites. Edit: Colour adjustment.

BEAT-EM-MOCK-UP I'm in the midst of creating a videogame screenshot mockup for general pixelart practice. The general scheme I'm going for is the Game Boy Color's palette, as seen in the "Mock the Ocean's Sphere" thread. The idea is a RPG battle set in a graveyard - four (!) characters on the hero's team, and a giant mook and braggart/archrival on the 'bad' side. Each is color-coded (red/blue/yellow/black/green) save for the giant mook, whom I'm still working on. Some draft designs: Generic tree. Initial graveyard locale. Nice top-down view, but considering switiching out for a more side-on approach. Beta designs of characters (brown/yellow-coloured character currently being 'worked on' as we speak - it really looks unreadable there). Progress shot of three characters. I'll post more as they're finished. The big question I have is: how do you get the absolute most out of the absolute least? That is, how would you be able to create great sprites like the ones from the GBC Blue Ocean or SNES Final Fantasy games with such a small size and smaller palette? It's really quite frustrating, especially if your first thoughts on such a project were as ignorant as mine ("Oh, fewer pixels, quicker job!"). 22/09/09 Edit: Colette - brown/yellow Conrad - red Conata - blue References drawn by Anonymous. Giant mook and green dude = Original Characters Do Not Steal.

MENU DESIGN I'm working on a website (yay Comicpress) and laying out the design for the frontpage. My idea was to have a Flash 'splash' of sorts, giving the viewer a little menu to navigate through. Pic related, it's a WIP .gif: The current idea uses a more streamlined colour scheme to go with the website (mimicking the Nintendo Game Boy's 4-colour palette). Obviously the picture will be zoomed in to at least 200, maybe 300% for the final menu. Below is a WIP .gif preview. The guy's arm will change position according to the sign the viewer's highlighting. It stretches from normal (New) to ridiculous (see above). Any ideas for a background, or other fixes?