Post your screenshot thread

[Rael0505]

hey sereph

using path movement for a corkscrew is like a slap in the face to everyone who helped create the sonic worlds engine i'm using

But lark is being awesome and is programming it for me.

[Shadow Hog]

Is there some GM equivalent to flags (You do use GM right?)?

Yes, they're called boolean variables. Basically just declare a variable for your flag, and set it either to "true" or "false".

Pretty much every programming language I can think of has something along these lines - it's about as basic a variable as you can get (is this bit 0 or 1...?), so the fact it's commonplace is not terribly surprising.

Also, though it's completely pointless for me to say this seeing as you're having somebody else code it, I can imagine the pseudo-code for corkscrews pretty well in my head:

if (SonicCollidesWith(SideOfCorkscrew)&&!SonicIsFalling) {

[INDENT]SonicIsOnCorkscrew=true;
CorkscrewSonicIsOn=SideOfCorkscrew.CorkscrewThisIsASideOf[/INDENT]

}

if (SonicIsOnCorkScrew) {

[INDENT]if (Sonic'sSpeed < SPECIFIC_VALUE) { // Where SPECIFIC_VALUE is a constant
[INDENT]SonicIsOnCorkscrew=false;
SonicIsFalling=true[/INDENT]

} else {

[INDENT]Sonic.Y=SideOfCorkscrew.Y+((HEIGHT_OF_CORKSCREW/2)*cos(PI*(Sonic.X-SideOfCorkscrew.X)*(1/WIDTH_OF_CORKSCREW_COSINE_WAVE)))
/* Of course, the exact values here vary wildly depending on the
* size of the corkscrew and all; hence the constants (all caps)
* in there
*/[/INDENT]

}[/INDENT]
}[/CODE]

Of course, that's more C than GML, but same basic idea. It's only pseudo-code, after all. Also, having not tested this out (I literally just wrote this), it's probably quite buggy, but it's the principle that matters, I guess.

[Damizean]

could you explain WHY you two despise that so much

Because timers are interruptions, interruptions break code flow (therefore are unpredictable) and break the game timings.

[Kain]

hey sereph

using path movement for a corkscrew is like a slap in the face to everyone who helped create the sonic worlds engine i'm using

But lark is being awesome and is programming it for me.

There are times when pathed movements are appropriate. Corkscrews are that time. The boundaries of it are all over the place and in three dimensions. It'd be pointless to try and make an engine for that because ideally it would do the same thing every time.

Of course, it'd be better if you had a form of linking path system so that all you have to do is place the pieces with their ends connected for them to work instead of having to create a whole new path for each corkscrew segment you want to place. But when it comes to release games, if it works perfectly, then that's just as well.

[The Taxman]

Actually, the corkscrew movement in Sonic 2 is handled by setting the player's Y position based on a sine wave. True, that in itself is a kind of path movement, but the result would look better than physically drawing a path in MMF. I used this trick in the Retro-Sonic test of Emerald Hill. I had a scripted object that toggles this movement scheme, allowing corkscrews to be easily defined by placing an object at the start and the end.

[Kain]

Oh, well I don't know if MMF has the smoothed curve interpolation that GM has which gets visually pretty close to sine waves without much work. Obviously sine waves are the ideal kind of path but problem is MMF/GM don't have such a system built-in.

[The ParadoxX]

Sine wave would be the shit, but I think that path movement does the job...

Edit: Nice bg's rael!!

[SonicProject]

Background majorly WIP and the "dirt tiles" are fugly so don't expect to see them. There's going to be more than clouds in the background as well. Just felt like showing something.

[DimensionWarped]

Oh, well I don't know if MMF has the smoothed curve interpolation that GM has which gets visually pretty close to sine waves without much work. Obviously sine waves are the ideal kind of path but problem is MMF/GM don't have such a system built-in.

Don't have sine waves built in? All you need is the sin/cos function... From there, you just need to have a clever implementation.

[ZFG]

layout for the new stage: Angel Hills.

[Rael0505]

Actually, the corkscrew movement in Sonic 2 is handled by setting the player's Y position based on a sine wave. True, that in itself is a kind of path movement, but the result would look better than physically drawing a path in MMF. I used this trick in the Retro-Sonic test of Emerald Hill. I had a scripted object that toggles this movement scheme, allowing corkscrews to be easily defined by placing an object at the start and the end.

Yeah, Lark told me he's using sine and cosine to change Sonic's Y position. Or something. I'm horrible at programming.

Nice bg's rael!!

Thanks!

layout for the new stage: Angel Hills.

Cool. There is one really major problem about your level, and I'm not talking about the level design - the walls and floors in a lot of areas are very thin. That looks very weird in this kind of stage. You need to extend the floor and walls so it appears you're walking on land, not on some weird floating block of dirt and rock with grass on top. It makes everything seem whole and connected.

Tell me if I'm not making sense, I don't know how well I explained what I mean. :E

[Shadow Hog]

Well, you could add "cave" textures in the background in the lower parts to give the illusion that these floating chunks of land are at least being held up by something. An example of what I mean would be, say, Angel Island Zone, particularly Knuckles' Act 2, which is almost entirely indoors, thus "supporting" Sonic's stage above it instead of just having it randomly float up there.

I think the official Sonic games did this a fair amount - generally the levels feel "grounded", as it were, with most platforms that (taking only collision into account) would be floating supported by a column here, a cave there, et cetera. It wasn't just a bunch of floating platforms... usually. I guess Sky Sanctuary's a bit of an oddity there.

Huh, y'know, that's an aspect I'd never really bothered to analyze. I'll keep that in mind.

[ZFG]

??

[rogueyoshi]

[qimg]http://i27.tinypic.com/28cjcbb.png[/qimg]

??

please no texture filters. unless you can implement a FSA type approach.

[SonicProject]

ZFG, those textures make the game look VERY bad.

And also, the sky shouldn't have any textures.

[Steven M]

It looks like the screenshot was produced on crumpled paper.

[Nitemare]

Okay some weird new stuff for you all, a friends currently doing a games design course in uni and he's asked me to lend a hand with his project. Thought I'd show off what we've been up to.

This is right at the start where the character is shot out of the ball pit. (Balls in the pit all bounce around and occasionally fire out across the level.)

Main character, I don't really know what he is but he has awesome spidery legs so he's quite agile and can cling to stuff with them. Has an orange counter-part that you can swap to at anytime with different abilities.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/josephwaters/c4.gif (This one's pretty big)

This is the design of the environment, it's all constantly animated nice and smooth to give it all a very 'alive' feel. Idle worms tend to just sit and murmur to themselves and watch the player if he's nearby, they also occasionally snack on the brightly coloured balls being shot about and sometimes sing to each other! They don't pose any threat to the main character however.

The bad guys! They enjoy chasing the main character and leaping at him, they're also able to merge together to form bigger versions of themselves.

It's in early stages at the moment but I thought i'd post it, see what you all think.

[Rael0505]

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/josephwaters/c3.gif

This one is so awesome. I love the faces.

It's a unique game concept. Your friend is smart to go to you for coding. You should post the game when it's complete or has some kind of release.

[Serephim]

Looks neat. For some reason it reminds me of Earthworm Jim...

[Godmaster]

@Nitemare: looks like locoroco, I love that style of art! Good job!

@Blazehedgehog: I think this partnership system from your game could be merged in (Retro)Sonic XG. This is only a suggestion

[Rael0505]

There was originally something similar in XG. You'd pick two (out of the three) characters, the main one and the one that follows you. By pressing a button you'd switch which one you controlled. That was removed though.

[Chaos Rush]

Guess what it is.

[DimensionWarped]

Collision Chaos Zone Advancedified?

[Chaos Rush]

Collision Chaos Zone Advancedified?

Nope, but you're close .

[Rael0505]

That's pretty cool. I think the gap between the trees/bushes and the buildings is a little big though.

You should keep a lot of the spring yard gameplay elements. Don't advancify it too much.