[A-Guymzx]

So, I've been slowly working on a project here based on a story of mine which I have in mind for like a year now, and decided to not only work it out on paper but also in a MZX game. Basically, I haven't come up with a name yet, and I'm still working on the story itself. So much in fact, that I cannot even release a short example of it yet. Though, i'll make sure to do so soon.

Anyway, the main reason I'm making this secret project public is that I'm in need of help, mostly for graphics design and sprites, since I'm plain horrible at those. Same goes for music, and maybe some very complex programming. So far I have the basics of the menu system done, and the concept for the engine. However, i can't really start making the engine before I have a player sprite, since I want the character editing to be done correctly so i don't have to do it all over again and maybe change the entire engine.

I really can use all the help I can get, and of course those who do help will be given credit. (So I don't have to make the credits sequence "all done by me", which is just stupid.)
Oh, and for the player sprite design, i'll get down to drawing what I have in mind for reference.

I'm looking forward to what you guys have to say

[Dr Lancer-X]

Word of advice: I tried doing this too. Didn't work*

good luck though!

*well, it looked like it was going to work; Lachesis and Maxim did stuff, but in the end I worked out that it wouldn't be finished until 2015 or so (PhD student not have much time. PhD student also need to play eroge~) >_>
I was almost tempted to try and make the exact same game but going entirely default palette/charset to drastically reduce the design workload, but I'm not sure there is quite enough of a community left to play it

[Lachesis]

A-Guymzx, on 10 July 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

However, i can't really start making the engine before I have a player sprite

add "goto #frameNNNNN" calls wherever you intend to have different player frames and add temporary functionality until you get the real data

also, instead of hardcoding char edits, you might look into reading a partial charset file into a $string at loadtime and read char info from that. Incorporate this into your player robot:

: "justentered"
...
goto "#loadPlayerCharData"
...
: "mainLoop"
cycle 1
...
goto "mainLoop"

: "#loadPlayerCharData"
set "$playerChars" ""
set "player.chr" "FREAD_OPEN"
set "FREAD_POS" -1
if "FREAD_POS" < 1 "badPlayerCharFile"
if "('FREAD_POS'%14)" != 0 "badPlayerCharFile"
set "FREAD_POS" 0
: "loadPlayerChars"
set "local32" "FREAD"
if "local32" = -1 "endLoadPlayerChars"
set "$playerChars.&$playerChars.length&" "local32"
goto "loadPlayerChars"
: "endLoadPlayerChars"
set "" "FREAD_OPEN"
goto "#RETURN"
: "badPlayerCharFile"
% "~cERROR: player charset doesn't exist or isn't a valid size"
. "todo: add a better method of error handling than an end command"
end

. "inputs: set local1 to the destination char position and set local2 to the char to be pulled from the string"
: "#setPlayerChar"
. "todo: expand to set multiple chars, if necessary"
if "('local2'+1*14)" > "$playerChars.length" "invalidCharIndex"
set "$" "$playerChars+&local2&#14"
char edit "local1" "$.0" "$.1" "$.2" "$.3" "$.4" "$.5" "$.6" "$.7" "$.8" "$.9" "$.10" "$.11" "$.12" "$.13"
goto "#RETURN"
: "invalidCharIndex"
% "~cERROR: char &local2& does not exist in $playerChars"
goto "#RETURN"

...

: "#playerFrame0"
set "local1" "playerChar"
set "local2" "charToLoad"
goto "#setPlayerChar"
goto "#RETURN"

warning: I didn't test any of this and I distinctly remember running into some sort of issue attempting to do this before. Lancer will probably add input

[Lachesis]

A-Guymzx, on 10 July 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

I'm in need of help, mostly for graphics design and sprites, since I'm plain horrible at those. Same goes for music, and maybe some very complex programming.

No. We'll all be honest today: most of us aren't plain horrible at those, including you. They're busywork and because of that, you don't want to do them. I don't want to do them. Lancer doesn't want to do them. Goshi doesn't want do to them. Kuddy doesn't want to do them. Woofy Barkerson doesn't even want to do them.

Most of the (remaining) people here won't sign up to carry burdens like this on the drop of a dime, as I discovered when proposing a remake of Labrynth of Zeux. They want proof that their work will count towards something and that a finished product will be delivered. I think this was a part of my difficulty in getting the Labyrinth of Zeux soundtrack to the point that it is (still isn't finished. Keep cranking those tracks out) -- people had never seen a tangible, finished product from me, and didn't believe that I'd really get it done. Also, given the history of Labrynth of Zeux ports...

And these people aren't wrong: if I produce levels for End Sky, I want to know that End Sky will be released and that my effort wasn't wasted. I produced a level and was designing a couple of others when Lancer said "nah, I don't feel like doing this anymore." My work is sitting around, unused.

My advice to you is to come back in a day, week, whatever it takes, and instead of asking "Hey guys make my game for me plz?" ask, "Here's a fully functional demo with a couple of levels that are complete besides graphics and music, here are some outlines for further levels that you could choose to complete, wanna be a part of something great?"

For programming advice, you might consider being more specific. A lot of us here are really good Robotic programmers and have a lot of advice to offer, but there are many components that go into a game.

[Dr Lancer-X]

we could turn end sky into a-guymzx's game

EDIT: in fact this is a great idea

here's a forest, go nuts

Also, if you give me the title of your game, I'll create a title + menu screen for it. keep in mind it'll only be end sky's title and menu screens but with your game's name on them.

Attached File(s)

•  forest.mzx (152.78K)
  Number of downloads: 47

[RyanThunder]

Is this a CR2-0 prequel?

[A-Guymzx]

First of all, thanks all for the feedback!
As for Lachesis, I've had something like that in mind for character editing, and you're right about the help I most likely wouldn't get if I didn't get at least an example of what I'm making. I'll get around to see if I can get some screenshots here or maybe a playable demo for you guys to see what kind of thing I'm asking for.

For Lancer, I've said like in the first part of my post that i haven't come up with a name yet, and the menu system is already developing pretty well.

And Ryan, no, it's not a prequel to anything we've all known so far. This is something completely new, something I've had in mind for over a year, and before I was ever thinking of CR2-0.

[Dr Lancer-X]

i know you haven't come up with a name, i mean when you do. also i was joking. but i'll seriously do it if you ask

[Goshi]

Quote

Anyway, the main reason I'm making this secret project public

Then its not really a secret anymore!

[A-Guymzx]

Goshi, on 11 July 2011 - 09:36 PM, said:

Then its not really a secret anymore!

It's just a temporary placeholder since i don't have a real name for it yet.
though, i think I can now post an example of my story. I've just finished the first chapter, polished it (it was a lot different before) and everything. I've showed it to some people, and they've called it Carre Slee (one of the best Dutch writers at the moment) in a foreign language, which is pretty darn good in my opinion.

so, here it is:
Don't be too harsh on me, it's still in development and it's my very first story, ever.
Also, it's aimed for people of the age of 14 or something. Not really something an adult would read every day. Please bear that in mind while reading, m'kay?

[Dr Lancer-X]

Will this story have a time loop in it? If not I think you should add one.

[A-Guymzx]

Time loop?

[Terryn]

At this point, I'm so inured to those things that I demand a time Möbius strip, at BARE minimum.

[Dr Lancer-X]

A-Guymzx, on 12 July 2011 - 08:10 AM, said:

Time loop?

If you're familiar with the US film 'Groundhog Day' it's probably the most famous example of a time loop.

Terryn, on 12 July 2011 - 08:12 AM, said:

At this point, I'm so inured to those things that I demand a time Möbius strip, at BARE minimum.

How would you distinguish a time loop from a time moebius strip though?
Maybe a time klein surface...

[A-Guymzx]

I still don't get this 'time loop' sting.

[Terryn]

Distortion at the critical junctures would differentiate it nicely!

[Lachesis]

A-Guymzx, on 11 July 2011 - 04:27 PM, said:

I still don't get this 'time loop' sting.

It's where instead of time continuing forever, at a certain point it begins jumping backward to another set point, either infinitely or until certain criteria are met:

In the film Groundhog Day, the protagonist gets stuck in a time loop that jumps back exactly one day at midnight, and he is the only person who remembers anything from the previous iterations of the day, allowing him to die repeatedly, get arrested, become an expert pianist, etc. To fix the time loop he initally attempts to kill himself, attempts to save an old homeless man, cumulating with him becoming an expert surgeon, but eventually the only way to break the loop is to get one of his coworkers to fall in love with him.

If you're a fan of Stargate, there's an SG-1 episode called "Window of Opportunity" where O'Neill and Teal'c get stuck in a similar sort of thing, but the loop is only a few hours long. I don't remember the details, but it had a technobabble explanation instead of... whatever the one in Groundhog Day was.


And of course, it occurs in countless eroge and Lancer-X games (check out Eternal Eclipse Taoyarin)

[CJA]

Lancer-X, on 11 July 2011 - 06:22 PM, said:

If you're familiar with the US film 'Groundhog Day' it's probably the most famous example of a time loop.


How would you distinguish a time loop from a time moebius strip though?
Maybe a time klein surface...

actually a Moebius strip sounds like a wonderful idea. it'd play out like, you have 24 hours or 3 days or 7 days in the world, and then it flips into the DARK WORLD where the stuff you did comes back for REVENGE and then that 2-part cycle repeats. like meta night & day

[Dr Lancer-X]

CJA, on 12 July 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

actually a Moebius strip sounds like a wonderful idea. it'd play out like, you have 24 hours or 3 days or 7 days in the world, and then it flips into the DARK WORLD where the stuff you did comes back for REVENGE and then that 2-part cycle repeats. like meta night & day

Actually, I'd be inclined to do that even without a loop- just the idea of having previous actions play out from a second perspective. This was one belated idea I had for Thanatos Insignia, where after finishing the game you'd have to play it AGAIN (it would record the exact player and enemy movements/actions, or just record the player and have enemies working on a fixed seed or being more responsive to player positioning) but in a 'mirror image' version where you have another form and you need to protect the original player from unseen shadowy enemies that can sap the player's health if they get close (so if on the first play you got a bit close to dying at some points, this could turn very quickly fatal) but your second form would still be vulnerable to the enemies and enemy attacks of the first playthrough (and even your own attacks from the first playthrough)

This would have doubled the length of the game, added an innovative mechanism and probably only taken 2 hours or so of extra work but oh well, didn't think of it at the time =p

[A-Guymzx]

I Find this time loop and day/night cycle actually very interesting! Since I'm still making the story, I can find a good place to put these in. And once again, thanks for the feedback!

[Lachesis]

The game's title should be "Gadzooks," Quoth I, "But Here's A Saucy Bawd!": or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And

[Revvy]

I find it disturbing how much that unfinished sentence bothers me.

[Dr Lancer-X]

Revvy, on 13 July 2011 - 11:49 AM, said:

I find it disturbing how much that unfinished sentence bothers me.

Perhaps you should Learn to Stop Worrying and

[Baby Bonnie Hood]

...and what?

And WHAT?!?!?! D:

[Dr Lancer-X]

Learn to Stop Worrying and Love The ITS SINFULL TO VOTE FOR FAG POLITICIANS. OBAMA MADE JUNE NATIONAL QUEERS MONTH. NATIONAL QUEERS MONTH, IS NATIONAL SATAN MONTH.

[Lachesis]

How's the game going, A-Guymzx?

Lancer-X: Is that Gene Ray's trailer?

[A-Guymzx]

Still figuring out how to make the menu system so that all menus work on just one up/down thingy.
Oh wait, I already figured out how, it's just putting it together.



Oh, and those dots you see on the screen are actually moving around in this nice 'wind' pattern, to give kind of a calm feeling to it.

EDIT: I'd also really like to change the char set sometime into something that 'fits' the theme a bit more, instead of the default.

This post has been edited by A-Guymzx: 14 July 2011 - 11:06 AM