16
Chit-Chat / Re: Missing screen resolution :<
« on: September 08, 2012, 06:58:35 am »I would try to unplug - plug the monitor cableHow... how does that even work? XD
But yes, now it runs on proper resolution, thanks a lot! ^_^
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But yes, now it runs on proper resolution, thanks a lot! ^_^
17
Chit-Chat / [SOLVED] Missing screen resolution :<
« on: September 08, 2012, 05:27:11 am »
Hello there!
Today I've found that my monitor switched to rather... small resolution. 1024x768, to be more precise. Then, I switched it to something higher. However, the earlier resolution (1920x1080, native one!) was nowhere to be found; the highest one available was 1600x1200.
Does anybody know what could be the cause of it and how to fix that? ^^'
(and yes, I tried restarting computer
)
Today I've found that my monitor switched to rather... small resolution. 1024x768, to be more precise. Then, I switched it to something higher. However, the earlier resolution (1920x1080, native one!) was nowhere to be found; the highest one available was 1600x1200.
Does anybody know what could be the cause of it and how to fix that? ^^'
(and yes, I tried restarting computer
)
18
News / Re: Stencyl 3.0 - Design Once. Play Anywhere.
« on: September 07, 2012, 04:00:56 am »
Hmm... by the way, how does those low memory warnings work? O.o' I remember that there was some file to download to increase the memory limit from, if my memory doesn't fail me, 0.5 GB to 1 GB. I don't know whether there is such preset limit now and if having 4GB matters over 2GB or not. ^^'
19
Journals / Re: What are you working on?
« on: September 06, 2012, 02:24:46 am »
I wonder what orb of change does. 
But yes, I rather like how it turns out. Just to make sure: it's top/down view, isn't it? O.o' I ask because many mining simulators I've played had actually side view, and I wonder which is the case here. ^^'
Good luck with that project! ^_^
But yes, I rather like how it turns out. Just to make sure: it's top/down view, isn't it? O.o' I ask because many mining simulators I've played had actually side view, and I wonder which is the case here. ^^'
Good luck with that project! ^_^
20
Game Ideas / Re: [WIP][Kit] My little system
« on: September 05, 2012, 12:13:36 am »
Generally, it is supposed to serve as a basis for my future games, though if someone would need the approach I took, they would be able to as well.
But yes, the system itself:
- does the behavior initialization fix, as you said (for both scenes, with try-catch trap, and actors, through special actor creation custom block)
- provides the synchronized updates and drawings (done by this single drawing event, haha!), which is *crucial* for games using frame-based logic; otherwise the game might appear as if it's tearing, even though that's not the case at all (because sometimes there are 2 updates between rendering; generally, for 100 update events there are 60 drawing events)
The drawback is that you can't use the built-in collision system and you need to operate on different blocks than usually (especially drawing, user input and actors creation blocks), though the games I make don't really use that collision system, anyway. O.o'
Apart from that, there are a few utilities for displaying:
- "Bitmap Data", which can perform operations on images, and "Geometry" for Point and Rectangle objects used by Bitmap Data; it might turn out to be really useful when you want to improve performance! For example, instead for drawing background, then static objects on map, then some additional elements which aren't really movable, either, and doing that every single frame, you can draw it once on a bitmap and then display it. Usually when I want to keep the bitmap as an attribute, I make a List attribute and keep the bitmap there!
- "Color Transform", related to Bitmap Data, allows to apply multiplications for RGBA channels (with multiplier from 0 to 1), as well as adding offsets (from -255 to 255); generally, it works like the AS3 class with the same name
- "Bitmap Fonts" can be used to make fonts from bitmaps; you can choose an image where letters are, rectangles corresponding to the letter, charset, space width and interletter spacing; also, a text drawing function can accept HTML style insertion of Unicode characters if you have such; so  will display character defined by 143rd rectangle in the list, and ♥ will display character corresponding to word "hearts" in a special list
- "Text Blocks" does pretty much what "Text Box Ext" did, except with "bitmap fonts" and it doesn't draw anything directly; instead, it provides a block for creating such block, and for drawing it onto bitmap (it's so clever that it doesn't draw out of bounds needlessly!!1!1), which might work pretty much like Labels, if I'm not mistaken O.o'
Also, I already included 2D Array structure and added a new one, "Maple", which is a mapping tree, obviously!!1 It allows you to make a directory-file like structure by attaching leafs to other ones; it might turn out to be useful when you want to organize variables in your super-mega-epic-ultimate-RPG game; instead of having horrendous number of Global Attributes or having to memorize/write down where each variable is in some list, you can make a tree containing "Stats" and "Quests" leaves, with "Stats" having "Character1", "Character2" etc. leaves and each of them having "HP", "MP", "EXP"; so if you wanted to obtain John Doe's MP, you would just search for "Stats.JohnDoe.MP" and point to the variables tree.
...well, the problem is, they would still require saving, and technically not every tree would work like that (it's possible to make cycles, which makes my tree not a tree at all!!1), but it's a good starting point for such system, which I might make, eventually. ^^'
But yes, I already use "Maple" in behavior "Everything", which I use for keeping some constanty-like-thingies, such as bitmap fonts, universal text formatting (it's possible to use multiple conventions of formatting, but what for? ^^') and so on.
Apart from that, I've made a Label behavior (which uses that universal formatting, yes) and some others for scrolly windows and such, which are pretty much GUI elements indeed, and rather universal ones (and I'll probably make some others).
Anyway, for now I rest from that system and work on some game instead (which uses that basis, yes, and might give ideas for some other things I'd like to use there!), because adding more features (such as dialogue system, probably?) and making other, more specific kits based on that (specifically, some people requested Visual Novel Kit) would be rather time-consuming, while it doesn't seem like something people would get excited about, or at least moreso than about a game. ^^'
But yes, the system itself:
- does the behavior initialization fix, as you said (for both scenes, with try-catch trap, and actors, through special actor creation custom block)
- provides the synchronized updates and drawings (done by this single drawing event, haha!), which is *crucial* for games using frame-based logic; otherwise the game might appear as if it's tearing, even though that's not the case at all (because sometimes there are 2 updates between rendering; generally, for 100 update events there are 60 drawing events)
The drawback is that you can't use the built-in collision system and you need to operate on different blocks than usually (especially drawing, user input and actors creation blocks), though the games I make don't really use that collision system, anyway. O.o'
Apart from that, there are a few utilities for displaying:
- "Bitmap Data", which can perform operations on images, and "Geometry" for Point and Rectangle objects used by Bitmap Data; it might turn out to be really useful when you want to improve performance! For example, instead for drawing background, then static objects on map, then some additional elements which aren't really movable, either, and doing that every single frame, you can draw it once on a bitmap and then display it. Usually when I want to keep the bitmap as an attribute, I make a List attribute and keep the bitmap there!
- "Color Transform", related to Bitmap Data, allows to apply multiplications for RGBA channels (with multiplier from 0 to 1), as well as adding offsets (from -255 to 255); generally, it works like the AS3 class with the same name
- "Bitmap Fonts" can be used to make fonts from bitmaps; you can choose an image where letters are, rectangles corresponding to the letter, charset, space width and interletter spacing; also, a text drawing function can accept HTML style insertion of Unicode characters if you have such; so  will display character defined by 143rd rectangle in the list, and ♥ will display character corresponding to word "hearts" in a special list
- "Text Blocks" does pretty much what "Text Box Ext" did, except with "bitmap fonts" and it doesn't draw anything directly; instead, it provides a block for creating such block, and for drawing it onto bitmap (it's so clever that it doesn't draw out of bounds needlessly!!1!1), which might work pretty much like Labels, if I'm not mistaken O.o'
Also, I already included 2D Array structure and added a new one, "Maple", which is a mapping tree, obviously!!1 It allows you to make a directory-file like structure by attaching leafs to other ones; it might turn out to be useful when you want to organize variables in your super-mega-epic-ultimate-RPG game; instead of having horrendous number of Global Attributes or having to memorize/write down where each variable is in some list, you can make a tree containing "Stats" and "Quests" leaves, with "Stats" having "Character1", "Character2" etc. leaves and each of them having "HP", "MP", "EXP"; so if you wanted to obtain John Doe's MP, you would just search for "Stats.JohnDoe.MP" and point to the variables tree.
...well, the problem is, they would still require saving, and technically not every tree would work like that (it's possible to make cycles, which makes my tree not a tree at all!!1), but it's a good starting point for such system, which I might make, eventually. ^^'
But yes, I already use "Maple" in behavior "Everything", which I use for keeping some constanty-like-thingies, such as bitmap fonts, universal text formatting (it's possible to use multiple conventions of formatting, but what for? ^^') and so on.
Apart from that, I've made a Label behavior (which uses that universal formatting, yes) and some others for scrolly windows and such, which are pretty much GUI elements indeed, and rather universal ones (and I'll probably make some others).
Anyway, for now I rest from that system and work on some game instead (which uses that basis, yes, and might give ideas for some other things I'd like to use there!), because adding more features (such as dialogue system, probably?) and making other, more specific kits based on that (specifically, some people requested Visual Novel Kit) would be rather time-consuming, while it doesn't seem like something people would get excited about, or at least moreso than about a game. ^^'
21
Chit-Chat / Re: How bad is the stencyl stigma?
« on: September 01, 2012, 10:24:51 am »
Quote in quote in quote in quote in quote...
Could you people please *not* quote the whole posts if they are the most recent ones? Usually it's taken for granted that the post you're referring to is the previous one, and while sometimes you might want to address some parts, there's no need to quote the whole, unseparated post altogether! >.<
Thank you in advance. ^^'
Also, I think that White Astronaut indeed was unnecessarily rude with calling people idiots and such, and I don't accept that "this is online forum" and "you need to be blunt to get your point across" argumentation; this forum appears to me as rather peaceful and friendly and I'd like it to stay it like that. Besides, if such bluntness were to be used, it should be reserved for extreme cases, were the person still doesn't get the point at all. O.o'
Apart from that,
So yes, could you people* refrain from calling others idiots, posting thoughts about their lack of "basic" knowledge, continuing this unnecessary discussion, quoting whole previous posts and biting each others' ankles? P l e a s e ? :<
*if you don't think you've done anything wrong or the discussion you participated in wasn't unnecessary, then probably you aren't one of those "you people"; however, the point about quotes, and especially about ankles, stands valid for everyone
Could you people please *not* quote the whole posts if they are the most recent ones? Usually it's taken for granted that the post you're referring to is the previous one, and while sometimes you might want to address some parts, there's no need to quote the whole, unseparated post altogether! >.<
Thank you in advance. ^^'
Also, I think that White Astronaut indeed was unnecessarily rude with calling people idiots and such, and I don't accept that "this is online forum" and "you need to be blunt to get your point across" argumentation; this forum appears to me as rather peaceful and friendly and I'd like it to stay it like that. Besides, if such bluntness were to be used, it should be reserved for extreme cases, were the person still doesn't get the point at all. O.o'
Apart from that,
Quote
If it's easily breakable, it should be fixed.Steve didn't state that it's easily breakable, neither that it should be unbreakable; rather, he was concerned that protection provided by Stencyl might be omitted by a random person who wants to steal the game, and such concern is justified. Yes, maybe he didn't know some thing about safety which is rather widely known among computer savvies (especially those who are into game development), but sometimes people might just omit things which are "obvious" for others (after all, it's not like it's *necessary* to know that to make any games at all, it's more like *really useful*) and I think he had learned that already, so why continue that? ^^'
So yes, could you people* refrain from calling others idiots, posting thoughts about their lack of "basic" knowledge, continuing this unnecessary discussion, quoting whole previous posts and biting each others' ankles? P l e a s e ? :<
*if you don't think you've done anything wrong or the discussion you participated in wasn't unnecessary, then probably you aren't one of those "you people"; however, the point about quotes, and especially about ankles, stands valid for everyone
22
Resolved Questions / Re: How to choose the smallest value from n number element list using loop?
« on: August 31, 2012, 01:26:11 am »
Actually, if you want to determine the smaller of two numbers, you can simply use block in Number & Text >> Math >> Operations >> smaller of [ 0 ] and [ 0 ].
If you want to pick the smallest item from list, you can use the blocks posted by gplar.
If you want to pick the smallest item from list, you can use the blocks posted by gplar.
23
Ask a Question / Re: Rewinding time
« on: August 29, 2012, 12:50:15 am »
30 seconds... with 100 updates per second it makes 3000 entries for a single value...
It would mean that if one number takes, let's say, 16 bytes (regular integer take 4, I don't know what about Numbers in AS3 or so and how it works with Arrays, so I try to come up with something relatively pessimistic) it would make astounding 48 kB per 30 seconds, or 96 kB per minute.
Or to put it other way, you can record 10 number values (e.g. xs and ys of 5 actors) every update and it'll still take less than 1 MB per minute. Not half bad, if you ask me. O.o'
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't try some optimizing. The easiest one would be e.g. combining x and y in a single value [[ screen width ] * [ y ] + [ x ]] and then retrieve x by [remainder of [value] / [screen width]] and y by [floor of [value] / [screen width]].
But yes, how much you can optimise depends mainly on what sort of game you're making. I hope it's not a physics game.
It would mean that if one number takes, let's say, 16 bytes (regular integer take 4, I don't know what about Numbers in AS3 or so and how it works with Arrays, so I try to come up with something relatively pessimistic) it would make astounding 48 kB per 30 seconds, or 96 kB per minute.
Or to put it other way, you can record 10 number values (e.g. xs and ys of 5 actors) every update and it'll still take less than 1 MB per minute. Not half bad, if you ask me. O.o'
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't try some optimizing. The easiest one would be e.g. combining x and y in a single value [[ screen width ] * [ y ] + [ x ]] and then retrieve x by [remainder of [value] / [screen width]] and y by [floor of [value] / [screen width]].
But yes, how much you can optimise depends mainly on what sort of game you're making. I hope it's not a physics game.
24
Journals / Re: What are you working on?
« on: August 28, 2012, 12:49:37 pm »
Some game (yes, *gasp*, game!) I started working on recently; so far this menu isn't really made properly yet, but I planned some placement and such. I hope it's okay? O.o'
And yes, this time I decided to start from menus, which seem to be the most tedious part, and maybe when I get impatient I'll escape for a bit to the game mechanics itself; but yes, I don't really think that the game engine will cause many problems. ^^'
25
Shared Resources / Re: 2D Array
« on: August 28, 2012, 06:37:52 am »
Hello, testu0sh0!
In my system 2D arrays are technically a lists, so if you want to make a 2D Array, you should add a list attribute and set that attribute to "create new 2D array" block. You should then use this attribute as an "array" parameter for another blocks (e.g. as in: "get item at [ 5 ] [ 7 ] from array [ MyLittleArray ]", where MyLittleArray is an attribute).
Also, if I were to make 2D Array containing lists using my system, I'd do something like this:
- the most intuitive solution would be setting default item to [create new list]; however, if this was the case, instead of creating 400 new lists system would add the same list to every single field of array, which we wouldn't want
- it's "current loop count + 3" rather than "current loop count" because of the way this array is made; the first three items are the information about width, height, and default item, and the other ones are cells
So yes, all you would need to do would be manipulating on each of lists in 2D Array, as in "add [ Something ] to [get item at [ 5 ][ 7 ] from [ MyLittleArray ]]" or so.
Hope this clears things up? ^^'
In my system 2D arrays are technically a lists, so if you want to make a 2D Array, you should add a list attribute and set that attribute to "create new 2D array" block. You should then use this attribute as an "array" parameter for another blocks (e.g. as in: "get item at [ 5 ] [ 7 ] from array [ MyLittleArray ]", where MyLittleArray is an attribute).
Also, if I were to make 2D Array containing lists using my system, I'd do something like this:
Code: [Select]
set MyLittleArray to [create new 2D Array with width: [20] height: [20] default item: [NONE]]
repeat [[20] x [20]] times
replace item # [[current loop count] + [3]] with [create new list] in [MyLittleArray]And that's why:- the most intuitive solution would be setting default item to [create new list]; however, if this was the case, instead of creating 400 new lists system would add the same list to every single field of array, which we wouldn't want
- it's "current loop count + 3" rather than "current loop count" because of the way this array is made; the first three items are the information about width, height, and default item, and the other ones are cells
So yes, all you would need to do would be manipulating on each of lists in 2D Array, as in "add [ Something ] to [get item at [ 5 ][ 7 ] from [ MyLittleArray ]]" or so.
Hope this clears things up? ^^'
26
Archives / Re: Organize scenes like a map
« on: August 28, 2012, 12:34:06 am »
I like that idea a lot, too!
If there was not only zoom out preview rather than top-left one, but also an option to change dimensions of individual scene preview (e.g. a double-arrow thingy would appear when you roll over right or bottom edge of scene preview), that would be wicked! Imagine making a Metroidvania game where dimensions of scenes vary, and an ability to adjust preview sizes to scene sizes, to later arrange them in a Metroidvania-esque map!
(perhaps in such case it would be a good idea to have an option of turning off displaying scene names, since they would only be a bother? O.o')
Also, option of snapping scenes to grid would be nice as well!
If there was not only zoom out preview rather than top-left one, but also an option to change dimensions of individual scene preview (e.g. a double-arrow thingy would appear when you roll over right or bottom edge of scene preview), that would be wicked! Imagine making a Metroidvania game where dimensions of scenes vary, and an ability to adjust preview sizes to scene sizes, to later arrange them in a Metroidvania-esque map!
(perhaps in such case it would be a good idea to have an option of turning off displaying scene names, since they would only be a bother? O.o')
Also, option of snapping scenes to grid would be nice as well!
27
Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Anchoring to screen from a custom event
« on: August 27, 2012, 11:14:56 pm »Though to be fair, it's not 100% intuitive that an actor's coordinates aren't converted to screen coordinates when anchoring.I admit, it isn't. I mainly figured it out from the fact that at the beginning of level it worked, and later it didn't, and what could have been a possible difference.
28
Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Anchoring to screen from a custom event
« on: August 27, 2012, 01:14:59 pm »
(I've always wanted to do that, deep down inside!)
On a more serious note: replace [x of camera] and [y of camera] with 0 and everything should work fine. The only difference between beginning of the level and Custom Event is that the first is called when camera coordinates are within top-left screen-sized rectangle, while in the latter cases not.
Generally, when you anchor actor to screen, its x/y coordinates become drawing coordinates directly, without any camera offset or something. So if you create actor at (camera x, camera y) and then anchor to screen, it'll be drawn at (camera x + camera x, camera y + camera y) of scene space, rather than (camera x, camera y) as you probably intended; so completely offscreen.
However, if you create it at (0, 0), it'll be drawn at (camera x, camera y) on the scene, which means top left of the screen.
So yes, I suppose that when you start a level camera coordinates are both still set to 0, and thus the problem doesn't appear; however, the further you go from the top left part of the scene, the more offset the anchored actor will be, until eventually going out of screen.
Hope it's understandable now? O.o'
29
Chit-Chat / Re: Stencyl is still too difficult to use
« on: August 27, 2012, 12:24:43 pm »
Ipe: I suppose that you haven't worked with iOS version, which according to captaincomic and confirmed by camaleon is much more buggy than Flash one. Well, I haven't been making iOS games, either, so that's probably why I didn't have many problems with my games themselves. O.o'
30
Chit-Chat / Re: Stencyl is still too difficult to use
« on: August 26, 2012, 11:10:21 pm »
Alright, camaleonyco's post surprised me. O.o'
While Stencyl might have a few bugs, I didn't really experience them to be in my games (those were my very bugs, and I usually would eliminate them after a single overview and obligatory facepalm, or, in more severe cases, after series of prints-tracking). None of blocks I used worked differently than they should (except custom ones, at times). At most there would be the cases were they worked differently than I would initially expect them to, but in the end it all made sense. Granted, I don't use Box2D-ish stuff, like collisions, regions etc. and I am one of those users who eagerly wait for the Box2D disabling function.
Maybe it's different with provided behaviors, which I don't use because I make my own? Maybe? ^^'
While Stencyl might have a few bugs, I didn't really experience them to be in my games (those were my very bugs, and I usually would eliminate them after a single overview and obligatory facepalm, or, in more severe cases, after series of prints-tracking). None of blocks I used worked differently than they should (except custom ones, at times
). At most there would be the cases were they worked differently than I would initially expect them to, but in the end it all made sense. Granted, I don't use Box2D-ish stuff, like collisions, regions etc. and I am one of those users who eagerly wait for the Box2D disabling function. Maybe it's different with provided behaviors, which I don't use because I make my own? Maybe? ^^'
