Messages

1

News / Re: Plans for Stencyl 2.1 - A Better Scene Designer

« on: April 29, 2012, 06:24:22 am »

It is very helpful to add a panning option in the scene designer.
Like when you hold a key, you can move around the scene with your mouse rather than using the scroll bars. 

Mouse wheel?

2

Game Art / Re: Pixel Art Thread

« on: April 29, 2012, 04:11:31 am »

Army Bitches, lol. I like it.

The tank contrast looks good, but aren't tanks meant to blend at least a bit?  That's what camouflage is for, no?
I thought perhaps muddy or sandy tracks might be fun, but perhaps ruins the style Hypno is looking for..

3

Game Art / Re: Pixel Art Thread

« on: April 28, 2012, 07:06:35 am »

Any name suggestions? It's a pretty straightforward shooter.

That's so Ikari Warriors it's crazy!  A little rummage around the top-down section of your local arcade or MAME should inspire some.
Is there any story/plot/character filler?  a bit of brain juice there would not only make it a little more involving, but can very easily suggest names to you.

Fantastic work so far dude, whatever name it's called.

4

News / Re: Plans for Stencyl 2.1 - A Better Scene Designer

« on: April 27, 2012, 02:52:47 am »

Saving those pennies.. Gonna go Pro..

5

Game Ideas / Re: Fan-Game RPG Project Idea

« on: April 26, 2012, 03:42:59 am »

Chris, as Gemini noted, it's pretty obvious you've got the picture in your head.
I do sincerely hope that you're getting it saved somewhere safe.
Also in echo of Gemini, you may be getting slightly ahead of yourself - as a programmer.

However, don't let that deter you from looking at the options available to you while you build a solid design.
With the myriad tools available - enough to easily confuse, I recommend you let your design tell you what it requires.  Choose the tech for the job, not just what looks easiest.

An RPG is a pretty expansive and deep genre, and one where most players will expect to be immersed.  It's very good that you're putting so much thought into it.

There will be lots of effort involved, and where it takes you, you may need programming skills beyond your commitment or current expertise - you know what you don't know.
But I recommend a little doodle in psuedocode when thinking up mechanics.
It doesn't matter what language you think in, as long as you fully understand the flow of what you want done.
As you expand this, you will quickly understand the needs of your game and focus more on what tool can help you achieve that rather than getting wowed at all the bells and whistles you'll find while looking for the shallow learning curve.

You already have your world in your head, and you're working hard to keep it balanced.
Get a foundation under it.  A ruleset or two proceduralising the trade-offs in a battle or NPC contact maybe.
Perhaps jot down a class - which is not much more than a collection of "what I have" and "what I do"

In essence, unless you already know a language well enough - and you know it'll do what you want, I would not advise limiting yourself to any language or tool.
Heck, if your design sings and is clear enough to visualise, you might find a programmer offering to take that workload off of you.  And you'll have yourself a dev team.
KunFuFurby seems pretty enthusiastic.  It may be early days, but I'd feed off of that if I were you.  Music might inspire more game, and vice-versa.

Keep focus, your game is more important than your coding skills.

6

Paid Work / Re: Help with TD

« on: April 25, 2012, 05:33:09 pm »

To be honest, I've always thought TDs as more one side of an RTS, you know - Test my Turtle Skillz, but in my own time..
I guess that's why a new TD on the flash sites normally gets a play, at least a try.

I was kind of thinking more Diablo - or Blood & Magic if you've heard of..

RPGs are not only based on levelling up.  I for one am a massive fan of exploring and looting.
Maybe one, or select few characters to point & click.  Perhaps a mission or loot to discover beyond the cash-for-kill..
Powerups or synergies based on character/tower stats?
Buildable/non-buildable areas?

Just throwing a few things out there..

7

Game Art / Re: Pixel Art Thread

« on: April 25, 2012, 05:24:12 pm »

I'm still none the wiser on where to insert coin..

8

Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Virus!!

« on: April 25, 2012, 07:51:48 am »

Good to hear.

9

Paid Work / Re: Help with TD

« on: April 25, 2012, 05:32:50 am »

Well, I believe you might be in the right place to find either inspiration or an eager cohort.
One piece of advice that I have learned is to get something started, even if using hand drawn scribbles or blocks.  If you can inspire an artist, you may get offers of assets much more fitting.
And who knows?  Maybe you'll find yourself heading a dev team.

This is a friendly and open community, you got nothing to lose.

10

Game Art / Re: Pixel Art Thread

« on: April 25, 2012, 05:26:23 am »

Good point, well made.  Although I don't recall any antialiasing done on my part.
I'm afraid most of my stuff done old-skool is on tape, in speccy format.  Lost to the sands of time.
Ahh, but the days of the DATA statement..
Here's a few I did about 15-20 years ago.  Not all that good, but nothing more ominous than a flood fill used.  Do they still count?  Am I forgiven?

Blob, your work rocks and commend your efforts.
Hypno, Dude!  Your stuff takes me right back the arcade!  Superlative stuff! Where do I insert coins?

11

Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Virus!!

« on: April 25, 2012, 05:15:59 am »

I'm not sure if it'll help any, but I'm a pretty big fan of AutoHotkey.
It is a simple but powerful free scripting language capable of some pretty clever stuff.
With its ability to internally call DLLs as well as running batches/executables, coupled with a compile to standalone exe it might be worth a look.
AHK_L is a fork by the original dev which has a lovely class framework which I recommend highly.
I personally use it for little utils & time savers all the time.

Their community is as wonderful as this one, with the devs getting involved as eagerly as here.

12

Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Virus!!

« on: April 24, 2012, 11:09:26 am »

You're welcome.
As always, let us know how it goes for you.

13

Chit-Chat / Re: Prefab Jam - An unofficial Stencyl 2.0 celebratory game jam

« on: April 24, 2012, 10:13:50 am »

Sterling idea!
It's a great way to showcase both the new features AND the pretty awesome prefabs that were shipped with 2.0

I would, but I'm far too shy - and my leg fell off. 

14

Old Bugs (1.x/2.x) / Re: Virus!!

« on: April 24, 2012, 10:06:21 am »

I have been running Stencyl 1.4 and 2 (beta and now full) on boxes with Symantec (and Norton) AVs and have had no such problem.
Although I have had no experience with Panda, I am pretty sure that you should be able to set it up to ignore Stencyl, although I have no idea why it would give your AV reason to flag it.
Most AVs are overzealous when it comes to Keyhooks, etc. but I don't think Stencyl employs this method.
I would recommend downloading the latest version again (from here, not another site) and configuring your AV to ignore if it flags again.
Although there are other sites out there, BitDefender has a browser based scanner you can use for free if you suspect Panda has missed something.  Not all AVs are perfect and I recommend a "second opinion" if in doubt.

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Old Questions (from 1.x/2.x) / Re: Anyone using TestFlight?

« on: April 24, 2012, 09:55:16 am »

I believe I may have a partner in crime so when we've got some Apple hardware I'm sure it will come in handy.
Perhaps it's best I not confuse myself with it just yet though.

Thanks again for the advice, you da man!