Saturday, August 4, 2012

Out of nowhere - an update!

Well, it has sure been a while - during which time I have switched jobs and moved to an ass-end of nowhere, blowing all my savings in process. I wish life came with an undo button, but without it - I'm stuck here for a year, and I might as well make the best of it.

Oh - and then the flash cart with the latest version of LOI got destroyed, costing me several months of very sporadic work - sad and annoying, but fairly inconsequential.

On the plus side - I've since been working on LOI fairly consistently, probably for the first time in almost a year. The destruction of my recent progress has also finally pushed me to implement real-time backup of my project flash drive to Dropbox and then to a folder on my lappy.

I will post visual updates later - they are currently minor, and include additions all across the board - tileset fixes, new rooms, new decor objects, puzzle implementations (still sort of broken), new enemies/obstacles and new Phaeton creatures. I've also been writing the game's script, and it seems I'll actually have to do a bit of restructuring in the early portion of the game map - nothing major, hopefully.

14 comments:

  1. great, nice to hear from you, even if it's not all positive. Seems like life has shown you its bad side, so now maybe it's time for some good thinks for you (i.e. game getting finished, becoming a success ;) )

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  2. Hey! Good to see that you're still working on this! ...Shame about your backup though. The same thing happened to me two years ago with a Wizardry/Arcana engine. :\

    ...Did you ever figure out a solution to your room loading issue? I may have a few technical ideas for you.

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  3. Unfortunately I have abandoned the idea of a custom map format. I am unsure if you are familiar with game maker script, but the way the room switching is done in it isn't exactly straight-forward, and it's hard to pinpoint at which point in code execution it actually happens. For my rooms to work I'll have to pinpoint, or account for when the room switch occurs, then quickly generate a room and load its tiledata... it would also have to happen relatively quick - and that has also been an issue... Bahhh - brings back the frustrating memories:)

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  4. Gamemaker? Oh yeah, THAT! ...Uh, well how about trying to use a physics "switch variable" that you can switch off during room transitions.

    (This can be used by the physics to enable/disable movement, but continue to store your current physics, if implemented carefully.)

    Then it would just be a matter of using a map timer to reactivate your physics once the map/level has loaded, using a specially programmed sprite that is off screen.
    (I did this a few years ago with a castlevania styled game, that had similar gameplay issues.)

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  5. Wonderful! I would really like to see this come to life.

    If you're broke and from US - maybe you could start a Kickstarter campaign for your game?

    Also: are you available for commissioning some artwork for another game?

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  6. Greetings. It's my first glimpse at your blog and your project, but it's my understanding that you've been at this for quite some time. Just wanted to say that the quality of presentation is outstanding, and I wish you the best. I've bookmarked your blog and will be checking in.

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  7. This looks interesting. You should do a kickstarter, lose the commute and get this game made.

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  8. Morning,

    I run http://metroidvanias.tumblr.com . I've got LOI posted, but would like to know if the project is still on in 2013.

    Thanks!
    -Matt

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    Replies
    1. No sir - it's not dead. In suspended animation, but not really dead: )

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  9. Morning,

    Checking in again. Anything to share in 2013?

    Best regards,
    -Matt

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  10. I would love to know more about this game. Do you have an email?

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    1. I don't want to openly post it here just in case, but you can probably find me in a messangeble site (like reddit, youtubr or mobygames) fairly easy if you google "darkfalzx"

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  11. WOW! I see that your very large enemies are kind of pieced together with different sprites. What is your method of animating these huge guys? Do you use a specific program?

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