Messages

I tried to use the Flare .txt export option, but found it kept asking for specificly named layers before saving, which didn't really mesh well with what I was going to use it for, so I went with the native save-as option rather than the exporting options.

Tiled is not too hard to work with at all. Had a play with it on the weekend, then spent some time examining the save format, I found for what I needed it for that setting the save style as .csv in the preferences made parsing the file into my application a lot easier to handle, but for a bigger project I'd probably go for a complete XML parser if I was to add attributes to tiles etc.

Took me a day to write a parser to pass the save format and then another day to write and deubg the code to draw the textures with X flip, Y flip and rotate. Overall I was impressed at how easy the process was as I had not done something like this in the past.

In regards to keeping your loading screen black, do you mean a completely Black image with nothing else? Unless I'm mistaken that's an Apple NONO and you can get rejected due to Apple wants the app to have a loading screen that instantly gives the user feedback as to what is happening.

Like whats been said, if its your loading screen, maybe, but credits should be fine. For the loading screen, make an image that represents the game, with a small GLBASIC icon in the bottom corner?

Yes, on IOS, you need to write to the documents folder or it will fail.

I've also had a similar issue on IOS with opening files that dont exist in order to create a new player save file, it works on Windows, but on IOS I see it crash on my xcode when I'm running it on the device. The work around I have at the moment is to have a dummy blank file already existing for the player slots, but it would be nice to know whats causing this on IOS only and how I could resolve it.

The Feathers look a little more like cracked ground. I dont really have any suggestions to fix it though :/

Taking a page from r0ber7 and his Red Wizard Development Thread. I thought some of you may be interested in what I've been up to in the 4 weeks since purchasing an Apple Development License and GLBasic Premium.

Mmm, mead... I checked out Battleheart. In the vid, around 1:30 an enemy appears which is quite similar to your ogre pirate. I don't want to criticize too much (cause I know that can kill creativity), but I hope your style will be more different. 

Still, I love the ogre as you've drawn it, and the map makes me fondly remember my days of RPG playing. Nicely done, I'm curious as to how this will develop.

Thanks, and don't be afraid to criticise, I'm aware that the ogre is very similar to the enemy ogre in Battleheart. I will be diverging away with the rest of my characters. I'm working on an enemy 'tiki' man with a spear that will be in the tutorial island at the moment.

I'm not sure what the next playable character will be, I'm wanting to break some stereotypes with this game. You already are playing a group of traditionally evil monsters from an rpg out to smash and grab loot. I was thinking for the second character that a Stone Golem that heals people might be interesting. He's this massive giant guy, that carries a puny staff around and casts healing magicks.

When people say chicken they are usually referring to Hen's that lay the eggs. Roosters are the males. Chicks are the infants.

Yeah will be a simple action RPG. Same mechanics as Battleheart if you are familar with that game, but hopefully a different enough take.

Ogre Pirate Character

Hi All,

Taking a page from r0ber7 and his Red Wizard Development Thread. I thought some of you may be interested in what I've been up to in the 4 weeks since purchasing an Apple Development License and GLBasic Premium.

Please note that the following is mostly placeholder art and will change prior to release which is still months away:
I'll update with more pictures including actual gameplay sometime next week, I've completed one of the playable characters sprite animations, just need to make an enemy to being testing the gameplay code.

Title Screen


World Map (Level Select)


Inventory Screen

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly.

I'm not familar with any of he aforementioned sites, so I'm not sure if its worth mentioning to be be really careful about using free material available on the net. Often it comes with the stipulation that you either credit the author or need to pay if the resource is to be used in a commercial project.

At least that is what i have found with my research into what I am going to do about game music.

A simple way to do this in GLB could be to call a Function for every frame, but only load a specific amount of data each showscreen. Here is a quick example of what i mean. Without knowing exactly what your looking for this may or may not be helpful, but may give you some kind of idea. Loading 60 images over the course of 60 frames, will give the game/program a smoother appearance than the game "freezing" due to it taking several seconds to load all the images on a single showscreen call.

GLOBAL GameRunning = TRUE
GLOBAL GraphicsLoaded = FALSE
GLOBAL Imagetoload% = 0
GLOBAL Filenames$[]; DIM Filenames$[16]

Filenames() //Put File Names into an array

While Game Running = TRUE     //Main Loop
IF GraphicsLoaded = FALSE THEN LoadData()

Main Program Code

WEND
END

FUNCTION FileNames:   //Filename function

//Put the names of the file you want to load into the array here
For i = 0 to 15
  Filenames$ = "Background" + i
Next

ENDFUNCTION

FUNCTION LoadData:

LOADSPRITE "Media/"+ Filenames$[ImagestoLoad%] + ".png", ImagestoLoad%
INC ImagestoLoad%   //increase the global integer for next frame
IF ImagestoLoad% = 15 THEN GraphicsLoaded = TRUE

ENDFUNCTION

I've never encountered any issues with Sprites and Borders, but then I've not tried to do anything with coloured transparent layers either.

In my code after the background static layer is drawn i set the Alphamode to -1

All my sprites with Transparencies are made in layered PSD files in photoshop. I've always performed the following steps to create PNG files:

Select the layer with the sprite to save out, hide ALL other layers so the background is checkered.
File Menu : "Save for Web & Devices"
In the Window top right options: Preset - PNG-24
Sub Option: Transparency (Ticked)

Then hit save.

you can play around with the bicubic & bilinear settings if you want, but really with Alphamode set to -1 BEFORE you draw transparent sprites for each frame it should work just fine... Not had any issues with the limited Zoomsprite experience so far either.

Give that a try and let me know if you have any problems and where they occurred and I will try to assist.

-Zapp