128 replies to this topic

[Docopoper]

Also - have you tried using window_handle() while synchronising - so that windows knows the game is still running?

Heh, I was just releasing a bugfix release related to that. No, not window_handle (didn't know of that one), but I added in "sleep(1)" after each synchronization step (i.e. whenever the progress bar increases, which happens 60 times). That makes the OS panic a lot less (though it'll still briefly panic while the DLL is doing its thing if you leave the window, something I can't control unfortunately). But I looked up window_handle in the docs, it looks like it's supposed to return something that's passed onto DLLs, no mention of it giving control to the OS or anything like that?

Whoops, sorry - I meant io_handle().

The bugfix release (1.1.3) also fixes a bug where your save file could be deleted when you played Survival mode. Therefore, everyone should definitely download this release. Otherwise, you, too, could have to start all over again from the beginning.

As for the score, no grinding. I actually tried that, but the only things you can grind with are bullet bills, and that's pretty tough to do without taking damage while still getting a good amount of points (i.e. more than the same time bonus would give you). The biggest obstacle was the randomness of the bullet bills firing, so trying to grind them is really just chance. (Well, OK, I lied. Actually, you'll get a bit of benefit as long as it takes you less than 4 games seconds to do it, so you could hypothetically bounce onto the cannon, wait a couple seconds to ensure a bullet, and jump away to stomp another bullet, and repeat. But honestly, that would be more trouble than it's worth.) But you may be able to beat my high score with this next bugfix release, because 1-up mushrooms now earn 5000 points in World 666 (something they already did in Survival mode; the point in that is 1-up mushrooms are otherwise completely meaningless in World 666 and Survival mode).

That's great! - That will be interesting, I think there are 2 in the level. does getting 100 coins give you extra score?

[onpon4]

Whoops, sorry - I meant io_handle().

Ah, I see. I guess I'll add that in, but it seems it would have the same effect as the current "sleep(1)" in terms of the OS panicking.

does getting 100 coins give you extra score?

No, but coins don't need this treatment like 1-up mushrooms do (because they already give a respectable amount of points anyway; collecting 100 coins ends up giving you 10000 points collectively, because each coin earns you 100 points).

[Docopoper]

Ah, I see. I guess I'll add that in, but it seems it would have the same effect as the current "sleep(1)" in terms of the OS panicking.

yeh, but it would be 1 millisecond faster.

[onpon4]

Ah, I see. I guess I'll add that in, but it seems it would have the same effect as the current "sleep(1)" in terms of the OS panicking.

yeh, but it would be 1 millisecond faster.

Actually, 60 milliseconds (i.e. 3/50 of a second), but that's assuming that io_handle takes no time at all (or an amount of time insignificant compared to a millisecond). Either way, the difference is imperceptible to humans, so I'll change it for the next release, but not release it until there's some other major change (well, might as well say "if", since it's not guaranteed that further bugfix releases will be needed, though I would like to somehow add in a "boss rush" mode eventually as a final enhancement, probably an easter egg). My laptop cooler recently stopped being useful, so my old laptop, where I have GM8 Pro/GM8.1 Standard, overheats REALLY quickly, meaning I can only use it to create the executable at the end. A pain in the riding animal.

[Docopoper]

wait, why 60 milliseconds? The sleep function's argument is measured in milliseconds.

And the io_handle() function doesn't have to take no time at all for it to be 1 ms faster - if one assumes that the sleep function simply calls io_handle() after it's done.

[onpon4]

wait, why 60 milliseconds? The sleep function's argument is measured in milliseconds.

Because it's called a total of 60 times.

EDIT: I beat my World 666 score (could have been better; I believe the max is somewhere around 55,000 if you do it perfectly). I've also uploaded a new version of 1.1.3 (file version 1.1.3.1) that makes the synching progress bar look nicer and changes those "sleep(1)"s to "io_handle()"s (which actually means it's now possible to take screenshots with the Print Screen key during that time; it wasn't before). So, other than the very slight increase in synching speed, it's not particularly worth re-downloading (unless for some reason you want to take a screenshot of the synching progress bar... weirdo).

EDIT 2: I finally beat survival mode a bit ago. That was a tough feat.

Edited by onpon4, 06 February 2012 - 07:07 PM.

[Docopoper]

Wow, your good quality video is still processing?!!

[onpon4]

Wow, your good quality video is still processing?!!

Last time I checked, yes. What's funny is the "good" quality video isn't that much better than the low quality version. It's 256x224 (BLS's internal resolution) at 60 FPS. The "low" quality version just adds some lossy compression to make it smaller (IIRC). Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube's compression heavily blurs the difference between the two.

I tend to think YouTube's software just messed up somewhere and stopped processing or something, but I think I'll just leave the normal-quality video there as a testament to how 1337 this game is.

Edited by onpon4, 11 February 2012 - 10:22 PM.

[Docopoper]

Wow, your good quality video is still processing?!!

Last time I checked, yes. What's funny is the "good" quality video isn't that much better than the low quality version. It's 256x224 (BLS's internal resolution) at 60 FPS. The "low" quality version just adds some lossy compression to make it smaller (IIRC). Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube's compression heavily blurs the difference between the two.

I tend to think YouTube's software just messed up somewhere and stopped processing or something, but I think I'll just leave the normal-quality video there as a testament to how 1337 this game is.

...

So... eh... ... 666?

[onpon4]

So... eh... ... 666?

I'll probably do that some time this week.

[YNMS]

Nice Game! Maybe you could make a video of my game for me?

Edited by YNMS, 15 February 2012 - 12:54 AM.

[DarkByNight]

I remember when games here were 45% mario and sonic games that were the same as the originals but worse, 45% joke programs and 10% good games....
I come back after my hiatus and even the clones are high quality. :D
Sorry about using the clone word, but no matter how awesome fun this game is (It is) it's still a Mario universe game.
I hope you channel that talent into even more awesome games, I mean, platformers, especially old school platformers are awesome, but aside from breaking copyright (Yeah I know, everyone say's this) they are just overdone.
Anyway, I know you made this game a while ago so you're probably already working on a new awesome game so, good luck!

Edited by DarkByNight, 16 February 2012 - 03:05 PM.

[onpon4]

Walkthrough for World 666 has been uploaded:

[Docopoper]

Damn you're good at this game, you breeze through that level - I remember how hard it was when I first made it.

Edited by Docopoper, 17 February 2012 - 11:47 PM.

[Iscaria]

This is probably frowned upon here, but I'm using this awesome game to help me learn basic commands and also sprite creation/modification. Right now I'm trying to make Bowser's firespit animation look more intense, but I'm running into trouble. The sprite is set to 2 frames and if I replace those 2 frames it runs fine. But if I increase the animation length to 3 frames it makes Bowser glitch out and go into the floor when I use firespit. I've tried going through all the objects etc. to find if I can correct this setting, but have had no luck. Any suggestions?

[onpon4]

Right now I'm trying to make Bowser's firespit animation look more intense, but I'm running into trouble. The sprite is set to 2 frames and if I replace those 2 frames it runs fine. But if I increase the animation length to 3 frames it makes Bowser glitch out and go into the floor when I use firespit. I've tried going through all the objects etc. to find if I can correct this setting, but have had no luck. Any suggestions?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. IIRC, the way it works is it just animates through the animation once, then creates a fireball and returns the sprite to normal. I suspect your problem isn't with multiple frames, but the size of the new animation and placing of the origin. Make sure the origin is in the center horizontally, but the same distance from the bottom as all the other sprites.

[Iscaria]

Ah, yes. Adding an additional frame to the animation reset the origin values for the sprite. Reset them to the original and now it works great. Thanks

[Docopoper]

I'm getting close to your World 666 score - I think I have discovered the technique you mentioned in your video, I haven't quite beat you - I'm only 3580 points behind you. I think I'm devoting most of the time I play this game to beating that score - I just feel like I should have the highscore for my own level. (It's also much less of a marathon than the other 2 scores).

I still love this game when I play it - even though there aren't any new levels to play, I have no idea how you managed to make the game so fun!

[onpon4]

I'm getting close to your World 666 score - I think I have discovered the technique you mentioned in your video, I haven't quite beat you - I'm only 3580 points behind you. I think I'm devoting most of the time I play this game to beating that score - I just feel like I should have the highscore for my own level. (It's also much less of a marathon than the other 2 scores).

I've mentioned this before, but I believe the theoretical maximum score is ~55000. I missed a 1-up mushroom in the run where I got my current high score.

[Docopoper]

I'm getting close to your World 666 score - I think I have discovered the technique you mentioned in your video, I haven't quite beat you - I'm only 3580 points behind you. I think I'm devoting most of the time I play this game to beating that score - I just feel like I should have the highscore for my own level. (It's also much less of a marathon than the other 2 scores).

I've mentioned this before, but I believe the theoretical maximum score is ~55000. I missed a 1-up mushroom in the run where I got my current high score.

You did? Wow that crushed my ego. I usually manage to get all of them... so I guess I'm a little off the correct technique. The mushroom you seem to find difficult to get is actually not that bad - all you have to do is stand on the very edge of the tallest platform and jump over and get it. Bowser also seems to be able to whip it with his tail if it's just out of reach (just turn around beside it).