That depends on when you last downloaded

I had sent a list of about 25 bugs via PM to Srehpog (which I am sure had a lot to do with the long delay), and a few days ago I downloaded the EXE again misunderstanding an old post in this topic assuming the file had been updated.

Apparently the file had been sent to the host but the host never had an indication of receiving it though they had (correct me if I misunderstood), which could explain not creating an update post. Another reason for no update post could be due to a new concerns I sent however:

My old game was not compatible (because a variable was added to the save file, I believe), and in starting the game over, there is an area I am no longer able to enter (the building at the far North East were you get upgrades). So, downloading the update at this moment may not be the best idea until that is mentioned fixed.

While I'm posting.... Srehpog, your bugfix making sure you first have the keycard in the NWV before you can turn off the electric barrier shut down the game and brought up an error:

I have really enjoyed playing this game (a few times through )

First off, sorry for the hiatus. I wanted to get everything fixed, and as S-Chuck mentions, there certainly was a lot of it. The result is as follows:



The last Kytri crystal is now fully accessible, meaning you can get the special upgrade for the rifle. Also, your old game saves will not work for once, so it's worth starting again to try and get the upgrade as soon as possible so you can use it on some bosses.

You can also speed up cutscenes by holding Enter, or stall them by holding P.

Fixed and added:

- Graphical '>>> and ||' thingy for pausing/fast-forwarding cutscenes.
- Emergency floor lighting on the ship to show you the way out.
- Chapter presentation screens while loading saved game.
- More...

I've also been told a special Final Boss theme is being made, though I don't know how long that will take.

To reiterate; As far as I know, this is a completely completable version of Ark 22. Every crystal, every fossil, every upgrade. Happy hunting.





Since Ark22 is now (in theory) fully completable, we enter a new and exciting phase: suggestions. There is nothing which directly necessarily requires my attention, so I'm open to suggestions as to what you people think should be included. Nothing too fancy like an extra final boss, but subtle things which would make the experience a bit better, smoother....cleaner? Whatever, just list it and I'll see if it sounds juicy enough.

I'll also be on holiday without internet as from 14th December until about 3rd January 2006, so there won't be any updates during that time. Give me plenty of things to be doing, and hopefully by the end of 2005, I'll have something really special to show you. I'll reiterate with more details closer to the time, though.

Predicted final release? Third birthday: March 2006. Plenty of time.

Once again, thank you for your support.





Yes, it does. Not much, though. Think about each question and how it relates to the Samosian ideology.



Yep.



Ah, very true. Fixed, but not uploaded yet.

Eh...would this include things like places where going offscreen lands you on a solid object?
Also, redoing the game forces me to write the walkthrough...
Urggh...6 hours of stuff...best get started...

the full download package returns a 404...
does the replacement exe still work with the old cutscenes?

Thanks,
--Arao

I'll see what the problem is with the full package...

And no, areas where going offscreen gets you stuck are proper bugs - they need to be fixed ASAP. Suggestions are more....optional things. It won't take as long this time, since you should try to get all 10 crystals quickly...

Any idea, anyone?

Ah... Finally I can make some suggestions:
- Cutscenes with colour
- A nicer font instead of Arial (or does the game use a font I haven't installed?)
- original explosion sprites
- with the shooting mini-game change the script from 'score >= 200' to 'score > 200' (I believe one time I had precisely 200: no kytri crystal (WAH!))
- the FPS is way too often reduced to about 15 or even 10: I think this is because of using objects instead of tiles.

...And of course:
- How can I reveal the secrets (the two buildings)? (give perhaps a cryptic hint or something!)
- What is the phone for!??

BTW I got the 10 kytri crystals... cool upgrade! The bosses are now a lot easier!

Alright then, this is how it stands:

One bug found

If you want the super-duper good ending, you need to get the flask, all crystals, all trading sequence, and open a bank account. THEN, change the 10th line to:

1.00000000000000E+0001

...and defeat the game boss (obviously).

Two weeks of absence

I'll be on holiday without internet for two to three weeks now, so as you can imagine there won't be any updates (though I'll probably fix or change some stuff to give everything a lick of polish). I hope you'll have a good time massacring the game boss and enjoy the good ending. Also, have a merry Christmas and enjoy the new year.

I doubt there'll be much point posting in here on my return, since it appears interest has, quite naturally, dried up. My thanks to all of you for your help - it has made an absolutely massive difference.

See you then.

errr...i hope interest doesn't dry up...
do you think its still worth making the guide?

I feel proud to have been watching a game of this calibur since day 1. I would eagerly await the new Ark22 screenshots of the 'day' (Which actually weren't updated on a daily basis xP) and I'd wait patiently to download the demos and minigames Srehpog would send me via his 56k connection on mIRC. I've only gotten around to downloading the full thing now, and it rocks. Your two and a half years of development were not wasted Sreh, and I hope a game like this doubled with your university courses on game design get you into the game industry some day.
One thing though; I've always said you're a good spriter, and this game proves it. Though, once again, I must ask you to make custom player sprites, I've seen edited ALttP sprites too much...how about making Ark22 DX soon? xP

Make a sequel, this game rocks. Cept use Minish Cap edited graphics as everyone hates lttp sprites. Well, I do.

nicely done 10/10

I was thinking of you - custom explosion sprites are now in effect. Obviously they're not quite as nice as the old ones, but they're original and that's what matters, right? Other improvements which I've added since declaring I wouldn't add any more (I really need to stop doing that) are:

- 'External file' loading/saving option which allow working with a directory other than the game's working_directory. This is obviously useful for running the game off a disk where you can't write to the folder.

- Delayed control- and game-related hints which appear on-screen in the initial Ship section.

- 'Interactive item' boxes appear over things like switches, the disk, and the tray of drinks in the first Ship section.

- Have asked the maestro to make full Ark22 OST tracks including intros and outros (rather than 1-minute loops).



I would never use more edited sprites than I had to. The only sprite set which isn't original in the whole game is the Player sprites and the NPCs. There's no reason to 'use' a whole other style of copyrighted sprites - the aim is to reduce them completely. As for a sequel.....well, there is a way the story would allow for it, but... I don't know. Maybe.

I'll update the file again soon, though I don't think there are many bugs left at all. Prove me wrong, perhaps? We'll see.

Meanwhile: Art!

Great art, I would almost use a 3D modeling tool if I had that kind of artistic skill. A 3D version of this game using d3d, even if the game was the same game but just d3d like the fps example. Even without using my suggestion, you have great artistic skill.

New sprites for player and NPCs. LTTP Link edits are no more. Tommy_boy283, your wishes are fulfilled. Along with the new explosion sprites, as far as I know there's nothing left in Ark which is an edit or borrowed sprite - at least, not an obvious one. Thus:


I'm aware that the game icon is still the old Player sprite, by the way. I'll change that next time. Apparently there is also still a crash if you pause in New Samosa before a certain time - this will, of course, be fixed by next upload. If you spot anything else, no matter how small, please let me know. Everything's important.

Enjoy.

YAY! UPATES!

Wow, back from the dead.

I saw this project grow at ZFGC and become the monster of a game it is today. Beautiful work, Srehpog.

My only suggestion is for future games - first of all, START with all custom sprites. Second of all, do a more thorough bug test. People shouldn't be finding so many bugs in the creation topic.

Although im on a dialup pc at the moment, im going for it. Your game has how many hours? Thats sexy. Srehpog, your my hero by the looks of it. You could win GMA 2 years in a row if you upgraded more

The game itself is 12.3 Megabytes. So your downloading more stuff. If u like just download the game only.

ive been making games for a while, and i barely ever post here. i mainly use the gmc to occasionally find help on problems i have.

this game is worth a post, however. its a real work of art, and i must say that this is an exceptional game. i won't go on about how much i enjoyed this, because im sure about 500 other people have already commented. i hope to see more games made by you in the future.

my only slight complaint is that there isnt an objective list or journal of any sort. this would be hard to implement, and not completely necessary, but would still be a nice addition. great job on your game.

edit: upon downloading the new version, looks like there is in fact a journal. that about tops off the game, way to go.

Yea, Pause > Directive .

I played for about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get passed that guard. Well, i saved it in the snow area, and will be sure to play again.

I have a big problem. I just got to chapter five, but the inventory screen says it's on chapter four, and there's no directive.

I've been stuck here quite some time.

BTW, nice new sprites!

Yeah, I won't be using any borrowed sprites any more - there's no reason to if I'm not making a Zelda-type game, and even then, I'm better now than when I started Ark, so more custom player sprites should be easy enough.

As for bugs, I suppose I should have playtested it first, you're right, but the vast majority of the bugs which have been found here I would never have found myself - there's no other way to properly bugtest a game than to let mountains of people play it.



Thank you. But I doubt Ark22 will still be around in a year's time, and the other game is.....well, a bit different. Once is enough.



I'm glad you like it, but also, there's a Player's Log as well as the Directive thing. If you go to a save station and choose READ on the first option-message, you'll get information the character has collected about various things. It's a bit like a plot synopsis, particularly for the Piraeus chapters, as that whole thing gets a bit confusing.



Are you sure you're on Chapter 5? That's only the case once you've watched the radio room turning-on cutscene, and the code definitely updates it to 5 as soon as it leaves there. If you're in Chapter 4 as I suspect, you need to go to New Samosa. However, before you do that, please paste me the first line of your save file. If there truly is no Directive wherever you are, that will identify it instantly.

Thanks.

Will you make a sequel now you have new character graphics?

Okay, here's the first line of code before the cutscene.

4.10000000000000E+0000

Umm, so use it however you need.

The more I play this game, the more I am amazed. I've simply got no words for this. It's obviously an enormous project and an amazing mix of arcade and puzzle, with outstanding map and level design that keeps surprising you around each corner. A mammoth's job, plenty full of imagination and wit.

I hope to give a more detailed review later, but I'm just posting here to point out that this game unfortunately still isn't entirely bug-free.

I've had several occasions where the game jumps out on me with an error. I'll try to collect the error logs. They seem related to the aforementioned bug of the pause key which also occurred to me in the first Samosian village, but it also appeared later on.

Furthermore, in chapter 2, the 120 second boat race two rooms before the end there is a small maze of electro-shots to head through. If you are zapped and die on the spot, the following error occurs in the log:



The death scene (which I encountered all too much) also doesn't look quite right to me. The hero topples over OK but the last image of the sequence is that of the hero still standing upright with his eyes open as if nothing happened.

I hope to give more feedback later.

Other than the bugs, nothing but praise. If you ever plan a professional a career in the gaming industry, this game is the ultimate portfolio.

Smarty

yeah, Iw as just about to post a similiar messege as smarty. But he obviously beat me to it.

Anyways, I dont think the 'F' key works...is it supposed to let you drink coffee or heal you or something? Cause when I press it nothing happens.

I don't think so. At least, if I do, it won't be with GameMaker (since I have to learn the difficult stuff eventually anyway, not because I dislike GM - it's wonderful) and I would wait until I was at a level capable of pulling off a full adventure game again, which obviously would mean a significant delay. Also, with less and less time, big games like Ark alone are difficult - the best thing is easy-to-develop arcade-style games, so if I did resurrect Ark's storyline it would probably be for something other than a game, e.g. a graphic novel or something. In short, if there is ever an Ark 23, it won't be for a while. Thanks for the interest though.




You're right, there is no Directive at that time. I've added one (and a 'default:' case to the switch statements so any other unsupported values will at least have an answer), but I'm puzzled as to how you got that variable before the cutscene. I thought it only became 4.1 when you enter the NSV radio room for the first time, but clearly you've saved a game with it so this is not so. What did you do between finishing Dungeon 3 and saving that game?



It makes a great deal of difference knowing at least someone has appreciated the subtler side of it too. Thank you.



The pause bug, if it's not completely fixed by now, only ever appears at certain specific points. If you can tell me when and where the errors occurred, I can fix them instantly. I *think* the Village is fixed by now, anyway...

That code is now only ever executed in the flask boss chase room (the only place the screen shake effect ever happens anyway), so it should be very unlikely. However, if you do notice it in that room, then please tell me - that would be very important. See the 'suggestions' bit down there though...

Death scene bug is because the new death animation has 2 frames fewer than the previous one, so the final image_single isn't recognised. That's fixed.



That's high praise indeed, thank you - but do you think games developed with such a helpful interface (all the inbuilt functions and variables, handling of graphics and other resources automatically, etc.) is really 'worthwhile' in a professional context? I know there's still design issues and such which no amount of technology can do for you, but do you know if GM games are the sort of acheivement professionals recognise?



That's F for Flask. If you have the flask, and have something inside it, then pressing F will make you drink it (or if you die while there's Coffee inside it, it will assume you drank it at the last moment - I'm not that cruel). I assume you don't yet have a full flask? If not, please say so, since that would be a very significant bug.

Suggestions:

Some of this feedback made me think:

- The 'view shake' thing when you take a hit in the chase section - should I include this for ALL damage moments, even on foot?

- 'Often' Death screen - is the game too hard?

Thank you everyone; your help, as ever, is vastly appreciated.

I downloaded the last EXE just after your last update and it still occurred for me. At the start of the game, as you get out of bed you got in after the prologue crash and walk outside - once outside, pressing P makes it crash.


If that update is in the last download I'm afraid it's still there. I just downloaded it 3 days ago.


In the update to come you mean? Because it doesn't work for me yet.


In the end, Game Maker is just another tool that facilitates the development process. I'm sure the the gaming industry uses plently of engines and tools as well and simply recognises the game design quality behind it. Why spend a few years extra on mastering a low-level programming language to do exactly the same job?

And if doesn't work out, and should you decide to continue on your own, it doesn't hurt to consider developing such games on a shareware level in the future.


The flask doesn't seem to work when you're inside a vehicle. At least, a full flask didn't work for me when I needed it during the battle at the end of Chapter Two.


Certainly not, the effect would lose it's impact.


I don't think the frequent deaths made the game too hard - the saving spots helped out in passing difficult corners so far (but I'm only in chapter 3). If anything, the dificulty needs some balancing, but your playtesters (us) help you out in that aspect. I've been playing it on and off over the past few days (being ill at home this has made a great passtime) and so far I've always been able to make progress.

I have a few other suggestions. They may have been mentioned earlier on, but I'm afraid I haven't read through the entire topic because I didn't want to suffer spoilers for parts of the game I wanted to figure out myself.

1. The dialogue boxes in the game are the only interface elements that require to use the mouse, which I find a bit confusing. You're using the show_message_ext(str,but1,but2,but3) command a lot for this. But it allows you to specify which letter can be used to indicate the keypress - for example, &Yes and &No will accept Y and N for clicking those buttons. It would make navigation a lot easier, if you would just add & in front of the valid key character.

2. At the end of chapter 3, Daska tells me to look around the city for something useful and afterwards asks me whether I wish to go. I can only find one useful thing in the city, which I can't obtain yet, but get nothing. He lets me go nonetheless. I'm unsure whether I enter the cave well-prepared - shouldn't you 'make Daska check' whether all the important items are being carried before allowing you to the cave?

3. There are several people around the planet who I suspect want an item which I have not been able to find. But maybe they're just there for illustrative purposes and should lead to no sub-quest at all. I'm not sure whether those are just red herrings or that I'm missing some objects here and there.

4. My current pocket limit is 500 (I'm sure I can go higher as a particular gun powerup costs 650). The hero keeps picking up coins but the counter stays at the max amount. It would be less confusing if those coins would instead just kept lying about (and disappear after a while as they do, of course).

I hope this helps, more later on.

Good luck,

Smarty

That's impossible to say. After getting a feel for the game, I almost never died despite having played through the entire game several times. In many ways I thought it was too easy, so you can't very well ask if the game was easy or hard and get a single decent answer that would satisfy.

Yes, all three of those bugs are fixed but not yet uploaded.



Ah, very true. I'd forgotten to copy the events from the Player object. Flask drinking and anti-death in the boat is now fixed (though not updated). Of course, whether or not you'd actually be able to open and drink from a flask while driving a boat is questionable...



Thank goodness; I realised after posting that that almost none of the standard rooms use views.



That's extremely good to hear. As it should be.



Ah, so they can! Amazing, I didn't have a clue. I'll begin working that in at once. Would there be a way to make the three options react to Z-X-C instead, or is it only the initial letter of the button word which counts?



Fair point. I'll change it.



If they explicitly ask for or express need for an item, then they're probably part of the trading sequence which I imagine you've started already. If not, start in New Samosa - your current item is then displayed in the Pause menu.



Hmm. It is the normal way of adventure games (at least, the Zelda series) that all items are obtained on acquisition whether or not you need them. The more pressing reason is that Ark has a tendency to grind if there's too much happening, especially on older machines, so anything which allows objects to disappear (especially if they wouldn't help either way) is worth keeping, I think. If nothing else, out of tradition.



Well, as long as it does become doable with practice, that's all that matters.

Thanks.

Have you thought about object inheritance? I'm sure the player and the boat objects have different events and capabilities, but they share a lot of things. You could make an object that has all the standard features (even though you don't use it) and make the character and boat inherit from that object, with their specific features added to them. You'll save a lot of copying between them and if you need to make changes to the default features, they're inherited automatically on the others.

Inheritance really is a space- and time saver.


Very true, but you can ask the very same thing about e.g. crashlanding on a snowy planet, fighting myriads of wacky monsters and falling off cliffs and landing face-first in the snow without damage.


No, what counts is the character that has the & character in front of it. For example, you could use the buttons like this:

show_message_ext('Test','Yes (&Z)','No (&X)','What? (&C)');

Unfortunately you can only make it respond to one character, so Y and N would in this example not be possible. You also need to make all message boxes a show_message_ext because for the defaults you cannot specify the shortcut keys.


Thanks, I missed that. There seems however no way for me to check what my current item actually is. I'm sure the image was supposed to be descriptive enough, but I can't remember when it was given to me and why.

Could you make that an extra key stop in the inventory, giving it a description just as the other items have?


Fair enough.

I realise suggestions like those above bring the finishing point further away as opposed to closer, but I suspect you really have the finishing-touch attitude towards game creation, so you hopefully don't mind.

Smarty

Oh, yes. However, very few objects share common code (the few that do have inheritance) and I'd rather avoid using it for such important objects as the Player and boat, since the amount of shared code is minimal anyway.



I assume there's no way to NOT show the desired letter in the textbox, i.e. having the user see only "Yes" etc. but having the game react nonetheless to Z-X-C? If this is so, the only option is to do as above and include the letters in the messages, since I might want to add gamepad support to the game, and having all different response keys would be inelegant. For standard messages, however, I believe almost all keys work by default, so there's no need for a shortcut.



Certainly.



Absolutely not. The game is 'finished' as such anyway, mainly. Anything at this stage is just extra finishing touches, as you say, or just responding to feedback and improvements, etc. It doesn't matter how much work an idea is (within reason) - if it's good enough, I'll probably add it.

Suggestions:

- Should I make all the item descriptions and other messages in the Pause menu as if they were the character's thoughts, like the Directive, or leave them in the second person ("your rifle", etc.)?

- Should the full map only be available after the player has visited the map hut to get directions for the Plains? This would, however, mean that the Plains would have to be inaccessible without the directions explicitly being given, whereas at the moment if you know the way you can get there without going to the map hut. The result meanwhile would look something like...



....this? (Except probably darker and maybe more than just a single colour)

None that I know of, I'm afraid.


That's a matter of personal taste, really. I personally like the third person approach better for overhead games such as this one, and 1st person more for 3D FPS type games.


It's probably indeed more elegant not to give any map before the player visited the map hut. Who cares if people want to walk around without a map? They get exactly that - disorientation. You can't get very far on the plains without having had clear directions anyway.

Smarty

I don't really do that whole "rating" thing, so I'll just say AWESOME GAME. Keep up the good work.

I LOVE ARK22! If you haven't beaten or played this game, you will want to! Anyone can tell that extreme effort was put into this game, and it's still improving! Awesome storyline, great graphics+cutscenes, and imaginative and fun gameplay! Some of the puzzles were really innovative, and figuring out how to beat a boss was always a fun challange. I played this game non-stop until I beat it! I am hoping and waiting for sequel! Get rid of all the tiny little bugs floating around and I'll be suprised if this doesn't become a staff's choice. So Srehpog, thank you for making such a great game with such skill and determination!

-Stickperson

Screenies look very cool just for the screens 7/10

Arr, me hearties. Sorry for the delay - upload problems.




There is now a third tab on the Pause screen labelled 'Item'. You can use it to gain information on your current trading item....obviously. Just for you, that was.



Feature added. No map, no sense of direction....no Plains.



The more bugs that are found, the fewer will remain.

Also: All menu boxes can now be responded to with Z, X and C. It is therefore imperative that you tell me if you see a message box with either:

- No shortcut keys
- The wrong shortcut keys
- A message selection button which now has no effect at all (extremely serious)

....so please be on the lookout for that sort of thing, if you're still playing. Also, there should be a small, sleek Ark 22 website with info and stuff on at some point (i.e. when I finish it), but you people already know everything about it and more so that's not so important. What's left.....thank you and have a nice day? That'll do.

this game coust me 5 day to finish. But is the best game that already I play.

Oh, I guess I didnt get the flask yet. As a mater of fact I just reached that part(with the sea snake thing). I've been stuck there for days .

Well, you don't actually need to kill that boss - that's only if you really want the Flask. It's also easier to get the weapon upgrade for the AWC-400 first. If you've just finished the first dungeon, you need to head to the very Eastern edge of the lake. Once you've fought through there, the North edge has a dungeon too, and finally somewhere ON the lake itself.

Stuff:
Also, people, I've left all my ArkNotes in another country, so if anyone has, or can remember, where all the crystals or fossils are, please post them. I'm writing a walkthrough, see...

Other:
As the item-box idea shows, if anyone has any other ideas for suggestions to improve anything in the game, just say so. I welcome all new ideas. Do keep this topic afloat, it's only until March.

Art for you today? A tank.



Enjoy.

WOW! 10/5

Just to let you all know that there's a few things I still need your help on. Not much, but...

- ZXC response-messages: find any missing/false keys?
- Fossils: who has them all - where are they?
- Crystals: as above, where are they all?

And news:

Stuff
To be added to the next Ark 22 update;

- Mortar delivery service. Quite simple. Buy a ticket, pop it in your flask, then when you want something, release it and specify what you want. It will be.....sent to you immediately. Just stand back.

I want to play that game, looks awsome. Please get the webspace working ;D

Greetings Xayu

The webspace is working, isn't it? That website and both links work when I try them, and it can't be a locality problem since I've already shown them to users outside the network on which the site resides.....hmm. Try again, perhaps?

- New controls info screen. Replaces the F1 Game Information, and comes with very sexy scrolling text and more Terragen'd background. If you can think of anything else to add to this section other than basic controls, why not mention it?



- Joystick/gamepad support.....eventually. When I get a gamepad or a joystick, perhaps. I also need to work out a way to avoid the two systems interfering like they do in Border Artillery DX, where you have to chooce between one OR the other since joystick 'keyboard_clear' events when buttons aren't pressed mess with the keyboard.

- Mortar dev. service....not yet. That's next. Debating whether or not to add multicoloured flare to mortar request. Pros: flashy graphics, Cons: more objects and sprites. Still, 20Mb is massive anyway, an extra one or two won't hurt.

- Art. Still going, if you like. Something spoilerish this time, but I like it. Perhaps you will.

All I can say, two and a half years, thats a killer! As I've read somewhere, a game is held professional, if a player plays it for 10 or more hours, thats what usually big game companies are reaching for. Well done on your game!

100/10! to bad i couldnt get off the ship.

I think an online deathmatch arena is needed. Its fun but that would add cool stuff to the game.

wow looks like a lot of people have replied since i said "yay updates" and brought this back from the dead...
perhaps some music would be good in this game. It spoils it a bit.
by the way i dont' mean all over the place. I just mean in certain areas like dungeons.

There is music in the game.

musn't have let the music play on my pc then.

You can turn the music on and off.

In the menu that contains the map and all of the items you have collected, there is an item on the right that is there from the start which you select to change this. Try that