bleh...i get an unpected error shortly after your name comes up in the intro.

Are you sure you downloaded the full package? The music isn't in the game - it's external files that come with the .exe. If you're running it all straight out of the archive, try moving everything to a new folder.

Joypad Support:

OK, now I really do need you. Does this gamepad configuration look good to you:



Imagine pressing those buttons as they are - what would you change? Answer ye all! Also, am I right in assuming most basic joypads have at least eight buttons? Am I right? Help. I need a lot of input on this, it's a big step.

Control change:

Minor one: Pause button P is now gone. It's ESC instead. How to quit, you say? Pause menu option added. Cutscenes are still ESC-quit though, so watch out.

If you're still playing Ark I'd quite like to know what you're finding - especially those new message boxes - do you find any missing keys? Important!



Er.....I really don't know what that could be. The only functions called after the intro name thing are discard_all(), instance_destroy(), draw_text(), and so on. There's nothing there which could be a parameter error like undefined save files, and they're the only things I know which can cause unexpected error....

this so cool.
it may have took 2 years but it was sure worth it.
liked the graphics.

brilliant stuff mate

HA!
I return!
ummm...
yeah, haven't downloaded the newest release yet...
but, yeah...
god, sreh, and here i thought you were done
anyways, i'll dl the new version soon...
and as a question, was there an alternate ending? other than the non-100% one?
b/c i have lost mine...
anyways, it's great to be back

Yeah, I thought I was done too. Apparently not. March 1st is Ark's 3rd birthday, so I'll probably aim to finish up by a couple of weeks after that. Then, I guess I'll just post it absolutely everywhere. Regarding game endings, there are only two: the one you get for getting everything, and the one you get for anything less.

News:

To all two-ish of you who are still reading this.....hmm. It's a time of a lot of work but relatively little excitement. Basically, joypad support, which I thought would be simple, in fact for consistency requires changes as profound as modifying a boss attack, rewriting the message script, and, unfortunately, find-replacing every single instance of the phrase 'show_message' in all the object code, room code, timelines and scripts. Boring, painful, but probably worth it.

The results, however, don't look too bad:





....so yeah. A lot to do. The fact that there are no more message boxes now means the game can run in exclusive graphics mode, so perhaps I'll stick some fancy fade-ins and -outs or some image_gamma fun somewhere. I'll see. There's unlikely to be another update for still quite a while, but when it comes, it will probably be the last.

i'll TRY to playtest, i'm not really sure, btw, awe-some text boxes, they're great!
btw, found a glitch, sometimes, when you talk with somebody, you have your walking animation for a bit...

I have asked Shehpog for help and this 2nd puzzle in the 3-room.

He sent back this image via PM:


Just thought I would post here for others use!

~Derek~

What up, Srehpog? I would just like to say that this is a very nice game. It's hard to find a good RPG nowadays, and yours is very memorable. I like how it focus on the puzzle and story development aspects of the game, rather than slashing baddies for experience. (Although that works too.) I liked the sound effects and the music for the first dungeon. Those cutscenes were a nice touch. Did you use external resources? I noticed that the load time is relatively short for a game of this size. I remember Megabot taking 20 minutes to load on my system and it was 9.7 MB.

I'm in the middle of chapter 2 right now, and I'm trying to find a way through the blizzard. Could you tell me, if the map doesn't help, what do you need to get through the blizzard? And are those things that attack you from the water invincible?

There is one bug(not really) though. It is in the beginning of the game after you get the disk decrypted and all that. When you talk to the head chef(guy behind the counter in the kitchen) asks you to "Serve this plate!", there are no shortcut keys(Z, X, C) offered on that message prompt.

Other than that, this game was pretty polished up and bug-free. Again, kudos on the game.

That, my friend, is called a glitch...

Oh, and there was one other thing I wanted to suggest, Srehpog. I think you should zoom the view in a a few levels. You can see too much in the current view. Just a suggestion, but I think it will actually make the game more interesting if it's more "zoomed" in on the hero.

How do I get throught eh snowstorm? I have got the map but who has the directions? I've spoken to every god damn NPC in the game, it feels. A hint please?

EDIT: This is so game-boy it hurts(in a good way) Everything is exactly to style. My eyes get's misty when I think of all the work you've put into it. The gameplay is excellent, and my impatience earlier this message is merely my anticipation for the next level speaking. Please let me enjoy this quality game to the end!

WE NEED A GUIDE PLEASE! you could write up a whole guide on the game post it! PS:This is a gameboySP quality game. Have you contacted any companies to get a lisencing deal?

Looks very good!

Well, GBASP or GBA for that matter cannot handle GM games. Besides, it would take aaaages to move it from one platform to another.

News

Not much in the way of big sweeping changes or eye- candy, but possibly one of the most satisfying results I've ever posted:

- Message-boxes work.
- Joystick support works.

....so I'm quite happy. Now all that remains is...

- Mortar Delivery Service
- Joystick configuration screen or F1 subscreen
- Possible visual prettiness using exclusive graphics functions
- Polish

...after which there'll be another (final) update. Might as well wait for it all at once.



Nope, everything's inside the .exe. A lot of it is set to Load-On-Use, so perhaps that's why it loads....quickly? I think it takes ages to load compared with other GM games. I must be impatient....




- Directions: check out all the papers (stand on them and press Enter) on the floor of the hut where you get the map.

- Snakes: completely invincible.



Thanks for the bug, but as it turns out, the new message-display system doesn't display ZXC shortcuts anyway, so it's already 'fixed' in a way. Any others can also be considered fixed, except if I moved an answer button and it now produces no result at all, which is extremely serious.



I know, I thought so too. The problem is, nearly everything's purpose-built to viewless 640x480 screens, so it's too late to change that now. Next time, perhaps...




I'll write a quick walkthrough when I've finished adding these bits and pieces to the game itself. A couple of things still need doing... And no, I haven't contacted anyone, especially not GBA/SP developers, since, as ad134 says, the filesize is too large, the colours aren't paletted, it would require re-coding from scratch, and generally I don't think companies develop fan games no matter what they're like.

this master peice is a fan game?!?!? If it is il bet MONEY its better than the game its based off.

WOW! this looks awesome! ....only one thing....its 20mb and I have dial-up ...so i beg of you...compress this game in 7zip!!! It will make it WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY smaller!!! I really want to play this....and if u dont have 7zip...get it and use it for ll of your larg games!!

Well, it's not a fan game as such, I shouldn't have termed it so; I meant, more generally, amateur games. Given that Ark is based loosely on the Zelda series, I severely doubt it's better than its source.

News

So very close. Mere days are left; what remains? A joystick/gamepad configuration screen, and a completely revamped title cutscene.

THIS GAME IS AWESOME!

Im kinda stuck on the bit where all the intent is coming out this hole though

Anyway, real nice work, 3 years well spent

I feel that this is still more of a hybrid cross of a WIP and a creation. Of course there are updates being posted, and that is valid - I'm sure you can't miss every bug or get in every thing you want put in the game. I've just seen nearly as many updates and bug fixes go on through this topic as in the WIP topic!

This is great, no doubt. I hope you continue to grant GMC more of your game making ability in the future - but next time, I'd suggest you hold off on the release date to add more things and get rid of more bugs.

I hope I'm not preaching to the choir, either.

I'd like to know something, though. Besides the edited sprites, which you said you got rid of, are all of the custom sprites in this game made by you and only you? If so, that is amazing. I've never seen someone sprite so much for one game. Furthermore, where did you learn to sprite anyway?

awesome game. I only have one complaint: the view! It burns my eyes because the tiles are too small. I dont mind if they get blured a bit, but I dont wanna worsen my already bad eyesight, you know. So it would be nice if you can add an option that allow players to zoom in. Thank you.

I have a fealing the reason you can't see it well is because of your "bad eyeslight"

...

uh, maybe my last post wasn't clear. I can SEE THINGS WELL, but it is just PAINFUL to look at tiny tiles. Mitchell EX, perhaps you should care more about your eyesight, then you wont need a pair of new glasses in the near future.

I also noticed you spelled several words wrong. "Bad eyesight?"

...is now quite a bit better than the last time you played. I'll stop now, honest.

OK, new stuff:
- Joystick/gamepad support in F1 controls menu
- New message-box system with control input
- Mortar Delivery Service
- New title screen
- Brand new introduction cutscene



That's version 13.3.2006, the biggest, best, latest, etc. I also don't think there'll be any more updates, unless there are bugs found in this, which despite my best efforts is quite likely as there's a lot of new stuff. There will definitely NOT be any more optional improvements. Apart from bugs/errors, this is as far as Ark goes. I hope you enjoy it (hope you play it, even) - I know I did.



That's a fair point; I suppose I was in a bit of a rush to release it back in October. The main reason, though, is that I simply cannot bugtest things alone. There's examples in this topic of bugs which literally only happen one out of every thousand times - the more bugtesting a game gets, necessarily the better it will be. True enough, not being able to get to the game boss is a pretty serious error for a 'complete' game. That said, most of the updates were non-essential. If I'd only updated when something really needed fixing, there would have been far fewer, but I thought people would enjoy fresher material.



Now that there are no more edited sprites indeed it's fair to say that every sprite in the game is one of mine. The only things I got help on were the music and sound effects, the latter being freeware downloads and such. I don't think I really learned to sprite anywhere as such - I just started, and.....did. Mind you, stuff took me a lot longer back then - dungeon 3 boss was 9 hours to get the animation right; a bit much. I think the point at which I realised the game was taking over my life was when I noticed there were ovr 600 sprites in there...

This game is indeed great! There's nothing I can say about it! It's simply one of the very best GM games ever made! Really, you can feel all the effort that was put in this game, and wow, it's sooo breath-taking! Still I have got one little complaint... The hero's sprites! Although the standing sprites look neat, the walking animations simply kill the feeling IMO. Maybe you could ask someone to improve them, it looks like the animation only has 3 frames. Apart from that, this is a MUST HAVE!!!

Also, I can help you with the guide if you are too busy right now. Although I haven't beaten the game (actually my maximum was up to the first dungeon ), I can still help, take screenshots, and make a website for it.

Finally, I was wondering why you haven't posted this on any other forums? Like ZFGC or DSR? It's too bad because this must be shown to everyone!

That is absolutely mind-boggling. Really, it is. That many sprites over such a time period. I can't sprite.

Either way, I'll download this. I downloaded the original a while ago and played through a lot - but never really quite finished. I'm excited about playing again.

Actually, I was just going to. But you know that by now.



I'm not sure the time period is terribly good, actually. I mean, there's a lot of time you can get out of three years, and if I were to do that again now I'd definitely get more done. This is the trouble with making one of your first games this long - after a while the difference between what you could do when you started and what you can now starts to show...

And thank you, I genuinely hope you enjoy it through in one go this time. I know having to keep up to date with almost weekly reiterations isn't exactly ideal, but if the game's play-throughable now it's only because you were bothered to help make it this good.

i like it but im stuck ive jus fell off the mountain but i can figure out what to do

Great game. Will be covered in next issue of AGM Legends article (check my signature for more info).

I really like what you did Srehpog and this is cleary the biggest Game Maker title so far. Nice work. It actually made me playing these kind of games. But I can find it a bit frustrating from time to time. But I guess this is good. That means it has good puzzles.

David

It got old fast...

I give it a bleh

Just kidding...

Once again great game. It is now a staffs choice on my forum if you would like to see just follow the link in my sig. It is truly one of the best GM games ive ever played.

i have already asked you this on DS revolution but it has been 3 days...
anyway i want to know how you do that screen slide thing?
credit will be given.
PS: please give hints on how to beat the first boss

The screen transition is one of the basic room transitions in GM - range 10 to 13, I think, as in;



...and the Drag & Drop function has them listed as 'push from ~ right, left, up, down'.

To defeat the first boss, just shoot it down with your rifle while staying safely behind the stone barriers. If you stand right next to them you'll be killed by the explosive shots fired, so you need to stay back a bit. This also gives you more room to manoeuvre around the boss's field of view. You also want to be aiming slightly ahead of it so that it travels into your shots as they come past. Within, I think, 16 shots it'll be down.

Ok thanks! I'll try!
I did think of transition kinds but i kept using "shift from..."
So it kept going black before switching.
PS:This game is so going into my "favorites" file...

well 10-13 is interlaced...
why don't you just look at your game and stop trying to guess?

what do you dooo!!!!!!!!! i cant get out of the first part wehere you can buy coffe and theres an elevator. This seems cool but for this reason it is gay! lol

yer i got stuck later on i think the hints need to be a little more specific or a walkthrough is needed

the coffe bit rite at the start u need to talk to the guy on the computer (bottom of area) i think

Its great to see a game with so much effort and attention to detail given. Thankfully, the game is also brilliant fun and a huge achievement. Its also interesting to see how the game gets better over time as your skills with gamemaker no doubt got better as you made it. 10/10, one of the best GM games ever.

If you can't be bothered to either look through the help files or try it out for yourself, you're never going to be able to get a finished game working. In the version of GM I use, it is 10-13. Make an effort.



There's a link to a walkthrough in the first post. It'll take you to the end of Dungeon 1.



Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Finished it yet?

No news this week, since it appears gameplay and bugs are drying up together, which is good. The R90 control hints right at the beginning still say "Press P to pause" though, which is wrong; it's Escape. Also, look out for Issue 3 of AGM Magazine...

Why so? Great game between, I've played it and liked it but never really replied :S Well here's my reply Keep making great games like theese!

Incredible game. I've only reached the first dungeon, though.

There's only one complaint, which is the game tells you to press P to pause, but the actual pause is Esc. Kind of confusing.

And I haven't figured out how to use the Coffee..

Other than those things, it's great!

At that early point in the game, coffee is used to increase your health as soon as you find or buy it. So if you have full health, you don't need any coffee.

Ah. So it's just a quick, instant health power-up..

I was particularly curious about that coffee thing in my inventory, though.

I think the only reason it's in the inventory (you can't take it out of there and use it) is so you can read the description of what it is.

I have been playing this and just want to say:

"THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I have been to cheap to buy any of the horrible games that have been coming out for console, and have been looking on the forums for some new games. When I found this, IT ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!

love the squid in that pic! Is it a squid though?
plus, looks like an awesome game, once I get finished with my current game ill take it for a spin!

EDIT: Played some of it, and i really liked the beginning movie! great job!

10/10 Great game!

Mmmm nice game. Wow 3 years!!!! i'd already given up in the 3rd month. Having a bit of trouble, but im pushing along. The large ammouts of text I have to read are pissing me off though... i'd give this 10/10. Very nice work. There appears to be little to no bugs.
I'll edit when I remember all the rest of the stuff I wanted to say...

EDIT: Now I remember! I cant get that key to unlock the gate. I followed your instructions, (I didn't take the bath though. I just got a double-whip coffee) and still no key! whad I do wrong?

edit: never mind...

Thanks all for the positive responses. It seems the random extra work on the beginning of the game wasn't for nothing. S-Chuck is right about the Coffee icon, it's only in there to tell you what/why/how it works. Real Coffee appears in the game world; you just walk over it to replenish health like any other pickup.

The inventory screen isn't 'interactive' as such; it just holds information on the stuff you've picked up - press F1 in-game to bring up the shiny new Controls menu; that will tell you how to use the things you have. The 'Press P to Pause' thing is also fixed now - I'm not sure if it's uploaded yet though, I doubt it was important enough - people seem to work it out alone fine until then.



Well, it floats in the air and is made up half of pure energy, but....yes. "Cannonball Octopus Thing" is what most people seem to settle for.



If you have done these three things;

- Talked to the crystal kiosk person (and so got the '0/ 0' crystals display on the HUD)...

- Opened the SAT station (teleport-ish thing in the Library - turns from grey & red to grey & blue once activated, talk to the NPC in black to do that)...

- Got the sword from the NPC sitting at the table facing south in the building where you wake up...

...then go to the large building on the hill with the health machine in and talk to the NPC in yellow standing on the small platform on the right of the room. He'll give you the radio transmitter and key, and you can walk out of the village gate north.

Hope that helps.

If anyone finds any bugs, no matter how small, feel free to PM me or post here - I welcome the work, and the small step closer to a truly finished game. Thanks, everyone.

I've found a bug. When the pyramid boss shoots in every direction at once, the bullets don't destroy after leaving the room, so my fps drops a lot.

You're right, that's fixed (but not uploaded, as it's fairly easily avoidable). Those projectiles have now been given an order to destroy themselves on room exit. I've debugged that room with various instance counts and everything seems to return to normal - about 127 instances. Thanks for that.

News?

Still waiting for last snippets of bugtesting to come through on Ark 22, then I think we can safely declare it finished forever. Once it's wrapped up and shiny I might send it.....everywhere.

Meanwhile, work has begun on the next game - be warned though, it's nothing at all like Ark. It's...