Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Work in Progress / Simple Game Toolkit - Prototype 4 released

Author
Message
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 10th Apr 2007 13:07 Edited at: 23rd Apr 2008 17:08
Link


CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!

Easy - Solid - Fast - Powerful




General information
Simple Game Toolkit is a program that allows the user to create games and tell stories without any programming. The core values are: Easy, solid and powerful. It's currently in a prototype / pre alpha stage (P.X). Version 1 will only support 2D games. It's beeing developed using DBPro, BlueGUI and AdvancedSPRITES.

23 Apr
Prototype 4.1 have been released download it here. Check below for a list of updates.

2 Apr
A few people have reported problems with the download link. I have switched from my download script to a direct link to the file itself and it should work fine.

12 Mar
Prototype 4 - Final have been released: Download here
See below for list of P.4 updates.
Please post comments and bug reports in this thread as soon as you find them!



GraphicsGale
With this program it's easy to crate 2D animations and save them to an image in the format that SGT uses. It doesn't support full PNG transparency. I might add that SGT will soon feature a setting for transparent color (supported by AdvancedSPRITES). The free version of this program is all you need.

Download


GlueIt
This program takes all those images you get from a 3D render and "glues" them into a single image. It's easy, supports perfect PNG transparency and it's free. Downside is that you need to install .NET 2.0. Also beware that this website sometimes tries to install some software on your computer, use ALT+F4 to close down the dialogs.

Download


Reiner`s Tilesets
Website with a lot of free 2D animations. You need one of the above programs to create suitable images for SGT. These images uses a non transparent background, SGT will support this shortly. This site also have some free sound effects.

Visit


New in P.4.1

- Player depth removed (uses Cell ratio)
- Maplist lists only .map (not .tmap)
- "Revert map" text in Map menu fixed
- Diagonal movement improved
- Player Tap aim option
- Area radius/Area angle -> Range/Angle
- Melee attack accuracy improved
- Melee out of range crash fixed
- Various map loading bugs fixed


New in Prototype 4

General:
- Deleting content does not crash Mapper and Player
- Fixed the "same name bug"
- A 20x20 map is now 1-20 not 0-20 (21x21)
- Support for 3 and 6 length hex (web) color codes
- Less prone to crash when media files no longer exists

Manual:
- General page created
- Editor page enhanced
- Creating art illustrations

Editor:
- Settings and General have switched names
- Camera settings in Settings
- Floors replaces tiles
- Floor and wall management
- Thumbnails for walls and floors
- CTRL + S saves the project
- Scene settings with fill and image layers
- Saving project is now instant
- Displays in Interface section

Mapper:
- New Mapper interface
- Cross and block brushes
- Line and box tools
- Move tool, or press space to drag the map
- Both WASD and arrows moves the map
- Number keys selects layer
- Carpet layer removed (a better solution will replace it)
- Tool tips at bottom
- Open multiple maps
- SGT remembers all open maps when you quit
- No need to save maps before closing SGT

Player:
- Improved speed
- Camera centered properly
- Coordinates for player character
- Moving and animated scene layers
- Parallax scrolling scene layers
- Player now remembers last map played
- If no map has been played, Player will load the Maplist
- Player no longer crashes without player settings
- No melee image required
- Melee radius defaults to cell width
- You can specify frames for melee hit and sound play
- Objects can be made flattened and allow pass through
- Object pickup and destruction animations


Mapper P.4


Player P.4


[center]
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Inverted
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Nov 2006
Location: Oregon
Posted: 11th Apr 2007 07:44
Link
Looks sweet dude, nice job


Lawl
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 11th Apr 2007 10:35
Link
Thanks

If anyone wonders why they can't download SGT from the page in the link it's because Josh just switched to Subdreamer CMS on his site without asking.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Inverted
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Nov 2006
Location: Oregon
Posted: 11th Apr 2007 16:43
Link
How many years of expierience in DBP did you have before making this?


Lawl
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Moondog
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: outside the box
Posted: 11th Apr 2007 17:37 Edited at: 11th Apr 2007 17:38
Link
Hah! DA's an old geezer just like the rest of us

How are you doing man? This looks really good, and I'm going to try it out...well, once you get it back up. Hit me up on MSN sometime if you get the chance, later.

MOONDOG


http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=103940&b=3
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Shadow heart
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Dec 2006
Location: US
Posted: 12th Apr 2007 03:20 Edited at: 12th Apr 2007 03:21
Link
looks great is it free?

to the ones thats trapped inside of you, this is it!!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 12th Apr 2007 10:43 Edited at: 12th Apr 2007 10:45
Link
I'm trying to talk to Josh over at CT about the download page but he's studying so he doesn't have a lot of time. If he doesn't sort it out by tomorrow (friday) I'll set something else up.

Inverted:
Hmm, let see... I think it was the summer of 2001 that I started on DBC 1.09. Since I won the multiplayer compo back before DBP I recived a copy before it went on sale. Before DBC I had coded in Lingo (Macromedia Director 4.0 and 6.1) for 6 years. I have no programming education so I'm 100% self learned. I've coded in some other languages as well, like PHP, so I've not used DBP the whole time.

But no matter what type of language you use it's gonna take quite a while to learn how to code anything as dynamic and complex as this has to be. It depends on how well suited your brain are to abstract thinking and understaning of larger systems. It probably helps to take classes in system sience (or whatever you call it in english) or programming. But if you don't prefer to solve problems by thinking I doubt you can do it alone. (I got some education on human behaviour if anyone wonders)


Moondog:
Hey! I'm not even 30 yet

I'm doing great at the moment. My software is turing out great so far, I got a handfull of good connections and I have at least enough funding (thanks to the swedish social system and my parents) to last me this year without having to worry much about income.

I prefer not to have any IM system at work and I've not really been using any for quite some time but once I get my 100 MB broadband set up in my flat I might set something up. What are you up to these days?


Shadow heart:
At the moment it is 100% free, parts of it are still prototypes. In the future there will be a free version of the software as long as you don't mind a splash screen at the start of your games, no game file encryption and some limitations. The idea is that you can use this free version to create complete games and share with your friends or spread over the net as you please.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 13th Apr 2007 11:35
Link
I've not heard anything from Josh so I've opened up a download page on my webhost. But my webhost (GeeHost.com) is quite unstable so I can't even connect to it at the moment to see if everything works and if you have problems connecting to the site just try again later.

New download page

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 13th Apr 2007 13:22 Edited at: 31st Jan 2008 14:04
Link
I'm working on the HUD management at the moment and I hope to release it for beta testing by the end of today. The settings for the values have been finalised for the beta and I thought I should post a shot of it. I currently got static and animated images working and all the regular settings for HUD parts and before I go home today I hope to have the values working as well. As you can see from the shot there's plenty of settings for regular values but you will also be able to do time displays in P.2.1.

Beta testing:
If anyone is interested in becomming a beta tester you may post about it in this thread. I'm looking for people who are interested in making art for demo shots and/or include with SGT and people who have the time to test betas and give me feedback. As a beta tester you will have the oppurtunity to affect the direction of development as well as request features before release.

[center]

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 13th Apr 2007 13:39 Edited at: 31st Jan 2008 14:07
Link
This is another shot from P.2.0 from within the player so you can see it in action. It got sounds, muisc, smoothed camera movements, melee attack, destructible objects (with health), 8 directions of movement, animated objets and time based animations. And of course there's a map edior included as well and you can change between 15 cell sizes. My example uses 32x24 cells for a fake 3D look supported by SGT automatically.

[center]

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 12:29 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 12:29
Link
You can now download the latest version from both my site and CT.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Moondog
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: outside the box
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 18:43
Link
Very impressive, very easy to use, and i started building a game in less then 5 mins after opening the program. Can't wait for Director, will really add a lot to the game.

What other features do you plan on building into this? Do you plan on adding character stats, if people wanted to make, say a dungeon crawler game out of it?

Also, will you be able to choose your maps count? Maybe i didn't see the option, but currently it only has support for 10 maps. Some might want only 4 maps, other 20. Map size?

With the player, do you plan on adding other actions? Like jump, or activate, or maybe a projectile option?

Just giving you a hard time buddy

LIke i said, i was surprise how easy it was to pick up, lol.

Good job, and keep it up. If you plan to sell this, i'll buy it

MOONDOG


http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=103940&b=3
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 20:24 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 20:27
Link
Moondog:
Thanks for your feedback and support If you do anying cool I'd be happy to post some shots on my website and other forms of marketing.

I was planning on getting Director up and running to do a presentation on a conference but I've been to bussy with other things that I just won't have the time to both code SGT and prepare a presentation. So I'm currently not sure if Director will be implemented in P.3.0 or if I'm gonna implement Mapper and Player into the main program instead. This implementation won't add any functionallity but I want it done before I start adding new features to Mapper.

I'm planning a massive RPG system for version 2.0, there's a whole lot of other things I would like to get going first. But there will be some form of character stats including support for multiple weapons and equipment. That, a worldmap and an inventory system would probably do a great dungeon crawler. I'll be adding in pathfinding, mouse support and AI sooner or later so you could make games like Zelda and Diablo. Oh, and isometric view will be added with the new map system I got planned after implementing Mapper into the main program.

The map count is temporary, you will be able to jump between maps ingame, use world maps or acces them from a menu system you create in Director. For example you could have 10 maps in Easy, 10 in Medium and 10 in Hard and allow the player to select witch course they want. Currently Player plays through all maps in the maplist, if you only have 4 then it will only play 4. If you want more at this stage I think you will be safe by opening "Editor.txt" in the System folder and alter the value for Settings.Maplist.List which is set to 10. I can set this to 20 by default but I don't think anyone would be interested in making such a long game at this stage. BTW, I've made Player fade to black between levels for P.2.1 which is much nicer then the current sign.

More player actions like jumping, shooting, buttons and even pushing and pulling objecs are currently sheduled for directly after the new map format is working. I just don't want to start on something that I may have to alter afterwards because the map system changes. I've made it so you can gain score by walking over objects and hopefully I'm releasing a new beta tomorrow with the new HUD system but I have a meeting in the morning so I'm not sure.

Hey, no problem! I'm happy to answer questions about SGT I'm glad you found it easy to use as that's one of the top priorities for me. One copy sold, great!

Would you be interested in becomming a beta tester? If you have some time to either contribute some art or to test new features.



I have a tendency to write long answers...

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Moondog
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: outside the box
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 22:00
Link
Awesome, can't wait for some of these features to be implemented. I'd love to be a beta tester, and also create some demonstration games for yah, some media as well...showoff the toolkit.

emails: moondog49@hotmail.com

i check it everyday, so email me when you get a chance.

don't worry about the long answers, i tend to make long questions, lol.

MOONDOG


http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=103940&b=3
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 15th Apr 2007 23:54
Link
Great! If you got something before the end of 26 of April then I can bring it to the conference. I'm thinking of bringing some printed shots and illustrations with me. And I put your email on my beta list.

You mentioned map sizes in your previous post. If you have tried creating a new map you should have seen the dialog for entering map sizes (in cells), I think I put 65000 x 65000 as max. Cell sizes for your game can be adjusted under General > Settings. There's a total of 15 combinations available, I wanted to limit this so it's easier for users to share art between them. Settings for isometric and sidescroll views will be added later.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Moondog
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: outside the box
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 04:18
Link
hmm...i noticed when you create a new map, i set the name and size, it loads map editor then crashes with error 300, unknown sprite error.

also, i cant make my own objects, i can create groups, just not objects in the group...hmmm...

i'll read the manual over again

moondog


http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=103940&b=3
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 12:07 Edited at: 16th Apr 2007 12:08
Link
I get no such errors using the included project. However, when I created a new project it kept asking me about cell sizes even though they where specified and it created empty image folders, same as the included project.

If Mapper crashes from sprite errors then it's probably because you have not loaded any tile images. These must be placed into an image folder called tiles. I've not perfected Mapper when it comes to error detection. I guess the biggest problem is that so far there have not been enough people testing it. I should take a look at this before I release P.2.1

There should not be any problems creating objects. Select the group that you wish to create an object into, right click and then chose "New object".



And I just spent 2½ hours in a meeting so let's see how far I get on that beta today.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 16th Apr 2007 18:44
Link
The first beta of P.2.1 have just been released with a working HUD system. Tomorrow I'll do some nice HUD graphics and post a new shot. Man, I'm far into overtime today and I'm starving... Time to head home.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 17th Apr 2007 12:03 Edited at: 31st Jan 2008 14:07
Link
Here's that shot of the new HUD system in action. There's plenty of settings to use when dealing with numbers. The new score system allows the user to setup score for picking up and destroying objects. Oh, and note the 20% transparency on the numbers.

[center]

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 18th Apr 2007 10:33
Link
Thanks to Moodog discovering some bugs I'm splitting P.2.1 into two separate updates. I will not add any new features to the current beta but instead fix as many bugs as I can and update the manual. If I have the time I will release this new version next week, before I leave for 1st of May celebrations and the conference.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 27th Apr 2007 16:21
Link
No update this month I'm affraid. Been to bussy with other things. I'll be going away for a week but I'll bring my laptop with me and do some coding and I'll have a release ready when I get back home.

I have a new web adress, that's why my banners don't work: http://www.digitalawakening.se

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 28th Apr 2007 14:53
Link
I've updated the general information and the dev plan for SGT on my website if anyone is intereted in having a look: SGT main page

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 8th May 2007 01:27
Link
SGT P.2.1 have been released

08 May
P.2.1 Released

New in P.2.1
- HUD renamed Display
- Display system
- Values
- Pickup object with sound and score
- Score for destroying objects
- Various bugfixes

Editor:
- Per cent fields
- Group settings for displays

Player:
- Fade to black between levels

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 10th Jul 2007 01:38 Edited at: 10th Jul 2007 11:44
Link
SGT P.2.2 have been released

New in P.2.2
Editor:
- Save function disables propperly on new/open project
- Copy, cut, insert objects, displays and groups


Finally here comes P.2.2. Although it's been quite some time since the last update I've not spent a whole lot of time on this. With this update you can copy, cut and insert objects and displays as well as their groups. This was quite a complicated feature to add but also very usefull.

P.2.3 should hopefully be released by the end of this month. Among other things is a new layout for Editor. This is the last of the P.2.X updates. P.3.X is the implementation of Mapper and Player into the main program.

Also check in the new screen shot page.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
da power pwnerer
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jul 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posted: 10th Jul 2007 03:35
Link
can it make standalone executables? and if so how did you set it up to do that? it looks awesome btw

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 10th Jul 2007 11:45
Link
No it can't. But I'm thinking of using a player executable that can be packed with a game. The end result would be pretty much the same, and transparent to the player.

Thanks

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 7th Aug 2007 15:26
Link
New Screenshots!

I have updated the screenshot page on my site with no less then 10 shots of Editor from P.2.3, showing off the new layout, image transparency and preview thumbnails.

P.2.3 is currently in beta testing. If you wish to become a tester and have time to spare then let me know.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 10th Aug 2007 01:09 Edited at: 10th Aug 2007 01:13
Link
I've updated the first post with the latest information and shots.

There's also the list of updates for P.2.3.

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 16th Aug 2007 15:35 Edited at: 16th Aug 2007 15:36
Link
P.2.3 is now available for download! Click here



New in P.2.3

- New custom icon, only 8-bit though

Editor:
- New cleaner layout
- Improved element positioning
- Removed media creation date
- Checkerboard background for image browser
- Project and folder names does not have to be the same
- Object and display previews
- Separate popups for media and content
- Rename media files (does not work with directories)
- Delete media maps and files

Player:
- Display numbers can use any 10 frame image
- Object destruction bug fixed

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 16th Aug 2007 22:47
Link
Updated the first post with the news of P.2.3.

Comments on the new layout in Editor is welcome

[center]
Game development made simple!
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 18th Aug 2007 20:14 Edited at: 31st Jan 2008 14:09
Link
I now have Player running inside the main program. It's not fully integrated yet but it's fully playable on a single map. 6028 lines of code!

Problem with DBP is that it shrinks the rendered image to fit the window. In this case the hight of the drawn game is about 10% smaler. Here's hoping for a window crop function to be added soon.

This is a scaled down shot, I run at 1280x800 but I've scaled down to 800x500. I added an FPS counter. The FPS is dependent on how much stuff are drawn on screen. Double the amount and the FPS is halved.

[center]

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 19th Aug 2007 02:57
Link
Wow, been coding almost this whole saturday and I can now switch between Editor and Player without problems. Player takes about 1 sec to load now compared to about 3 sec when it was an external program. I should be able to optimize this loading time in the future as well. Swithing back to Editor is instant.

P.3 should be about half done now and it will take far less time to complete then I thought. Mapper is next up and since it shares a lot of code with Player it should go quite smoothly. You'll be able to instantly switch between Mapper and Player since everything will already be loaded.

Make a change, set the start position (if needed) and then switch to Player for a quick test. Could it be easier?

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 19th Aug 2007 23:46 Edited at: 31st Jan 2008 14:08
Link
I have almost completed integrating Mapper into the main program now. There's a few minor bugs to fix and currently it can only take maps from the maplist.

I'm probably gonna skipp beta testing on P.3 and just release it as soon as I'm done. Before I'm starting on P.4 I will be programming a beta feedback (Joomla!) component for my website and future beta testing will use that.

P.4 news
P.4 will be far bigger then P.3. Including a more powerfull map format and a new improved GUI for Mapper. A new content type called block will replace the current tile and wall types. Blocks will both speed up map creation and improve the visual look. I'll also be adding worldmaps, and the ability to travel between maps (say good bye to the maplist). I'll also be adding some more background options and allow you to select a different music for each map. There will be only 1 public relese so if you wanna try out the features early you must become a beta tester.

[center]

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 21st Aug 2007 15:48
Link
Just a little update. I got sick on sunday and I spent monday in bed with feaver, a sour throught and a very runny nose. Today I'm fealing better and I've started to cough up slime, and that's a good sign. Maybe I'll code a few lines this evening. I'm hoping to complete P.3 tomorrow but I'm not yet sure how much work remains until it's all working as I want. Can't wait to be done with this boring userfriendly stuff

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 03:28 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2007 03:33
Link
It's getting late, let's see how long I can code tonight.

Posting because I just optimized the map and now I get 170-210 FPS (usually 180-200) from the same map. I realized I had floor tiles there wheren't even showing because something else was on top of it. It's like a 40 FPS increase!

I thought it was doing poorly before...

BTW, if you are using larger graphics (like a SNES remake) you would get higher FPS due to less draw opperations per cyckle.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 16:04 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2007 16:08
Link
Had an early meeting with the bank today and my sickness have messed with my time cycle so I've had about 2 hours of sleep. Been bussy with shopping and doing the dishes, things I've not done while beeing sick. My todo list have increased over time (quite an impressive list of updates) as well and I got a friend comming over for Guitar Hero this evening. I'm probably not gonna make a release before he gets here and I'm probably dead tired when he leaves so I might go to bed early.

Anyway, the reason for posting is three new features I've worked out for P.4. Worked out as in I know how to implement them.

Multiple map support
Open up multiple maps in Mapper, copy and paste between them and create any number of links that the player can follow. Map A can have doors to Map B, Map C and Map D and they can link back to Map A as well as other maps.

Internal media tracking
A system for shortening load times when swithing between tools and maps that keeps track of updated media and ensures that Mapper and Player are up to date. This is completly automatic and transparent to the user.

Mapper performance tweek
Currently Editor takes less then 10% of my CPU when running, Mapper takes around 50% and Player runs at full speed. This upate will make Mapper more like Editor and ensures that you can multitask to your art programs, listen to music etc while you are working on maps.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 16:08 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2007 16:09
Link
Hmm this is really intresting.

Ill try it when i have time

Edit: Oops newest version link is on top post .. lol

[center]
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 16:17
Link
Thanks for replying Hasn't been much feedback here lately. I know I've been working on quite boring stuff lately, P.4 should get more exiting but then P.5 is when things really get heated up. Basically the P.2.X series of updates have been about solidifying the core and improve userfriendliness.

If you wait with downloading until tomorrow P.3 should be available, that's where the 2 latest shots are from. Features are the same but P.3 is more solid with all 3 tools in 1 program.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 16:23
Link
Hmm i got idea from your database system (Reminded me of RPG Maker)

I think im going to make that kind of system on my Open Source battle engine

So you can custom the parties enemies other things with the database so you dont need to program them they are just on encrypted script files

[center]
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 23rd Aug 2007 16:32
Link
Yeah, I got some inspiration from RPG Maker although I've only tested it briefly. My database system is the absolute core of SGT, it's used for scripting the Editor as well as language files and game files. Although it's coded 100% in DBP it's quite fast.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 27th Aug 2007 17:52 Edited at: 27th Aug 2007 17:59
Link
Sorry about the delay folks but I've been really bussy and really tired since my last post. I tried to complete P.3 yesterday but I had laundry time and I was stuck with a "Array out of bounds at line 0" bug for an hour, due to a misstyping! By midnight I gave up trying to get it done. Today was my first day back at the office after my sickness but I could still feal some of it. Because I'm not used to getting in and out of bed early I din't get much sleep and together with my sickness I started feeling dizzy around lunch so I've finnished this from home. I'll update the first post later. Gonna take some new shots in 1024x768.

As you can see below I scrapped the instant swithing between Mapper and Player this time. As mentioned there will be an extended version of it in P.4 and I just didn't feal like messing around with the code any more for now.


New in P.3

- Languages in System directory
- Player integrated into main program
- Mapper integrated into main program
- Switch between tools using the tabs
- Play on temporary map files
- Current maps in status bar
- Map menu Save, Save as and Close
- Load maps from Player to Mapper
- Save current map dialog (on closing/loading)
- Temporary settings, no save required
- Instant wall drawing in Mapper (way faster)
- Toolbar tooltips
- Prototype map optimized, around 30% speed increase
- Added Direct X 9.0c installer to package
- Smaler size: 2/3 uncompressed and 3/4 zipped


Download here

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 11:09
Link
I'll be taking a break from SGT for a few weeks as I'll be doing some web programming and I got some possible jobs coming up so I'm hoping to earn some cash.


Here are some more info on what's coming for P.4

I'll be moving over to Advanced Sprites for all the level drawing stuff. This little plugin is many times faster then DBP when drawing sprites and can really draw the strength of modern 3D hardware. Since I'll be doing some changes to my draw system this is right on time and it will be the first thing I'll do. This of course will have a huge impact on the amount of graphical effects you can add to your games.

You will be able to switch between Editor and Player with ease, I noticed that helps a lot when working on displays. I didn't implement this in P.3 as I didn't really have time for it. Mapper will also be able to detect changes made to your maps and will only ask you to save those maps that have been altered since they where last saved.

I'll also be using art made by DANC over at Lost Garden. I've received plenty of high quality level artwork from him with permission to use in SGT. I'll post a shot of it when I got the new blocks working.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 11th Sep 2007 12:48
Link
I'm happy that I just found my notes for my own path finding algorithm. I made these about a year ago and I've been searching for them. As I was taking a breath mint from a drawer in my office I realized I had an old ring bound A4 note book in the back with some other notes on top. And as I flipped it to the beginning I found the notes. Among them are some efficiency tests and pseudo code. As I'm planning AI for P.5 (and various killing methods) these will be quite handy. I've never studied AI or path finding so not having to redo this work is nice. Easiest way to test path finding is with a mouse so I'll be adding in point-and-click controls as well, mouse aiming is planned as well.

Another thing that came to mind is adding diagonal blocks, walls and floors that can have diagonal corners. Maybe I'll add them in P.4 since I'm adding the blocks anyway. I got some ideas on how to implement them already.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 11th Sep 2007 15:35
Link
Isometric in P.4
As I was walking home for lunch I started thinking about the possibility of creating isometric graphics using diagonals and as I ate I made some paper and pencil tests and the answer is: YES it's possible! This would also require positioning of objects on grid nodes (in the corner of cells) which really isn't very hard to implement. So with little effort I should be able to do both isometric and 8 directional graphics I also have a few other ideas I'm gonna implement while I'm at it.



Yes, point-and-click dungeon crawlers like Diablo would be possible once I add some inventory, dialog and quest systems (probably during alpha)

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 12:46
Link
Just filled out an A4 with notes of things to add for P.4. Most stuff is of course related to the new and improved Mapper and blocks.

I intend to start implementing AdvancedSPRITES next week and last night I had a great idea for a CPU saving FPS limiter, that I hope works as intended. Together I think these two will make Mapper and Player purr like kittens instead of eating up your CPU. After that I probably start with the block management in Editor and then make them work in Mapper/Player.

And I just got a call from a regional newspaper, they want to do an interview It's not big but it's a start! Thousands of people will read about me and my software

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 18:27
Link
Hey glad to see some news! Just little confused that noone hasnt replied

[center]
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 19:35 Edited at: 14th Sep 2007 19:37
Link
I'm expecting more replies in the future when I don't just talk about things but they are actually working. I have a sort of radical thinking personality and for me my ideas are quite exiting but it's hard to stand out in the crowd with nothing but words and not much to back them up with. I'm quite aware of my own skills (another personality trait) so I'm at least 99% sure I'll be able to implement what I'm talking about. It's also in my personality to see projects through so even if it takes time I'm sure I find a way to implement what I say although I might make changes along the way.



While I'm posting I might add that I implemented the FPS limiter today, only a few lines of code needed as I already got timer based movement and animations. It's not as accurate as I had thought it would be but I got CPU usage down to 70% with an FPS at 85 (from 200, was going for 100) and I'm not sure if I could detect any drops in smoothness. I'm hoping that with AdvancedSPRITES I can lower the CPU usage even more. Why bother? Because it allows people to multitask between various software and it also keeps computers cooler and draws less power, perfect for laptops.

[center]
CREATE games with ease! NO programming required!
WIP
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Roxas
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 20:21
Link
Yes im with you with CPU usage.. I have old computer and i really hate the 100% CPU Usage..

But still it can run most of dbpro apps smoothly

[center]
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Inspire
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Dec 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
Posted: 15th Sep 2007 00:45
Link
How do you lower the CPU usage, anyway?

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Aaron Miller
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Feb 2006
Playing: osu!
Posted: 15th Sep 2007 08:37
Link
Gogetax released a plugin to lower the CPU usage.

DBP, $80. DBP's plugins, $320. Watching DBP Crash, Priceless.
NG Website Aex.Uni forums
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-17 21:31:17
Your offset time is: 2024-11-17 21:31:17