GM 8.1 oddities

Posted by Taizen Chisou on Aug. 9, 2012, 3:45 p.m.

Yay, another sub-blog for today

Anyway, I've questions for you new hip young folk with your new GM versions.

- Does there seem to be a difference in how GM's mathematics work? I was just playing Lunacy Star 2. Dying isn't conducive to score. A run in the GM6 version with one death got me 500,000,000 points but one with four got 770,000,000 in the 8.1 version. I've also noted that enemies are throwing around bonus point stars like it's candy.

- WHY DO NONE OF THE LOG FUNCTIONS WORK THIS IS SEVERELY IRKING ME

- The minimap in the room editor blocks the instructions if the editor is windowed. Is this normal?

- I can view outside the room in the editor yay

- They changed background_create_from_screen to have two variables. I don't recall what the three did originally but it seems less featured now.

- TIMELINE_RUNNING IS REQUIRED NOW? WHAT IS THIS SHIT?

- yay i can work on this game again

just in case you ever wondered where "Taizen Chisou" came from

And finally

- Why the hell is this forty bucks now?

Comments

death 12 years, 4 months ago

i haven't noticed anything major when jumping from GM7 to 8.1. Only thing noticeable for me is the zooming feature in the room editor. other than that it's the same thing just more expensive.

also that game… looks boring. sounds rude but just looking at it makes me never want to play it. i would stay away from making black/white games. no matter how good the gameplay is, it's only going to hurt the experience. adding color isn't hard. B/W games aren't unique or special either. it's getting a little overdone in indie games now. (Limbo sux)

Taizen Chisou 12 years, 4 months ago

It's black and white because I can't make colored graphics. :V

death 12 years, 4 months ago

sure you can. you see all those colored boxes on the right side of the image editor? those are colors you can use to create colored pixels! just 1 click and you're on your way to creating colored graphics!

but seriously, creating b/w graphics shouldn't be much different than creating colored. look up some sprite tutorials or study other people's graphics. start with small size tile-based graphics. they're the easiest (for me) to work with. my current project uses 8x8 tiles. super small! but surprisingly there's still a lot of details i can manage with it.

Charlie Carlo 12 years, 4 months ago

Don't study mine though.

You'll get really confused at how my color choice makes no sense and seems completely arbitrary. Because for the most part it is arbitrary

BP Scraps 12 years, 4 months ago

Quote: death
(Limbo sux)
What.

Kunedon 12 years, 4 months ago

Don't come looking for me when it comes to color choice. I'm horrible with such things as evidenced in my games.

Quote: Qwildersaurus
What.
He's probably saying it sucks graphics-wise because it's monochrome.

BP Scraps 12 years, 4 months ago

Quote: dogger pls
Quote: Qwildersaurus
Roawr. :Y

Quote: hogger pls
He's probably saying it sucks graphics-wise because it's monochrome.
But that's the thing. It doesn't suck graphics-wise because it's not just monochrome. It has a definite style and some nice effects+well done background/foreground elements.

And of course it's a great game with excellent puzzles.

Castypher 12 years, 4 months ago

There's a difference between being lazy and being stylized. Limbo is stylized and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I haven't ever played Limbo, so I have no bias. I dislike lazy monochromatic and retro games as much as the next guy (*cough* MEGA), but there's a certain atmosphere about Limbo and other stylized indie games that really makes the game.

And Taizen, your graphics may need work, but not as much as you think. Besides, you have a certain knack for animation and effects that makes the games look good regardless. Let me just tell you that Lunacy Star looks much better in motion than it does in screens. You have a smooth method of animation, now all you need to do is practice pixel art a bit. Don't worry, I suck too.

Taizen Chisou 12 years, 4 months ago

I haven't played Limbo. All I know is that it is also in black and white graphics. I do black and white graphics primarily because it's easier and takes less time.

Quote:
Besides, you have a certain knack for animation and effects that makes the games look good regardless.

I attribute this in particular to my dislike of clunky presentation, which is marred by my inability to make sexy graphics, but thank you :)

(Don't most things look better in motion?)

As for animation, this from Chaos Weapon is probably the most complicated thing I've ever done:

Castypher 12 years, 4 months ago

Quote:
- TIMELINE_RUNNING IS REQUIRED NOW? WHAT IS THIS SHIT?
Can someone please explain to me what the point of timelines even is? I just think they're so easily replaced by timer code along with modulo.

If you have to add/change a step in a timeline, you have to change ALL OF THE SUCCEEDING STEPS. In a timer/modulo combo, you just go change the mod value or the point at which the timer resets.

The code isn't in one place like a timer/modulo combination. Edits in the latter are easy to make as everything's right there.

Extra functions to learn?

Enlighten me, but I feel like timelines are utterly useless in GM. =|

I just think that saying:

if ((timer>180 && timer<=240) && timer mod 4==0)

…is much faster than checking every four steps in a timeline between 180 and 240.

(This isn't targeting you, Taizen, but I know a few people who prefer timelines and they just seem harder and more tedious to me, that's all.)