I was looking to get the latest mac version of Lone Survivor if there was any, but my download links weren't working and then I tried checking out the superflatgames and it was just gone.

Also tried sending e-mail, but it returned with a dns error, or something like that.

Anyone knows what is up with superflatgames? 

I've bought it, but when I start the game on my macbook pro it's just a black screen and the music maybe a bug or my machine? Luckily I've got windows installed on it too, so I'll try that later :D

It's 27.03.2012 here, but it's telling me to come back the 27.03.2012 "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" 

In Mass Effect, I don't think they used like 500 (maybe in total) variables, it seemed more like that each planet you visited was a self-contained story, with a few (EDIT: 3-5 I think) key decisions that would "affect" the story, mostly that means npc's might refer to the events that took place.

The overall story would still be the same, you went to to the same planets, you main objective is the same, and you finish the same. (while making some key decisions along the way).

I don't remember if there where any specific decisions that altered the levels or the order (order was basically your own to choose).

So it wouldn't really be a 2D mass effect if you did those things :D It would be cooler.

Also look into ds_lists / ds_grids as well as arrays. they are similar in functionality, but there may be benefits with choosing one over the other.
/my2cents

Didn't say anything was wrong with it being like a roguelike, I just meant that you should look into roguelikes for advice and ideas.

I'd say - from your description - it's more like top-down terraria, but with roguelike maps.

Try to find out what would be fun to do with the roguelike aspect, if you want the players going down +90 levels in an infinite dungeon. Unless going down is easy, of course.

look into roguelikes

it doesn't work with a collision function but collision functions return id's, and you can use those id's exactly like other.

e.g. just replace "other" with the id the collision function returns and it'll be identical behavior

Ah, my bad, It's been a little while since I last worked with GML

In the step event of the player's map object, I have the code:

Code:

if collision_point(x, y, obj_map_poi_parent, false, true) = true
{
    global.player_location = other.POI_location;
    global.player_location_sprite = other.POI_location_sprite;
}

The intention is to check what map location object the player object is on, and when there is a collision to get the values for POI_location and POI_location_sprite.

The UI element then has a draw_text that calls global.player_location and global.player_location_sprite, but the values aren't updating correctly. I've checked and it looks like the player object isn't getting the values for POI_location and POI_location_sprite from the location object beneath it. Any ideas on how to fix it?

As far as I know the "other." object selector ONLY works in a Collision event, not when using a collision function. (I'm not certain though)

So either you have to use a collision event OR perhaps something like this:

Code:

poi = position_meeting(x,y,obj_map_poi_parent);
if(poi)
{
     global.player_location = poi.POI_location;
     global.player_location_sprite = poi.POI_location_sprite;
}

position_meeting returns false if the object is not at x,y or the instance id/true if the object is at x,y

Remembered another battle system.

This one is from Live A Live (SNES), a strange jrpg about several different main characters across time and you get to play each of their stories. Anyways, A battle example:

(skip to 0:25)

It seemed inspired by chess

[so we'd probably end up seeing tons of single-mechanic gimmick puzzle games.]

But most indies lack the budget to make anything really ambitious on the Wii, so we'd probably end up seeing tons of single-mechanic gimmick puzzle games.

How is that different from the non-indie games on the wii?

There isn't that many wii games that REALLY use the controller with some creativity. Most is just simple swinging and waggling(or however that word is spelled).

Oh, there's also the Tales JRPG series

They had 2d real time fighting with multiple A.I. (or human controlled) allies and enemies.

I haven't seen anything like it in other games that were not fighting games.

This idea just popped into my head and I don't know if it's been done, haven't read all the posts.

You are the fourth dimension, Time, and you've got a crush on a rather unlucky human girl, who will, time after time, get in deadly situations.

It's up to you to save her! Use you powers of self-control to slow down objects and people, so that she will not get hurt.

Unfortunately in the end, you are forced to make a hard choice. Will you kill her with old age, or will you freeze here in time and destroy all of reality?!

When I said Inception was a bob's game ripoff I was being serious. Bob's game is older than Inception. Bob should sue whoevever owns the rights to the movie to get some funding.

He'd have to get in line behind Disney:

"bob's game" is a work of satire about gaming and the game industry, where the main character "Yuu" plays games inside the game to find "the greatest game ever made" - the legendary "bob's game."

This virtual "bob's game" inside of "bob's game" is created by the in-game end boss character "bob," the author's alter-ego.

Inception.

Are roguelike combat systems "simultaneous turn"-based? Say you're in a battle with a and you both swing your blades, is it possible for both of you to die? or will the player strike first?

Anyways, I have a simple idea for a "sorf-of-like-rock-paper-scissors" combat system, imagine the classic turn-based rpg structure, but make it simultaneous, so that each side pick their actions (attack, defend or magic) and then the actions are carried out.

• Attack is more powerful against magic, because it's hard to cast a spell when getting stabbed.
• Defend works against attack, for obvious reasons.
• Magic is more effective against a target defending, because you can't parry magic with a shield.

Attack, defend and magic would still work like they would in a traditional turn-based rpg, but the key differences are: More unpredictable results, Chances to cancel the opponents actions/improve the effect of your actions by chosing the appropriate actions.

This idea is kinda half-baked, but I'd like to think that it has potential to be interesting, given more complexity of course.

Negative actions toward the population would shift the love/fear scale towards fear. The middle of scale represents zero love and zero fear, and the closer it is to that point, village riots become more likely to happen.

Awesome find!

Let's see. You are definitely improving. Those last sprites are far superior compared to the first ones. I still think the shape in general could be improved, as well as your palette.

edit:


As you can see in my little edit, I tried to maintain that 3d-ish feeling throughout the entire sprite.
I also created a multipurpose palette and I switched up the design for your protagonist a bit.

Thank you for the feedback! Those are absolutely gorgeous!

It'll probably be a some time before I'll be able to do something like that.

But can I ask: what do you mean when you say multipurpose palette?

the size limit to rooms in the editor is 1,000,000 x 1,000,000 pixels (actually 999,999 by 999,999, but 0 counts as one of them, so it's actually the million number). which, for the typical 640x480 game, is thousands of screens wide and thousands of screens tall

i don't know if that limit can be bypassed by using the actual scripts (e.g. changing the room size through gml), but that's possible, it may just be an editor limit rather than an actual limit

but also remember that the size doesn't actually matter. you can place things outside of the room's bounds (just not in the room editor) and you can still play in an unlimited field. you can make a room 1 pixel by 1 pixel, and it won't matter, you can still move anywhere you want. you can also go into the negative coordinates

what room size may affect are the 'views' however. if you use views, it's possible that they are restricted to only the room's size rather than an infinite area. i'm not sure about that part though; worth testing.

afaik also doesn't matter if thousands of instances are deactivated or just one, neither will slow the game very much

1,000,000 x 1,000,000 pixels might be enough for the game that I have in mind, but if it isn't (or it gets ridiculously slow or has slow loading) then I have a backup plan of faking continuity, by changing the room without the player noticing.

I've recently started using game maker and I'm putting the manual to good use, especially the search function. So neat!

But I do have a question!

I might want to make a game later that consists of 1 LOOOOOOOOOONG level in a horizontal fashion mostly (there would be a few parts where it would go downwards).

What is the largest room I could have, that would still be playable? (with instance_deactivate_region on the view of course).

It's a bit theoretical question, but are there any examples of large rooms in game makers?

That is much improved. What he probably means is an arm shadow, which the white one has but the red one doesn't. It seems like he is raising his arms because there are none on his body.

I'm still not quite sure what that means, but I've attempted some changes to the left arm. 

I've also change the head to only have glass in front of his face.

New sprite:


Enlarged for your viewing pleasure

(I'm not sure how I should show off the sprites really, I'm looking at it at 3000% zoom in the editor, but in the game it would probably be around 4x or something similar).