Hey guys, I'm working on a mario-like platformer. I've been working on the graphics and suddenly got stuck drawing the background for a couple of days

After I decided to go for random bushes and "mario-like" hills I put everything together in a mockup and it's bothering me...

Here it is:


I think it's mainly the colors that's wrong somehow (and being color-blind does not help). I'm not sure how I can separate the background from the foreground better. Do you guys have any tips on improving this?

Less pillow shading would be nice. That's the first thing I noticed in the screenshots.

Which screenshot looks the best?

The 3rd I guess. Though I feel there's not much difference in them.

I don't remember where I stole the frame limiter code from

Code:

void zGame::execute()
{
    //framelimiter variables
    double t = 0.0;
    double dt = 1.0/60.0;
    double accumulator = 0.0;
    double deltaTime;
    uint64 startTime=timeGetTime();
    uint64 endTime=0;
    //fps counter
    double second=0;
    int refresh=0;

    //start main loop
    while (rungame)
    {
        //Frame limiter
        endTime=timeGetTime();
        deltaTime=(endTime-startTime)/1000.0; //convert to second
        startTime=endTime;
        accumulator+=deltaTime;

        //calculate screen refresh rate
        second+=deltaTime;
        if (second>1)
        {
            sprintf(refreshrate,"%2.1f fps",refresh/second);
            refresh=0;
            second=0;
        }

        //resuming from suspend -> pause game
        if(resumeFromSuspend())
        {
            //clear accumulator
            accumulator=0;
            //send pause call
            currentFrame->paused=true;
        }

        //Catch events
        events();

        //Main gameplay loop
        while (accumulator>=dt)
        {
            //Inner game loop
            controller->setState();
            currentFrame->update();
            currentFrame->play();
            //Update framelimiter variables
            t += dt;
            accumulator -= dt;

            //Render in the last loop
            if (accumulator<dt)
            {
                render();
                //screen refresh rate
                refresh++;
                //sleep the remaining time
                sleep((int)accumulator*1000);
            }
        }

        //check end of level
        if (currentFrame->run==false)
        {
            endFrame();
            //prevent frame skipping (initialization may cause short freeze)
            startTime=timeGetTime();
        }
    }
    //reached the end without releasing the level
    if (currentFrame!=NULL)
    {
        delete currentFrame;
        currentFrame=NULL;
    }
}

So I guess it's some kind of compiler quirk?

Hey, this topic got me thinking, what if you used C++ macros to remove curly brackets in if-statements. I didn't think it'd work, but it does

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>

using namespace std;

#define if(x) if(x){
#define else }else{
#define endif }

int main()
{
if (true)
cout << "hello world" << endl;
cout << "i'm using macros" << endl;
cout << "to remove curly brackets" << endl;
else
cout << "blabla" << endl;
endif

getch();
return 0;
}

Ah, you're right. This is just my fault, addObject does change the size of the vector.

Edit: yup it's working now, thanks. This is all your fault, stupid brain!

Working on a quadtree in C++ for collisions. So my game seems to crash at this point (where objectVector is just a std::vector<object*>

Code:

for(objectVector::iterator it=actors.begin();it!=actors.end();it++)
{
if (!NE->addObject((*it)))
if (!NW->addObject((*it)))
if (!SE->addObject((*it)))
if(!SW->addObject((*it)))
assert(false);
}

What's wrong with it? I dunno. But as soon as it goes into addObject(), the thing crashes. So I randomly try this

Code:

for(int i=0;i<actors.size();i++)
{
if (!NE->addObject(actors[i]))
if (!NW->addObject(actors[i]))
if (!SE->addObject(actors[i]))
if(!SW->addObject(actors[i]))
assert(false);
}

Magically starts working. Wtf, stuff like this just ruins my day.

Looks great! But I agree with everyone else, the controls sound awful

Awesome. I especially love the communication parts with the faces :D

if you are interested, i guess i can provide a brazilian portuguese translation (if there is not much text)

Thanks, but the game is already translated into Brazilian Portuguese though.

Have you emailed TouchArcade yet? They seem like an ideal site to review this sort of game. Hookshot Inc., too.

Yup, I did. No response from toucharcade though
Havent heard of hookshot inc before.

Also, the game is now available on the blackberry app world

Thanks ^^

Also I got the game accepted by Marmalade's App Program a while ago. So the game is coming to Playbook and a bunch of other App Stores some time soon.

I decided to illustrate this game's main selling point:

I also insist that you rename the game to Journey to Boobdale

It looks like a clever and useful tool, though personally I don't like this type of animation.

Aw, sucks to hear that. If only we could create clones of ourselves, so we had reliable people with the same motivation to work with

Wow, that sucks. Thanks for the warning.

But anyway, I wanted to start a thread for people to complain/make suggestions/give feedback about the forum - this may as well be it!

Keep it coming!

I really want to see a list of active topics. Just a list of topics sorted by newest post.
I don't like the "show unread posts" list. Especially when topics get removed from that list because you posted in them (and thus moving them into a seperate "show new replies to your posts" list).

Will be buying it soon. I'm a sucker for this art style. =3

I guess you've seen it already, but it's $0.99 now, for a limited time (so not just the weekend). I hope you'll like it

Any reason why you can't use down to climb down a tree instead of control? I walked up a tree a couple of times by accident and it kinda confuses me why it's so hard to climb down again.
Nice atmosphere in the game btw.

This is so cute and fun looking. :D

Aww its not $1 anymore. I can't be spending a lot of money right now, I'll buy it at a different time then.

Thanks for the comment. Don't worry, I'm planning to do another $0.99 sale offer next weekend as a marketing push. I can remind you if you like.

On another note, I've got several offers from friends and whatnot to translate the game, so I'm concentrating on that. Hopefully the game will be available in Chinese, Japanese, German and Portugese soon. Korean too, maybe.

[App StoreGoogle Play]

Get it from
App Store
Google Play

Lite versions:
App Store
Google Play

Mix Dr Mario, Puyo Puyo and add a pinch of Tetris. Add cute graphics and smooth animations, and Ghost Puzzle is born! Ghost Puzzle combines the best of puzzle games, creating a unique game filled with challenging puzzles to solve.

Ghost Puzzle is my first iOS/Android project, using the Marmalade SDK. I've been making a Puyo Puyo clone for quite a while now and this is my fork project of that. I spent a lot of time making the controls and physics as smooth as possible. I hope you enjoy it. Despite the cute graphics and all, the game is very challenging!

Youtube trailer


Screenshots
Go here: http://imgur.com/a/wAe2w

Story
Death, the Ghost Reaper, is getting old and searches for a successor. As he hunts ghosts, he meets Angela, who agrees to take Death's test to become the next Ghost Reaper. And so begins Angela's adventure...

All other info can be obtained from http://ghostpuzzle.heigames.com