Is this free / the full version? By all indications it looks like it is. What's a little confusing to me is that I remember playing the flash version a while back and you could pay for updates or something to that effect.

Either way, I enjoyed the flash game and going to check out the HD version regardless. Great job with the game.

This is looking really cool. Great graphics and character design as usual in your games. I played the demo for a bit and things are already shaping up.

Check out this example I made:

http://gzstorm.com/gmhelp/Hats.gmk

The method I used is reasonably optimized and uses a more advanced method of doing things, but accomplishes what you are aiming for. The code is lightly commented.

In brief, I grow the collision box using the image_xscale variable and detect the hat by getting the plane of the hat (vertical or horizontal) and comparing it to my bullet coordinate (controlled by the mouse).

Yes. Would any of my games get accepted? Probobly not. So I'm looking at alternatives.

Good point, I hadn't noticed they had a filtering process. Mochi Coins and GamerSafe are the only two I know of. It looks like GamerSafe does not use filtering, but this is just my basic observation:

https://www.gamersafe.com

I'm not a flash developer, but I've heard these pop up during discussions about this kind of thing. Beyond that an experienced flash developer would know more than me.

I'd like a tutorial possibly showing how to do these things:

1. Placing a working donate paypal button in a Flixel game.
2. Some system for whenever the player has actually donated, (not clicked button) give the player some sort of credits.

Thanks!

Have you looked into Mochi Coins?

http://www.mochimedia.com/developers/coins.html

I'd say it's generally unnecessary to do something like this from scratch because I'm fairly certain there's a few services where player cash can be converted into virtual monies, this being one of them.

This sounds really odd. Why do you want this behavior? Can you explain what you're trying to do? I have a feeling you may be approaching the problem the wrong way because this is something I've never heard anyone need.

If you absolutely need to do this, you can simply calculate the origin effected coordinates yourself. So what you would do is set the origin to 0, 0 and scale and rotate it as normal. Then you just need to draw it at the origin calculated coordinates. Two functions I use myself are (adaptations of what I use in Game Maker):

public static double lengthdir_x(double len, double dir) { return Math.Sin(dir) * len; }
public static double lengthdir_y(double len, double dir) { return Math.Cos(dir) * len; }

So basically what you'd do is something like:

drawX = x + lengthdir_x(45.25, (Math.PI / 180) * 225);
drawY = y + lengthdir_y(45.25, (Math.PI / 180) * 225);

Further explanation:

45.25 = The distance to the coordinate 32, 32, the origin I use in this example. You'd need this to be the distance to the origin you want to use.

(Math.PI / 180) * 225 = This is a radian to degree conversion, and 225 points left-up, the opposite direction of 0, 0 to 32, 32 which is what you need to draw at the origin 32, 32.

You could also make functions to calculate distance and direction to a point to make things easier, but this is just a hard coded example so you can see how you'd go about doing what you want.

There's a number of ways you can do this. Two ideas off the top of my head:

1. Use path_get_length() on the calculated path to get how long it is. Get the distance you want your guy to travel (ie. 128 pixels). Do movement maximum / path_get_length() and don't allow the path_position value to exceed what that number is. Once it does, end the path.

2. Set some variables to count the moment your path starts. Let's say you just assigned the path to your enemy and you only want your enemy to move 128 pixels (on a 32x32 grid, that's 4 spaces). Set a value to 128, then decrease the path speed your guy moves at. So if you assigned the path to move at a speed of 4, reduce 4 from the tracking variable and when it reaches 0, stop the path.

On both of these methods you'll want to snap to the grid after the character is done moving. This is because the movement can exceed it's position by a few pixels on speeds that are not divisors of 32.

I'm sure there are other ways to do this, these are just two ideas.

I think IF needs to modernize and become a little more mainstream. Mentioned earlier, I think efforts like Digital: A Love Story are steps in the right direction and I think very few gamers these days are willing to work with interpreters. Something as simple as a map, very light graphics to accompany text (ie. low res / detail character portraits, item graphics when applicable), shortcuts to commands, sound effects, and anything else to make the game more accessible is what I'd like to see. I've looked into doing IF on the XBOX and this is a basic example of a slightly expanded approach (map, command shortcuts, sounds):

http://gzstorm.com/screen/papamock_30.png

Obviously there will be drawbacks to some features compared to classic IF, but as designers we can find ways to make up for this. I also think IF attracts a lot of people who are only writers, for obvious reasons, but I think a little graphics and programming knowledge could take them a long way to making more accessible games that still tell a great story.

I feel like I'm missing something here, because no one has mentioned the built-in GM system for path finding. In fact, there are multiple!

If you want to implement path finding the quickest way possible, check out the Motion Planning segment of the GM help file. In particular, there is an A* implementation that is fast and easy to work with:

The actual functions for the grid-based approach are as follows:


mp_grid_create(left,top,hcells,vcells,cellwidth,cellheight) This function creates the grid. It returns an index that must be used in all other calls. You can create and maintain multiple grid structures at the same moment. left and top indicate the position of the top-left corner of the grid. hcells and vcells indicate the number of horizontal and vertical cells. Finally cellwidth and cellheight indicate the size of the cells.
mp_grid_destroy(id) Destroys the indicated grid structure and frees its memory. Don't forget to call this if you don't need the structure anymore.
mp_grid_clear_all(id) Mark all cells in the grid to be free.
mp_grid_clear_cell(id,h,v) Clears the indicated cell. Cell 0,0 is the top left cell.
mp_grid_clear_rectangle(id,left,top,right,bottom) Clears all cells that intersect the indicated rectangle (in room coordinates).
mp_grid_add_cell(id,h,v) Marks the indicated cell as being forbidden. Cell 0,0 is the top left cell.
mp_grid_add_rectangle(id,left,top,right,bottom) Marks all cells that intersect the indicated rectangle as being forbidden.
mp_grid_add_instances(id,obj,prec) Marks all cells that intersect an instance of the indicated object as being forbidden. You can also use an individual instance by making obj the id of the instance. Also you can use the keyword all to indicate all instances of all objects. prec indicates whether precise collision checking must be used (will only work if precise checking is enabled for the sprite used by the instance).
mp_grid_path(id,path,xstart,ystart,xgoal,ygoal,allowdiag) Computes a path through the grid. path must indicate an existing path that will be replaced by the computer path. xstart and ystart indicate the start of the path and xgoal and ygoal the goal. allowdiag indicates whether diagonal moves are allowed instead of just horizontal or vertical. The function returns whether it succeeded in finding a path. (Note that the path is independent of the current instance; It is a path through the g rid, not a path for a specific instance.)
mp_grid_draw(id) This function draws the grid with green cells being free and red cells being forbidden. This function is slow and only provided as a debug tool.

It's simple, choose a grid size that suits your graphic tiling, create a grid the size of your playing area, and remove cells that intersect with solid objects (use parent objects to simplify this).

There's only one drawback in my mind and it's something that can't really be managed in a better way because of how GM works. Basically, all paths are returned as an actual path resource. This means you may need to change the way your characters animate or do certain things. Beyond that, it works well and I've yet to have problems using it myself.

Just posting to say that the game is looking really solid so far and is doing a good job of differentiating itself from the slew of other voxel based games out there.

I'll be sure to check this new build out as well and post my thoughts. Looking forward to seeing the dialog system in action.

I don't have an Android, but the graphics looks great and the game looks pretty fun.

What I got from the article is that prices for indie games have been dropping historically and these bundles are just another example of them driving down price expectations even further. The App Store and other marketplaces were also listed as a reason, and this is pretty well established since around $1 is the going price for games on those services. Pricing is more about selling more copies at a lower price these days, as opposed to less sales with a higher price tag like it was common back in the day.

From what I understand, the point is that the Joe Indie of today is expected to sell his game for $2 but can't generate enough sales numbers to make money since expectations won't allow for a higher price tag. If any of you remember the uproar over the $15 price of VVVVVV, this seems like a fair argument to me. It used to be normal to buy indie games at $15.

In order to get the big sales numbers, you need a lot of attention. Making a name for yourself is tough simply because there are so many games out there, and that gatekeepers are the ones who decide the winners. Places like Steam or some successful bundle are among the few. As the article puts it:

Saying “just get on Steam/Humble Indie Bundle” is about as helpful as suggesting that you should win the lottery.  It’s not a valid business plan and no one (except maybe the people in Indie Game: The Movie) can guarantee your number will come up.

Do I agree with this conclusion? To some degree. However, I think there are enough opportunities out there right now that indies just need to look and branch out if they want to be successful. Some indies will get success fairly quickly while others need to spend several years or more before they finally get on their feet. I think in any industry you get this situation where 1% are making 90% of the revenue, and I'm not really sure if anything can be done about that.

I got around to playing this, I played both scenarios to completion. I think in total it took some where around 1 1/2 hours to beat both. It's worth noting I did have quite a lot of issues with the game when starting out. So I've broken this down into multiple categories, written in the order I played. Here's what I thought:

Scenario #2:

When starting out, you are presented with the two save files to load. Not knowing what to pick, I choose the second one because it appeared to be at an earlier point in the game. Everything went fine until I hit the first trip wire. I got stuck here for a good 5 minutes because it didn't make any sense to me that I'd need to walk through the wall to proceed. In the second scenario, you are told to go through a wall to get to the non-space portal, so if I knew this beforehand this would make a lot more sense, but playing this scenario first without knowing that makes it hard to figure out. After I got past that, the game froze when I chose to listen to the pipe on that same screen. I had to restart the game and continue, but I was fed up with that scenario so I picked the first one now. This time, the game froze when I tried to open my first door. I had to quit again. I played scenario one again and the game froze AGAIN when I clicked on another door (!!!). These happened to be the three spots in the game where it would freeze, because after that I had no game ending bugs. I went back to scenario #2, avoided the first pipe, and beat it. Beyond the game freezing and getting stuck on the walking through wall part, I thought scenario #2 was well done, having a bit of dialog, a bit of puzzles, and a bit of battling.

Scenario #1:

In general I liked the scenario all around, with the exception of the two boss battles because I had no idea what the hell I was doing (more later in general impressions). I really liked the trek from the city to the house. Good job on making the environments feel more open than they are. Ultimately it's a linear path you go down but it feels much more open than that. The non-space was great and I like how you integrated the glitched look of it with the story along with it being a portal system.

General Impressions:

- A problem specific to this demo is that I have no idea what's going on because it appears that both scenarios take place at some mid-point in the game. All of the characters, story details, and so on, go compeltely over my head because I have no context to draw upon. I would have preferred playing the intro to the game so that I can get a better understanding of what's going on. Because of this, I think a lot of what you might have hoped to covey through the writing largely goes to waste because I don't know or care about any of the characters or plots yet.

- The portraits for the characters look great. Why aren't they visible when those characters talk through dialog? On top of the color coding you use on dialog, having the portraits there seems to make sense.

- Great work on the battle effects. There's a lot of them and they all look really solid.

- When moving, it doesn't move to the next walking frame until a 1/3rd second or so. It looks a little odd, because you can move across the ground without ever changing sprite if you tap a key in any given direction.

- Map sizes seemed odd. For instance, why is it that something like the desert area was broken into something like 9 very small maps? It makes more sense to me that it'd be 1 large map. The only reason I can see breaking these up is because of the enemies, but you could always limit the enemy movement range to within X amount of pixels from their starting position. Other areas seemed to be broken up oddly as well, I would have liked to see larger maps instead of a bunch of small connected ones.

- I sometimes had issues when making choices in the game. The choice kicks in right when a dialog ends, and this is usually exactly when I hit the key to continue to the next dialog. What happens is the choice pops up for 1/10th a second, I click action not knowing I'd be presented a choice, and don't ever see what I choose. Having a half second delay before accepting input when a choice pops up would fix this, I think.

- Good work on the graphics. They have an otherworldly feel to them and there's a lot of attention to detail.

- A lot of things aren't explained well that are important, like lingual magic. Beyond the 20 or so help screens that most people aren't going to spend much time reading, it was not apparent to me that you needed to drink a potion just to use those certain spells. When I played, I did not know this until half way through the 2nd elemental boss simply because I was using every item I have at that point to try and beat him. Why can't a menu pop up before boss fights asking you if you want to use this item? That seems like the perfect time to tell the player and the right time to use it. Another thing which isn't explained is the stacking. At first, I would only cast one and they were fairly useless, but when I learned you can use two, it pretty much changed everything since those are the most powerful spells. Things like this really needed to be explained better. This is something that has to do with starting at the mid point in the game too, and I think really hurts this as a demo because the game has so many unexplained systems.

- Had a hell of a time getting into the battle system, but after a while it did feel better. Going on the point above, if you could try and simplify and speed up some of the interface stuff, it would be a lot more inviting.

Errors:

- In the first scenario, the game froze on me when I tried to enter the very top left house, or the 3rd house from the left.

- In the second scenario, listening to the first pipe caused the game to freeze.

- I had this appear in my game_errors.log several times:

Warning: objCameraFocus with ID 126818 in room rmGRACommercial exists without focus ID!

There was no effect on gameplay as far as I could tell.

- On the map Mastrov Easy, pressing A / S / D showed a bunch of dialog icons on the freeze screen.

- Speaking to the inn keeper or any shop keeper caused my character to get stuck in a wall close to them. You can move around in this state but it's kind of glitchy, and when you move to the right spot in front of them eventually proceeds with their dialog.

- The snow effect takes 2 second to fill up the screen and clears the particles when you press pause. You should try filling up the screen with particles on creation.

I played this game twice, once a few weeks back, and just now about 33% through to refresh my memory. Here is what I thought:

- The game is extremely dark in the visual sense. I think you could get away with increasing the circle of light around the main character a little, or by switching up the pacing so that there are a comparable amount of lighted and unlighted areas. The graphics in the game are quite nice and it's a shame that more than half the time is spent in extremely poor lighting. Understandably you need the darkness to create tension in many cases, but it feels a bit too much to me. I also believe the map is hard to traverse because of this, it's hard to create a mental map of the area because you are seeing black the majority of the time.

- I second the notion about the mouse cursor needing to be a bit more visible.

- It takes a long time for dialog to skip as mentioned by another poster. You should fix this soon because it's fairly annoying.

- In the boiler room, I had this happen:

http://gzstorm.com/gmhelp/Ascension0.png

The enemy kept running into the wall until I exited the room. However, I played this game twice, and my first time playing I ran straight through this room and never even saw this enemy. Which made the dialog after odd, because the main character remarks something about how he saw something that looked almost human. In my first time playing, I never saw this enemy, although it's possible that because it's very dark that I just never saw him when running through.

- You need some way of showing panic and health at all times, or allowing the player to toggle it in a less obtrusive way. As it is right now, you either have no HUD, or a very large HUD. Perhaps a third mode you can toggle through with TAB is something to consider, a much smaller HUD which only shows health and panic.

- Great job on the character animations. I also noticed the player sprite acts differently based on panic levels.

- The game does a competent job of creating a scary atmosphere. It can be very hard to do this, so good work.

- Fundamentally the game seems solid already. I look forward to future updates of the game.

The game was deliberately simple and made on a small development budget, most of the time being spent on the style, effects, and music / gameplay integration. In that sense, I got the majority of the features I wanted in this game since it's largely a prototype for my larger idea. Similar to how the World Of Goo prototype eventually turned into the real World Of Goo. One thing I'd really like to do with the expanded version is showcase cool indie music, and this is one of the big drives behind this project.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I'm definitely going to check this out within the next few days. It's great to hear you're nearly done with this!

Hello everyone.

Techno Chopper has been released. Here is a screenshot and video:







This game is the infancy of an idea I'd eventually like to revisit which involves getting cool indie music and making levels out of them using effects and themes. Right now, it's a straight forward one button game, but with prismatic visuals, music timed effects, and time shifting. If you like cool indie music or bizarre visuals, you might like this game.

The game is free on PC for a limited time, and can also be purchased on the XBOX Indie game service for $1 USD.

PC Download: http://gzstorm.com/downloads/TechnoChopper.zip
More Info: http://gzstorm.com/techno-chopper/

Not to start an argument or anything, but Breath of Death VIII and Cthulhu Saves the World both fit into the description above, and the updated-versions bundle on Steam appear to be doing pretty well

Zeboyd Games made two text adventures before making Breath of Death. Breath of Death was made in 3 months and is about 3 hours long. It's nearly the most straight forward RPG you can make. It was made to test the XBOX Indie market for the viability of RPGs, and as a direct result of it succeeding on there, Cthulhu was made. Cthulhu took 8 months to make and is about 6 hours long. It's a marginal improvement over Breath of Death. Play these games or even watch 10 minutes of game play and I can assure you it's nothing like what's being suggested for this Zombie RPG, unless I'm mistaken and this Zombie RPG is supposed to be an NES era RPG in all areas.

The success of those games on XBOX helped lead to a Steam deal on PC. Zeboyd Games not only did what everyone suggested here, but had a market strategy as well. His results are also far from typical. The amount of games that fit my original quoted text are few and far between, and BoD and Cthulhu don't fit under that label, despite how financially successful the games have been.

Seeing as how there had been a decision to make a far shorter prologue for the game, this doesn't matter as much anymore, but I wanted to make clear that Zeboyd's situation was nothing like what was originally being suggested for this Zombie RPG.

I've said my peace, so I personally won't continue further with posting on your thread. It's not possible for me to sugar coat my posts if I want to tell the truth, and if you think I'm harsh, reality will give you all the harshness you can handle by going through with this project.