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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
C-Dawg
We still only have four, maybe five active scripters working for the community. We should have more of them. The only way I know to encourage people to script is to show what you can do with it, and let people go look at how it's done to learn.
Well, letting people see how scripting is done may not be enough. If people are stupid like me, they will not learn anything by looking at scripts they cannot figure out. I'm still waiting for that scripting guide to be made... :(
Quote:
but considering power, accessibility, community, ease of use... ZC is still the greatest game design program out there, probably the greatest game design suite ever made.
That's so true, nothing comes even close beating ZC. However, ZC's popularity will continue to decrease if we don't get any guides/manuals and a new stable version some time this decade...
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Geez, you're a machine when you're motivated. Lots and lots of crap done after pretty much mowing through everything done so far. Had to employ a lot of cheating though as, per your standard, the game is freaking insane hard. Not necessarily the bosses either (although the Gemini boss made me tear my hair out), but some of the jumps required as well as the trap placement just makes me want to sigh in defeat.
In other words, you're doing an awesome job.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
don't worry Jman, once Zodiac is done, I plan on making a Mega Man like game with 8 chooseable bosses at the start based on most of his scripts which should cater to a more less-skilled audience. But what he's done is quite amazing.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jman2050
Geez, you're a machine when you're motivated. Lots and lots of crap done after pretty much mowing through everything done so far. Had to employ a lot of cheating though as, per your standard, the game is freaking insane hard. Not necessarily the bosses either (although the Gemini boss made me tear my hair out), but some of the jumps required as well as the trap placement just makes me want to sigh in defeat.
In other words, you're doing an awesome job.
Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.
As to difficulty: I will be tweaking the jumps a little bit. Some of them are simply too hard or require too much backtracking when you fall. The other parts of the quest that are difficult, like some bosses and most of the Corridor SHMUP levels, should be easier because you can stockpile up to nine potions. It's sort of like MM3 in that regard - the game is hard, but it becomes easy because you can stockpile energy replenishment.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Updated.
This update includes alot of work on the Corridors (Cancer, Scorpio, and Aries are totally done; Gemini and Pieces are half done). Also includes my preliminary 2-D hookshot (currently attached to the Level 2 sword) that doesn't interfere with sidescrolling like the normal hookshot does.
And, my favorite, the Leo Lazer. Beo beo! (Game file starts you in Leo with the lazer).
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/lazer.bmp
Uses beta 635.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Zodiac11-27-07.zip
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
AAaaaaaaaaaah! 6 fps! Hooboy, i'll probably pm you later and ask you about stuff when I get time.
In other news: Giant lasers = sweet. Man, you've got eneough shmup enemies to recreate just about any nes or snes shoot em up's ever made. Nice work. I did find the new corridor bosses a bit on the easy side though, perhaps you're not meant to have that strong of weapons in the final version.?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Nah, the bosses can't be IMPOSSIBLE. But there will be some tweaking here and there, after its all done and in final play testing and all that.
Where are you getting 6 fps?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Yeah, your right. Probably 'cause I used to play tons of shmup games growing up. I think Guardian Legend and Smash TV were of the first 4 or 5 games I owned. And, oh: small annoyance: Pressing the rapid-fire-gun...uh, rapidly, causes the player to stutter, while holding it down allows continuous movement. Maybe a custom non-sword item would work better? DD added 20 new item classes for custom items in 675, so you could actually have every Z1 item plus Zodiac item available at any time. Just is pretty neat, is all.
I got 6 at aries??? I can't remember...and a consistant 12 at every shmup sequence. Don't worry, it's actually very easily fixable.;) I was testing this with mine the other day with 5 ffc weapons at once instead of three and wen't super smooth. Peice of cake.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gleeok
DD added 20 new item classes for custom items in 675, so you could actually have every Z1 item plus Zodiac item available at any time. Just is pretty neat, is all.
I kind of like the creative decisions that are forced by limiting how many items I have to work with. Yea, I could toss everything and the kitchen sink into the mix, but I think it forces me to make more interesting decisions if I dont.
As is, I have four spare item slots to play with as follows:
Weapon - boomerang?
Item - Energy Refill? Radio Transmitter?
Ship - Ship accellerator, ship sheilding?
Some additional things, like Screw Attack, will be upgrades of existing items.
I'm working on ways to make the player's energy meter more important. Right now the only things that use energy are dashing, beam weapons (Energy and Ice Beam), and Black Hole Attack. When I get around to it, energy will also be used for massive "bomb" attacks in the Corridors that hit all enemies on the screen. And energy might also be used to limit flying in the most powerful armor in the game.
Any thoughts on other ways to integrate the player's disposable energy more deeply into the game? I'm tempted to use the Energy meter as a sheild ala Halo, but I hear every game under the sun is doing that.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
C-Dawg
Any thoughts on other ways to integrate the player's disposable energy more deeply into the game? I'm tempted to use the Energy meter as a sheild ala Halo, but I hear every game under the sun is doing that.
Well whatever you're doing is working great, so just keep it up.:) I can tell you what my favorite existing ability using the energy meter would be though, and that's the dash. Simple, but is necesarry to gain a temporary tactical advantage over enemies. I use that the most. I always like more interactive abilities than say...a bomb that blows everything up.
Question for you: Have you noticed that weapons like the saber do 4-8 times the damage that is specified by damage;..sometimes more..? I was looking at this today and it looks to be enemy_1_damaged through enemy_4_damaged can point to the same enemy via 4 frames of script for each ffc. For instance, current_enemy(1) = damaged_enemy_1, then next frame current_enemy(1) = damaged_enemy_2..., Is this intentional?
Question 2: At any point is ffc 29,30,31 being used for anything but weapons?
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe123
I don't understand what's so confusing about the subscreen
I found it really easy to learn how to use
The subscreen is very confusing. Let me put it this way: I learned scripting, but I still can't make a decent subscreen.;)
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Question: Yes, saber-based weapons can score multiple hits if the enemy is pushed from FFC to FFC. I could work around this, but I think I'll leave it the way it is. That way, long range weapons are less devastating that close range weapons, which is as it should be.
Along those same lines, the Virgo Whip has some unexpected special abilities. It recovers your HP when it hits something, as expected. However, in addition to scoring multiple hits like the saber, the whip also strikes rapidly and repeatedly on its own if you hit something with it at very close range.
These sorts of quirky, unexpected behaviors are welcome. I'll keep them.
Question 2: Nope. 29-31 are devoted ONLY to custom weapons. 32 is devoted ONLY to Ice Beam. And 28 will (shortly) be ONLY to custom hookshot.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Another update. Three more custom weapons complete. File starts you in Capricorn with the Libra Crystal. (Cheat to check out other weapons).
Build still uses b365.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Zodiac11-30-07.zip
Libra Crystal fires three crystals at a downward angle. They rebound off of walls and may be re-fired at any time.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/LibraCrystal.bmp
Taurus Flame fires spinning flames at an upward angle. Very powerful.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/TaurusFlame.bmp
Virgo Whip is similar to the Aries Saber, except it follows the player, restores 1/4 a heart with each hit, and goes berserk if you land a hit really close to the enemy. Also, Castlevania fans will like this one.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/VirgoWhip.bmp
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
The Libra crystals stay on screen when you changes screen, C.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
All custom weapons do. It's a necessary part of having the general weapon script run on carryover combos. I have no way of checking when the player moves to another screen. I could check when the player is right at the edge, but that might lead to weird results. I figure the current behavior is quirky but not too buggy.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
It's easy to check screen change. Set up a global variable...
int prevscreen;
and initialize it to the screen the player starts on when the main script starts.
Then, in your while loop...
if(Game->GetCurrentScreen() != prevscreen)
{
//You're on a new screen...
//Reset weapons...
prevscreen = Game->GetCurrentScreen();
}
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Praethus
It's easy to check screen change. Set up a global variable...
int prevscreen;
and initialize it to the screen the player starts on when the main script starts.
Then, in your while loop...
if(Game->GetCurrentScreen() != prevscreen)
{
//You're on a new screen...
//Reset weapons...
prevscreen = Game->GetCurrentScreen();
}
Or you could check the box "script restarts on carry over".
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Praetheus' method would work, but Gleeok's wouldnt. The script just checks what combo the FFC has. If the "scripts restart" flag doesn't change the combo of the FFC, it won't do anything to the FFC's behavior.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Huh? I don't see why it wouldn't work. I haven't tested it but all you should need to do is add: this_ffc->Data=1; right before the true loop. In fact i'll try it out right now, and it may even cut down those annoying crash bugs. Stupid isValid.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gleeok
Huh? I don't see why it wouldn't work. I haven't tested it but all you should need to do is add: this_ffc->Data=1; right before the true loop. In fact i'll try it out right now, and it may even cut down those annoying crash bugs. Stupid isValid.
edit: I don't see the problem, It works great. The ffc never is even visible once in the newly scrolled to room. :shrug: In fact, C-, this does seem to eliminate the annoying switching screens "random crash" npc pointer bug without using isValid everywhere. ;)
edit-damnit; I thought I was editing my previous post. ....oh, hehe..I clicked on quote instead of edit.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Update. More fun with draw functions this time around.
1. Finished the Capricorn Wave weapon. Fires in more than eight directions, wide hit radius. One of, if not the, highest level weapon that will be in the game.
2. Finished ship cannons 4 and 5. Cheat to check out the progressively more devestating ship weapons.
3. Finished ship Jets. Cheat to check out speed boosts with higher level jets. (Item class 254).
4. Finished ship bombs. Push "L" in ship mode to fire massive blasts to clear out enemies. Uses energy quickly. There are four levels of blasts: 1. twin cannons; 2. one large cannon; 3. a larger blast that protects your ship on all sides; and 4. needle lazers that hit everything on the screen.
The file starts you in a Pieces corridor. Uses beta 699
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zodiac%2012-16-07.zip
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Aha! I'm finally able to actually play all of this now. :D -On a 3.2 ghz, 1 gig ram comp. :)
So I was going through the corridors now that i'm able to check these out, but I'm assuming that the current level of weaponry is unbalanced in the players favor as I'm tapping into an entire keg of whoop-ass over here. Instead of just "downgrade cheating" all items to lv.1, is there an order to which the player should have stronger weapons for the gunship in mind on the corridor levels?
Also what's that one enemy that reverts ffc data to 1 when you shoot at it? That'd be a neat boss having a bunch of those guys protecting it's vulnerable point. And you've got the piranas from Guardian Legend down.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Balance issues remain. My plan is to finish up the coding by next summer, then take the next six months adding plot (most of the time will be artwork) and finally be asking people to help beta test about this time next year, while I create a walk-through. I'm meeting some friends about replacing all of the game's music with custom arranged midis this week, too.
The balance issues you're seeing will be worked out somewhere along the way. Right now, I anticipate that Level 1 Ship Gun will be used in all or part of Aries, Cancer, and Scorpio; Level 2 will be used in Cancer, Scorpio, and Gemini; Level 3 probably won't be around until late Gemini and Pieces.
Ideally, I want to balance the game so that the player has a sense of "I'm kicking serious ass" during the flying levels. That might make it a little on the easy side, but I think it'll make the product more fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gleeok
Aha! I'm finally able to actually play all of this now. :D -On a 3.2 ghz, 1 gig ram comp. :)
Also what's that one enemy that reverts ffc data to 1 when you shoot at it? That'd be a neat boss having a bunch of those guys protecting it's vulnerable point. And you've got the piranas from Guardian Legend down.
Yea, he absorbs (mostly) your standard weapon so you need to use special weapons on him. I do have bosses protected by similar enemies in the planning stage. It'll be like the level 2 darkworld boss in LttP, sort of.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Long time, no update. Most of what I've been doing is code optimization for the corridors. Now, your ship cannon fires much more reliably, and slowdown is non-existent on my machine (2.6ghz, 1 gig ram). I've also added new bosses and SHMUP enemies using the draw functions, and started work on the Libra corridors.
This file starts you in Libra. Go west to encounter the first of many cameos in this game. Kudos to the first person to identify the (respectfully hard) miniboss.
Use beta 718.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zodiac02-03-08.zip
Once again, thanks to Sepiroth for the hosting space.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
The mini boss is Kain from final fantasy 2 (or 5 in America i believe) right?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Kain, but yes, that's him. I was wondering how his attack would translate to a sidescrolling action game, and I think it translates rather well.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Update with four or five new bosses. I'm upgrading some early bosses and adding new ones. Libra's boss is another familiar face from the Final Fantasy series.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Azelda003.bmp
I'm also experimenting with bullet hell. Gleeok complained that the bosses were too easy, so...
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Azelda007.bmp
Good luck getting past this one without a few energy tanks. And it'll get better from here on out.
Download: (Uses beta 718)
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zodiac02-09-08.zip
Some folks were wondering how to access the scripts in the quest buffer. Zodiac is always unpassworded. Just open it in ZQuest 718. Then go to Compile script, and click on Export. Save it as a text file ("ZodiacScript.txt" maybe) and open it in word. You can copy the scripts and do whatever else you need.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
I thought you said you weren't using any ripped graphics?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
If I am correct, there is a script that lets you jump only in side view areas in this quest, right? If I put this into a top down quest, would it make it where Link could jump only when he is in a side view area, and not in a top down area?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Didn't check this thread for a while. Anyway, cool! Also, that health meter...wow.:surprise:
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
russadwan
If I am correct, there is a script that lets you jump only in side view areas in this quest, right? If I put this into a top down quest, would it make it where Link could jump only when he is in a side view area, and not in a top down area?
I think it'd be rather funky in top-down areas.
An easy way to do it would be to edit the script so that it depended on Link having a certain item to function, then disable that item in the DMap disable box for top-down DMaps.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
russadwan
If I am correct, there is a script that lets you jump only in side view areas in this quest, right? If I put this into a top down quest, would it make it where Link could jump only when he is in a side view area, and not in a top down area?
It's already set up that way. I dont let the player jump in the SHUMP levels, after all.
The Jump Script handles jumping, dashing, wall climbing, and all other assorted passive abilities. It's an FFC script and it runs on FFC1 on every sideview area of the quest. So if you want to use it in your own quest, just don't assign the script to FFCs in top-down areas.
And Joe - I'm not using ripped graphics. Kain and Golbez are redrawn by me based generally on how they look. (Actually there is ONE ripped sprite in the game now because I couldnt get it to work right ... can YOU find it?)
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Ah right ok.
No, I can't find it =P
I haven't played this since quite a few months ago, I should give it another try.
Why not use the global script?
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Joe123
Ah right ok.
No, I can't find it =P
I haven't played this since quite a few months ago, I should give it another try.
Why not use the global script?
Could have, with item or DMap based wrangling. But I started this way, so no problem keeping it that way.
If you're looking for new material, check out these highlights:
1. Location of the first boss (where you get your level 1 saber). Boss has been changed and updated. (Pheagon)
2. Disentigration beam (in Cancer) now shoots a bullet as well as cuts sand.
3. New boss (Ray Crystal) guarding the High Jump in Aries.
4. New bosses in Libra (Kain, Golbez)
5. New enemies and bosses in Libra and Gemini corridors.
6. New bosses in Taurus (Ray Crystal2 guarding the Black Hole Armor and Pheagon2).
I'm working on re-vamping all of the old bosses to add the enemy life meter and explosion I've developed, so they'll all be getting a facelift.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Update with two new bosses. I'm trying out new techniques to overcome ZQuest's 32 FFC limitation. These bosses spray bullets all over the arena, getting 50-100 shots on the screen at once. On my machine, it goes off without any slowdown, either. Please let me know if your machine encounters slowdown. (The quest starts you out at one of the Taurus bosses; the new Libra boss is just a few screens east, cheat to get there.)
DOWNLOAD: Uses Beta 718.
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Zodiac02-16-08.zip
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Bullet_Spray1.bmp
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Bullet_Spray2.bmp
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Bullet_Spray3.bmp
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/Bullet_Spray4.bmp
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Hey C- I think you linked the wrong one, especially since it say's 12-16-07...You tease you.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
When I tried the newest boss, the framerate dropped to, um, 9.
But then again, the fairly tame crystalline boss next door to it only permits a framerate of 28, so maybe I just need more than 1GHz to work with. (It's been awhile since I last checked this quest out, I admit sheepishly.)
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
I'm running a 2.6ghz box and I dont get any slowdown in 718. However, I get horrible slowdown exactly as you describe in the latest beta (735?). I think DarkDragon explained that he added alot of exceptions for testing purposes and forgot to take them out.
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Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
The more heavy portions of the script drop down to 40-45 FPS. I'm running a 1.3 Ghz laptop with a crappy video card though, so take that as you will.
This is in beta 718 btw.