lamar's Forum Posts

    I have a new Tutorial up with lots of resources I use for designing game sprites, sound effects and art.

    https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9416/sprite-creation-sound-effects-and-tools-to-compliment-c2

    lamar

    are you going to support flat/overhead tables as well unique table shapes?

    I will do a flat table that allows you to draw the layout and insert components. I think that would be easier for people to design and use their own assets. The perspective view looks more realistic but designing assets is a pain and beyond many people's ability.

  • [quote:373dx6gz]We hit minus 20 two nights in a row and neither vehicle would start even with the charger on.

    I hear ya man, it was minus 27 this morning when I took my son to school. At least the snow has stopped now. It's up near the top of the 6 foot fence where I shoveled out the driveway.

    By the way, I was going to ask if you have plans to make a bowling theme? I think it could work well on a digital pinball machine.

    Wow- that is a lot of snow. We just have a few inches but damn cold. Dog had to be forced outside to go the the bathroom lol!

    I am working on bowling and I have collected some assets. Lots of ideas but I get sidetracked easily. I need to set up one layout just for my own designs and I am doing that today. Each layout I have to design new components to fit the cabinet and work with the layout so I spend time on Sketchup designing those pieces.

    That is why I am studying old pinball games to get ideas for layouts that look more original and that all takes time. I have nothing but time so I should get it done huh?

    I spent over two hours yesterday just figuring out where my collision boxes were overlapping and stopping the game from loading. With physics you can't have any overlapping collision boxes. That has been a real learning curve working with physics.

    This is an example of a layout I just created:

  • [quote:2wodkt2e]I am doing this all in one event sheet and one layout believe it or not

    Yeah, I did that with my first game as well which is well over 1,000 events lol. It makes it a pain to work on later, which I'm now attempting as I never took the game out of beta. I'm trying to work on it a bit here and there and it really can be a pain sometimes. There's so much that I could fix up now too since I developed the game 4 years ago and there have been so many improvements in C2 and HTML5 since then. Oh well, it is what it is.

    How is the pinball sandbox coming along?

    I actually have only 176 events so not bad and most are routines I repeat for themes I am creating and just change the data used.

    I have been busy all morning trying to get my vehicles started. We hit minus 20 two nights in a row and neither vehicle would start even with the charger on. Had to flag down a neighbor lady for a jump and finally got the truck to start but car still says no way.

    Now my back hurts and I need a nap because I am very cranky and then maybe I will work on the editor some more. I did find some golf assets and started working on that theme and I am stealing playfield design ideas from old pinball games.

    I am sure you did not want to hear all that but I needed to gripe to someone and the dog just doesn't care lol!

  • UPDATE: Tweaked the flippers a little more and I THINK I have eliminated slip through. You can balance that ball on the tip of a flipper now lol!

    I also added a bonus trigger and hit the ramp hole is worth 10K when arrow lit. That is a very tough shot!

    https://www.scirra.com/arcade/tutorial-games/pinball-physics-sandbox-demo-13984?action=updated

  • lamar

    excellent work sir...please continue.

    Thanks Harrio- I am finally getting to the fun stuff. Still a little tweaking needed on flipper control but I will get it yet.

    Just collecting assets for a bowling and golf playfield today and working on those tomorrow. Lots of ideas running through my brain lol!

    >

    > > — You are certainly onto something big here. Yes, there is plenty work to be done to get some things right but very commendable efforts. I have tried the editor and I like the direction the project is taking. This is an excellent project. Don't stop!

    > >

    >

    > Thanks- I am excited about this project and see some real potential. I am amazed at how many websites and forums are dedicated to Pinball both traditional and video and there are lots of people that I think would like this sandbox creator. Not hard to learn and you can design your own game playfield in a few minutes or create your own assets for hardcore game designers.

    >

    > I am designing ramps and chutes today which will really add to the affect.

    >

    congrats lamar

    i believe last year some time ago. i made a comment in the forum that a good pinball template would be a gold mine for 2d game devs and artists. i think pinball has as much room for expression, mood and artistic interpretation as platformers. especially when unique elements to digital pinball are incorporated.

    Thanks Hario- yes getting the physics working and the feel of a real pinball game has been a real struggle. The physics in C2 are pretty good but because the computer is off doing other things it sometimes misses a collision or jumps a ball when it shouldn't and is always playing catchup with controls.

    I had to do a lot of tweaking with the physics settings for velocity and iterations to get it to work and the C2 tutorials do a terrible job of explaining how those effect objects in motion and collision especially in fast action moving games like pinball with both a ball and flippers moving at the same time.

    That is why most high quality video games are designed for dedicated game machines like PS4 and Xbox because the processor only has one task .

    I noticed improvement when I shut down all other webpages and anything that is running that might distract the computer. It works better in the stand alone game but I think with a little more tweaking I can get an acceptable video pinball game that real pinballers will enjoy.

    The editor is still in early draft stage as I am designing assets and playfields right now but I have the concept and controls for how I want the user to be able to modify and create their own games.

    I just watched "Special When Lit" a documentary on Pinball which was interesting:

    https://twomovies.net/watch_movie/Special_When_Lit

    I am really getting into the Pinball history and online culture that I did not know was still very popular so I can make my own creations better and also develop some marketing channels for when I have a completed project.

    Anyway, glad you are enjoying it and I will be updating about every day now as I add new features and I appreciate the feedback.

  • That may be a limitation of your website host and page parameters.

    Some hosts do not allow very large games that eat up lots of bandwidth.

    You can host it on the C2 arcade or on Kongregate and call it up on your own website and that saves your bandwidth.

  • Use a Global Variable to determine what animation is being played as a trigger/

    Global Variable: Player.Action

    Add that as a condition to your event:

    if sees enemy: play animation running

    if does not see enemy: play animation idle

    Set Player.Action to 1

    If player is running: play animation running

    if player is not running: play animation idle

    Set Player.Action to 2

    Now you can define which action is happening for other events.

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  • Yeah, I figured as much, but I wanted to put it out there anyways since you asked for feedback on the editor. I'm sure it's going to turn out amazing. As usual if you need any help just let me know.

    Thanks for the offer Burvey and you have been great help with feedback.

    You catch and remember the bugs I keep forgetting to fix lol!

    I think I can make the editor seamless with the game but I will have to turn off the mouse unless the editor is running other wise people switch stuff in the middle of a game and throws all the scoring and ball count out of whack.

    I am doing this all in one event sheet and one layout believe it or not

  • The game mechanics part are great for the most part, barring the few bugs which you already know about. The editor part will need some work if you're planning on charging for it.

    Thanks- that editor is just a rough draft to get an idea of what I want to do with each component and it will be cleaned up. Some good ideas you gave me. I am trying to make it function easily for people with few computer skills.

    I am hoping to figure out how to allow people to create and upload their own assets to the editor but that may be a bridge too far lol!

    Yeah, that's really cool. Some of the sounds take me back to my poker days in the casino (hearing all the slots in the background). The ball is still slipping past/through the flipper sometimes even with the CTRL key. Some things are just a pain to get rid of haha. Also, the LED display was showing game over while I still had a ball in play. The red text (game over) didn't show up until after I had actually lost though.

    Yup just like a slot machine and I borrowed some of those sound effects lol!

    At least with video pinball you don't waste your money.

    Here is a discussion of what I have planned for this:

    https://www.scirra.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=159&t=185945

    I still have some bug issues with the ball count because of multiple balls I need to work on. Just have my count wrong somewhere.

    The flippers are still not picking up the ball at certain angles. I will work on that in a future update. Only happens at certain angles when the ball is at a certain speed the iterations ignore the collision. Same with two balls meeting. Not sure it can be fixed but I will play with it.

  • I tried your demo. The gameplay is actually quite good.

    But I think you will need to improve the artwork. It is just not good visually..

    Also visual effects like flashing lights and stuff.

    Here ya go. I added in some dynamic lighting, a ramp and more sounds and special effects. These will be available in the editor later and a whole lot more lighting and special effects coming.

    https://www.scirra.com/arcade/tutorial-games/pinball-physics-sandbox-demo-13984?action=updated

    It's a good first step for the editor. Once it gets all polished up it should be awesome. I'm looking forward to new ramps and chutes. Have you considered adding some dynamic lighting effects based on collisions/scores/player actions etc?

    Thanks Burvey!

    I am uploading a new version with dynamic lighting and special effects and I will do a lot more with lights. buzzers, bells and whistles and special effects as I progress so it looks and sounds more like arcade pinball.

    This one has the ramp and lights:

    https://www.scirra.com/arcade/action-games/pinball-sandbox-demo-14053?action=updated

    Eventually I will have a backlight top with working GIF screen that you can scroll up to watch but that is down the road. Lots of fun stuff coming.

    I get bored working on one section so I go work on another and today it is all that fun stuff to make it exciting to play.

    Go check out the new version:

  • I tried your demo. The gameplay is actually quite good.

    But I think you will need to improve the artwork. It is just not good visually..

    Also visual effects like flashing lights and stuff.

    Well as I said I am designing the assets now and you are looking at basic assets you will color and modify and move where you want.

    The artistic talent is what you will provide and I provide the canvas.