machrider's Forum Posts

  • I apologize for bumping an old thread, but the link on this one doesn't work and I was wondering how to go about making a grappling hook for a game idea I had. Would either of you, QuaziGNRLnose or linkman2004, still happen to have the examples of how to do this?

    Willhostforfood seems to not have the file anymore. And linkman2004 you said you have an improved version of this, which I would really like to see if you still have it. Thanks.

  • For the grid movement, there should be an 8 way movement option, so that you could move your character diagonally, like in the original Mother (known unofficially as Earthbound Zero) game for NES, for example.

    There should also be an option so that the character moves like a normal 4/8 way movement but has its movement restricted to the grid. I'm not quite sure how to explain this, but several old RPGs on the NES have this kind of movement.

    Rather than moving 32 pixels each time (on a 32 by 32 grid) when the player presses a direction, the player moves as long as the button is pressed, just like a normal movement, but is always aligned along the grid.

    For example, say if you move 2 pixels to the right, then pressed down. Rather than going down from your current position, the sprite would finish moving 30 pixels to the right then proceed to move down. Yeah, like I said I am really not good at explaining things but I hope that makes sense.

    Also, I was thinking that it would be cool if there was an option to enable gravity (and I guess jumping as well) so that you could have a grid based platform movement like in Lode Runner (or Bananarama, an old klik game made by Natomic from a while back http://www.classic-trash.com/gameInfo.php?gameId=710).

  • Don't worry. DirectInput is already equipped to handle everything. You don't need to program it for a certain amount of triggers or anything like that. DirectInput supports whatever joystick you plug into the computer, whatever is detected in the Control Panel. If they use DirectInput, it can support pretty much everything, multiple triggers, analog sticks, even things such as force feedback.

  • Just make it use DirectInput (which is probably what Rich will do based on his earlier posts I've read) and it will support everything, including dual analog controllers.

    Then I can finally make a dual analog shooter like Gunroar or Geometry Wars.

  • RPGs are more complex than most video games because RPGs themselves predate video games. They are one of the few genres that actually existed before electronic games were even invented. I'm of coarse talking about pencil and paper RPGs. You know, games like Dungeons and Dragons which use huge sets of rule books and dice with over 20 sides, etc.

    Although video game RPGs are a lot more simplified than the oldschool pen and paper variety, they still inherit many of the same rules and characteristics.

    When it comes right down to it, an RPG is really a game of stats and how to calculate those stats and translate them into a gaming experience. Things like, if I use this weapon combined with my character's "strength" statistic against the enemy's defense, how much damage will it inflict?

    Also, if I do try to attack the enemy, what is the probability based on my "luck" statistic that it will succeed and not miss?

    Or even things like, how many steps will it take to trigger a random encounter based on the last time I encountered an enemy (or maybe even based on my characters stats such as luck or speed)? When my character levels up, by what values will the rest of his/her stats by multiplied or increased by?

    All stuff like that, a lot of stats and calculations mostly. Note that this is a VERY simplified explanation and I'm mostly explaining the type of math you'd have to use rather than showing it. But you get the idea.

    Then there's also things like inventory systems (mostly a set of variables or an array), dialogue system (or dialogue trees, if you want a multiple choice nonlinear dialogue system), and shop system (basic math like checking if the player has enough money to buy something, or how much money to take away from his inventory after buying something, etc.)

    and then of coarse everything else that goes into an RPG including basic things like story, graphics and music.

    But the core of an RPG is statistics. If you're going to start an RPG, the first thing to do is set up a statistic system for your characters.

    The first thing you want to set up are global variables such as Strength, Defense, Magic, Luck, Dexterity, and whatever other statistics you feel are appropriate for your game.

    Then you'd design the rest of the game based around those statistics, starting with the battle system which is the main feature of any RPG. And then like I said, set up events to use and calculate those stats in order to translate them the basis of your battle system, leveling up system, and everything else.

    Just a warning though, this is all much harder than I'm describing it. This is a very simplified explanation, but keep in mind that RPGs are one of the most complex types of games to make. But if you wish to try anyway, your best bet would to start with the basis of any RPG system, which are the stats and rules of the game, and how those stats are used to play the game. Again, this is all much harder than it sounds.

    But in my opinion, please start out with something simpler before trying to attempt to make an RPG, especially in Construct.

    But if you want to make an RPG, it's probably best to use something like RPG Maker which takes care of the whole issue of statistics, inventory, battle systems, and pretty much everything else that would normally make it pretty damn hard for you to make an RPG from scratch. Even a beginner can make a pretty decent RPG game in RPG Maker compared to what it would take to one from the ground up in Construct or even any other program for that matter.

    But as for learning Construct, start with something simpler like a platform game or maybe a shoot em up. Because, to be honest, even some of the most experienced Construct users on this board probably wouldn't even try to finish making an RPG due to how complicated it is to make one. At least try to become more experienced before you even attempt it yourself.

  • Yeah you have to use physics to do that. However, I'll try to think up some method where you can quickly convert your bone structure into a physics ragdoll, because that would be awesome if when you character dies it just turns into a rag doll

    haha, yes! that would be sweet.

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  • I don't quite understand how this works. But could you tell me if it's possible to make ragdolls with this?

    Like this:

    http://www.yeeguy.com/freefall/ ??

    If so, that would be amazing. Is it possible?

    I know I should be trying it out myself, but right now I am still kinda figuring it out.

  • I've seen this suggested here and there, but I don't know if an actual thread was made about it. Can I suggest adding a path movement in a later version of Construct?

    Right now, I am making a shoot em up (i.e. Gradius, R-Type) and it's a real pain to get enemy movement patterns to work right.

    One thing I tried is making the enemy sprites as a ball movement and then using waypoints which tell the sprite where to go, but they never work right, sometimes the sprite will end up missing the way point and flying into something its not supposed to.

    It's also very hard to make curved movements with way points. Not only that, but since a shoot em up takes place in a single non scrolling frame (your character is always in the same scroll position, despite the illusion of the background moving), you tend to end up with a lot of way points in the same place and, well, all over the place.

    Anyway, one thing I'd desperately like to see is a path movement. A path movement would work wonders for this kind of purpose. The only thing is, I'd suggest is doing it a lot different than say the path movement in TGF/MMF/etc, which IMHO had the right idea but could be done a lot better.

    There are a few things I'd add or do differently.

    First of all, a huge problem with path movements is that they're limited by how precise you can draw the path. There should be an option to draw not only straight lines, but curved ones as well, and even circles (kind of like the tools used in a paint program) so that the accuracy of how well you can draw the path is not an issue.

    You should also be able to cut/copy and paste certain parts of the path and then be able to paste them and then flip or rotate them. That way, making even looking zig zag or inverted "s" like movements would be a lot easier to do.

    Second, you should be able to assign names to certain nodes for use in triggering an action. In the event sheet, there could be a condition such as "Enemy reaches node [node name]" in which you could then use trigger an action to shoot an object at the player.

    I also think that the path movement should have a "wait command" in which you can make the object stop for a certain amount of milliseconds before moving to the next node.

    This would make it easy to make "attack patterns" for boss characters in shoot em ups.

    You could have it set up so that

    "Enemy" reaches node "node 1" (or whatever you'd name it)

    • Wait at node for 20 ms
    • Spawn object bullet at "Enemy"

    Or something to that effect. But that would form the basis of a shoot em up boss attack pattern.

    A third idea I've thought about, is "optional" paths. At a node, you could be able to draw 2 or more additional paths (each with their own number) displayed as dotted lines, which eventually connect back to the main path.

    You could then have it so that, when the object reaches a certain node, depending on the conditions (say, the player is towards the left of the screen or the right) you could make the object move to that path instead of the path it originally was supposed to.

    Something like

    X of player is greater than X of enemy

    Enemy reaches node [node name]

    • Move to optional path 2

    This would be useful in making enemies that can change their position or method of attack based on certain conditions.

    And... I can't think of any other ideas besides that. Anyway, I think this would be very helpful not only in shoot em ups but in most games in general that require free floating objects that follow a predetermined path.

    For example, I remember in certain Mario games, there were levels where you rode a platform throughout the whole level. Not any ordinary platform, but one that moved up, down, and even loops and curved motions. With the path movement, you could easily create a similar effect.

    There are probably other uses for it as well. But most of all, this would be a godsend for making side scrolling shoot em ups

  • Why bunny hopping though? i can see inverse controls but what is the use for bunny hopping?

    Being able to toggle it on and off as a preference under a game's options screen could be one thing, or maybe even if someone wanted to include it as a power up. But I just say add it for the principal of things. Especially since I've read posts by Ashley considering adding another option for double jump and some other things. These all need to be togglable in real time IMHO, just to give the player the option of using it or not in game, or even using it later in the game (i.e. via a power up) rather than the current options which are to have it there permanently all the time or not have it at all.

  • Does the same thing happen with only loading from files and not using any resources at all? i.e. if in the example you sent, you change Load Resource to Load File, and delete all the resources? Does it only crash after separately running and closing the preview a few times? (that would suggest a memory leak)

    It works fine for me, loading from files (resources aren't set up right when you move the .cap to another computer)

    Yes, same thing happens when just loading a file with no resources.

    Even after turning off my computer yesterday and turning it on right now, the problem is still there. I used to be able to load from an external file, but it will no longer let me no matter what. Now I can't load any wavs without it crashing on me.

    "Does it only crash after separately running and closing the preview a few times?"

    Well, I guess. I mean, it worked a few times with each thing after previewing it. I mean, first I had it set up so that it loads the second file from the resource. After previewing the game a few times, that stopped working (instant crash on preview, message saying to report the bug to Scirra). I then thought I could possibly load a third file into the resources to avoid that crash message, but that didn't work.

    Then I just decided to load the file externally, and eventually after previewing a few times, that crashed as well and now I can't load a wav from inside or outside Construct at all. It's just crashing no matter what.

    Edit: Strangely enough, if I set it up so that it loads an external wav file into a channel when I press a button rather than at the start of the layout, it doesn't crash.

    I've somewhat averted this crash like that, for things that require playing a sound effect. For example, I made it so that the "shoot" button both loads the file into a channel then plays it, all in the same event.

    Before I had it so that it only loads the file into a channel at the start of the layout, and plays when the button is pressed.

    I also tried the way deadeye had it set up in his cap file, where he loaded a wav into a channel when the channel isn't playing.That gives me the "this may be a bug. report it to Scirra" error message.

    In fact, here. Here are the error messages depending on how I load the wav into the channel.

    Again, these messages are both the first thing that pops up as soon as I click the debug layout button.

    Clicking the preview button just gives me an error message saying that an unexpected error occurred and that I should go to the debugger to find more info. Of coarse, when I do that, I get the above messages.

  • I talked about how it suddenly managed to work in the chat, but now I'm getting the same crash out of nowhere again.

    XAudio was working fine. Then after running my layout a few times, it eventually went from not starting up but only starting up when I use the debugger, to suddenly not starting up at all even with the debugger enabled.

    I deleted everything except the XAudio object itself to isolate it this time.

    Try this .cap out

    http://machriderx.googlepages.com/xaudio.zip

    Tell me if it crashes when you try to use it.

    As for reproducing it, I can't even tell why it's happening or what's causing it. All that I know is that it was running fine, then suddenly after running it a few times, it started refusing to run at all. I know that's not very helpful, but I don't know what else I can do about this.

    Edit: Hmm... it only seems to crash when I use a .wav file that has been loaded as a resource. However, when I use a file from a file path, it works fine. It seems like something is seriously bugged with how Construct handles resources along with XAudio (and possibly Vista?), but then again I dunno.

    Edit: God damn it! Now the crash is happening with wav files I'm loading externally. I don't know what the hell is going on. The damn thing is completely broken, and the worst part of it all is that I can't even explain why.

  • Hold on, now I'm getting a whole new kind of crash.

    It tells me to go to the debugger for more info. Then when I do, it tells me to report it here.

    http://machriderx.googlepages.com/shooterbugged.cap

    Just try running that. I don't even know what's going on now.

  • Does it still do that on startup? If it does, you pasted the file to the wrong directory and need to reinstall Construct to get the original back, that file can ONLY go in the Plugins\Runtime directory. Then I still need to know if it fixes the original crash when you press run.

    Same goes for anyone else who had this file crash!

    Sorry, that was my mistake. Whoops...

    Reinstalled Construct and tried again.

    Okay, it doesn't crash now. I guess it works. I'm going to try to play an audio file and see what happens.

    Alright, everything is working as it should. But I can't load sounds from a resource for some reason (I can only load wavs from a file path). But XAudio is working for me now. I finally have sound.

    EDIT: For some reason, loading a blank wave file, THEN putting my other wave file as a resource causes loading sounds from resource to work for some reason.

    Construct refuses to load the first wav file you load, but loads every other resource besides that. Weird.

    Other than that, everything is working great now.

  • Yes but creating each individual part, and skinning the bones, is no different than doing the same in some tweening program, then importing the animation. Your still going to have to set up what you want to happen before you get any results. The bones system just keeps you from having to use expensive software.

    There's really only two differences between the two. Using an animation package you can adjust each individual image from within the software, then using the bones you can make adjustments to the motions from within the software.

    In the update, it's introduced as a "new bone movement behavior," keyword being behavior. As in, something that can be controlled and manipulated in real time.

    Now, if this were just a feature included into Construct's picture editor, then yes, there would be no different than importing an animation from some animation package like Anime Studio.

    But this isn't precanned animation. These are bones controlled via a behavior which can be manipulated in real time. With this, I imagine being able to create 2D ragdoll physics in Construct and even procedural animation, or even just less static, smoother looking animation in general than what using a precanned sprite animation allows.

  • Can you try this? Save it to your Plugins\Runtime directory, and let me know if it fixes it.

    Hmm...

    It gives me this when I open Construct:

    Error loading C:\Program Files\Scirra\Construct\Plugins\XAudio2.csx (127) - this plugin may not be available!

    EDIT: My mistake maybe it was the wrong directory wait a second

    Edit: Nope, still no go. Disregard that last edit.