and maybe some other stuff
Trichromatic is now in closed beta stage. There are still a few bugs to fix, but that will be done tomorrow.
I also might post the beta version online tomorrow.
In other news, here’s a nice pic I took while shaul22 was playing:
This photo clearly tells a lot about the fast pace of the game.
Lastly, after I release the game I will reveal some of my games’ history, including old alpha versions, random ideas, and abandoned projects.
Long story short: AutoIt is good. Very good.
I’ve rediscovered this scripting language a while ago – it was originally a language for automating various actions quickly on large amounts of PCs. Over the years it has evolved into a powerful scripting language with many, many features, while keeping its BASIC-like syntax simplicity. The code is clear, the language is easy to learn, and the resulting EXEs are small and require no additional runtimes. And best of all – it’s absolutely free.
Download: http://www.autoitscript.com/site/
While you’re at it, you might also want to check out my versions of
itamarcu told me about this flash game named Chromatic, that has a similar concept to ours.
http://www.aeonity.com/ab/games/action-adventure/chromatic.php
Nice little coincidence, ain’t it? The game looks good too.
The games are very very different in their nature, but looking at the overall idea can undoubtedly lead to thinking Trichromatic is a ripoff. So, let me state this clearly before any issues pop up: Trichromatic is in no way related to Chromatic. Trichromatic is in no way related to Chromatic. Trichromatic is in no way related to Chromatic.
http://yuvsstuff.net/YFTypeSans.ttf
I made this one at home and during boring classes. Maybe I’ll make a slab-serif version of it one day.
Supported scripts are Latin and Hebrew.
With some help from the people at the FontCreator forum, I got the font to work properly with Hebrew text.
Download link is same as before: http://yuvsstuff.net/YFNotHand.ttf
http://yuvsstuff.net/YFNotHand.ttf
This is probably the best typeface I’ve ever made. It resembles YuvFont Realhand but looks muuuuch better.
The current version supports the following scripts:
SUN WITH FACE and ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR HALF OUNCE are mapped to U+F31E and U+F773, respectively, whereas they should be at U+1F31E and U+1F773. This is a known bug and I’ll try to find a way to fix it as soon as possible.
Moving platforms. Portals. Bridges. Super Jimpers. Death counter.
Thanks to itamarcu, nivnivon666, shaul22 and fiz for helping me think of these.
The gray thing on the left looks like a set of spikes, but is actually a platform that’s sometimes solid and sometimes not. :P
The moving platforms carry you horizontally – you don’t have to move the ball along with them.
The font at the top will be changed, don’t worry. (I don’t hate it, but I know many people who do.)
If you’re wondering why we have so many deaths… it’s because we (fiz, itamarcu and me) were messing around with the counter feature and restarted loads of times to watch the meter rise. We actually started playing the game only when we reached 86.
In the year 1989, an evil doctor decided to take over the world.
It’s generally agreed that too many video games have plots along these lines. These plots get boring very quickly, and the levels in said games are usually irrelevant to the plot and often have a very artificial look and feel, which completely takes the atmosphere out of the game.
In my opinion, in game plots it’s usually better to go against the flow, in some way or another:
But maybe you can be creative in a different way: make a plot about someone wanting to rule/destroy the world, and between the lines, specify why. This is done in Within a Deep Forest:
The year is 2500. The whole world is in ruins. Only a small number of people have survived the war, one of which the infamous and notorious Dr. Cliché. The time machine that he has built has enabled him to travel many hundred years back in time. Here, he has been able to complete his most dastardly deed: the building of an underwater laboratory, inside of which he has placed the most powerful bomb the world has yet known. His first attempt failed, and instead, led to the creation of a ball, although no ordinary ball. If ever this bomb should explode, the entire planet will freeze, and all life will be lost. In this way Dr. Cliché aims to eliminate, beyond all reckoning, the possibility of such a future ever coming to pass. Where Dr. Cliché is to be found exactly at present, nobody knows, but rumor has it that the bomb is activated. The world lies in grave danger. That is, unless…
At first glance, this seems to be another one of the stories about someone wanting to destroy the world. The second half, however, reveals some important plot details: Dr. Cliché wants to “eliminate, beyond all reckoning, the possibility of such a future ever coming to pass.” And what is that future? The war, of course. Dr. Cliché himself had no evil purposes – he went back in time in order to prevent the war from happening!
“Take over the world” isn’t the only plot cliché out there. There are many others, including “your love interest has been kidnapped”. These, despite being less common, are not any more original or creative, and in my opinion should be used as little as possible.
Anyone can safely say that Game Maker isn’t a favorite among programmers. Many people say it’s horrible, and upon being asked the question “What can’t Game Maker do?”, most of these people present things that it’s actually perfectly capable of. It’s an incredibly common reaction – people call Game Maker primitive and limited all over the world.
The reaction, like everything, depends on approach. The negative approach to Game Maker is caused mainly by the name – I know that most people would rather use a program with a name like Multimedia Fusion than a program called Game Maker. It’s human nature to form an initial opinion from the first detail that’s heard, and these initial opinions are extremely difficult to change.
Often, people despise Game Maker just because of the quality of most games made with it. It’s a very simple and cheap solution, which is why there are many young children using it. Some child prodigies are capable of building remarkable creations from scratch, but more often than not, games made by younger children are very careless and sloppy.
The learning process also matters, and I’ll split this into two types of learning: anecdotal learning (looking up stuff when you need it) and rigorous learning (organized).
Most things have to be learned rigorously. Java is a good example here: almost nothing is going to work for you if you don’t learn it in an organized way. If you don’t start with simple code pieces such as System.out.println("Hello World!");, you’re not likely to get anywhere.
Game Maker is a different story. I once helped some teachers in a ten-day summer camp, where the program was taught in an organized way. The students were capable of creating their own games, but I had to do the thinking-like-a-computer for everyone, including the teachers! I gained the ability to think like a computer because I had no choice: I only had some code samples and the function reference, and that was it. There was no one to help me!
Let’s take an opposite example: When I introduced the program to some of my online friends, they got more help than I did, but still not a lot. They, like me, have devised methods of computer thinking, and are able to make great games nowadays.
So what have we learned from this? Rigorous learning is not recommended at all for learning Game Maker. Anecdotal learning is the best way to learn it: if you need to do something, look in the help file. Thinking like a computer is a skill that’s earned through experience. People dislike Game Maker because they learn it the wrong way, overlooking many details and thereby not seeing the incredible power hidden deep inside the program.
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