ENIGMA Development Environment

For me it delays the same amount of time in both graphics systems.

Strange. DX9, it appears near instantly, the delay happens for me only in OGl1 and OGL3.  I'm surprised that it is half a second.  You've seen my specs are quite high.

Yes in GMS it is instant, there is no blanking.

Also tried in run mode and compiled mode, same delay.

Is there a way to have the init done before the actual game window displays ?

This might sound like a strange question, but I noticed something.  When using DX9 gfx system and run the game, once the game window appears it is quick and already rendered.

In OGL mode, the game window appears but the area is blank (black) for about 1/2 second then room is displayed.

This is regardless of whether window or fullscreen is used.

Here is an example, (OGL)
create a project with an empty object, place it in a room, set background to blue.

Run the game....... The game window will appear but screen area will be be black 1/2 second before turning blue (which is the room display).

As of now the game_end event is still broken and does nothing.

More so the update made things very unstable (game crashing), etc. even after a clean install, wiped temps, wiped programdata.

This latest update completely fucked everything up, nothing displays, as someone else reported.

I have sprites that I placed in the room
they don't show, everything is invisible.

I see you're getting a little obsessed about Harri's standards, from your post
lol :p

No actually he has very good points, I'm having some fun   Likes the way he makes arguments, and like I said it's a matter of taste, I respect that.  I find nothing wrong with his standards. Imagine if the entire gaming market was like that would call for much more challenging game and longer gameplay as game companies would not have to make games so easy and take you by the hand in every step, such as point the arrow where you need to go etc.  Even though I don't apply such standards myself, you gotta admire his patience though
Also he has a point about kids being spoiled and being used to getting it easy, which can translate to games.  But I don't think this is always the case. I was not spoiled and everything I have I worked for through my own efforts, because I wanted to, not because I had to, but due to some circumstances, which I will not get into my life story here, I guess I have a specific taste and patience level.  I don't like easy and short games....but I'd being a lying MF if I said I wouldn't mind starting the whole game over because of one small fucking mistake or because I died at level 15 and have to start at 1   Has nothing to do with wanting it easy......remember that some people lead stressful lives and for some, gaming is a temporary escape into fantasy....for some it can be a dangerous escape, others who are down to earth and use it moderately, can be healthy. 

Well I considered that first one too by, like said in my OP, adding a tutorial option to the main menu.
I didn't think about the ability to turn hints off, because despite being a good and simple method, my game won't keep telling the player to press X to Y, every time Y is possible.

Nope, that's not what I meant by hints.

The press X or Y key subs could be considered tutorial or help.  Some games have them at the beginning usually when you start a "new game" but as you keep playing it does not show up again.

By hints I mean actually adding full interactivity and AI / Logic, let's say you are playing my game and are stuck, and you've been playing a long time and going in circles....The logic would detect this and display some hints for you.

Example, goal based level you are facing
a concrete wall and reached a dead end
but something on the other side....
After a while a sub would display
"...If only I could get to the other side!"
and later display other hints.  I could also
 set hint levels, subtle, infrequent, frequent,
etc.

Also intend to play around with non linear aspect.  As opposed to making a platform where you go from point A to point B find the exit type, I would like a multi goal/task based level system, where you don't have to necessarily complete goals in a linear fashion, where everything is scripted.  With possibility of even going back and forth levels, sometimes requiring jumping between levels to get certain items you would need on previous levels, etc.

One thing certain people don't like about games is linearity.  Go from point A to point B.  Some like it, I could do both types.

Also intend to add "randomness" where when you play the game again, the objects won't be placed at the same place.  That high jump "ability" potion you required to reach that area above that  contained the red key you need to unlock the door on level 2, would not be placed at the same place and probably require another ability or set of tasks in order to reach it.  Making the game different and offering different paths / possibilities.  That concrete wall you needed to detonate when you first played the game might not be there at all once you finish the whole game and play again or start a new game, or you may have different set of tasks.
But this is all advanced stuff for now I would probably do classical / traditional! Those platform games tend to be so linear (go for the exit) type, this is one aspect I want to work on and eventually make something big.

The last one is more like a difficulty setting. Good idea in itself, though.

Not only that, but if a player would select HARD settings, I would  disable obviously the help and hints system, and as opposed to difficulty level affecting only health or enemies, I could have completely new elements added to harder difficulty.

I know that, but it's always a good challenge to avoid them as much as possible.

you got that right, it's a challenge.
I've been in the industry (behind the scenes) and it can be very tough...... Even the best of filmmakers, actors, musicians, singers, game devs, will have their hate and harsh criticism. You can never avoid that completely.....

So basically a rehaul of D&D.  Personally I encourage people to learn pure scripting and make their entire game based on GML/EDL,  I used to be fond of D&D but now I cannot stand to use a single D&D and only use GML, for everything.

But your proposal sounds like a good alternative for those who want VS.

That just shows how today people have anger issues and lack patience. It's in no way a good thing and shouldn't be bragged about.

lol.  Yeah I know, but do a survey out of a very large sample,
if people would appreciate after hours of gameplay to have to start all over again, no savegame, nowaypoint nothing....... I would be curious to the results of the poll.

As far as anger and impatience with games I will not bullshit and lie, I had such issues in the past nothing like the angry German kid on youtube lol but I would get stuck for hours sometimes and it would be so frustrating, but one thing I would not appreciate is having to start all over, there again maybe I say that but might feel otherwise depending on the game and context.

Your point seemed to be that regenerative healing is arcade, but picking up healthpacks is simulator. I said that none of those are simulators.

Words in my mouth I never said that.

Arcade is anything but realism.  Regenerate health, picking health packs, picking spawning ammo packs all over the place, requiring being shot repeatedly to be dead even head shots lol.
I can distinguish between the 2. 

I am 98% convinced this is also because of kids. They are often so spoiled and get stuff without effort, that they want their games to be the same.

Interesting point you bring there.  Though from experience I know some would feel much different and would be very critical of such easy games requiring no effort.  But yeah, I guess you bring very solid arguments.  BTW, did you watch that youtube link I posted ?
lol.  Assuming that was even real, I can imagine this kid later in his teens playing online and cussing out other players.  You see lot of that on youtube.

I don't think it's valid to say old games had better "gameplay" as in retrospect they probably didn't have. There were very few rules, few possibilities and you just had to do the same thing all the time. And comparing "graphics" is also not very objectively. But they don't really make the game.

True, though I should have specified, I did not mean ALL old games were better ,but still think some had better / longer gameplay.
Lot of games now are too damn short.   When was the last time
you finished a recent game in 50 hours time ?

And I also think that maybe PC gaming could have a revival. We start to finally get games that previously where often console exclusives. So we get Watch Dogs, Wolfeinsten (want to play it for nostalgia sake. It also has healthpacks, so it has that going for it), Tom Clancy’s The Division. While they might not be good games, they at least come to PC. And as far as I know they won't be bad ports, but real PC games. That means better graphics, more features and so on.

True, but to me I don't judge a game entirely on graphics. SURE I love graphics and like to see my DX11 monster system and gfx crunch the graphics, but what good is a game if it doesn't have a nice story, gameplay, and is too bloody short   Not everyone wants multiplayer.    I think devs are focusing more on MP aspect than SP. That's just my opinion based on what I noticed in games, they are too damn short !

This might sound crazy, but as I am paving the way for my external resource engine, where I would use my created functions to extract a particular segment from a file.....

Currently you can use sound_add and sprite_add,
background_add, etc. but they all add from files.......
So in this case it means I would have to have my engine read bytes from a file and write them to another and invoke the *_add functions to read the newly written file.

In order to avoid 2 unnecessary steps such as writing and reading, what if there was a function to add sprite, sound, background from variable.    As Harri suggested from data / raw, so it can take from content of a variable or buffer.

Here is an example:
file=".\data\graphics.res";
file2=".\data\cache\intro.png";
file_bin_open(file,0);
file_bin_seek(file,16000);
repeat (1024)
{
data += chr((file_bin_read_byte(file)));
}
file_bin_close(file);

file_bin_open(file2,1);
repeat (size)
{
i++;
character=string_byte_at(data,i);
file_bin_write_byte(file2,character);
}
file_bin_close(file2);

sprite=sprite_add(file2,1,0,0,0,0);
obj_0.sprite_index=sprite;

This is just a quickly made draft, inside a create event,
will read 1024 bytes from graphics.res starting at position 16000 and store into variable data.  Then it will write a file with the  contents of data. 

As you can see here I am invoking the sprite add which will read the newly  created file.

What if there was a way to simply say:

sprite=sprite_add_from_string(data,1,0,0,0,0);
sprite=sprite_add_from_raw(data,1,0,0,0,0)

This way I could simply remove all code involved for writing ! All that would be needed is a file binary read storing it in data and fetching whatver is in data to sprite add.

Effectively loading resources directly to memory.

This would save disk space and speed things up.

Quote from: Darkstar2 on May 21, 2014, 09:46:18 pm

As far as your last comment, I don't know exactly who you are aiming with this, but I have not gone "oh older games are better just because they are" I usually back up my arguments in length if you bothered to read my posts.  Not a one liner person.

I could have said the opposite but you deleted your post :V

There is a reason for that which I explained and re-explained below.

After re-reading I realised I should have added that I also thought some older games were crap too and that not all were great, just hit the delete button quickly but then when I saw the tone of your last sentences, I said fuck it, why should I justify myself.  I don't respond kindly to childish / sarcastic / flames.

Point being, I have never said one line comments without backing up my arguments.  People who read my lengthy posts know that I go into details (sometimes too much)

From now on I am going to debate and discuss / reply to constructive posts, not flaming.

Another very unfair remark you made, that people who complain that a specific modern game "SUCKS" are people stuck in old times......

I am not stuck in old times.......when I say that a specific game sucks it is because I don't like it......bad story, bad gameplay, too easy, buggy....