899 replies to this topic

[newstarshipsmell]

EDIT2: Not that I mind the lack of bug reports, since I have tons of other things to do, but no one has posted any bugs lately. I would be surprised if there were not still bugs or other issues in the game. Have people simply run out of steam/interest in testing? This is understandable, but I've been having very little luck getting non ZQuest people to come in and pick up the slack. It'd be great to have the bugs smashed at the same time that I'm done with all this other enhancement stuff Im working on. So, if people have suggestions, I'm all ears!

I got kind of bored playing the beginning of the game over and over again, with little in the way of new bugs to find, and not much else changed, to be honest.
So I took a break from it before I did completely burn out, waiting for you to a) finish changes in the beginning, and b) add more stuff later on.
That's done now; I've downloaded every demo since I ceased reporting bugs, but haven't begun any of them, lol.
Anyways, I have final exams on Monday and Tuesday, which I've sort of been studying for... after that, I'm planning on finding (or trying to find, at any rate) a job over the summer, and take the summer off from school (otherwise, I'd have to enroll in 12 credit hours to get my tuition paid, or pay out of pocket - not terribly interested in full time school at accelerated summer session rate.)

So expect a flood of new bug reports from me later this coming week.

ETA: Actually, let me revisit a previous suggestion:
A handful of custom .qst files you could post in this thread / PM to your active playtesters, with beginning points set at various points midway in the game/plot, and corresponding items you'd've gained added to your starting inventory.

Even one halfway through the game would be more helpful than none, but three to five points (breaking it up into roughly 5-8 hour stretches) would vastly help avoid burnout on our end - if it isn't horribly complicated and time-consuming to set up on your end.

Problems:

Removing the gained items from the game - is there any way to automate that, or would you have to go through and manually remove each one in ZQ? The major items wouldn't matter, but the cumulative upgrades would throw things off if playtesters failed to refrain from grabbing ones they already "have." If you can pick "starting points" throughout the game/plot, and assign numbers to each and every item based on whether or not you could've gained them by that point, and run a script at game "start" that checks each item for item# <= gamestart#, and give it to player while removing it from its room, then that would work, if you're willing to write the code and assign all those values. If it doesn't clear the bosses, that's fine - backtracking and fighting an earlier boss with better inventory isn't that big of a deal.

Sidearm and Life/Energy/Missile pick-3's would be set to whatever you picked, so no playtesting feedback based on variant choices there. (Not as big of a deal as the other issue.)

<other stuff I can't think of, besides care/attention needed to make sure plot/scripts don't get screwed up>

If it's somewhat complicated but still doable for a single midway point, and you're willing, that would be great. If it's impossible or too much effort, feel free to say "No." I'll still playtest it.

But if some functionality for doing this sort of thing isn't already built into ZQ, it's something that might be worthwhile for someone else to work on. This can't be the only 30+ hour quest; pretty much every long quest would benefit the playtesters by making it easier to break the demo/playtesting quest up into shorter chunks or start you further in.

Edited by newstarshipsmell, 10 May 2015 - 02:10 AM.

[C-Dawg]

I'll think about that, NewStarShip.  Perhaps I'll put a trainer room in there somewhere with secret instructions on how to access the same.  Really, using cheats lets you manipulate anything you want except for global variables, so that's all I would need to tweak.

 

Anyway, I finally slogged through the cinematic where the nukes arrive and have whatever effect they have.  Next step is to check out the blocking and strings spoken by the characters during your second trip to Leo and forward, replacing the screen warp system with a single scripted solution.  I hope to have all of this stuff done by next weekend.

 

EDIT: One more scripted conversation done in Leo, another one almost done.  I'm slogging through this stuff slowly, but I should still have the cutscene stuff done shortly.  Since this is all later in the game, and doesn't really affect gameplay, I'm going to hold off on updates until this chunk of work is done.  That should minimize the risk that people who don't know about ZClassic screw up their file by reloading a new version.

Edited by C-Dawg, 15 May 2015 - 12:43 PM.

[C-Dawg]

Updated quest file with cutscenes almost all done.  Leo took a million years to get right.  Also, I finally got back to making the moving paltforms move the player along with em and squashed some silly intro bugs.

 

EDIT: Endgame warp menu works.  You can now freely go to the Pandora and, if you continue, you can choose to start from that point OR return to the Zodiac.  Eventually, when you earn bonus modes like TGL Mode or Boss Rush Mode, this is where you'll get to them.  

UPDATED TO-DO LIST:

(1) Figure out continue warp problems with Aries. I don't know what's causing the problem so I dont know how long it will take to fix.

(3) Continue to update cutscene code for back half of game. This one might take awhile. So, I have at least the following cutscenes to revamp:

a - Three different conversations with Dr. Mo

     (Make a fourth - what you see when you go there after finishing all corridors)
b - Encounter with ???? in Sagittarius
c - Encounters on Pandora
d - Game endings (good and bad, for now, with credits and some artwork splashes)

(4) Fix ceiling bug. Probably a day's work, based on how long it took me to figure out and fix the wall cling bug.

(5) Implement new music (I can't get mp3s to run AT ALL so far. :/ ) I have no idea.

(6) Super Secret Mystery Stuff. This is major, and will require another month to do.

Edited by C-Dawg, 17 May 2015 - 03:58 PM.

[C-Dawg]

It wasn't on my list, but I went ahead and upgraded the Explosives to act as a sequence-breaking threat-bonanza.  Check'em out and see what damage you can do with em!

[Gleeok]

Hey-o!

Played this for a bit today while I was tweaking some screen scrolling stuff. This is quite the upgrade from the older versions I must say. Looking good.

Wow, that opening level really kicked my ass. If I can make a suggestion to slightly shrink either the hitbox of the player ship or a few of those small enemy and bullet sprites. I'm usually pretty good at these types of shooters, but it seemed like I was just getting hammered constantly. Ouch.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know the faster scrolling option should be in the next release. Vertical scrolling is really tight for those narrow climbing sections. The only thing I'm worried about is that Horizontal scrolling might seem a tad too fast at first, but after a few minutes adjusting it seemed pretty solid.

I'm still in the first zone so I have quite a ways to go. :x

[C-Dawg]

Gleeok, that's awesome to hear.  Faster scrolling will solve one of the common complaints non-ZC folks who play this game are making to me.  Perhaps, once that's squared away, we can talk about MP3 support so my chiptune friend can contribute?  You know, between everything else you're working on...

 

The first flying level has two parts, now.  The initial phase, going through the main defensive line, is supposed to be totally bonkers because the whole point is to have the rest of your squadron torn apart very quickly.  It's a scripted event that stops once you lose your support.  Once you're past that, though, things should settle down a bit and the rest of the level should be ok.  

 

That said, I have heard other people ask about hit box problems, too.  Does ZQuest permit me to modify the player's hit box?  If so, I'll experiment with that to see if it makes things feel a little better.  Since the collision detection for walls and such is only the middle half of the player's sprite, I could see making the damage collision checks do the same thing.

 

Any other comments or suggestions you want to make are very much appreciated -- nice to have you back around!

[Gleeok]

Yeah, I figured that out after a few tries and then just kamikaze'd my squadron. I think I was just getting used to the item pickup and special beam shot mechanics.

Mp3 does work right now (ogg I believe also works), but you might have to stick the files in the ZC directory, I'm not sure if that has been fixed yet. Also music filenames should be short as well. I'll have to look into it. Is it just not working at all for you?

For hitboxes I would just set the hitbox of projectiles to match how big they are. At least that is what I did and it worked pretty well. (I believe zc defaults scripted eweapons to all be exactly 0,0,16,16.)

// generic version, can be tedious to set
void SetWeaponHitbox(eweapon e, int x, int y, int w, int h)
{
	e->HitXOffset = x;
	e->HitYOffset = y;
	e->HitWidth = w;
	e->HitHeight = h;
}

// You REALLY only need to set one value for roundish objects
// @size is in pixels.
void SetWeaponHitboxSize(eweapon e, int size)
{
	int offset = (16 - size) / 2;
	e->HitXOffset = offset;
	e->HitYOffset = offset;
	e->HitWidth = size;
	e->HitHeight = size;
}

// lazy version, for small bullets
void SetWeaponHitbox_Small(eweapon e)
{
	e->HitXOffset = 6;
	e->HitYOffset = 6;
	e->HitWidth = 4;
	e->HitHeight = 4;
}

// etc.

[C-Dawg]

Gleeok, I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

 

Also, perhaps it makes sense to modify the opening script so that if your character would die, the other ships die instead in some fashion to protect you.  That way, you CANT lose on the initial attack.  

[Solairflaire]

Some bugs:

 

Major Bug:

Gemini 6,A: I can't fire the stunner in this room at all so I can't get through to either the corridor or the zodiac boss. I have a feeling that there are just too many eggs in the room.

 

As well, the stunner has problems firing when there are a few custom enemies and more than a couple eggs on screen.

 

Other stuff:

 

Scorpio 4,F: Exiting the door puts you over the pit so you just fall down.

Scorpio 7,4: There's an invisible half tile right below the container with the item.

Scorpio 2,A: Boss: I couldn't shoot missiles during the fight. They'd travel a tile and disappear.

Scorpio 6,1 to 6,0: 6,1 is basically impossible to get through when it seems like you should be able to. The middle cactus is just too high. The door at 6,0 tell you where the switch is for the door to get the dash boots so it seems like it should be accessible after the disintegrator.

 

Pisces 7,B to 6,B: You can still open up the secret at 6,B and not be able to get out without double jump.

 

Gemini 4,3: Secret sound plays when entering room.

Gemini 7,5: Corridor: There is a very long pause after the last enemy and the klaxon sound for the boss.

 

That's all I have for now. Everywhere else seemed pretty good. I'm still going through to check later stuff, but as it stands I can't go past the first meeting with Mo in Capricorn since I can't kill the Gemini Zodiac boss.

[C-Dawg]

Work performed so far today:

PROBLEMS --

Cant determine cause of problem at 4,F. This also occurs in some other doors in Scorpio. All doors are set up correctly, so Im not sure why the game is not respecting the landing squares.

DONE--

Added horizontal momentum. Play around with this a bit, I'm not sure this is better or worse than it was without.

Changed how the Stun Beam looks for a spare FFC to minimize risk it fails to find.

Fixed walkability at 74.

Shortened cactus at 61.

Made secret path at :Pisces 6B traversable.

Removed all references to secret sound effects at Gemini 4,3. Not sure why it would be playing, anyway.

EDIT:

Added better explosion graphics to the Explosive and Super Missiles. However, I'm having a damn of a time trying to get the Super Bombs spawned by the Super Missiles to explode instantly. They don't seem to respect the Fuse Timer you set in ZQuest. I'll ask around about this, but if I can't fix it, I'll end up just making a scripted solution and removing the super bomb element entirely.

Also, some more detail about momentum for when I post an update including it:

So the way I have it working is that when you press and release L or R, the game will calculate the player's velocity horizontally by comparing his position in the last two frames. That will be loaded into a Velocity variable (Link_Vx) which will continue to move the player in that direction. If the player is on a solid or sandfall combo, then Link_Vx will rapidly shrink to zero (friction). It took me some noodling to figure out how to implement Vx values smaller than 1. What I ended up doing was creating another variable, Accumulated_Vx, which collects and accumulates the values in Vx while they are less than 1 and then "spends" the accumulated partial Vx's once it has at least 1 to move the player one pixel. Trixy.

If you tap L or R again, you will immediately begin moving in the appropriate direction at the appropriate speed. There is no lag time spent changing direction. That is, momentum does not affect the player's mobility at all; it only kicks in when no L or R input is being used. So, you will notice it mostly only when you are jumping -- your horizontal movement continues if you release L or R, and between screens -- and when you try to go down a hole of 1 tile width. In the case of the hole, your momentum will make it difficult to get into it. Just press "down" as you cross the hole and the Guardian will slip into it just fine, though.

I will soon be revamping how ice combos work, now; basically I'll make the friction reduction you get on ice vastly less than on other substances.

EDIT 2:

Fixed Super Missiles so the explosion now triggers right away. No more delayed-reaction explosives falling out of the impact area!

Changed the momentum code to account for ice combos. No more special script needed for slipping on the ice. Also, the player can now slide off of ice platforms.

 

Replaced ice_slip script with just a check that reduces friction if you're on an ice combo.

Tweaked momentum code to require a one to two frame pause as you switch direction. The reason? This helps you minimize your slipping on the ice combos by hopping up and trying to reverse direction in mid-air to slow down your slide.

Also changed the momentum code to work off of enemy damage bounces as well as off of your own movement. This means that knockback is a bigger deal than it used to be. Too annoying? I don't know!

 

EDIT 3: 

 

I THINK I fixed the ceiling cling bug.  Not entirely sure, but I can't seem to recreate it now.

Edited by C-Dawg, 21 May 2015 - 07:14 PM.

[C-Dawg]

Yeah, I figured that out after a few tries and then just kamikaze'd my squadron. I think I was just getting used to the item pickup and special beam shot mechanics.

Mp3 does work right now (ogg I believe also works), but you might have to stick the files in the ZC directory, I'm not sure if that has been fixed yet. Also music filenames should be short as well. I'll have to look into it. Is it just not working at all for you?

For hitboxes I would just set the hitbox of projectiles to match how big they are. At least that is what I did and it worked pretty well. (I believe zc defaults scripted eweapons to all be exactly 0,0,16,16.)
 

// generic version, can be tedious to set
void SetWeaponHitbox(eweapon e, int x, int y, int w, int h)
{
	e->HitXOffset = x;
	e->HitYOffset = y;
	e->HitWidth = w;
	e->HitHeight = h;
}

// You REALLY only need to set one value for roundish objects
// @size is in pixels.
void SetWeaponHitboxSize(eweapon e, int size)
{
	int offset = (16 - size) / 2;
	e->HitXOffset = offset;
	e->HitYOffset = offset;
	e->HitWidth = size;
	e->HitHeight = size;
}

// lazy version, for small bullets
void SetWeaponHitbox_Small(eweapon e)
{
	e->HitXOffset = 6;
	e->HitYOffset = 6;
	e->HitWidth = 4;
	e->HitHeight = 4;
}

// etc.

Many of my projectiles are FFCs, since they do things other than move in a straight line.  If I overload the SetWeaponHitboxSize, can I just use EffectWidth and EffectHeight to accomplish the same thing?  Do FFCs need to offset, or does Effect automatically start at the center of the FFC? (X+8,Y+8 )?

Edited by C-Dawg, 21 May 2015 - 06:38 PM.

[Saffith]

FFC effect size is from the top-left.

[C-Dawg]

Well, that's uniquely unhelpful.  It suggests that any attempt to change the hitbox of FFCs must be paired with an offset of the X,Y the FFC occupies.  That's a lot of re-doing of code, more than just adding a simple function call.  Is there any equivalent of how Weapons have an Offset variable, but for FFCs?

 

EDIT: Anyone have a clue about why some of the Scorpio doors don't respect the landing squares?  (Green and Blue?)  It happens at Scorpio 4F and at least one other door, but  I can't remember where.  Also, I've had reports of contiune shenanigans at the door between Aquarius and Aries.  But, I can't re-create the problem.  Anyone wanna peek under the hood and offer insight?

 

EDIT2:  Updated to-dos.

(1) Continue to update cutscene code for back half of game. This one might take awhile. So, I have at least the following cutscenes to revamp:

a - Three different conversations with Dr. Mo

     (Make a fourth - what you see when you go there after finishing all corridors)
b - Encounter with ???? in Sagittarius
c - Encounters on Pandora
d - Game endings (good and bad, for now, with credits and some artwork splashes)

(2) Verify that Ceiling bug is gone.  If not, fix.

 

(3) Determine source of problems with continue warps at Aries entrance and landing problems at some Scorpio doors.

(4) Implement new music (I can't get mp3s to run AT ALL so far. :/ ) I have no idea.

(5) Super Secret Mystery Stuff. This is major, and will require another month to do.

Edited by C-Dawg, 21 May 2015 - 07:30 PM.

[Saffith]

Is there any equivalent of how Weapons have an Offset variable, but for FFCs?

Afraid not. I'm trying to come up with an easy way to deal with it, but I don't think there is one this time.

Have you other quests with MP3s? If it's just yours that don't work, maybe it's something to do with the files.

[C-Dawg]

saffith, if you're around later, I can show you the files I'm working with.