As mentioned on another thread, I thought a thread like this might be good for a bit of craic. It could also serve as a general place for support / inspiration and, as it gets bumped, a reminder (to me at least) that I am actually supposed to be getting on with it if I actually want it finished instead of procrastinating all the time.

So here goes. Today I won't be doing much but over the weekend I plan on going back over every forum post I've made in order to extract all the useful bits of code etc I've been given, but didn't bother writing down, in order to put all the info and reference details in one text file for reference. This isn't just another way to avoid doing anything: I actually need a few of them right now in order to progress.

What about you?

Well, I have no idea what a 'craic' is, but I get the idea.

Aside from no doubt posting more questions (sorry), my main aims are to simply work more on the guts of my game, while trying not to get bogged down with every little hiccup I come across.

Thanks to Jay (and others) the night level has been nowhere near the headache I thought it would be, so I plan to continue adding these to the rest of my locations.

I also need to work on the plot, as I'm still making it up as I go along. I don't have an ending, which is starting to nag a little.

Not being able to fade the text on timer scripts and key press is starting to bug me, but with the retro file from Jay that Silver pointed me to, I should now, at least, be able to use a clear screen on key press, without losing my custom styles.

Craic = crack. The Irish way it's said. Not that I'm Irish.

I'm trying to muster the resolve to just finish this dumb little test game already so that I can go on to more interesting stuff.

Also, sort of in the vein of what Silver was talking about, every time I figure out a new trick I've been making a new game file where I implement just that one thing and then name it something like desc_change_demo or flashlight_demo and stick it a folder for later reference. That way if I ever need to put something similar in a future game I can just load it up and see exactly how I did it.

I'm too busy now with work to work on game making sighs. On my free time and~or days off, I get my social need, posting help on this site, which helps a bit with coding, but it's not directly working on [(learning) to code] in more game aspects, and I don't really have enough free time anyways to work on learning more code (as it can take at least 6 hrs, which I don't have), and my mind is so tired from working and the free time I have is so inconsistant too, that it's really hard to try to jump into learning to code, when I got the time. If I wasn't working, I could work on code every day, progressing (hopefully), as I still remember what I've done yesterday, and can continue from that point, but I am working, so this is really an impossible task, sighs. I get bored, and~or discouraged, often, jumping from one thing to another, so I don't really get concrete progress done, and if you don't have a game of functional coding, it's hard to be motivated, working on the boring coding. It really helps to finish functional coding that you can see~play within a game, to have something tangible for your code work. Sighs, you really need the time, to work on game making everyday, and the dedication diligence too, as if it was a career, to learn to code. As 'off and on' work, doesn't really generate much progress.

I'm mostly just been working on character creation, but my problem is that, I see how poor~ugly~inefficient my code is, and I want to refine it, but I don't know how to do that advanced code level of refinement, lol, yet I try to do so, so I get even less work done, as I'm always trying to make my coding better, instead of just getting more and more code done, towards a more tangible game functionality, sighs.

When I wasn't working, I worked on learning the various Library codings available, trying to get to the point where I can create my own code of that library code, totally on my own (without having to look up the library code) using my memory~understanding of it. I think I had the equipment library and magic library understood barely before I was working, but I've forgotten all that now, due to being so busy with work.

I'd get bored with trying to code, just putting in objects into a game, but that quickly is realized even more boring to do, laughs, and it's totally empty, a bunch of objects, but no events~actions (scripting), nothing tanglible that you can play in the game, such as a fun combat system, dialogue system, magic system, equipment system, stealth system, item system, etc etc etc.

---------

Sorry, for the depressing post, but if anyone else is having difficulty, you're not alone, as I too am having difficulty, as read~seen by this depressing post of mine, laughs.

Well at least you seem to understand all that crazy coding stuff better than most of us, so if you did ever feel like sitting down to write a game you at least shouldn't hit too many obstacles there. Though it sounds like the one you're working on is pretty complex.

It seems like IF attracts two kinds of people...those who are good at the writing side of things and those who are all about the programming. I'm definitely in the former category, and it seems rare to find someone who can easily switch back and forth between both. I've always figured it's that whole deal with the right/left sides of the brain.

I definitely understand about work though, I have the same problem (I know I know, look at me calling being employed a 'problem' ). I'm just physically and mentally drained by the time I get home, and by the time I've gotten done with whatever needs to be done around the house and managed to unwind enough to start thinking about writing...it's time to go to bed so I can start all over again in the morning! Sunday is basically the only day I can spend a lot of time on my WIPs and it just flies by too fast.

...or else it's a day like today that crawls by too slow, and I sit around and don't get anything accomplished anyway because I've been dealing with some intense intense pain in my teeth and it's just a tiny bit distracting.

my problem is that I can't do anything, lol:

I'm not an author, so writing story~plot, history, language, and dialogue is a challenge

I'm not an artist, so creating media (pics, sprites, audio, vid, and etc) is impossible

I'm not a coder~programmer, but I want~need to learn this, but despite how much you think I know, I don't know anything hardly still, sighs, it's so hard to code in stuff. Yes, I want to make an ambigious (lol oops, HK edit: ambi * T * ious, lol) game: RPG, hehe. Well, at least learn how to (as I want to learn how to code, and these RPG systems use~are coding structures). This is probably the only thing I can learn... learning to write is harder, learning media is harder, etc, well at least for me.

I'm not a designer, ya I've played a lot of games, but this doesn't translate in how to actually go about designing a game as everyone quickly finds out, how to organization~plan~develop the game, deciding what I want or don't want, what I should have or what I shouldn't have, what I am able to do vs what I'm not able to do, etc etc etc... the process~steps of designing developing a game, organizing and deciding upon my thoughts~ideas, etc etc etc.

etc etc etc disciplines... (my mind has gone blank... argh)

this is why game companies have a team of 100 programmers + the other disciplines, and how incredible the early game makers, the solo game makers, were, hehe

------

game making is the most complex thing in the world... as it requires all disciplines! You're literally creating your own world, which requires all this stuff.

--------------

ya, wouldn't it be so nice to be born to rich parents (or born with a natural talent that earns you millions), where you never have to work, you can do whatever you want your entire life, having fun ~ being a celeb playboy or party animal, you can devote your entire time and energy to something you're passionate about. you can pay for the best help~training available, having agents babysit you your entire life, never having to grow up and work, the best lawyers who allow you to get away with any and all crimes that you commit, and who protect you from the abuses from other people, and etc...

(when I watched the movie 'Elysium', all I saw was hollywood vs non-hollywood, geewiz, I wonder where Matt Damon lives in real life compared to his role in the movie: in the earth slums or in Elysium: Elysium. What the heck does Matt Damon know about living in the slums... Hollywood and Silicon Valley, is Elysium in real life, and all of the hollywood actors, music artists, corporate ceos, professional athletes, lawyers~congressmen~politicians, live in Elysium, while the rest of us in the earth slums)

my jealousy~hatred towards movie~music~sports celebs and~or just born to rich parents, sighs. A life of total leisure, never having to work your entire life, able to spend 100% of your time and energy upon your passion, and etc... sighs. The 'haves and have nots', and I'm born and stuck as a 'have not'.

HK, if you ever want a code review, you can always PM me or email me. I know I have benefited in the past by having other pairs of eyes looking at what I had done.

What am I working on today? What should I be working on? The former: just running ideas around in my head for some next game. Maybe some QuestKit research The latter: finishing the one I have started, by fleshing out the parts that need it.

Marzipan: I do the same as you. I have a lot of little test files, not that I know what they all do any more, and I still can't find things easily...

having those test files (either your own code or others' code~libraries), is super super super useful: they literally ARE your RESOURCES ~ KNOWLEDGE BASE, and you slowly build up these resources ~ knowledge base, everytime you create new code or someone else posts new code, your 'knowledge base ~ resources' grow, hehe

(the problem is indeed organizing and thus re-finding all the stuff though... lol)

-----

@Jay,

thanks for the offer, and I may take it up at some point (though there's a lot of other stuff for me to work on, aside from any possible code help I need), so I don't want to trouble you, as you're very busy enough already, laughs. Helping everyone on the forums in very excellent quality (and correcting all of my mistakes as I try to help others, in my poor quality of help), working on testing the QuestKit, your real life work~responsibilities, your own quest game making, and etc... hehe

------

about coding (what I've encountered~learned about it):

it's one thing (and a big thing, well for us code noobs) if you can craft code that does something (such as 'equiping~unequiping' equipment), but that's only the first step... actually making a game code system of that game aspect, is quite something else in terms of coding... as not only does it have to work on the large scale, but it also has to be integrated~able to work, with everything else in the game, laughs. I am far far far far away from this, barely able to get code crafted that works at doing something, but figuring out how to craft advanced coding to put that aspect of code into a game~code system, is far beyond my noob code abilities. As, if you don't already know how to structure that code system, you're going to spend forever coding in an infinitely cumbersome code chunk after code chunk...

hey guys, this is a perhaps cheesy motivational poster but I think the advice within is very good:

http://seekingsightblog.files.wordpress ... c3a551.jpg

It's by Ira Glass (the radio host).

I really like that ^

Hard work (and trying forever: not quiting) only goes so far... as you got to actually (the ugly truth) have the ability too... sighs.

We went a little off the rails in this thread but we should keep it around, I think it will help keep us motivated.

Haven't been able to do any serious work on my game in almost a week, but today I am writing content for an NPCs library. (as in a library full of books, not the programmer sort )

I still haven't done any of the below...

Silver wrote:
So here goes. Today I won't be doing much but over the weekend I plan on going back over every forum post I've made in order to extract all the useful bits of code etc I've been given, but didn't bother writing down, in order to put all the info and reference details in one text file for reference. This isn't just another way to avoid doing anything: I actually need a few of them right now in order to progress.

What about you?

After working on a system for using a laptop/iPad/tablet type device for about 8 hours, I finally got something workable. It's nowhere near as detailed as I'd imagined or hoped, but it does its job (providing vital info for the player). I might have to rethink what type of device it is, as once you get by the password, there's only one folder in there, leaving it all feeling rather empty and not really like a tablet-like device at all.

The really frustrating thing is, I'm now beginning to see the limitations of using the UI alone. If I could code, there'd be so much more I could have done with it. Things like variables and integers are a total mystery to me, so I avoid them like the plague, but in turn this means I'm missing out on being able to do so much.

I really recommend figuring variables out, they allow for so much flexibility in pretty much any situation you can think of. When you get down to it all a variable is is a flag, except instead of just 'on' or 'off' it can be in an infinite number of states triggered by an infinite number of scripts or commands and can tell the game to do something different for each one.

For a quick example, say you have an NPC named Bob, you make a variable called Bob_disposition and set it on him, then define it as something like, if this variable's at a 1 Bob attacks the player, if it's a 2 he tells you to piss off and mind your own business, at a 3 he just says he's just not interested in talking, at a 4 he'll be polite and let minor clues slip, and so on and so on until he's spilling the bad guy's entire plan and begging you to gay marry him. Then you go to your commands and just do things like, 'if the player does [action], add 1 to Bob_disposition'. Or subtract 1, or set it to a specific number, or whatever you like.

Marzipan wrote:For a quick example, say you have an NPC named Bob, you make a variable called Bob_disposition and set it on him, then define it as something like, if this variable's at a 1 Bob attacks the player, if it's a 2 he tells you to piss off and mind your own business, at a 3 he just says he's just not interested in talking, at a 4 he'll be polite and let minor clues slip, and so on and so on until he's spilling the bad guy's entire plan and begging you to gay marry him. Then you go to your commands and just do things like, 'if the player does [action], add 1 to Bob_disposition'. Or subtract 1, or set it to a specific number, or whatever you like.

Clear as mud!

Seriously, though, once I've finished this game of mine, I will be working on learning how to use this stuff.

I've been trying to help OurJud with VARIABLES (Variables and Attributes)... lots of posts of mine trying to explain them (for many new people)... sighs. At some point though, I know OurJud will pick them up, he's really learning fast, and you have to learn them anyways for more advanced game making, hehe.

let's 'codify' something in real life:

(a pretend person, not the actual historical person, lol)

Object Name: john_smith

john_smith.first_name = john // or: john.alias = john
john_smith.last_name = smith
john_smith.hair_color = "brown"
john_smith.height_in_inches = 78
john_smith.weight_in_pounds = 250
john_smith.title = "explorer"
john_smith.ethnicity = "english"
john_smith.equipment_slots = split ("head;face;neck;shoulders;arms;fingers;chest;backside;waist;legs;feet", ";")
john_smith.head = hat
john_smith.chest = shirt
john_smith.backside = cloak
john_smith.feet = boots
john_smith.dead = false
john_smith.human = true
john_smith.iris_color = "green"
john_smith.eye_color = "white"
john_smith.pupil_color = "black"
john_smith.arm_quantity_integer = 2
john_smith.arm_quantity_string = "two"

if (john_smith.weight_in_pounds > 300) {
-> msg (john_smith.first_name + " is fat.")
} else if (john_smith.weight_in_pounds < 200) {
-> msg (john_smith.first_name + " is skinny.")
}

if (not john_smith.hair_color = "brown") {
-> msg (john_smith.first name + " has changed his hair color.")
} else if (john_smith.hair_color = "brown") {
-> msg (john_smith.first_name + "'s natural hair color is brown.")

Silver wrote:I still haven't done any of the below...

"Silver"

So here goes. Today I won't be doing much but over the weekend I plan on going back over every forum post I've made in order to extract all the useful bits of code etc I've been given, but didn't bother writing down, in order to put all the info and reference details in one text file for reference. This isn't just another way to avoid doing anything: I actually need a few of them right now in order to progress.

What about you?

Well that took less than half an hour. I was sort of putting the prospect of wading through 500+ of my previous posts off looking for all the info, but on starting realised that when clicking 'Your Posts' it actually just lists the threads you posted on rather than individual posts so it was pretty easy.

With regards to this here "variable" talk... as always, it just doesn't have to be that complicated, at least not in the beginning.

The basic idea behind attributes (and local variables in scripts) is that they are place where you can store things and then get them back later. What can you store? Lots of different types of things. (Check out the "attributes" tab on an object, create an attribute and see all the various types it can be. And there are even some missing there.) The most common types of attributes you'll see are strings, numbers (integers and "real" numbers) and booleans (on/off, true/false, yes/no, does/doesn't).

What is the difference between an attribute and a variable? In Quest parlance, an attribute is data stored on an object. Only objects in Quest persist (e.g. if you save and reload a game), and only their attributes stick around. You can define variables in your scripts that come into existence when you use them, but they will disappear as soon as the script exits... If you want something to hang around during the game, it has to be an attribute on some object.

What can you use attributes for? Well, it turns out you have been using them already! The Quest GUI is an easy front end for assigning attributes to your objects. Things like room descriptions, object aliases, whether to show hyperlinks or not, etc are all just stored as attributes.

And that points out an important thing: attributes don't have to be *variables*. You can easily put data values in attributes that never changes during your game. Why would you want to do that (beyond the obvious ones of room names and things)? Well, consider your earlier code snippets of checking for a password. You might have something like:

if (result = "1234") {
  // They entered the password correctly.
}

Now let's say you wanted to change that password. You would have to go and find the script where it's used and modify it in the script. That's doable, but not the most fun thing in the world.

The alternative is to store the password in an attribute. Let's say you create a string attribute on the game object called "secretpassword", and you give it the value "1234". Then your script would be:

if (result = game.secretpassword) {
  // They entered the password correctly.
}

Is that clearer or easier? It might look a bit more confusing up front (or maybe not), but then later when you need to change the password, you can just look at the attributes on your game and easily change it without having to look at script. It's especially handy if you have the same thing used in multiple places. For example, if you needed to use the same password in multiple rooms, if you create an attribute somewhere and use it everywhere, then you can change all the passwords at once by changing that one attribute instead of going to all the room scripts and making sure you change them all.

If you get a chance, the next time you run your game in the Quest desktop GUI, while it's running click on the button near the top that says "Debugger". It might sound scary, but it really isn't. What the debugger does it let you peek at all your objects and their attributes. By perusing this a bit, you might get a better feel for how Quest is put together - and how your objects change over time. (An interesting attribute to look at is "parent", which says what room something is in (or what container)).

Marzripan's example above even gave me pause, and I know variables and all that. The reason why is that the complexity lies not with the use of variables as such but in the algorithm. There are much simpler algorithms that you will use in your code in the beginning (e.g, setting and testing variables and flags). As you advance, you'll probably graduate to more advanced usages. By the time you need what Marzipan is describing, you'll already understand why, because you had the need and worked out what you want to do.

And when it comes to them thar scripts, them varmints don't need to be so complicated neither. There is a tenet in coding that has been around for decades (whether arising as Donald Knuth's "Literate Programming" or the more recent "code should read like well written prose") which is that you should try to make your code as simple and clear as possible. *Readability* is a key part of that. You probably don't need to worry about that now (just getting scripts to work is an achievement; I can remember when I was first writing C code), but it's good to keep in mind.

As an example, let's dissect this bit of code from above:

if (not john_smith.hair_color = "brown") {
   msg (john_smith.first name + " has changed his hair color.")
} else if (john_smith.hair_color = "brown") {
   msg (john_smith.first_name + "'s natural hair color is brown.")
}

It's a fairly simple "if" written in a fairly convoluted way. To see that, consider reading it as English: "If it's not the case that John Smith's hair is brown, then say "John has change his hair color." Otherwise, if John Smith's hair is brown, say "John's hair color is brown."

(One easy change is to move the split "not" and "=" together into "<>" for (not equal), but that tends to be a pain at the script level as the "<" and "> characters force you to wrap CDATA around the script. Don't worry about that. I'm just babbling a bit. But if you did that, then the code would at least read "If John Smith's hair is not brown", which is somewhat better.)

The awkward bits are twofold and hint why you'd never say it in English like that. First, it needlessly duplicates the condition. Second, it has a negative in the if part of an if/else. The former should be fairly clear. (If not, consider would you ever say, "If John, Mary and Tony are going to the party, then I will as well. Else if John, Mary and Tony are not going to the party, I'll stay home." Not only is it harder for a listener to parse, but people will look at you funny. lol)

The latter might is more subtle and might not be as clear. Consider whether it seems awkward to say "If the TV is not on, I'll read a book; otherwise, I'll watch it." Contrasted with: "If the TV is on, I'll watch it; otherwise, I'll read a book." It might be me, but the second sentence seems clearer.

Putting those two together, and approaching it from "write in code what I mean", it helps to actually state, first, in English, and clearly, what we mean. I would say, 'If John's hair is brown, say "John's natural hair color is brown". Otherwise, say "John has changed his hair." ' That translates into code as:

if (john_smith.hair_color = "brown") {
    msg (john_smith.first_name + "'s natural hair color is brown.")
} else {
    msg (john_smith.first name + " has changed his hair color.")
}

Less typing. Easier to input with the GUI. Easier to understand. More natural to read. And easier for someone reading it to take in.

Keeping it simple will make your life so much easier. And if that "someone reading it" is you six months from now trying to work out what you did, you'll be thanking yourself instead of cursing yourself! And you'll have a lot more fun.

More advice: I love writing code, but the best code is the code you don't have to write. Things like use the text processor over writing hard-coded formatting script. And don't use attributes just for their own sake. Decide what you want to do, and then see what you need to make it happen. Sometimes you don't need attributes at all, or maybe much fewer than you thought.

Yeah I suppose my example wasn't really the best thing to spring on somebody completely new to variables. Using it for NPC dispositions was just the first thing to come to mind since in a previous (unfinished, not Quest) WIP there was a segment where you had to either scare the crap out of a prisoner or convince them to trust you, and that was the point I saw the light and realized how awesome variables could be. Before that I avoided them like the plague too.

But thinking back I believe the very first time I ever used a variable was just on a bucket that could be either empty, full, or half-full...maybe something simple like that would be a better place to start.

Well, you're right - variables are the way to go for better NPCs. I don't even know the best way to do that myself. Perhaps you can put an inference engine under Quest the way Versu does and then have true AI in your games.

I can definitely see a use for saving a password as an attribute. That way you could randomly generate the password so it isn't the same on every play through.

Getting BOT, I've neglected my game for the last few days (have you noticed the absence of questions? ) due to circumstances keeping me away from the PC. I aim to get stuck in at the weekend... might even do some tonight.

*entire forum braces itself for wave of new threads*

I really need to get stuck in again. Im on annual leave next week but then also have children duties lol.

Coming up I have ~an entire weekend off~. Two days, right next to each other, no work. It's unprecedented! It's amazing!

Gonna try and make that final push to get this little WIP out the door, then move on to bigger and better projects that've been swimming around inside my head.

I'm going to start working on a new file format for the response library. It will be an easier to edit format, which can then be translated either into Quest objects or Javascript or... I can't see making a much larger version of what I just did with spondre and be able to keep it all together.

Marzipan wrote:*entire forum braces itself for wave of new threads*

Relax. Been at the hospital all day with a family health scare, so will be caught up in that until everything's resolved.

OurJud wrote:

"Marzipan"

*entire forum braces itself for wave of new threads*

Relax. Been at the hospital all day with a family health scare, so will be caught up in that until everything's resolved.

Somehow I missed your post here before...hope everything's all right now and you and your family are having a good Christmas!

Thanks, Marzipan. I can't really say we're out of the woods yet (if you'll pardon the pun). It's just a waiting game, really. I don't want to bore you with details and it wouldn't be appropriate anyway.

Brick wall!

I've hardly done anything on my game since before Christmas. Getting really frustrated and despondent trying to come up with something original and different for the last couple of hurdles for the player.

How I'm trying to write my game (and a nod to Red Dwarf, if you will) is Backwards.

I've always been a believer in knowing the end before you know the beginning. Once you know the ending it's far easier to work out the narrative that leads there than writing from the beginning and then trying to work out an ending. Unless you're Stephen King. And he was terrible at endings. Or terrible at getting to them quickly enough.

I'll bare that in mind for next time, Silver. Bit late for my current project, though.

Descriptions descriptions descriptions! They never end!

...if only I could stop spending like 20 minutes at a time agonizing over a tiny paragraph maybe I could actually get somewhere...

Marzipan wrote:...if only I could stop spending like 20 minutes at a time agonizing over a tiny paragraph maybe I could actually get somewhere...

I feel ya, brother! Ahem... anyway.

I just put my game back a few weeks by creating a situation that calls for yet another character to come into the fold.

I'm having a really good day. Managed to get to the bottom of getting Quest 5.6 working remotely, I now understand the integer and other attributes in code more and I can get secondary audio working in the offline browser with Quest 5.6 if I render to .ogg vorbis. That's loads of stuff sorted.

Now need to plough on before stopping again as I get my head around simple JS stuff in Quest (like basic website mouseon mouseoff stuff, which I don't understand properly yet).

Well done, Silver. Glad it's going well for you.

Not that I'm crying 'woe is me', but I still have zero interest, enthusiasm or desire to work on my game

Well I haven't worked on my game as intensely as you did. I've been distracted by a million things such as audio (now resolved) getting rid of the blue bar (not resolved but I won't give in) 3d graphics (interesting bit of procrastination that will ensure I never get the game finished so I abandoned); so I've got plenty of time to run out of steam too. But I've learned loads. I'll be devastated if I can't finish this game as I love the ideas I'm having. But on the plus side - look at the things I've learned! That's the main thing.

Aye, 'appen you're right, lad!

I miss this thread.

Made some good progress on my game today! Wrote up all the interactions for a new NPC and got a multi-step puzzle working to the point where I believe a player shouldn't be able to break it. Also redid quite a bit of flavor text using Pixie's method here, so those sections are much neater and more immersive now.

Tomorrow I try to re-teach myself how to draw. Wish me luck.

Well if no one else is going to use this thread I guess I'll just adopt it as my personal writer's diary.

Turns out that my drawing ability has actually atrophied and I was probably doing better in the 5th grade than I am now, but I'll try again tomorrow. I guess the character's don't really need portraits but I would like to include them.

Didn't get much time for actual writing but I worked a little on a side project and then went back to my main game and replaced a bunch of place holder descriptions + wrote a poem and a short story for the library location. Not a whole lot accomplished on the technical side but I may just have to plug away at descriptions again until the weekend when I'm better able to focus at this stuff.

These days, I'm spending more time working on my game engine than the game itself. Each new thing I want to add ends up taking me away from the game to implement the feature. And sometimes I use it as an excuse to take a break. I'm barely into the game yet, but the engine is taking shape nicely enough.

Yesterday was clean up of the engine object itself, as I want to figure out how to somehow approach the game content in a TDD fashion, where I can actually have automated tests for things like moving around in rooms, game state, etc. (I had problems in spondre where on two occasions, changes I made caused aspects of the game to no longer act as expected, which was only found by testers. Not a good situation, and not one I want to repeat, especially if the game grows to any significant size.)

Well sure, if you're writing some kind of complicated, super fancy game. But some of us are just making fetch quests for fairies.

We'll get there eventually to Jay's+Pixie's+Pertex'+etcs' code abilities levels... laughs... hopefully...

I can't even do a structual design of a single system (still stuck on just the structuring design of my 'character creation' system, sighs) for my game... let alone designing an entire game engine... laughs.

I'm banking on using my miniscule mastery of a few buttons on the GUI to create game after game with the outside chance that I can learn to use and understand more complex code over time. After that happens... Scratch that... If that happens, I look forward into the distant future at making my games more elaborate. Hopefully, the simplicity of my code translates into an old-school-feel text adventure game that FEELS not-so-basic.

Currently, I'm working on 'Xanadu - Into the Compound', with specific attention to incorporating multiple (more than two) outcomes for player action. I hope, in doing so, I master a new GUI button (lol) and Xanadu 2 gives players a free range, "real world" gaming experience. I felt part 1 was a tad linear (but still the best text adventure game EVER... ever written by XanMag).

Today I spent most of the time at the computer helping my 10 year old daughter who wants to create a video game comparable to Call of Duty...

Pixie,

http://youtu.be/VZ2HcRl4wSk !!!

and you did it in just a day? showed her how to make such a game? hehe, okay I'll never become as good as you! laughs (Pixie's is a good programmer, but not that good... I don't think it's possible anyways... lol)

(maybe I shouldn't be so ambitious with my own game-making, a full RPG, laughs)

(a bit surprised a 10 year old girl likes a game like CoD... females usually aren't into war~killing~FPS games... more of a male thing...)

Oh boy. My first real day off yesterday and I spent (no joke) a solid 6.5 hours on ONE room. Granted it was a very big room, equipped with a pool, vending machine, containers, about ten +commands, and a dozen interactable items. Regardless, it feels very overwhelming when I have about ten rooms left to explore. Whew...

I did do some cool stuff in those rooms and learned a lot. Game 2 might be an exploration in stretching my Quest knowledge - hopefully that won't make the game feel choppy. I've got menus, string lists, get input stuff, changing player objects, changing x me descriptions, a half dozen turn scripts (which I loathe!), etc, etc...

Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll be asking for full game beta testers within a couple weeks!

Happy gaming!

laughs, I spend 8 hrs (or right now, I'm going on like a month of trying to figure this current code design thing out, argh!) on just a single script block or a code design system... being able to code~program well is vital to making a game, sighs.

Turnscripts aren't bad... if you keep them simple (your Turnscripts are too complex for me, laughs), lol. I keep my Turnscripts very simple, at least so far, I've had no need for any complex Turnscripts, like how you do.

Today I plan on working on store hours based on a real time clock. (like Animal Crossing)
So far I got a furniture store working... where it's open from 8 AM to 8 PM
Now I gotta do the other stores. *sigh*

Been busy researching a few things for my game. Since it takes place in a mall and there are different stores within the mall. The Pharmacy is taking most of my time. Using Photoshop to help with the labels for each medicine I've picked for the puzzle I've come up with. It's going to be a while before I start adding it into the game.

Whew. I'm finally retiring after an eight hour Quest binge. I had to stay up all night tonight and am sleeping though most of the day. Leaving for vacation and I have to drive through the night tonight - guess I'm getting ready for 3rd shift hours!

But, anyway... I have made HUGE progress on my game. Tested several times my entire game and ironed out glitches. Got everything working just as I want it with the exception of the 'x me' when my character get into disguise, but I think that is an easy fix. I have the framework for the final scene done - ended up with 90+ rooms, 300+ interactive objects, ~15-20 "puzzles" ranging in difficulty, a couple dozen unique commands, a nifty built-in dual hint system, and a secondary player/NPC that is an entire project in itself.

As I've posted before, I am still concerned about the length of it and the patience of the player to actually complete it, but it is quality length and something I will be proud of when I am finished. In two short weeks, I'll need beta-testers, so start signing up!! =P

Happy Gaming!
XanMag

awesome, way to go, XanMag! Keep up the work, we like more games made for us to play (when we got the time to do so, lol ~ HK will get around to playing games, but he's going to enter a very busy period in real life with school classes soon).

TWO rooms to go plus the great escape and it will be complete!! =)

I totally overestimated my release date. Go figure. So, still got a bit to go but shouldn't be too much longer I hope. Soccer has started and has been eating my time up. Working on an interesting execution scene requiring multiple sound files playing at the same time. Then, my meeting with Dingo and finally an escape scene to end game 2. Wish me luck.

I had a small totally unplanned break which turned into a long one. I wish I could report that I achieved loads of other stuff in that time but it was mostly procrastination. Looking forward to getting back into it again. Like, err, tonight.

Welcome back, Silver! Glad to hear from you!, we've seemingly lost (a least they've not been posting, hopefully they've jsut been enjoying their summer off) some people (though we got some new faces~posters too), sighs.

Well... I'm nearly done with game 2 (finally), but I am awaiting a solution to my most recent problem(s).

Somehow I've managed to get to game end with the same unsolved problem... THREE TIMES over!

I need multiple criteria met for 1) creating my circuit board, 2) breaking into a maximum security prison cell, and 3) disabling multiple enemy vehicles for a clean get away!

That one problem has me stumped three times! lol I need to be able to achieve multiple things in any order to complete each of those three tasks above! And then... I'm, done! So, anyone with answers to my one problem, please see the Quest forum topics for my recent trouble!!

Getting soooo close!!

EDIT: So... yea... I think, with great help from the forums, I have figured out how to code my conclusion. Before too long... hopefully a few short days and before school starts again, I'll have the game ready for private testing!

Today I opened up my game and clicked around a little to read some descriptions and then closed it again.

Most progress I've made in months.

Finish that game, slacker!!

I'm aware that this is the most infrequently checked forum section but thought I would throw this out there...

I'm back to working on my 2nd game again after a long break due to school and soccer, but soccer is winding down and I've a bit more time on my hands. So... I have been working on the second installment of Xanadu. At this point I am pretty much in the process of fine tuning things and hope to be done in a couple weeks. It is incredibly massive and probably should have been split into two or even three separate games. I hope this is not a turn off. My first game was large and I get no indication that anyone has actually finished it... =(

Anyway. Thought I'd throw that out there. It is getting close to completion and look forward to offering it to Beta testers.

Happy Gaming!

i'm still struggling to nail down a cool concept for my game. I'm kinda sold on the idea of a dilemma-based stroy, something to do with the choice between immortality and impending doom, however, i can't seem to find a way of giving the game a logical conclusion should immortality be the way the plot twists.

feels a little like the more i think about the, the more i go in circles.

Usual damn story! Set out in earnest to make some headway with my game, and got bogged down with little details on the functionality of one location.

I'm now frustrated and drained and have nothing left in the tank to do any more.

You better start knocking out the nuts and bolts of that game, OJ, or else you will never get done! Give me something I can beta-test!!

As for nothing left in the tank... you need a drink to sit down with you and help. It does wonders!

XanMag wrote:You better start knocking out the nuts and bolts of that game, OJ, or else you will never get done! Give me something I can beta-test!!

As for nothing left in the tank... you need a drink to sit down with you and help. It does wonders!

A cup of coffee does help. I'm guessing that's not what you mean by 'drink', but it helps nonetheless.

As for never getting done, I could represent my country for it.

The best energy drink is still chocolate milk.

All those expensive sports energy drinks (gaterade, powerade, etc) and etc drinks, are all scams, good simple chocolate milk remains scientifically the best energy drink, and it's very cheap too (well milk is a bit expensive, but not as much as the sports energy drinks).

(NEVER ever drink those advertised energy drinks, 'monster', '5 hr', 'redbull', and etc... they've killed many stupid people, get sued, and changed their name brand over and over, killing more idiotic people, "peddlers of poison", magical ars.enic and mercury elixirs of eternal youth and cures everything' have been around since humans existed, due to that there's always a huge supply of stupid people who buy these poisons):

https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/l ... nn1OhwyxDQ
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/ene ... 40315.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index. ... rgy_d.html
http://cspinet.org/new/201406251.html
http://www.webmd.com/diet/20121116/more ... rgy-drinks
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/20121 ... ergy-drink
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/monster-ene ... uit-filed/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/busin ... .html?_r=0
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kan ... ands-death
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bro ... -1.1498452