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Building an RPG engine in GML

Started by charon the ferryman, 03, February, 2016, 06:41:50 PM

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Salanewt

Will there be an easy way to identify characters once you meet them?

I love where it's going; keep up the good work!
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

charon the ferryman

#21
Quote from: Luna_blade on 14, February, 2016, 04:05:31 PM
Quote from: Seto Kaiba on 13, February, 2016, 03:03:22 PM
You're totally right Sala, its the same thing. I've worked out a lot of the issues, and I've got the plotlines for the main characters set up. I've also thought of a few different ways the story can play out, so there are different paths (there's currently a 100% ending, a regular ending and a genocide ending).

The basic plotline is that you play as Black, and since black is #000000, in that culture that's really bad because essentially you can't predict your future. It's explained in more detail once I get the demo up. Anyways, your friend Red, who also faces discrimination because of the colour of his soul, discusses with you some of the problems with this and wishes for a world without colour. Well, the next morning you wake up, and all the colour is gone! Only the people who can "dip the paint", or touch the colours of their souls, are able to get out of bed. So you and Red go on a mission to discover why and see what can be done about the situation... as well as reversing society's trend of discrimination.

I'll have something out tonight most likely. I currently just got the colour thing working, but there's a bug where the display counter does this annoying thing where if it's 255 it goes to 0 and vice versa.

Damn, that sounds interesting. Is it going to be an abstract game or something?

The idea is to combine both abstract and literal concepts together with the whole colour thing. Essentially, in this culture, colour was discovered to be essentially the soul energy of a person, and it followed the rules of quantum chromodynamics (obviously not real chromodynamics). So the colours are specifically referred to as Red, Green, Blue, and their inverses are Anti-Red, Anti-Green, and Anti-Blue.

Because of the properties of certain colours relating to certain traits in a human being's destiny, the culture centered around predicting people's roles in lives based on the study of their chromodynamics.

Black correlates to void, which means no future can be predicted. This goes along with the game's format, as a player can choose to either save the world or destroy it.

Red correlates to violence and death, which is obviously bad. This is why Red faces so much crap from other people. It turns out that both essentially "fulfill" their prophecies.

Humans think they know everything about the study of chromodynamics, despite continued testing into what it actually is. Because of the cultural significance of their soul colour, people started to try to artificially change it. It turns out that this has horrible effects on people, but they aren't understood because people only have an adolescent understanding of the full nature of soul colours and chromodynamics.

Pretty much all of the recruitment stories involve that person's struggle in some way, and resolving that struggle.

I wanted to take these story elements and make an RPG game that used the colour values of red/green/blue/antired/antigreen/antiblue as actual stats used in battles.

I chose chromodynamics obviously instead of something real because I wanted to illustrate that essentially all colours are equal, regardless of which one is our favourite. And this is really true for anything.

The game also explores some really weird ideas through several characters involving blindness. Because the whole culture is surrounding colour, being totally blind essentially means you cannot physically participate in it, which results in a lot of crap. For example, one character is blind, and you have to warm him up in order to level him up. And a lot of what he says is about how people make such a fuss over something he can't even experience, but nobody wants to listen because he can't get involved directly.

There's a lot more light hearted episodes, including two characters that are based off of two of my favourite musicians. lol

There are also elements of creation, 8 elements that involve how the universe was created. In order to ignite the machine that will bring colours back, the spirits of each element must be reawakened. The elements are earth, water, fire, air, dark, light, life and metal.

Quote from: Lord Squirtle on 14, February, 2016, 04:46:15 PM
Will there be an easy way to identify characters once you meet them?
Pretty much like any other RPG game where they stick out and appear in more than just one area.

charon the ferryman

#22


It's still crashing so I'm not going to release the updated demo yet, but making good progress.

dive_darkness

Looks cool. I like the zooming effect when selecting a target. Looks pretty neat.

charon the ferryman

Thanks. I'll be fixing the graphics more in the next few days, now that I have the battle workflow generally working. There may still be a few bugs regarding targeting, but for the most part it works real well.

Here's the updated link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/txsc2drr8569sey/colors_demo.zip?dl=0

charon the ferryman

Hello, lads and lasses, I got a new update:

This one adds the "Paint" menu, which allows you to change your or your enemy's aura. Also, I fixed quite a few bugs going on in the background. Still no autotargeting yet though, but that will probably be in the next update.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/txsc2drr8569sey/colors_demo.zip?dl=0

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#26
I like where this is going....

-Are there any plans to have female PCs in this game, or are they all going to be male?
-Are those names temporary? (Or just placeholders/up for change?)
-Not sure if that fast spinning on battle opening would make certain types of people a little dizzy or not...
-Is this going to remain a closed source...? Or are there plans to open it at some point? (It's fine either way.)

Anyway... Nice work so far!
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

charon the ferryman

-There are 24 characters and plenty of female ones.
- Mike and Mark are not temporary names, Richard is a placeholder, the player names him.
- I can have an option to turn off the camera angles.
- Closed

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#28
-24 sounds like a lot... But that's interesting...  Is it the type of game where you can collect them all and switch between them whenever... or is it more like Star Ocean 3 where you collect the main cast and can only select fom a few of the others?
-Ah...
@1: Well I know that Michael/Mike is probably one of the most common guy names that I know of... I know that there are a few at my father's workplace, I met a Mike/Michael on RuneScape once, I've known some back in grade school... but after hearing what I heard on a morning(?) talk show once... then that really says something... (Urban Dictionary even says "The MOST common English Male Name. ")
@2: and Mark happens to be my first name... so that is interesting as well... - I wonder how you picked that name?
@3: Can't say that Richard has any meaning to me, though. -I can think of one partically name that would wow me, though... if you picked it without me mentioning it... basically the other guy I meant on RS back in the day.) - (There's also one or two other names that would wow me in a different way, but that's beside the point.)
-That could work.
-Okay...  Sounds good.. But just to make sure you're aware.... Closed doesn't always make it impossible to view the source... since there are sometimes decompilers... or even assembly debuggers. (If I recall correctly, I think I remember finding a decompiler years back for Atrius's editor once... possibly before it was even open-sourced... but I forget the details on that/whether it was buggy or not.... It's been a very long time since I looked into it, so I can't say if it is the same for Studio or not.) - Edit: I think comments were left out, and the labels/variable names were using defaults, though... (i.e. Something like var1, var2, var3, etc??)... but I forget...  Probably still easier to read than my attempts at disassembling GBA ASM. (When you know GML, anyway.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Luna_blade

@decompiling: From what I've read, GM: Studio games cannot be decompiled.
"Hear the sounds and melodies
Of rilets flowing down
They're the verlasting songs
Whispering all the time
As a warning that behind some rocks
There's a rigid grap even
Oreads fear the tread"

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#30
Well, I'll look into that... But what I assume is If the code be executed at all... and as long as the code exists on your hard-drive... (i.e. not executed across the internet on someone else's server.)... then one form of decompiling should be possible... even if it does not match the original source code format. (In that case, I would find decompiling desirable for even my own GM projects... if I had any.)

I know that there is such a thing as code obfuscation... but I have not checked how that would make it impossible? (And maybe such a technique would slow down execution speed? I dunno.)

If you have any information that suggests how it is impossible... then I would be very interested in exactly why... (Besides Atrius's Editor (back in the day)... I suppose that I can't really think of any project that I'd really want it for... but I can see the possibility of myself decompiling a number of other games (maybe?) if I want to understand their bugs/or interested in their code structure/whether it could cause bugs and such... maybe... but can't say I'd do any editing as far as that goes/since I'm not really interested in GM in that way... at least not right now...  but um...)


--- Actually looking it up for a short moment suggests that some versions of GM actually had the source code (and structure) in the exe itself. ---
What do error messages look like when done on Studio-compiled apps?

I start thinking how we have to study GS's decompression routines before we can make compression ones of our own... and I haven't figured if it'd be the same via studying the compiler code to make a decompiler. (Not sure if a number of people would go that far.)


---
While I may check to see if other people have done it... I myself (even if by the small chance that I might have the capability of possibly getting somewhere...(with research, anyway.))... I probably won't waste my time with trying for right now... I think my M&L and GS editor projects have a higher priority.
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Luna_blade

Quote from: Fox on 23, February, 2016, 10:26:03 AM
If you have any information that suggests how it is impossible... then I would be very interested in exactly why... (Besides Atrius's Editor (back in the day)... I suppose that I can't really think of any project that I'd really want it for... but I can see the possibility of myself decompiling a number of other games (maybe?) if I want to understand their bugs/or interested in their code structure/whether it could cause bugs and such... maybe... but can't say I'd do any editing as far as that goes/since I'm not really interested in GM in that way... at least not right now...  but um...)
http://yal.cc/on-gamemaker-studio-game-decompilation/
Atrius' editor wasn't written in GM:Studio.
Quote from: Fox on 23, February, 2016, 10:26:03 AM
Actually looking it up for a short moment suggests that some versions of GM actually had the source code (and structure) in the exe itself.
Yeah.
Quote from: Fox on 23, February, 2016, 10:26:03 AM
What do error messages look like when done on Studio-compiled apps?
That's a good question. I think it depends on the error. But most of the time it will be a silent crash, I think.
Quote from: Fox on 23, February, 2016, 10:26:03 AM
I start thinking how we have to study GS's decompression routines before we can make compression ones of our own... and I haven't figured if it'd be the same via studying the compiler code to make a decompiler. (Not sure if a number of people would go that far.)
Let it slide. I don't think we really have to worry about stolen source code. Most people come here to help, not to steal.
Quote from: Fox on 23, February, 2016, 10:26:03 AM
I think my M&L and GS editor projects have a higher priority.
Yep.
"Hear the sounds and melodies
Of rilets flowing down
They're the verlasting songs
Whispering all the time
As a warning that behind some rocks
There's a rigid grap even
Oreads fear the tread"

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#32
Thanks! That was the page I was looking at, in fact... but I don't think I read every word of it.. While he may know more about the subject than me right now, I did have the feeling the guy who wrote that article may not know just how deep things can go... (That's just the feeling I had, not that that is actually so... I could be completely off.)

And yes, I know Atrius's editor was not written in Studio... besides... Studio didn't even exist back in the day.

That is true as well... for the most part... but I still like the technical/educational side of things. i.e. Building a decompiler may not be stealing in itself... but some people would probably use it for such... Even though a totally legitimate use for it could be to help one to rebuild their own project if they ever lose their own source code. (And believe me, there will be plenty of people who will want it for that.... the majority of which are most likely non-professional programmers.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Luna_blade

Quote from: FoxEven though a totally legitimate use for it could be to help one to rebuild their own project if they ever lose their own source code. (And believe me, there will be plenty of people who will want it for that.... the majority of which are most likely non-professional programmers.
That's right.
"Hear the sounds and melodies
Of rilets flowing down
They're the verlasting songs
Whispering all the time
As a warning that behind some rocks
There's a rigid grap even
Oreads fear the tread"

charon the ferryman

Update:



- Overworld has no menus yet, only one NPC. Also sprites/backgrounds obviously are temporary.
- Item menu doesn't have any function in battles yet.
- I haven't done anything with the stat upgrades so that is probably buggy.
- Party colour is currently random to show off the music change mechanic.
- 1 in 4 battles will be harder and will have different music.
- Fleeing always works
- Some sprites are missing/gibberish
- Possible crashes (please report to me all crashes with copy/paste of what it spits out)
- No animations in battle. I might not even get this in by the time I get a crowdfunding demo out. The way the battle's animations are programmed make setting up certain things complicated (pseudo-3D graphics). I have an idea for an engine but it's so time consuming to make sure it works properly that I want to develop it after the rest of the engine is complete.
- Camera spin sometimes does this overlay glitch, it's because I'm not done with it yet ;)
- Loss isn't programmed.
- You can restart the game by pressing shift, and spawn a battle in the overworld with backspace.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/txsc2drr8569sey/colors_demo.zip?dl=0

Salanewt

Nice work! I like where that background is heading as well, looks calm and stuff.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

charon the ferryman



https://www.dropbox.com/s/txsc2drr8569sey/colors_demo.zip?dl=0

Demo Update:
-You now have an inventory. Main bag + individual character inventories.
-Menus!!!!!
-Party menu – you can equip items, move your party around, check your moves and check your stats. Talk menu currently WIP.
- Inventory – You can give items to characters and toss. Use doesn't work yet but none of the items provided have uses outside of equipping yet anyways...
- Option – Just two at the moment.
- Saving!!! You can load a game by pressing shift while in the overworld, and it will load from a previous save file.
- A few minor balance changes, most notably dipping costs more MP
- Characters have abilities, although they're invisible to the player. Richard doubles experience gained from battles and Mike autotargets and has a chance of dealing triple damage.
- bug fixes, bug fixes everywhere

To Do:
- Currently working on a way to have leveling be more balanced. Right now if you battle the same characters over and over you get the same amount of experience.
- Display friendship stats on the menus, lol forgot to do that
- Sprites, visual bug fixes, ect.
- Victory screen has some visual bugs if you equip stat-boosting items.
- Battle item effects (Orgonite, Scrolls, Arrows and Potions) as well as bag equip (use a turn to equip an item)

charon the ferryman


Salanewt

Nice work, Seta Metta! I can't remember if I asked in Skype (I think I did), but were you planning to add voice sounds when they talk?
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

charon the ferryman

Thanks, Sala.

Here's another update for ya - Name screen and a lot of cleanup work in the presentation department: