Tänzer, a "ninja" game (Dev Diary thread)

[mix256]

I'm investigating and trying to sort that out.
Are you using SPR_xx method just in the main loop (never from VInt call back) ?

Awesome!
Yes, everything is made in the main-loop.

[Stef]

Hmm i looked into the code and couldn't find anything problematic I added some security here and there but it shouldn't change anything in the end :-/

[mix256]

Hmm i looked into the code and couldn't find anything problematic I added some security here and there but it shouldn't change anything in the end :-/

I'm quite certain that one of the auto_slow sprite objects were on screen. And I've got than one sorted to be at the back. But then again, this exact scenario has probably happened hundreds of times without the error before.
Thanks for checking! I'll see if I can get you any more info and I'll try to reproduce it in some way.

[Stef]

In fact the sort method play a lot with the sprite linked list so i think the issue comes form using the SPR_setDepth(..) method but i couldn't see anything wrong with it for now :-/

[mix256]

With having the KS done, it's back to doing the game 100% again. \o/

Started this morning by redrawing the slash-animations to get some variety in those. And when I was about to convert those with rescomp it didn't work...since I'm on a mac this week. Thought I'd taken care of that already and recompiled it? Need to backtrack the versions to see what has happened. Worst case I'll just finish this off when I'm back home in front om my "real" computer.

Also, the first stage background now have a silhouette fence fore-ground. Will tidy it up a bit and post pictures of it when they look better.

Will be concentrating on doing only stuff that is needed for the demo the coming weeks. That includes getting the vanity/start/options screens in place as well as a way to show the hiscore. Think the demo will cover the whole first level and the first stage of the second level. That means I have to finish the first sub boss of the second level, which will take some while since it's quite complicated for being a sub boss...maybe I'll just rethink that whole thing instead.
Was thinking of having some kind of slide-show at the end of the demo as well. But the more I think about it the more the problems it seems to pose.

[Chilly Willy]

Speaking of kickstarter, I had "fun" with that today. The bank (Wells Fargo) took one look at the transaction, saw it was foreign money, canceled the transaction and locked the card. I had to unlock the card, authorize the transaction, and re-pledge at kickstarter. While I like that they're looking out for us customers, I wonder if there's a better way for them to handle that. At least kickstarter gives you up to a week to straighten out any payment issues. Didn't need a week, but I can imagine some people might.

[mix256]

Speaking of kickstarter, I had "fun" with that today. The bank (Wells Fargo) took one look at the transaction, saw it was foreign money, canceled the transaction and locked the card. I had to unlock the card, authorize the transaction, and re-pledge at kickstarter. While I like that they're looking out for us customers, I wonder if there's a better way for them to handle that. At least kickstarter gives you up to a week to straighten out any payment issues. Didn't need a week, but I can imagine some people might.

For one single transaction? Seems like they're trying to cover their own back rather than looking out for their customers since you had to go through all of that hassle for a transaction you wanted to have done.
I recently switched bank here because of issues like this.

[Chilly Willy]

Wells Fargo caught a LOT of flack over issues the last few years, so they're kinda desperate to prove that you can trust them to keep their remaining customers. So they've been more pro-active on matters like possibly fraudulent charges on credit cards the last few years. I was rather fortunate that my branch never pulled the sort of shenanigans that some did, and I've not yet had fraudulent charges on my card.

[mix256]

Slacking in updates, mostly because I'm hard at work on the game. Which is good, I guess.

I'm currently working towards the demo that I've promised to release in September. And the really cool thing about that, is when procrastinating I actually do work towards the final game.

And here're some, totally unnecessary, elevator action!



Accidentally showing a bit of the knight/castle/medieval level...which will not be in the demo. See, what I meant with the above?

Am debating, with myself, about having shmup-sections in the game. It's a great way to break up the ordinary platforming action. And doing them a bit easier is a break from the relentless difficulty of the rest of the game, as well. But there are a number of ways to do shmupping action in platformers. Like Hagane: having you mount a flying vehicle (or have other flying capabilities) keeping the same scale as the rest of the game.
Like Turrican: having you fly a space ship, like any ordinary space-ship-shmup.

We now have a beam-me-up-Scotty animation after you've defeated the end of stage baddies. Just like in Mega Man...

Also, been polishing the "shop" screen a bit. Got some nice wavy backdrop so simulate the damp interior of your spaceship.



And I've been thinking of moving the "shop" from between-stages to the stages themselves. Maybe some kind of device on the ground that will beam you
up to your ship (this mainly because between some stages the beam-up animation isn't played at all...so there's a question of how you got up there...)

Later!

[Sik]

Slacking in updates, mostly because I'm hard at work on the game. Which is good, I guess.

You can pick a specific period (e.g. every one or two weeks) to do updates if you see there's enough regular progress to fill it in (・・　)

[Chilly Willy]

Maybe the pillar has elevator action.

Looking great! Can't wait until it's done and we get carts!

[mix256]

Slacking in updates, mostly because I'm hard at work on the game. Which is good, I guess.

You can pick a specific period (e.g. every one or two weeks) to do updates if you see there's enough regular progress to fill it in (・・　)

Yes, I need to set up a schedule of some kind for the updates. I have a kanban-board on the wall so I can just take the done field on it and write something about those notes every week.
Because now it's been two weeks again, time really flies.

Maybe the pillar has elevator action.

Looking great! Can't wait until it's done and we get carts!

I ordered some pre-demo carts (with boxes, box-inserts and labels) that should be arriving this week. I'm feeling all christmasy about it.

[Chilly Willy]

Christmas in August - who'd a thunk it!

[mix256]

Hopefully today!
Will be taking pictures of it if it gets here.

In other news, I'm implementing a stage select screen...which is not anything that is necessary for the demo, either.
And worse, something that wasn't planned at all from the beginning.

From this Sunday (evenings, Swedish time) on I will be posting weekly updates here. Good to have a schedule to follow, I need that.

[Sik]

A stage select (even rudimentary) would be needed for debugging though, right?

Actually one benefit of implementing menus early is that it makes it easier to implement stuff you'll need while making the game.