http://www.byond.com/games/TheMagicMan/Generiquest
Play, test, blahblah. I'd make a more detailed post, but I have work in 10 minutes.
Also, if you login and go to make a character and notice all character classes selected, ignore it.
This looks like a BYOND bug to me, adding "world/hub" to the game and compiling makes this happen (all the verbs attatched to those buttons are executing for some reason). I'll see why it happens when I am back from work, or tomorrow.
ID:49434
 Oct 17 2008, 10:05 am
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Oct 17 2008, 11:48 am
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ACWraith
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I didn't login, but it sounds like a skin cache bug. I've run into the same thing when creating volume controls. I ended up turning them into normal buttons, flattening whatever button a player pressed, turning off is-flat for the other buttons, and then paying attention to is-flat when clients are created.
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ACWraith wrote:
I didn't login, but it sounds like a skin cache bug. I've run into the same thing when creating volume controls. I ended up turning them into normal buttons, flattening whatever button a player pressed, turning off is-flat for the other buttons, and then paying attention to is-flat when clients are created. Strange, the buttons are radio buttons, but it is a pretty weird bug! | |
I don't have any problem with radio buttons, if you don't have control_freak enabled, when I login I'll take a look-see into your skin file and see if I can find the problem. =)
-- Testing in my own project, adding world/hub didn't change my skin file at all. Try deleting the skin file for your game from My Documents/BYOND/skins and seeing if the problem reoccurs. | |
Just a few things I noticed while playing. I'll update it as I'm going:
"Generiquest Greatyo-mateyo! Now I will teach you about the basic commands in te game..." Typo for The. -- The order of the links are [Play Game] and [Link]. I didn't read the links carefully and accidentally hit "Play Game". This is carelessness on my part, but the order of the links IMO should be Most Important - Least Important. If someone agreed to go through the tutorial, continuing the tutorial is more important than joining the game. So my suggestion here is to make "Play Game" the last option in the link list during the tutorial. -- I really like the Beginners Guide book approach. But the browser clicking is a tad annoying. There might be a viable way to use an output element instead, but I'm not sure. I'll have to test it myself before I submit a formal suggestion. -- My character can't walk. It might have something to do with when I accidentally hit "Play Game" I also clicked the "Leave" link in haste (auto response to using Firefox, if I click the wrong link and click the right one before page refresh, I'll get to my destination). So I think there's a bug there somewhere. I suggest making all topic links cancel after one has been clicked, if you haven't already. It could also be that you've forgotten to set macros somewhere along the line, but I doubt that. Unless you overlooked them for a non-administrative character, I say there's a fair chance that the link thing is the issue. I could walk before I entered the main game area. -- I'm not sure if it's debug output or not, but when I clicked on what looked to be another player character, I received this output: You have targeted Magician. 149 149, 2 5 0 I'm not sure what the numbers mean, but they look like debug output. -- Another thing I noticed with the browser outputs is, when I click on another one, there is a brief moment when I can see the last output that was there. If I was quick enough or latency gave me extra time, I could get away with clicking the links. If the links aren't secure there's a problem. A suggestion to keep the game flow looking clean would be to clear the browser output after it's been closed. -- I don't know if it's just my BYOND version or a problem with the game. But every time I enter it, I'm forced to re-download the game resources. This is beyond irritating, especially since I'm bug-hunting and exiting is required here and there. -- Be it latency issues or ignorance on my part. I just can't for the life of me figure out how to load my character. Joining the game, I click on the "Load Character" option. It displays a warning message and a window with my characters name on it. Clicking on the name, clicking the name and then the arrow next to load. Additional: So in my frustration with that, I hit the return key. That seemed to make the window disappear, now the music has changed to the "wandering around outside" music I heard when I first joined. But the map has not changed. So there is definitely something wrong with loading characters. Sorry I can't be more help here. -- Alrighty, the above is about all I'm willing to look at tonight. This re-downloading resources thing is a real bummer. I'll take another look tomorrow. It's not looking bad either. I like the graphics, music is a bit repetitive though, the key issue with that is I can hear when the song ends and restarts. A nice flowing song would be ideal for generic map wandering. (I also broke my own policies and let an alpha stage game into BYOND RPG. Mainly because I believe you're not the kind of developer who'll let me down, and continue the game until it's really spectacularly, fantastically amazing. I'm counting on your sir.) | |
Tiberath wrote:
Just a few things I noticed while playing. I'll update it as I'm going:Trust me, there is probably a lot of those. The order of the links are [Play Game] and [Link]. I didn't read the links carefully and accidentally hit "Play Game". This is carelessness on my part, but the order of the links IMO should be Most Important - Least Important. If someone agreed to go through the tutorial, continuing the tutorial is more important than joining the game. So my suggestion here is to make "Play Game" the last option in the link list during the tutorial. I can change that, I just left the [Leave] link at the end of each dialoug as an option to get out of conversation. I really like the Beginners Guide book approach. But the browser clicking is a tad annoying. There might be a viable way to use an output element instead, but I'm not sure. I'll have to test it myself before I submit a formal suggestion. I know what you mean about that, but it is stuck that way until a better mthod is found. My character can't walk. It might have something to do with when I accidentally hit "Play Game" I also clicked the "Leave" link in haste (auto response to using Firefox, if I click the wrong link and click the right one before page refresh, I'll get to my destination). So I think there's a bug there somewhere. I suggest making all topic links cancel after one has been clicked, if you haven't already. I didn't think about that! I'm taking that you rapidly clicked plat game, then leave, causing it to call the end conversaion proc, which caused some sort of error with you being unable to move. I'll fix both the proc, so it should be impossible for it to cause a walking error again, and I will add a small delay between when you can click on another link (long enough for the links to dissapear), since I have no idea how to "cancel them out". I'm not sure if it's debug output or not, but when I clicked on what looked to be another player character, I received this output: I'm not sure what the numbers mean, but they look like debug output. They are, they are useful numbers to me for balacing issues. I forgot to make it so only I could see them! Another thing I noticed with the browser outputs is, when I click on another one, there is a brief moment when I can see the last output that was there. If I was quick enough or latency gave me extra time, I could get away with clicking the links. Thanks, fixed it now. I don't know if it's just my BYOND version or a problem with the game. But every time I enter it, I'm forced to re-download the game resources. This is beyond irritating, especially since I'm bug-hunting and exiting is required here and there. I don't know what could be causing this. Just before hosting if there is changed to be made I always do a clean compile, followed by making it an executable and then extracting it in a new location so I can both host the game and work on it at the same time without problems. Be it latency issues or ignorance on my part. I just can't for the life of me figure out how to load my character. For now you have to double click on the character name, I'll change it to a single click (originally didn't want to use this so people didn't accidentally click the wrong character). Additional: So in my frustration with that, I hit the return key. That seemed to make the window disappear, now the music has changed to the "wandering around outside" music I heard when I first joined. But the map has not changed. So there is definitely something wrong with loading characters. Sorry I can't be more help here. I'm not sure why that has happened, nor can I imitate the bug. And from what I can see there shouldn't be any reason why the return key is causing anything to happen at this point in the game. Alrighty, the above is about all I'm willing to look at tonight. This re-downloading resources thing is a real bummer. I'll take another look tomorrow. Yeah, I'll have a look for a better song. I'm no composer, so my choice of music is what I can find for free on the internet :[ Though I am looking to hire both graphic artists and composers (and willing to pay), but the work load would be large and I haven't found anyone willing at the moment. (I also broke my own policies and let an alpha stage game into BYOND RPG. Mainly because I believe you're not the kind of developer who'll let me down, and continue the game until it's really spectacularly, fantastically amazing. I'm counting on your sir.) The plans for development are simple. One new update every 1-2 weeks (depending mainly on work). In this update will come 1 new class, and as much other content as possible (dungeons, quests and so on), as well as any bug/balance issues fixed. (Updates for obvious bugs may come sooner). Although I have to say a big thanks to you! I don't know why, but people just aren't understanding what to do in the game. I gave them a tutorial which introduces basic controls, then eases them into the game by telling them where to go to buy equipment/items and skills and then points them in the right direction for their first adventure. Despite that people are still asking "what do I do?" :[ And when people are like this it is a bit hard to get any sort of feed back off of them. Also, most, if not all of those issues you mentioned should be fixed now, along with one or two others. Provided there is no more major issues that need to be fixed I will continue with development today, and hopefully get a fair deal of the Crusader classes skills implamented. | |
http://www.modarchive.org is a good place for free good quality music. I've found lots of songs there that are pretty sexy.
Audiophiles is a pretty sexy guild for it as well. | |
Tiberath wrote:
http://www.modarchive.org is a good place for free good quality music. I've found lots of songs there that are pretty sexy. -- On a side note: Happy Birthday. | |
I just started playing the game, and I must admit that I like the way it looks. Besides the Play Game, Leave button order, these are the things I've noticed (I'll update this post as I go).
--------- I'm not sure what you have planned configuration-wise, but it might be nice if the get functionality could be configured to operate differently. Right now, when I hit 'G' and I'm standing on that pile full of litter, it'll pick up all 10 litter. Well, I think it'd be better if it was configured to either do that, or to let me choose what I want to pick up (if it doesn't already; I only tried it with a stack of litter), and what quantity I want to pick up of the item I've chosen if there's more than one, as in the case of the litter. --------- It would be cool if the 'Delete Character' window was closed when the last character was deleted. It's nothing way to big, it's just a convenience issue. --------- On the Class and Secondary page, it'd be cool if the buttons did something to show that you've selected those classes. Again, nothing too big, just convenience. --------- Other than that, the game's looking good. Keep up the good work. | |
Audeuro wrote:
I'm not sure what you have planned configuration-wise, but it might be nice if the get functionality could be configured to operate differently. Right now, when I hit 'G' and I'm standing on that pile full of litter, it'll pick up all 10 litter. Well, I think it'd be better if it was configured to either do that, or to let me choose what I want to pick up (if it doesn't already; I only tried it with a stack of litter), and what quantity I want to pick up of the item I've chosen if there's more than one, as in the case of the litter. I'll change this for the next update then. I just did it because I found it more convenient to pick up all the items in a location rather than one at a time. It would be cool if the 'Delete Character' window was closed when the last character was deleted. It's nothing way to big, it's just a convenience issue. Can do this as well. On the Class and Secondary page, it'd be cool if the buttons did something to show that you've selected those classes. Again, nothing too big, just convenience. I originally used radio buttons for the class selection screen, but there is either a bug or "feature" that would make any verbs attatched to radio button execute when a player logged in, which caused annoying behavour. So until this bug/feature is fixed/changed they will remain as normal buttons. | |
Tiberath wrote:
Tiberath wrote: I'll check out the Audiophiles guild, and thanks for that post :D! | |
The Magic Man wrote:
I originally used radio buttons for the class selection screen, but there is either a bug or "feature" that would make any verbs attatched to radio button execute when a player logged in, which caused annoying behavour. So until this bug/feature is fixed/changed they will remain as normal buttons. I have a workaround for this, which adds to interface security. Basically, all commands are setup under client/Command() (personal bias, I find the interface far easier to control this way) and all commands are applied to the buttons when the window is visible, otherwise all commands are stripped. I wrote an article on the method described. It should remove any issues like that with the interface. Also in my opinion, it gives a lot more control to the programmer. Because you can winset your commands to be ".command option1 option2" etc, and use an explode() proc (I have one if you want it) to separate the command and options, then you can use switch() statements based on the command itself for designated blocks of code. It's a very nifty way to do it in my opinion. Keep up the good work! It's good to see a developer who can take constructive criticism and not yell at us. All too often do we tell developers what we think would improve the game, and bug fixes and they get all insulted and go off at us. Perhaps it was our approach, but never the less. Cheers! -- I've checked back at the games hub through out the day. It seems that post to BYOND RPG has done well. There's always been at least two players in there. Keep the development up and running. I might start a little tech-tree-esque thing for BYOND RPG's if I can find the motivation to do a weekly article on currently developing RPGs. I'll think about it. Anyway, I'm going to look for other means to advertise this game throughout BYOND. It needs more players, and more reports like Audeuro's and my own to keep you on your toes. =) | |
While I think of it! I want to put a little content box in BYOND RPG with links to game development journals.
Can you please tag all your posts with something like "generiquest" so I can add it as a developer journal for BYOND RPG? It'll generate more traffic to your members page, and hopefully generate more interest in the game itself. | |
Tiberath wrote:
While I think of it! I want to put a little content box in BYOND RPG with links to game development journals. Will do! But I will probably only use this blog for major updates (once every 2 or so weeks). Other, small changes and bug fixes will be listed here from now on http://www.byond.com/members/TheMagicMan/forum I'll also see about implamenting your suggestion with client/Command() and the interface. | |
The Magic Man wrote:
Will do! But I will probably only use this blog for major updates (once every 2 or so weeks). That's all good. This developer journal stunt of mine is only to generate interest in up-and-coming BYOND RPGs. And being able to link directly to posts of interest in the RPG is a major bonus. The box is in place now, at the moment, the link to Generiquest just links to your members site the same as your name. I'll update it when your tags are in place. And when the post advertising your game disappears off the members front page, I'll advertise this little stunt there, hopefully generating some more traffic to your blog and game by curious people wondering what all the fuss is about. Speaking of which, I can write up a small script for you to place in a custom content box to display when your Generiquest server is online or offline if you want, so you can display it on your blog. | |
Hmm, I'm taking an abnormal amount of interest in this project. It's quite unlike me.
Anyway, I developed a small little goody I'm thrown into my RPG. If you're interested in taking advantage of it as well, you can read up about it here. Also, if you have MSN, don't be shy to add me ([email protected]) so I can stop spamming your blog posts with random ideas and whatnot. | |
Tiberath wrote:
Hmm, I'm taking an abnormal amount of interest in this project. It's quite unlike me. Sorry about not replying much recently. Had work, and people have been calling in sick so I've been working 10-11 hours a day, and wouldn't you know it, I have work in an hour! Anyway! Thanks for all the interest and support you've shown and given the game so far. This'll hopefully help the game to be somewhat successful in the future. Secondly, that little tool look pretty cool, and I'd like to take advantage of it too! Will also add you too MSN. (But be warned, I leave MSN open all the time, even when I am working or sleeping, and at times I may not reply due to this) | |