The VG Resource

Well it seems I've gotten that issue taken care of. Now there is no load slowdown when you create a level of any size. The only load slowdown factor that matters now is just how much junk you put into the level.

Small update**
did yet another bit of a style redux on the characters.


programming wise though, I have to implement the new map loading code into the main engine, THEN i can start back on creating levels. I should have it done by this weekend. I HATE busy weeks at work... :C

**SPECIAL NOTE**

I'll probably be looking for testers for my level editor soon, so anyone who's interested post here. You don't NEED to have programming experience, but it would sure help me bunches.

want to test

I might be looking for a composer soon too, I just can't create melodies that i like it seems :I

I also would like to test.

I wish I could help with composing, but I don't have any fancy programs or the equipment needed
to record my guitar to the computer.

I'd love to test some- I've been following this project for ever!

How much experience you guys got with game maker or lua?

Keep in mind you're just testing the level editor. I'm wanting to test for bugs in it and load times when creating levels, so there won't be any actual gameplay other than a very simplified version of the engine for you all to test levels on.

Although, If you're smart enough to actually script some entities with lua then that would be great. (and you could probably create some gameplay behind my back )

I've also got a spriter position open for the project as well for whoever is interested, because the workload for this project on me just makes it move at a snail's pace it seems.

Heh, I just noticed today, my style has come a long way since I first started working on this game.

**Update

Well, Now I'm finally adding in some scripting for npcs with the new lua engine and things are going pretty smoothly. I'm hoping to have the dialog engine complete in full by the end of this week. After all my dialog work is done though, just to test it out, I might just make a little cut scene, just to mess around with lua some more.After that's done I'm going to start work on the inventory/menu system. that shouldn't be much trouble after all my experience with working with sorting and storing arrays in the level editor. After that I'd say it's onto working on more tiles/sprites.

On the level editor side of things, I've added in a feature to tile the tiles using the cursor to select an area to fill in with that specific tile.(think of the box tool in paint). This saves me loads of time, as i was just tiling one tile at a time before :I

Things are progressing along pretty smoothly it seems

Breaking the combo to say that I can't wait to see all the stuff that'll be released by next month, at the rate you're going. Keep it up. (:

Well, dialog engine is done. Whoop.
Took a lot less time that i had thought. :B

So, what's left, now ? besides music and graphics ?

Music
animations
tilesets
cutscene graphics
cutscene automation scripts
Storyline
writting dialog
scripting characters, enemies, npcs
character design
...need i go on?

So it turns out that gmlua might not support coroutines, which as essential to my engine. it's what allows me to pause in lua scripts rather than running the whole thing at once. I use it for multiple things such as dialog, which in lua would look like

exec_script()
set_dialog_sprite('nicolas_mugshot_1,1,0')
say('herp')
say('derp')
end

now if i were to just run the script the dialog on the screen would be derp. but with coroutines, I can pause on a specific point if needed and resume by doing an action, like pressing z.

function say(text)
lock(Player)
lock(npc)
lock(inventory)
lock(enemies)

SetMessageText(text)
pause_script()
end

then in gm to resume I would just call the function resume script. Now though, I'm thinking when gmlua hits a coroutine pause it just stops execution altogether, which sucks because if i called that function again it would always start from the top of the script.

SO... now that I might not be able to use the main thing i build my engine over, I'm stuck with only a few options.

1. write a new engine from the ground up in c++/allegro.
2. use kofel's old source code and try to fix the library and build a new dll.
3. upgrade to gm7 and try to do coroutines with the new gmlua dll.(which probably won't work either)
4. buy an xna membership and give that a go.

Update**

well I've decided to upgrade to gm8 and see if I can get things working, but...

oh my god... this program is such a piece of shit... I should have gotten gm7. This software is just terrible. the new import and export tool is so picky you can't merge anything into your game practically without renaming objects before hand then having to go back into their code and rename them back wherever you reference them... why the fuck did they get rid of the merge option, and why do the developers INSIST on renaming functions parameters all the fucking time....

tldr;

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE