Author Topic: Well done, Arcen.  (Read 11986 times)

Offline steelwing

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Well done, Arcen.
« on: January 22, 2016, 10:18:48 pm »
Arcen, this game is your usual bang-up job. :)
The bullet patterns are wonderfully challenging to dance through, especially with the bosses.  I can tell I should expect to die a lot with this game.  :)
And the music...The bosses I've fought feel like the music was specifically paired with them.
My one complaint so far is I can't make it past the first level of the Megalith, 'cuz I get killed by the bosses every time.  Even on Easy.  >:(
« Last Edit: January 23, 2016, 12:05:51 am by steelwing »

Offline Cyborg

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2016, 12:30:08 am »
Arcen, this game is your usual bang-up job. :)
The bullet patterns are wonderfully challenging to dance through, especially with the bosses.  I can tell I should expect to die a lot with this game.  :)
And the music...The bosses I've fought feel like the music was specifically paired with them.
My one complaint so far is I can't make it past the first level of the Megalith, 'cuz I get killed by the bosses every time.  Even on Easy.  >:(

I can't get past the tutorial because it's too hard, so don't feel bad. Still really fun though.
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Offline steelwing

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2016, 12:36:33 am »
The "Main Menu" button on the Stats screen doesn't seem to work for me.  I've got a bug report in Mantis for it.

I can't get past the tutorial because it's too hard, so don't feel bad. Still really fun though.
That's impressive.

Offline crazyroosterman

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2016, 01:06:47 am »
The "Main Menu" button on the Stats screen doesn't seem to work for me.  I've got a bug report in Mantis for it.

I can't get past the tutorial because it's too hard, so don't feel bad. Still really fun though.
That's impressive.
at least I know somebody's worse at this game than I am.
c.r

Offline Misery

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2016, 07:02:08 am »
I'm going to ask the same question I ask every time:

Is there something specific that's killing you alot?  Any one boss or enemy that seems to be just wrecking you every time you meet it?

I just want to be as bloody certain as possible that none of them are somehow broken or appearing in the wrong places.   They dont always behave as well as I'd like.

Offline ptarth

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2016, 07:19:14 am »
XML. I keep getting killed by the XML. Today I spent probably an hour only to realize that <bulletpattern> should have been <bullet_pattern>. That and trying to figure out why my shot are doing weird things with angular rotation when I'm having them rotate around another shot. Oh and Blaze Turrets. I hate those guys.
Note: This post contains content that is meant to be whimsical. Any belittlement or trivialization of complex issues is only intended to lighten the mood and does not reflect upon the merit of those positions.

Offline Misery

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2016, 07:26:48 am »
XML. I keep getting killed by the XML. Today I spent probably an hour only to realize that <bulletpattern> should have been <bullet_pattern>. That and trying to figure out why my shot are doing weird things with angular rotation when I'm having them rotate around another shot.

Ah, yes, I've died to the evil of the XML more times than I can count.  Nasty opponent, that one.


Quote
Oh and Blaze Turrets. I hate those guys.

So those are working as intended, then, that's good to know.

Offline Cinth

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2016, 07:38:51 am »
I'm reading the XML stuff on the wiki and am having a hard time willing myself to start trying to make anything.  I got a mech and boss idea I'd like to try and do, but this stuff scares the sht out of me.

Making rooms is a million times easier...
Quote from: keith.lamothe
Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline Misery

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2016, 08:50:12 am »
I'm reading the XML stuff on the wiki and am having a hard time willing myself to start trying to make anything.  I got a mech and boss idea I'd like to try and do, but this stuff scares the sht out of me.

Making rooms is a million times easier...

The fun part is when you write up the XML stuff, go to test it, and get a horrible blob of red gibberish as an error.  Though that's gotten better over time, but even with simple errors sometimes it takes absolutely freaking forever to track it down.  Particularly with the way the files are structured.  Any given enemy or boss is split across four seperate files which all need to be hooked together properly or it falls apart.  So sometimes it's hard to even figure out which damn file the problem is in.  THAT gets annoying really fast.

It was alot worse in TLF though.  At that point, there were no simple errors.  Full-page gibberish EVERY time something went wrong.  Even for one typo it would spit out like 40 lines of totally nonsensical red text that could mean anything at all.  Sooooooooooo much easier this time around, they improved the error reporting a whole lot.

Offline Cinth

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2016, 08:59:24 am »
Problem is that I have some experience in bashing lines of text together to make semifunctional programs (college coursework).  I know how it is supposed to work and I understood a lot of what was on the wiki.  I just can't functionally write it in a time efficient manner (I'm 4x as slow as my classmates on average).

I'm actually a better debugger than a coder and a better troubleshooter than an engineer (not saying I'm an engineer).
Quote from: keith.lamothe
Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline Misery

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2016, 09:12:24 am »
Problem is that I have some experience in bashing lines of text together to make semifunctional programs (college coursework).  I know how it is supposed to work and I understood a lot of what was on the wiki.  I just can't functionally write it in a time efficient manner (I'm 4x as slow as my classmates on average).

I'm actually a better debugger than a coder and a better troubleshooter than an engineer (not saying I'm an engineer).

One thing that helps ALOT is to understand how systems work.  Not everything requires a hyper-complicated blob of text that directly controls the bullets.

Something like Vestige, for example.  If I recall correctly, it actually has no bullet code.  Partway through development, I found ways to create complicated effects via system settings alone, and it's MUCH more efficient to do that when possible.  Even Centrifuge is almost entirely system-controlled (though, for that one, it's still convoluted).  As opposed to the hideous mess that is the structure and patterns for the earliest bosses such as Battleswarm.

Of course this doesnt work for everything;  the Warden for example, I would have had a very hard time making that second pattern via that method.  And you cant make curving or scaled bullets that way.   But lots and lots of complicated-as-hell things can be done that way, if you can figure it out.   That each system is controlled by a very small amount of text helps a ton.

Of course, that's all for the actual bullet stuff.  I cant vouch for things like the mechs themselves or items.  I've not seen the code for any of that.

Offline Cinth

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2016, 09:33:26 am »
My boss idea isn't that massive or scary like your stuff.  It's kinda like Mission in a way but with a second part that would need some figuring out.

If you think back to some really old side scrolling SHUMPS you might can see where I'm getting part one.
Quote from: keith.lamothe
Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline Vacuity

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2016, 11:59:17 am »
Err, if I can switch back to the original topic: thanks for this!  I just purchased and hopefully I'll have some time to try it out this weekend.  Chinese New Year's coming up soon in any case, so I'm sure I'll find some time before mid-February, right?  Right.  I can do it.

Looking forward to whatever the next excuse is for me to give you money.  :D

Offline steelwing

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2016, 01:55:27 pm »
I'm going to ask the same question I ask every time:

Is there something specific that's killing you alot?  Any one boss or enemy that seems to be just wrecking you every time you meet it?

I just want to be as bloody certain as possible that none of them are somehow broken or appearing in the wrong places.   They dont always behave as well as I'd like.
I've only made it to two bosses so far, which are Mirror and Crystal Mother.  The third part of Crystal Mother's pattern (with the wide green chevron) goes on forever and leaves me trapped in a corner while trying to avoid it, so I can't do any damage.  For Mirror, the pattern gets too tight where I can't avoid it.

Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Well done, Arcen.
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2016, 01:58:29 pm »
Maybe I'm just good at these kinds of games, or I'm playing on too easy (Normal), but I don't really find it that difficult so far. Managed to clear two bosses (Mirror and Crystal Mother) without getting hit.
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