intro + artillery game

[Circuit]

Hey guys!  I've posted a couple of times before, but most of you probably don't know who I am.  I'm Circuit.  I used to make a lot of GM games, many years ago.  If you've played Stan's World or Mac Frost, I'm the guy who made those.

I want to share a project I've been working on, and ask for your feedback on it.  I've been working on a level editor for a turn-based artillery game.  The actual game itself doesn't exist yet, just the editor.  Please take a look at this and tell me what you think.  I'd like to get some feedback regarding the GUI: whether or not it's intuitive, how I can make it better, etc..  Also, I'd like to know how fast this runs on your machines.  Please tell me which tools are fast and which ones are slow, and tell me if the color rendering is too much slower than the black and white rendering.  You can drop bombs on the Color Range and BW Range to get an estimate of how fast/slow the game will be in either rendering mode.

Thanks!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gb8nfseb2l1hhbd

[Gan]

That is so cool!

The tools are pretty straight forward. The color does run noticeably slower than the black and white, but not unbearably slow. Your code looks incredibly professional, and I laughed at the Batman map.

This is epic. My only wish is that Sc could run it faster/smoother. Though hey, imagine this in the HTML5 GameMaker. With a planned code structure similar to Sc, I think you'd be able to run this a ton faster in the browser.

[GMG Kurt]

This is amazing! I wish I could do something like this !!!

[Connors]

I truly am impressed! I've wondered how to make this kind of game, I could probably get the projectile motions but the dynamic terrain is beyond me.

[Circuit]

That is so cool!

The tools are pretty straight forward. The color does run noticeably slower than the black and white, but not unbearably slow. Your code looks incredibly professional, and I laughed at the Batman map.

This is epic. My only wish is that Sc could run it faster/smoother. Though hey, imagine this in the HTML5 GameMaker. With a planned code structure similar to Sc, I think you'd be able to run this a ton faster in the browser.

Wow, thanks Gan!  I don't really think it's professional-looking, but that's nice of you to say.    I'm definitely trying to make it as efficient as possible.  Arithmetic in SC is lightning fast - I can drop a bomb with a radius of 10, or a radius of 750, and there's no difference in framerate.  I just wish that the rendering could keep up with the arithmetic.
I'll definitely re-write this in HTML5 GameMaker.  A browser-based game would be much better, for the rendering speed, and for the greater accessibility of it, and for a lot of other reasons too.

[Circuit]

This is amazing! I wish I could do something like this !!!

Thanks Kurt.  But I think that you probably could do something like this.  It's all just middle-school and high school algebra, translated into code.  It's less complicated than it looks.  If there's any part of the code that you want help understanding, I'd be glad to explain it to you.   

[Circuit]

I truly am impressed! I've wondered how to make this kind of game, I could probably get the projectile motions but the dynamic terrain is beyond me.

Thanks Connors.  I know what you mean.  I spent years wondering how to do that!  When I figured it out, it was surprisingly simple.  You use a variant of the Pythagorean theorem to determine the height of each X pixel in the radius of the explosion.  If a pixel in the explosion radius is below the ground, the ground at that X is pushed down.  Collision detection works the same way.

[EqwanoX]

wow, this is really impressive stuff, i put off downloading it cause i saw the screens before and thought it was just a terrain editor, i didnt read you can actually drop bombs to alter the terrain, this would make a great game, it reminds me of worms or a battletanks game i had. you seem to be into programming, are you still into drawing or graphics at all?

[Connors]

Oh and I would help with pixel art if you need, I'd enjoy helping.

[Circuit]

wow, this is really impressive stuff, i put off downloading it cause i saw the screens before and thought it was just a terrain editor, i didnt read you can actually drop bombs to alter the terrain, this would make a great game, it reminds me of worms or a battletanks game i had. you seem to be into programming, are you still into drawing or graphics at all?

Thanks man.  Yeah, the terrain deformation is key to making it into a game.  By the way, I take a lot of inspiration from Worms.  Eventually I plan to add infantry combat to the game, because I want it to be kind of a cross between Worms and Scorched Earth.  As for graphics, I haven't drawn anything in a long time.  Like I mentioned in another recent thread, my drawing skills are terrible.  So I focus on programming. 

Oh and I would help with pixel art if you need, I'd enjoy helping.

Thanks for offering, but I'm not sure that I want to use sprites in the game.  I'm still debating it in my head.  I'll think about it.

EDIT: Update!  It's now possible to shoot arcing artillery shells.  This is kind of a weird way of doing it, because it doesn't involve trigonometry or physics calculations.  I'll explain tomorrow.
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?namdrsdomvmqdsn

IT'S TOMORROW: The control scheme is similar to Angry Birds.  Artillery guns are fired like slingshots.  Go to the Test Artillery card and click anywhere below the ground.  Hold the button down, and drag the pointer anywhere below the surface.  Release to fire.  By default the 'tracer' is ON to show the projected path of the shell.
This is kind of weird because the curve equation is generated from points, not from angle and power.  It's probably not correct.  It's the best I can do with the knowledge I have.

[EqwanoX]

wouldnt you need sprites for infantry? or the players artilary? and enemies? could that be the next step?

[Circuit]

wouldnt you need sprites for infantry? or the players artilary? and enemies? could that be the next step?

I've been planning to use the drawing commands to draw simple shapes.  I just don't think that sprites would go well with the maps.  Sprites are detailed, with various colors, shading, possibly texture.  But the maps are extremely simple, consisting of 3 colors.  It seems like it would be a bad contrast.  But if you and Connors think differently, and you guys really want to make some sprites, I'd like to see them. 

[Connors]

Oh if that's all it is I can do some very simple art, or even make it extra small so you can scale it up and it looks pixelated on purpose. All retro like. Just two or three colors.

Oh and I immediately fired a bomb of the left edge by accident and got an "array out of bounds" error.
EDIT: It does fire shots, looks good to me...

[Connors]

Maybe something simple like this, tinted to match the team color (I think it's TINTSPRITE?).
Or even just an empty colored outline of a unit, which also can be colored with TINTSPRITE. If it's white it matches exactly the values you enter.
And you draw a line to show the gun's angle.

And you should totally have explosions launch units based on the angle and the weight of the target(s).

[EqwanoX]

yea maybe theres a way to use FILLOVAL as an explosion like in the old missile command games