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1

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [DEMO 20 FINALLY RELEASED]

« on: September 16, 2018, 04:29:12 pm »

(Semi)Weekly progress report:

Code: [Select]

0.21.00 (26 augustus 2018)
* Made progress finishing the overworld tilesets

0.21.01 (8 september 2018)
* Upgraded to GameMaker:Studio2 version 2.15 (and got a massive performance drop as thanks  –.- )
(= fps now tanked from 60+ to about 45)
* Screen size and positioning now saved using global variables (for better performance)
* Switched from default collision functions to the new list collision functions from the latest Gamemaker update (for “simpler” / faster code)
* Cleaned up older collision functions for a little bit better performance

0.21.02 (9 september 2018)
* Dropped back from Gamemaker 2.15 to 2.14, because 2.15 capped the fps to 45 fps regardless of my coding solutions.
* Screen size and positioning now saved using global variables (for better performance)
* Removed various uses of the draw_rectangle functions for better performance

0.21.03 (14 september 2018)
* Keypart of the HUD now always in front of screen transitions while in a dungeon area
* Started work on extra idle animations

0.21.04 (15 september 2018)
* Added dancing idle animation
* Added guitar idle animation

0.21.05 (16 september 2018)
* Tweaked dark world warp animation
* Started work on new “enemies”: Cucco (alive / dead)

2

Updates / Re: NCFC 2018 dates announced

« on: September 08, 2018, 07:07:29 am »

They're not the most professional of guys, I fully agree.
It's a shame though if that is what's preventing you from showcasing your wonderful work.

3

Updates / Re: NCFC 2018 dates announced

« on: August 28, 2018, 02:42:26 pm »

I might skip to show a more substantial improvement next year (and due to the organizer always flipping about errors in my demo's ), but if nobody else enters then I'll make sure that least someone represent this forum.

4

Updates / NCFC 2018 dates announced

« on: August 26, 2018, 10:17:02 am »

Seems like the NCFC date for this year have been announced a few weeks ago:
http://forum.nintendocfc.com/showthread.php?tid=561&pid=2236#pid2236

Anybody on this forum planning on participating?

5

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [DEMO 20 FINALLY RELEASED]

« on: August 25, 2018, 06:22:13 pm »

And here it finally is: Demo 20!

Please enjoy and be sure to post any and all feedback you might have, so that I can continue to make the game beter for you guys.
As for the next steps: I'm still pondering on that. Feel free to weight in using the poll (that I'll add shortly).

---------------------------

New download
Demo version: 0.20.18
File Size: 18,97 MB (Zipped)
Screen Resolution: 320 x 240 (Changable)
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/qokjknmocwdcem8/Zelda_0_20_18_public_demo.zip/file

Notes:
- From the start move straight up north to reach the NEW "Underwater Prison". (It can be beat without doing any of the other places first)

Default controls*:
D - Action button (open doors / read text / grab / etc) + Confirm button (while in menus)
G - Attack button (hold and release for a full swing attack) + Cancel button (while in menus)
S - Perform run action (if you have the boots available)
R - Use item A
F - Use item B
Space - Brings up item menu
Enter - Brings up map menu
Escape - Pauses the game (can be used to exit the game)

* The controls can be personalized in the options menu at the start of the game.

What's new?

* Added new dungeon: Underwater Prison
* Added ability for NPC's to follow you
* Added ability to dive for items and/or under bridges
* Added the raising and lowering of water levels
* Added room transitions for when swimming
* Added cracked blocks
* Added cell doors

* Added context sensitive actions display to HUD (which can be disabled)
* Polished several aspects of the last dungeon: Heimgartner Mansion
* Slightly polished starting cave
* Tweaked various enemy stats

* Made a ton of (major) change for a massive performance boost
* Fixed various mechanics that had broken over time
* Far more playtesting then the last release

* Lots of smaller tweaks, performance increases and bugfixes

6

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: August 19, 2018, 09:06:05 pm »

Weekly update:
Bugbashing is going great with a huge amount of extra issues solved, but not enough to call it finished just yet. There are still about 10 desert dungeon rooms to playtest before calling it quits. After that I'll stop the testing and just put up the new release.

All major and gamebreaking issues I've come across have now been fixed. There's just some visual tweaks left and some minor random stuff (like bombs shattering like glass instead of exploding if you get hit while carrying them).

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

0.20.13 (13 augustus 2018)
* Desert palace: Fixed depth issue flying tiles

0.20.14 (17 augustus 2018)
* Improved performance of spiked block enemies
* Improved performance of general enemy step event
* Improved performance of container draw event
* Improved performance of use of collision grids
* Desert palace: Tweaked bedroom scene
* Desert palace: Fixed minor masking issue
* Desert palace: Fixed secret entrance scene
* Your character name now gets trimmed
* Desert palace: Fixed subboss scenes not triggering
* Desert palace: Fixed a hole's masking on F2

0.20.15 (18 augustus 2018)
* Spend the full day fixing the shock, darkness, warp and day-night scripting ( which I appearently all broke while improving their performance – whoops :S )
* The context button now also shows you “open” tekst for doors (if you hold the needed key)
* You can now also grab locked doors and keyblocks

0.20.16 (19 augustus 2018)
* Mansion: Fixed maze mechanic + masking issue
* Mansion: Improved camera system to cut screen distortion during screen transitions
* Made default movement scripting pixel perfect (again)
* Mansion: Tweaked endscene so link doesn't walk through a solid object
* Small optimization boost to obj_GUI step event
* Squeezed more performance out of the HUD
* Mansion: Fixed doorway for returning from the boss fight
* Fixed visual inconsistency on game select screen
* Fixed error when trying to read from statues
* Tomb: No longer able to get stuck in first bird statue
* Fixed not being able to continuously read from statues
* Tomb: Improved performance cannonball room
* Tomb: Fixed a few tiling issues
* Tomb: Green eyegore now insta killed by bombs
* Tomb: Red and blue eyegore are now damagable by bombs
* Tomb: Fixed error when killing a floating head
* Tomb: Fixed conditional door room left of F1 torch room
* Tomb: Fixed cannonball trajectories in cannonball puzzle
* Tomb: Fixed scene when first torch gets lit
* Tomb: Fixed scene when fourth torch gets lit
* Desert palace: Fixed error in scene bossfight 2 intro

7

Coding / Gamemaker Studio Shader tutorial(s)

« on: August 19, 2018, 02:23:51 pm »

More stuff I came across online while diving into Gamemaker's workings.
This shader tutorial is the most usefull playlist I found so far.

Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch4BYqkL1w8&list=PL0kTSdIvQNCNE-BDKOlYu628AalMmXy_P

8

Zelda Projects / Re: [Demo v2.2.1] The Legend of Zelda: The Golden Hero [Updated June 06, 2017]

« on: August 17, 2018, 10:50:15 am »

@BlackwingE: In case you were unaware. There is a playthrough off your fangame on youtube. Here's part 1 of 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_qnKcEqbjU

9

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: August 12, 2018, 07:52:33 pm »

Weekly update:
Sorry, but no demo this week either. The more I test the more I find to fix or tweak. So the current state is that there are still about 6 issues on my list that are noticable to game-breaking (and about 20 that are minor to nitpicky).

What I did manage to do was improve the overall performance so that framedrops seem relegated to the largest / most heavily populated area's. (It's somehow quite fun to slowly chip away at such a large problem, learning as I go).

Progress made:

Code: [Select]

0.20.08 (6 augustus 2018)
* Desert: Fixed tiling issue door upper left of main plaza
* Improved performance of containers, shadows and various enemy movement scripts

0.20.09 (7 augustus 2018)
* Mansion: Secret treasure now contains the blue tunic
* Slightly improved performance warp draw event
* Mansion: Fixed masking issue in shed
* Fixed tunic colors not drawing correctly during warp animations

0.20.10 (8 augustus 2018)
* Mansion: Updated masking issue in diner
* Combined most HUD surfaces for a little better performance

0.20.11 (11 augustus 2018)
* Textures now increased form 2k to 4k (aka 64 MB)
* Combined more surfaces in HUD
* Optimized more tilesets so the game now runs on a single texture
* Small optimization to enemy draw scripting
* Made wall crash destruction more lenient, in how it's detected, yet again
* Fixed visuals while stationary in deep water with upgraded tunic
* Fixed issue in shock animations

0.20.12 (12 augustus 2018)
* Slight improvement to enemy AI + drawing performance
* Big performance boost to context button text detection
* Tweaked tiling and object placement in Mansion Shed
* Tweaked character collisions for performance
* Fixed issue where you can continuously crash into a bookcase to move a key endlessly
* Fixed a few more masking oversights
* Fixed visual oversight in item menu
* Tweaked fairy masking to make it less likely they get stuck in walls etc

10

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: August 05, 2018, 04:12:43 pm »

Hi guys. So I was aiming to release this next demo asap but because I had more free time then usual I decided to first do a full playthrough as extra testing. Well... I got reminded of the scope of this game. Without testers some area's haven't been properly played in years and thus I found more bugs then I'd dare to admit.

So, basically I'll be taking more time to polish things up.

Also, performance at places has somehow become a slight issue on my machine (=some dips between 58 and 60 fps). I've implemented a series of improvements, but I doesn't seem to fix much as it's the black box GML engine that already takes up at least 86% of the resources. If anybody want to help test the fps on different machines, please let me know.

Progress made:

Code: [Select]

0.20.06 (4 augustus 2018)
* Overworld: Removed some usages of draw_rectangle to boost performance a little
* Debug area: Fixed memory leak during some room transitions
* Starting screen: Removed all draw_line() functions for performance
* Gameselect: Fixed memory leak with obj_Character surfaces not getting flushed
* Further optimized HUD drawing
* Combined effects from getting bows and/or arrows
* Combined code, that turns some of the objects outside of view, into one
* Massively rewrote the terrain collision scripting

0.20.07 (5 augustus 2018)
* Fixed sporadic error when cutting multiple bushes
* Fixed error when shooting enemy with arrow
* Improved performance collisions woth character projectiles
* Arrows now also ignore holes in the ground below bushes
* Fixed some issues with exiting water
* The collision masking when running into breakable walls/stone piles is now more forgiving
* Breakable blocks can now also be destroyed by running into it
* Further improved efficiency enemy movement scripting
* Tree drawing performance further improved
* Mansion: Fixed master chest being inaccessable
* Mansion: Fixed small shed tiling issue
* Mansion: Tweaked dinning room tiling
* Desert: Tweaked chest placement in secundairy entrance to make it harder for people to miss the actual entrance
* Desert: Fixed tiling issue on F3

11

Coding / Gamemaker optimization video

« on: August 03, 2018, 05:22:55 pm »

Came across a video people on here might like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlK5zM0xEpo

12

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: August 03, 2018, 05:16:16 pm »

Yes, I'm using GM:Studio2. Basically it's nice software and an improvement over GM:Studio1. If you're a serieus user that spends time optimizing games and such then I would recommend it. Just be mindfull that it comes with a few quirks:
- It contains annoying DRM where you have to log in (=2-step) every so often. On several occassions I've had to wait hours/a day for the software to recognize a reset password.
- The move from 1 to 2 might require you to up some of your coding habits (like declaring arguments before use in scripts). It'll make you a better coder through, just expect some time investment there.
- The software is constantly being improved which means every 6 months or so might find that you'll have to perform (minor) updates/optimization to previously functioning code.

As for my issue earlier today: I found more people having issues with this latest update so I ended up going back to an earlier version.

13

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: August 03, 2018, 12:32:33 pm »

Go figure: I just finished the second to last issue I found and now my fps tanks to 45 (from 58-60) due to the latest GM:Studio update. Go figure I really hate these newer GameMaker versions sometimes.

Anyway, I'll need some more days to fix stuff. I don't suppose any of you have tips to keep the Gamemaker Finish_Frame engine processing value of games in check?

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

0.19.71 (9 juli 2018)
* Fixed character shadow turning blue when walking over over while on a bridge
* Tweaked some doors after more playtesting

0.19.72 (21 juli 2018)
* Fixed a few minor depth issues
* Finally finished final Florine scene in Underwater Prison

0.19.73 (26 juli 2018)
* Fixed case of dissappearing staircase during water raising
* Populated the dungeon with all remaining containers

0.19.74 (27 juli 2018)
* Fixed some small depth issues
* Populated the dungeon with last enemies

0.20.00 (29 juli 2018)
* Finished area around the last of the cells
* Made it possible to collect arrows from chests without a bow
* Fixed blob spawning + added additional spawn state
* Tweaked some more small tweak to the dungeon
* Added extra state to default stalfos so they can now also fall from above
* Fixed issue with Stalfos getting stuck in cell doors

==================================================

0.20.02 (30 juli 2018)
* Intro cave: Removed unfinished Murray Boss fight
* Intro cave: Flipper item replace by collectable bomb
* Intro cave: Removed door sound if entered from the outside
* Underwater prison: Added last missing containers
* Underwater prison: Removed map/compass pre-collected status (=was for testing; forgot to remove after)
* Underwater prison: Fixed some last tiling issues
* Underwater prison: Fixed blue blobs reacting to you while on a different floor
* Underwater prison: Blue blobs from above trigger sooner if link nearby
* Underwater prison: Tweaked a bunch of smaller stuff
* General: Reorganised how GML room data is stored (=data like bg music to play)
* Underwater prison: Fixed left door of boss not closing based on dungeon action order
* Underwater prison: Collisions with default transition terrain now only trigger if on the same depth plane
* Underwater prison: Fixed boss music not stopping after kill
* Underwater prison: Fixed end scene moving you to a placeholder location on overworld
* Underwater prison: Fixed oversight in escape puzzle once solved and returning
* Underwater prison: Fixed issue when getting flippers from main chest
* Underwater prison: Fixed some area's not getting displayed as flooded as intended

0.20.03 (31 juli 2018)
* Underwater prison: Fixed not being able to use the sword while walking on the walkway over water

0.20.04 (2 augustus 2018)
* Underwater prison: Improved performance for enemy movement
* Underwater prison: Improved performance for container drawing / detection
* Underwater prison: Improved performance further for mini-Moldorm AI when offscreen
* Underwater prison: Improved performance further for enemy sprite drawing

0.20.05 (3 augustus 2018)
* Underwater prison: Fixed some enemies getting stuck in solid action objects and terrain objects
* Overworld: Fixed tiling issue
* Sewers: Fixed tiling issue

14

Discussion / Re: how to convert images in hq2x

« on: July 30, 2018, 11:46:50 am »

No sweat.
What are you working on if I may ask?

15

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: July 29, 2018, 10:20:46 pm »

I promised myself I'd release a new demo by the end of the weekend so here it is:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3d0g14vp7lw029e/Zelda_0_20_01.zip/file

Note that I have only had time to do final playtesting on parts of the new dungeon. If you encounter any issues, or have feedback, be sure to let me know. I love to hear your opinions so I can keep making things better and better.

As for directions: To access the latest new dungeon walk up two screens from the starting position. You'll see an added entrance in the wall in the upper left.

I'll provide more information when I can.

========

EDIT: As expected (sigh) playtesting is yielding various minor bugs (and a few major ones). I'm already working to fix them (=8 of the 20 found are already resolved). Expect an improved demo in a few more days.

16

Discussion / Re: how to convert images in hq2x

« on: July 29, 2018, 07:43:27 pm »

One of the users here created image convertion software some years ago. I'll see if I can still find it for you.

EDIT:
Here is the original forum link to the program. This'll likely help you out.
http://zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=39943.msg435767#msg435767

17

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: July 26, 2018, 10:07:20 am »

Almost there! My project at work is now well and good of the ground and going strong (after weeks of overtime) so I've finally got some time for a proper breather

I've finished the last dungeon scene last weekend. Expect the next demo after this next weekend.

18

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: July 09, 2018, 05:21:28 pm »

Well, do try to not get totally burned out permanently. I'm hoping to see this reach completion!

Those are goals that we share

I'll probably skip on the NCFC this year so I don't have to rush the overworld after this dungeon. That'll give me the freedom to just add whatever for a while. Like chickens! Or more idle animations. Stuff like that that's fun to add just because I can. Working on a single dungeon for so long ideas have been piling up again.

19

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: July 08, 2018, 10:20:34 am »

Just a post to mention that the next release is still being worked on. I got a little burned out on the project, between getting sick again, finding issues with NPC's following you, and getting a new project of the ground at work. But I'm back at it.

Currently the dungeon order is being edited. Players could appearently (to my shock) lock themselves out off finishing the prison through key usage, so that definatly still needs fixing. Not sure how long it will take since tiling, scenes and so on might all need editing depending on the solution I go with.

-----

EDIT: And here is an overview of the latest progress made.

Code: [Select]

0.19.61 (28 mei 2018)
* Fixed funny bug allowing endless NPC spawning
* Did more bugfixing in regards to NPC respawn mechanics

0.19.62 (1 juni 2018)
* Added Florine to Underwater Prison
* Finally made it work with all the various other mechanics: NPC's can now also follow you to other Gamemaker rooms (=different floors/dungeons/etc) uninterrupted.

0.19.63 (2 juni 2018)
* Enemies can now interact with pressure plates (but only turned on for NPC's)
* Tweaked dungeon map some more

0.19.64 (9 juni 2018)
* Fixed character state when instantly changing to opposite direction while stopping to push pushable object
* Added extra intro scene with Murray
* Fixed: Murray not always laughing correctly during some scenes

0.19.65 (10 juni 2018)
* Connected dungeon to overworld
* Adjusted default screen transition to better account for following NPC's (so they get stuck less in closing doors)
* Fixed NPC walking into you if you walk in tiny bursts for a little bit

0.19.66 (17 juni 2018)
* Made more progress setting up Florine's scenes.
* Discovering more issues with NPC respawning that will need to be fixed

0.19.67 (29 juni 2018)
* Fixed a number of issues found with NPC respawning

0.19.68 (1 juli 2018)
* Rewrote Florine dialoog
* Fixed last (?) issues with NPC respawning
* Fixed Underwater endscenes not triggering based on NPC positioning

0.19.69 (7 juli 2018)
* Fixed errors when suddenly switching into the push state (from a walk state without a shield)
* Further tweaked Florine conversations
* Fixed error when a third textbox instantly follows others but has a different display speed.

0.19.70 (8 juli 2018)
* Tweaked breakable walls in prison
* Edited content of most chests in prison
* Retiled a number of rooms slightly
* Tweaked some drops and room layouts to hint at bomb usage at places
* Populated dungeon with containers
* Moved conditional doors, locked doors and keys around, changing the dungeon order a bit

20

Zelda Projects / Re: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19]

« on: June 14, 2018, 06:02:04 am »

Thank you for the support.
I will be back with a new update next weekend.