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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 15, 2008 10:05:30 GMT -5
Hi everyone. So, after checking out this site for a long time (although on and off I admit) I've finally decided to make an account and write my first post. I know I'm probably like all the other millions of people out there wanting to make a continuation for StarTropics, and gellin has done some very awesome stuff already, but I'd still like to give it a shot and hopefully one day finish it. It'd be a pleasure to have you guys play it (even play/test it along the way) and for me to support this awesome community, as well as the timeless series we know and love. Just at least so I don't look like another guy that's all talk and no results, one of the main reasons I finally decided to give this a shot is because I love game design and game programming is a hobby of mine. I've worked on a personal game engine (still in a great deal of progress) and have adapted it to other projects I do, which I plan to again with this. The most recent one I'm doing is with some people at another game I used to work for, which is 2D tile-based, and we're trying to make a new area. Two nights ago I was making one of the maps on an area modeller program I've been building for that project and it reminded me greatly of when you land on C-Island for the first time. It sparked a lot of nostalgia and motivation. That made me wonder if maybe it'd be possible to get SOMETHING up and running for an ST3 game and that myself and all the people here would probably enjoy it. Sorry for the long post. Well, here's to this project and to me getting to know the community better. Edit: Here's some screenshots I just took now of two test maps I mess around with on my game engine. A bunch of the pics there are placeholder pics btw, in case anyone's wondering. The blue glowing tiles and those tower objects are animated also, but you can't see that in the screenshot. In the second screenshot actually, the glowing blue tile is also a warp zone. Angelfire doesn't seem to like showing images, even when you click on the link (for me anyway), so if it doesn't show up, just enter the URL in the address bar and view it like that. www.angelfire.com/gundam/hitme/Screenshot1.JPGwww.angelfire.com/gundam/hitme/Screenshot2.JPG
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Scotty D.
Administrator
Totally Awesome Dude
Roll Initiative!
Posts: 7,312,445
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Post by Scotty D. on Apr 15, 2008 22:00:38 GMT -5
It seems like you're really motivated to do this, shadow. Hopefully you won't turn out to be just another mostly-talk/no-results guy.
Welcome to the Island!
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 15, 2008 22:36:30 GMT -5
Thanks S2H! I'm glad to finally be here.
I'm sure getting positive support and feedback will motivate me even more too. It works for me anyway and I appreciate it, as I'm sure most people do. I hope the same too and I'm definitely gonna give it a shot. I know I plan on sticking with it if you guys do.
Oh, in case anyone is wondering, I'm using VB 6.0 and DirectX 7.0. The application is a full-screen one, but I can always make a windowed version too when I'm done (I'd prefer to finish what I started and then do the shift over and I like working in full-screen mode anyway).
I'm actually working on refining my z-ordering code right now. If anyone is wondering what that is, think of it like this. In top-down games like Zelda: Link to the Past for example, when you hide behind a tree, the tree overlaps your character. On top of that, if another character is behind you, your character's image will overlap that character's image, and the tree will overlap you both. Anyway, I finally got it working correctly (I had made an incorrect version earlier, much to my dismay when I found out), but I'm just working on optimizing it now.
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gellin
Administrator
startropics.com
Posts: 560
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Post by gellin on Apr 16, 2008 17:42:22 GMT -5
Ooohhh another ST3. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this. Hopefully seeing yours in action will motivate me to finish mine up (it's still not abandoned despite the lack of updates). Anyways, good luck to you and if you have any questions regarding my implementation, I'd be happy to answer them.
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 16, 2008 18:06:51 GMT -5
Thank you gellin. I appreciate it greatly. It'd be great if mine also had the effect of motivating you to work on your ST3. I know real life can put things on hold a lot and I've found that has happened many times with myself.
Right now, I've ripped a bunch of tile images, as well as for Mike and Baboo on the overworld from ST1 and put together spritesheets for those two guys. I decided recreating C-Island would be a good first test and also something more authentic for this site.
I'm trying to switch over my player images from Zero to Baboo, so I'm just trying to modify my code that handles updating the sprite animations. It's a pain right now since I initially made the code to handle as many animations as you want to put into your spritesheet, with default animations as Stand, Walk, Run, Attack, and Death, but Baboo only has the 1 standing animation which doubles as his walking animation too, so the lack of those other default animations is giving me some trouble, mainly "Out of bound" errors. I'll get it though eventually.
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gellin
Administrator
startropics.com
Posts: 560
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Post by gellin on Apr 16, 2008 20:07:13 GMT -5
Take a look in the images folder for my installation of ST3. There you'll find a ridiculous amount of sprites ripped from the game.
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 16, 2008 22:02:45 GMT -5
Thanks again gellin. Those images will save me a lot of time.
I also have to admit I'm impressed with the product you have so far. I'm liking the professional look and feel that it has. How you incorporated that massive overworld at the start of the game also amazed me, even if I wasn't able to enter any villages or huts (and there was probably more for me to explore also. I just worked north of C-Island and came upon the islands in the Captain Bell chapter)
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 20, 2008 16:51:28 GMT -5
Just thought I'd give some kind of an update, since I haven't been able to do a ton due to life being busy currently. However, I reworked and improved upon my old sprite animation system. Now you can add in as many animations as you want, whether it be 1 or 10. I've got a Mike and Baboo moving around on the map When I get some time, I'm going to finish the work I started on doing the C-Island overworld.
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 21, 2008 19:31:22 GMT -5
I'm just adding in the boundaries (no walking through mountains and on water afterall) and then the warp points, but here's a screenshot of C-Island on the program. The quality on this is a bit worse and will be for other screenshots due to converting them to JPG files. Anyway, feedback and comments is much appreciated.
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 22, 2008 17:23:41 GMT -5
Well, I've added in the boundaries and made Coralcola connect to the dungeon exit for now (I'll make them connect to their respective maps perhaps another time). Dr J's lab doesn't do anything for now when you touch it, although you can walk out the right side onto the water (that side part I plan on leaving for when I want to enter Dr J's lab from Sub-C later on). Anyway, I decided I'd put up a little demo for people to try out. Hopefully I'll get some people to actually post from this. Enjoy. www.angelfire.com/gundam/hitme/StarTropics_3.zipYou can ignore how the program initially looks when you run it. It's just the start of how my game engine looks (and an incomplete attempt at networking code). The program will crash if you click anywhere except the button that says "Enter Battle", so make sure to click that if you want to actually try the program out.
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Post by ZeedDragon on Apr 23, 2008 4:51:37 GMT -5
You can ignore how the program initially looks when you run it. It's just the start of how my game engine looks (and an incomplete attempt at networking code). The program will crash if you click anywhere except the button that says "Enter Battle", so make sure to click that if you want to actually try the program out. Well, its good to see more fan games being created, but your cilent program still crashs even when I click "Enter Battle", and this is what it gives me: Run-time error '429': ActiveX component can't create object
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 23, 2008 10:01:52 GMT -5
Well, its good to see more fan games being created, but your cilent program still crashs even when I click "Enter Battle", and this is what it gives me: Run-time error '429': ActiveX component can't create object Okay, that is odd, but from my knowledge, the 429 runtime error for VB happens when the VB runtime files aren't installed on the computer. I have heard the problem can also be caused by Norton Antivirus Software, but it seems unlikely here. I know I've seen that error myself, but rarely, and it always disappears on its own soon after. The same thing could be happening to you, so I thought I'd throw it out there. If you are running this on Windows Vista, then that would be the source of the problem. VB is not supported on Vista like other programming languages are. Here is a download link that might help you that I found on another forum asking about the same problem. Again, this most likely will not work with Vista: download.microsoft.com/download/5/a/d/5ad868a0-8ecd-4bb0-a882-fe53eb7ef348/VB6.0-KB290887-X86.exeHope this helps.
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Post by ZeedDragon on Apr 23, 2008 10:23:08 GMT -5
Yeah I'm using Vista, and even after downloading and running the VB file you provided, still doesn't help. Anyway, I still look forward to your progress on the game anyway, so goodluck!
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Post by ShadowHunter on Apr 23, 2008 11:46:11 GMT -5
Ah, so it was Vista. Yeah, there's nothing I can do about that since Vista dropped their support for VB. Pissed off a lot of people when they decided to do that, but oh well. Thank you for your support and for posting though. Seriously, it feels like it's dead on this thread and it's kind of depressing and making me lose motivation. Anyway, assuming I do finish this, the code will already be done. If that's the case, then I can always port it over to C++ so you and anyone else using Vista will be able to play it also It's not the language I'm most used to, but once the VB version is done, I'm willing to give it a shot if you and any others show continued support for it.
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gellin
Administrator
startropics.com
Posts: 560
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Post by gellin on Apr 23, 2008 17:55:44 GMT -5
Don't lose your motivation already, it's only been a week. You have to remember that your target audience here are ST fans that visit this message board. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. There isn't that many of them! It's a decent start so far, looking forward to seeing more. I also have to admit I'm impressed with the product you have so far. I'm liking the professional look and feel that it has. How you incorporated that massive overworld at the start of the game also amazed me, even if I wasn't able to enter any villages or huts (and there was probably more for me to explore also. I just worked north of C-Island and came upon the islands in the Captain Bell chapter) Well, it has that professional look because making games/tools is what I do for a living . Anyways, you can actually enter Coralcola, enter the dungeon, and appear out the other side in the current demo.
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