ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+129

The Video Game Machine : Alpha 1A Update!

We've updated The Video Game Machine: Alpha1 with several player requests and bug fixes.

Thanks again to everyone that has been playing and giving feedback - the more we hear from you, the more player suggestions we can implement!

Get the latest build of VGM today from your MY DOWNLOADS page.
Check out the changelog below to see everything we've added!

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The Video Game Machine: Alpha 1A Change Log

- Improvements -
+ Added a [Delete] button to The Arcade, so players can delete games they've accidentally uploaded.
+ Control Text in the 'Pause' Menu is now specific to the genre. When you're in a Top Down game, for instance, the 'Jump' controls will be hidden.
+ Enemies spawned from blocks can now have a target to trigger whenever they die.
+ Tiles can now swap to "Bush" in Adventure games.
+ Tile Swapper gizmo will now spawn a tile on the position if there isn't one.
+ Locked doors will have a notification above them telling the player what item they need to unlock it.

- Bug Fixes -
+ Fixed hang on exit the first time the game was run and activation was successful.
+ Screenshots for a game will no longer get overwritten / lost when a game is being edited.
+ Outro text will now send the player to the title screen - not Level 1.
+ The time that Outro text stays up is now dependent on the length of the text.
+ Games that you've made will now properly state you as the creator (we were accidentally taking credit for your hard work - sorry about that!)
+ Fixed issue with lighting post process effect causing outline around screen at low health in lower light tilemaps
+ Fixed issue with projectiles giving incorrect knockback to enemies
+ Enter key now activates levers instead of up key in adventure mode
+ Swapping a tile type will now cause it to update the surrounding adjacency correctly
+ Tile Swapper gizmo now destroys all tiles on the position instead of just the first found tile
+ Item locks now persistent with game state
+ Movement group now fills in extra info needed for game state loading
+ Persona ID and display name stored in game data as well as in the manifest now
+ Fixed issues with loading a save game saved in a dungeon
+ Leaving a dungeon will take you to the entrance you came in from again
+ Fixed weird lines on sprites (from https://forums.stardock.net/495223/page/1/#3751028 - thanks Silver-Streak!)
+ Adventure games: Fixed Camera offset and zoom so a room fits properly within the cameras bounds.
+ Deleting any key lock gizmo on a prop will now correctly delete that prop.
+ Fixed some props that spawn gizmos not displaying said gizmos without first entering play mode.
+ Did a pass on Shadow position on Heroes & Enemies in top-down games. (https://forums.stardock.net/495226/page/1/#3751161 - thanks AcornCereal!)
+ Format tags in dialog boxes will now properly format text as it's being built (ie. you won't see the <color> tag built as an NPC is talking)
+ Fixed the likely cause of someone having infinite lives.
+ Added a 3 second delay in the Game Over screen (prevents the player from accidentally button-slamming they way past it)
+ Fixed being able to mash enter/space when prompted with a post-level "save your game" dialog to force it to advance more than one level
+ Fireman no longer goes bald when facing up in an Adventure game

+ Attacking with a weapon or projectile a [!] block will now change it to it's 'Empty' state (thanks Seilore)
+ Wizard Staff & Water Hose fire now properly when facing in different directions(thanks Koldac)

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Hmmm....so I'm seeing odd behavior now.

I have a scenario where I need to have a trigger area activate some off-screen dialogue. This is basically to guide the player how to open a door infront of them.

So the way it was set up in the previous version is as so:

This worked fine before. The character hit the trigger area, it played the dialogue telling them to go get an axe, then the door would only unlock if they hit the weapon trigger with an axe.

Since the update, now the door opens as soon as they hit the dialogue, even though the trigger area is not targetting the door or the weapon trigger. It's almost like trigger areas or weapon triggers are now acting like they were using trigger links. I'm not seeing anything about that in the patch notes, so is this a bug or expected behavior?

Edit: Here's a screenshot of play mode, showing the door open even though my character has no weapon and is still in the dialogue.

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ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+129

Very strage. Investigating now, but (if you don't mind) could you send your game XML to scotttykoski@gmail.com?

I can't think of anything that would have changed to cause this, but we will certainly add this to our list of things to tests.

Update: What's really weird about that layout is that deleting those Weapon Gizmos (in the level editor) is deleting ALL adjacent gizmos. Definitely a bug that we'll look into.

The good news is that, in Alpha1a there's a cleaner way to set this up.

Place the door, then use the Erase options to only delete the Key Locks. You can then place some weapon triggers that, once triggered, will open the door.

I'm pretty sure the above setup gives the results you're looking for, but please let me know if there's something that still not working as expected.

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Hey Scott,

I'd be happy to still send you the XML as more examples are always good...however where is the XML stored?
That new method is AWESOME. That makes it even cleaner. While I hope we eventually have "multigizmos" on the same square, this is a great improvement for doors, at minimum.

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ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+129

Your games can be found in your "Documents/My Games/The Video Game Machine/Generated Games" folder.

And yeah, I'll be totally honest, I didn't even know if that 'Weapon Gizmos on Doors' method would even work A happy accident that weapons gizmo try to activate any prop tile they on.

Do you have any examples of how you'd use stacking gizmos? I'd really like to keep gizmos 1 per-tile (where you could use linkers to trigger multiple targets) but I'd be curious what situations you're thinking of.

Thanks again for the feedback, and sorry that your existing gizmo setup got messed up. We'll figure out what's wrong and get it for the Alpha 2 build.

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I think keeping gizmos on one-per-tile could still work fine. I think the biggest issue is scenarios like this one, where I want dialogue, another trigger type, and another gizmo in the same area. Real estate becomes real sparse.

The biggest real example I can think of: I really want to be able to start dialogue from the start location, however since you can't stack gizmos (or add a target to the starting location) I have to make it so you start the level then move in any direction to start the dialogue. With tile stacking I could just place a trigger area underneath the start gizmo.

(Additionally, I really wish you could toggle the dialogue sparkle on/off

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The crossbow leaves an arrow behind on the spot you were standing when shooting.

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ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+129

Hey Drymetal,

I tried to repro this in the upcoming Alpha 2 build and it seems to be fixed. That update still needs to get approved by QA, and since we're out this week it may not hit your hands until mid-July. Thanks for you patience, and I'll let you guys know when that update is live.

Thanks!

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When should we expect a new build? I'm anxious to jump back in!

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SchismNavigator

Join Date 06/2012

+78

Quoting SidFisk,

reply 8

When should we expect a new build? I'm anxious to jump back in!

Patience

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ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+129

Quoting SidFisk,

reply 8

When should we expect a new build? I'm anxious to jump back in!

Sorry for the lack in info. VGM is 100% still in the works, but we took a break as we wrapped up some other projects and are waiting to get a dedicated Producer on the game. Basically I was wearing too many hats, and it was obvious that the game needs a proper manager helping to set priorities and guide the schedule.

We'll let you know when things kick back into high-gear!

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Thanks for the info. I really like it so far. I hope gets some love.

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I hope this program gets the attention it deserves. Right now it is pretty limited in assets, controls, etc, but I like what I see and this has a massive amount of potential.

Are there any plans to make the games exportable (complied) to various formats like HTML, Android, Windows, etc? I seriously hope you have plans for this as this would be the deal maker/breaker for the success of this app.

Are there any plans to allow people to import there own pixel graphics, spirit sheets or anything like that?

Are there any plans to allow people to import there own music and sound f/x?

Suggestions;

It desperately needs user controlled key mapping.

It needs blocks that allow one-way and two-way movement (that is, blocks where you can travel through them in only one or two directions instead of only blocks that block movement all together) (i.e. you can climb up through a ground block but not climb down, or, you can go left through a block but not return back).

It needs a portal gizmo to teleport the player and/or enemies to a selected location (with selectable teleportation effects).

It needs customization of the health bars, score, etc (look, location on screen, etc)

Anyway, I'm sure you guys have a ton of things planned for this, but I thought I would throw in a few suggestions.

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Seilore

Join Date 10/2006

+139

Any updates on this. There has been no official post for almost a year?

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