Is there any Shump EDITOR avalible

[EddyMRA]

Even this early on, I kinda know what you mean. Mine only has two weapons so far (3 levels each with options) and it's already a mess.

Guess it'll be sooner than later...

If you have any programming experience, then the learning curve for GML should not be as high, since GML is structurally similar to Java and C++.

[ncp]

its Shmups, not shumps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAO6akjqdg#t=4m52s

[Rozyrg]

Yeah, I have pretty much no experience in programming whatsoever.. so I'm a bit anxious about when to jump in (much less how.)
I just finished making a snazzy custom font in Illustrator for my combo meter and highscore table, though... so getting that working would probably be my first goal.

Anyways, here's a WIP video I recorded today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5ZUDjYigeQ

Apologies for the lack of sound; but at least you won't have to listen to the terrible song I made in Garageband for it.

[Shatterhand]

I also suggest GameMaker to learn gamemaking.

At least you can learn some good principles, and have some fun making a few simple games
before you move onto more complex things.

This.

Gamemaker is a very good introduction to programming. It's simple to learn, it has all basics of a good OO language, and it gives instant results, making it less frustrating.

Also, it's extremely powerful. People usually believe GM it's slow and limited because most people using it are stupid kids who can't do anything properly and are too lazy to learn to use it properly, so most games made with it are mediocre or worse. You can do amazing things with GM if you take some time to learn it properly.

I will add another vote of support to use Game Maker. Most of the public thinks that Game Maker games are simplistic. It's extremely powerful once you learn the built-in GML language. Since it is extremely similar to object-oriented languages like Java and C++, which I have experience programming in, I picked up GML quickly.

I'm making a remake of Xeno Fighters in Game Maker.

I honestly think they should make a GM version without the DnD interface. It would look more professional and people would take it more seriously.

[Twiddle]

Yeah, because designing levels via text editor and not being able to see your changes until you run the game is way more professional

[Udderdude]

Yeah, because designing levels via text editor and not being able to see your changes until you run the game is way more professional

Hey, it worked for me .. then again I'm lazy.

[Shatterhand]

Yeah, because designing levels via text editor and not being able to see your changes until you run the game is way more professional

I didn't say to remove the room editor, I said to remove just the DnD actions. They are a mess to work with anyway if you want to do anything even remotely complex.

And that's why I said "they should make a version", I didn't say "remove DnD for good". They should call this version "Gamemaker Serious version" or something.

I am saying this because most "experienced programmers" I know don't take GM seriously. In the school where I teach, the other "computer" teacher still look at me funny when I say I am using GM to teach the kids how to program.

[worstplayer]

You can always ignore DnD and just write whole game in the room creation code. You'll still have access to rooms and sprites and stuff.

[Rozyrg]

Well, I've made my first meager steps into GML.. just made an INI for saving game settings. Yay?

I want to get cracking on my highscore table next; but I'm not crazy about the idea of storing those values in an easily editable INI file. I wonder if it would be possible to use the values GM stores automatically without having to draw that ghetto-ass floating table they have built in.

Any suggestions?

[monkeyman]

It's perfectly possible to use a custom highscore with the inbuilt highscore system, I've done this myself in Project Raiden.

Basically you can see the inbuilt variables here which refer to the scores. The key variables being:

highscore_name(1-10)
highscore_value(1-10)

I have a seperate object which appears at game over to add highscores (simply checks that score>highscore_value(10)). To update the scores, just use the following:

highscore_add(global.name,score)

Whether you want the player to type in the name at the end, and save it as global.name (or whatever variable you care to use), or do it when they start the game is of course up to you.

Just type 'highscore' in the help file and you should see all comands and variables relating to this...

I appreciate there are probably better ways of doing this but you get the principle.

[Rozyrg]

Sweet! I figured there'd be a way to do it like that. Thanks.

(Yep, I was never a fan of punching in your name every time.)

[Aru-san]

The problem with Game Maker's high score tables is that they are extremely limited to just a name and a score. I would want to go about creating a high score table that involves more than just that, as most arcade games or games that use high score tables do.

For example, using Codename TROOPER as a small example, I would prefer a high score table with the following:
Score - Highest PPT (point per turret) - Level reached - Name

And for worring about .ini saved high scores...it would be rather tedious to program, but one way to prevent this (at least for the 'normal' person (e.g. not hackers dedicated to cracking anything and everything)) is to create a very tricky encryption system that will prevent the high score table from being easily tampered with. Though I personally don't know how to go about creating this myself.

[TMR]

And for worring about .ini saved high scores...it would be rather tedious to program, but one way to prevent this (at least for the 'normal' person (e.g. not hackers dedicated to cracking anything and everything)) is to create a very tricky encryption system that will prevent the high score table from being easily tampered with. Though I personally don't know how to go about creating this myself.

Simple encryption is relatively easy really, s'just a matter of finding a formula that can be reversed later on and if the save file is just binary data it can be as simple as adding values from a pseudo random generator or having a conversion table of some kind that swaps letter and number characters around seemingly at random.

The other option is to "save" the highscores to the web, it's a bit harder to tamper with highscores on a remote server. =-)

[Rozyrg]

I'm ok with simple for now (it's my first GM project, after all.) When I got it to work, I was quite happy just to see all the names and scores lined up in my purdy custom font.

I assume it would be fairly easy to tag on additional info to the pre-built rankings (extra numbered 'slots'/ variables for each).. at least for writing them initially, making them move around correctly might be tricky; but I'm not the code guru here.

It still comes back to how you would save that additional data, though...hmmm. Wouldn't be a bad idea to figure out some basic encryption I guess.

[Rozyrg]

Well, here's a little demo of my GM thing if anyone's interested.
(I uploaded it for a few friends to see, figured I might as well put it up here...)

Link

Even a few months in, it's still pretty early progress wise. A lot of the graphics and sounds are placeholders, bullets and enemy movements are still pretty rudimentary, the blue weapon needs a complete overhaul, issues with bullet visibility (still!), etc., etc.

Controls:

Ctrl - Fire
Arrow keys - Move
M - Music On/Off
S - Ship Speed (the max is 5)
P - Pause

Scoring: (my first attempt, mind you!)

-Medals appear in various grades depending on how high the combo meter is
-Medals 'cash in' at the end of the stage, or when you die (at half value)
-You get a bonus (up to x5) for collecting the same color powerup after maxing it out
-The combo meter 'cashes in' when a combo finishes: it's multiplied by a set amount (not the score for individual enemies killed) and then divided
(I'm thinking I'll change or remove this shortly, though)

Enjoy...hopefully?

[null1024]

The problem with Game Maker's high score tables is that they are extremely limited to just a name and a score. I would want to go about creating a high score table that involves more than just that, as most arcade games or games that use high score tables do.

For example, using Codename TROOPER as a small example, I would prefer a high score table with the following:
Score - Highest PPT (point per turret) - Level reached - Name

And for worring about .ini saved high scores...it would be rather tedious to program, but one way to prevent this (at least for the 'normal' person (e.g. not hackers dedicated to cracking anything and everything)) is to create a very tricky encryption system that will prevent the high score table from being easily tampered with. Though I personally don't know how to go about creating this myself.

Or, more easlily done, you could store only the extra info in another file [no real need to be encrypted, heck, doing a ROT13 or similar could be easy enough], so the scores are safe in GM's system, and the extra info... well, it doesn't matter *that* much that it needs to be all secure.

[Rozyrg]

I haven't tried messing with it; but if you limited the # of characters in the player's name (global.player_name or whatever), you could probably convert the additional values to strings and add them together for the highscore_name values.

Might be more difficult getting them back out; but for simply listing it ought to work.

[monkeyman]

I haven't tried messing with it; but if you limited the # of characters in the player's name (global.player_name or whatever), you could probably convert the additional values to strings and add them together for the highscore_name values.

Might be more difficult getting them back out; but for simply listing it ought to work.

That could work for basic info like level reached or highest chain whatever - just plan the layout of the score table accordingly.

[Rozyrg]

Cool... now I just have to figure out how to make it draw the seperate stats in a different color/size text. Maybe by re-splitting highscore_name before the table is drawn? Not sure how to make it count the string lengths and separate it that way; but it ought to be possible.

Should be a nice little weekend project...

[Ed Oscuro]

its Shmups, not shumps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAO6akjqdg#t=4m52s

Anyhow I'm downloading this. It it going to turn my computer into a polar bear? I hope not.