Totally Rotten

I discovered a bug that brought game development to a grinding halt. The moving platforms don’t work anymore. Here’s the issue: The original platforms had coordinates (a great Scrabble word by the way), dimensions, their own modifier for where they were drawn, and a movement amount. The modifier is a non-variable, since is it set when the engine is running. However, a flippant thought that I had regarding ThiefEd was that all of the rectangles would move the same speed, so no need to add a way to change the Movement Speed to the Editor. It turns out that I was wrong. In the Engine the Moving Rectangles need said movement work, as it is not specified by the Engine.
This brought me to my first solution- just add a static movement speed. Sorry sports fans, that’s a big Epic Fail on that. Since the Editor only creates Moving Rectangles in one direction, there is no boundary to let the other bloody movement variable to ever change. So no matter what, the Rectangles would float around as they pleased without giving much thought to what they were supposed to be doing.
So, this ran me to my second solution, which would be to add the function to the level editor and move along, without issue. That, I thought, would be great. Except for one tiny issue – it would corrupt all of the level data. Adding unknown variables would: A) Cause a runtime error when they are loaded. Since the original files do not have that data, calling it is a crash to the desktop type of bug that would be fixable, but not in a time frame that I have. I do not have a “B” at this time.
So, here I am at the final solution that I ran into and plan to`install today before I finish up the second stage and lay out the 3rd like the no talent flyweight that it is. What I will do is add a quick bit to the loading code where it will specify the Movement Speeds as being 0 or not. If there is a boundary for either the X or Y boundary, then the speed of the other will be made to be zero. That’s it. Then, as a workaround, I will code the actual speeds using scripting on a level by level basis (a thought I had before also). So we’ll see how that goes.

-For those of you at home, a “FlyWeight” is the smallest class of pro-boxer. These guys are like, 110 pounds. Assume that they go down easy for the purposes of the analogy above.

Hmm, pretty heavy on the sports metaphors today. In kind of an odd mood.

-That rocks so cool. It works, thank the bloody gods. Plus, now I have the option to make the cave in really awesome from a gameplay standpoint.

-Yep, the Cave In is everything I thought it could be. Discovered something interesting though. Doing scripted stages are more difficult. I find myself having to test and re-test them before I can even make the stages possible let alone passable by most people. I mean, if I can’t even do it without getting killed then there probably will not be anybody else. I’ll really find out when I have the tester(s) get a piece of it. But I do worry about context though, as from a story perspective this is a Cave In of the Crypt and Cavern. Without the context, the testers will not know what to expect for the first time, so they will not be accurate in their criticism since the test itself will be flawed. *sigh*
-Anyhow, from a design standpoint I have to make sure they are passable, but I do want them to be dangerous. The moving collisionables will kill the player if they get squished. I need to find the middle ground between making them challenging while still making it possible for a player to complete them on the first try, without trial and error. I think I have, but the proof is in the testing pudding, so to speak.

-Do internet people still do that? I mean, put actions inside little stars? *wonders* I probably shouldn’t either, especially considering that I think the little *’s look like a sphincter.

-I wonder what kind of things the Google Ad at the corner will give me, now that I’ve used the word “Sphincter” twice in the same post. I bet they’ll be gross.
– In development news, I’ve had not 1 but 2 different people ask to be testers for the project and/or do other work. This is in stark contrast to wandering internet looking for people. I guess I was just looking in the wrong places. In the future, if I want to find people that want to be game _____ (that’s a blank) I should troll the classes where people are learning to be _____.

-What that means is that now I need to keep a constantly updated compile of the project and assets so that other people can play it. This of course means that I have to simplify my file structures so that I can give a playable form of the project without giving away the farm so to speak. Have an odd conversation about NDA’s (which I feel are an anathema to the industry {I don’t think I spelled that right}) and oddly, now I feel all protective of my work. That’s not a feeling I like really.

-Was going to plot out the Cliff/ Castle Walls level today, but it’s almost midnight now, so I’ll do it on Monday. In total, I’m about a week behind on my schedule, and that stresses me out a little bit. going forward, the levels should come along more easily. Unless I run into something really stupid.

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