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M484GCS Version 8.0 Released
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Ok, version 8.0 has been released and the download links have been updated:
http://m484games.ucoz.com/index/m484gcs/0-34

Now I have put this new version to this site only, but I'll update the IndieDB profile too during this weekend...but first I need to take some new screenshots in order to make a "big post" announcement there. :)

There's a lot of new stuff in this update:

Firstly the Platformer "mode" has been now added, and it somehow even works I think...there's a platformer animation template+Game Gravity+Gravity Flag for all objects...although for now gravity only works for the Player character I think. And the "ladders" have not been implemented yet. So the platformer mode is still very "basic": the framework is there, but a lot of things had to be left out from this update; adding everything would have meant one more month of programming...

So what we have now is just a Player that can run left and right, and Jump and Duck. And that's it lol.
But the other things will be added as time goes on.

But lots of other things have been added too, such as:
- 3 collision methods for all objects (PIXEL PERFECT, HITBOX and IMAGEBOX),
- Fully working Transform Value Inheritance and Script ID Get tables (a big improvement to the object system)
- A Visual XY Coordinate Editor where you can use the mouse to set "shot offsets" "hitboxes" and "gun locations"
- A separate "Margin Scroll speed" (so that it won't be tied to the level scroll speed anymore)
- A customizable editor background color
+ many smaller upgrades and bug fixes

This version update was a very time consuming process; a lot of problems were encountered during the creation of the new collision methods (3 collision methods---> 3*3=9 ---> 9 possible collision types). Also the stop wall collisions were broken twice and a lot of time was wasted into repairing them. Also creating the platformer animation model was something new to me: it is both "gravity sensitive" and "jump status" sensitive, but also has normal "frames", and also it needs to "realize" when it is standing on a solid surface...all this was a big headache to make, but now I think I got it working OK. And making it work was also a personal victory for me; now I know that I can actually make a platformer game, and not just "shmups". It's always a "Level Up" event for the programmer when you achieve something new. :)

Ok, time to "tweet" my status again. :)

Good progress has been with Version 8, and when it's released it'll bring many new important features to the program.

In fact this update will quite likely be the biggest update ever; as big as the mammoth V6.0 upgrade some months ago.

And also this is why everything seems so silent at this point; I'm now using most of my time programming...but of course to the outside observer it might seem like "nothing seems to be happening, has he finally given up?" :)
But that's not the case, silence actually means that things are getting done, but all this happens in secret.

Also this is a "one man project" where the entire project depends on one person...there are a lot of tasks in this project, such as: programming, making tutorials, example games and graphics, updating the blog, forum and this website, finishing the "Side Blaster" project and some other projects, "marketing" the project (telling people about it, trying to get attention in various places), and so on. Between these tasks I must divide my time, and all time invested into one task is away from something else.

And the most important task of course is programming: without it the program itself won't progress forwards. And progress forward it must, if it is to become a finished product one day. So the website, the forum, example games, tutorials, in the end these all have secondary importance; the coding is what matters the most. Although those other things are important too, but they can always be done later. :)

And of course the "Programming" task itself is further divided into many "sub tasks" such as:
- Adding new features
- Improving the current features
- Improving the code itself (efficiency, readablility, size reduction etc)
- Bug Fixing

And when I'm doing the "Adding New Features" thing, I have to plan very carefully WHAT features to add and in which order...there is a huge list of ideas and plans, and everything can't be done at once. And sometimes when adding new things I notice that in order to add them, thing X shound be implemented first, or that before implementing thing X, feature Z should be first upgraded in ways A and B, and so on.

And so simple sounding tasks like "let's add feature X" will often turn out to be much more complex that what they seemed to be. And so time estimates like "should be ready in a few weeks" turn out to be "2 months at least". :)

So, let's keep our minds cool, and patiently wait for Version 8...I think I'll release it early December. (1st of December I would say)

Ok, I have again decided to change things a little bit here in this website. :)

The Proboards forum experiment has been abandoned for various reasons, and instead I have re-installed the Ucoz forum module to this site.

So, when you now click the "Forum" link in the Site Menu, it now takes you to the forum of this site, and not to the Proboards forum. I'll close the old Proboards forum soon. It was a mistake to separate the forum and this main site in the first place; in the end it just complicated things and created new prob(oards)lems lol. :D

So, the uCoz "user module" is now back online, and you can now again make user accounts here. Or in fact, when you register, you'll get a global "uID account" which allows you to login into any uCoz site, not just this one...and also those people who have made an account here previously will be able to login with their old uID accounts. :)

So, this is it folks, from this point onwards this site is 100% Ucoz. Cool, efficient, safe and ad-free (for 3$ month).

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ALSO:

There is now a funny big white "panel" in the top of the site, which follows you everywhere. :)

This is a new Ucoz invention called a "Social Bar". It has buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and some others. These allow you to "like" and "share" the current page content that you are viewing here.

If don't like it, then you can minimize it by clicking on the arrow.

I don't know how it works, or if it works, but it should work. :)

This is interesting:
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http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-18/swiss-initiative-would-give-2-800-a-month-to-everyone-no-strings-attached#r=nav-fs
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http://www.businessinsider.com/behind-the-swiss-unconditional-income-iniative-2013-10
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So soon there will be a vote in Switzerland about unconditional basic income. Interesting to see how it goes...and even more interesting to see how it works in practice, should the proposal be accepted. :)

In almost any other European country a proposal like this would be automatically terminated through a "this is how it goes"-style "political debate", but the system in Switzerland is more "people power" based, so I guess that in this case there might be some hope of success.

Also in Switzerland there was recently a proposal to implement a "1:12 earnings limit": no-one could earn more than 12 times the amount than what the lowest paid person in the company earns. This proposal too will see a vote in the future, and it has already throughoutly horrified the Swiss business elite, and many of them threatened to leave the country if such a law would become reality. :D

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Also the Basic Income concept in general is starting to get more popular, at least in Europe.
Check out the European Basic Income Initiative Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/ECI.BasicIncome

Here it starts folks, people are starting to think money as a basic human right, and are now demanding that the "Lifeblood of the World" should be equally shared with everyone.
"We want Money, We want Money, We want Money!" :D

Ultima V Lazarus - Britannic Lands




An Epicly relaxing "pling plong" tune from the "good old days". :)

Just added over 80 new variables to the M484GCS Object Data Structure...the next update will be Epic: I have decided to add both the "Transform Value Inheritance" and the "Platformer" updates at the same time in a one Epic programming maneuver...The results of this should be Epic, unless something goes Epicly wrong...but let's hope for the best. :)

M484GCS Version 7.1 Released


Ok, time for another quick update: Version 7.1 is up:
http://m484games.ucoz.com/index/m484gcs/0-34


This is a small "hotfix" update; which fixes two problems:

1.
Firstly, MP3 sound files are no longer supported because of possible license problems that they might cause in the future. So, starting from this version, the M484GCS will only support WAV and OGG sound files. And also I have removed MP3 files from all other programs that are available in this website and replaced them with OGG files. :)

2.
Secondly, a nasty start-up crash problem in the Editor file loader has been fixed...at start-up, the Editor always automatically tried to load the default "gamefiles" folder...but if you had re-named this folder according to the new "gamefiles+something" name rules, then ta-daa: the Editor won't start anymore. :D But now this problem is fixed, and the Editor now accepts all "gamefiles" folders at start-up.

Okay, I have now started doing version 8 of the M484GCS; and this will bring the long awaited Platformer feature if everything goes well...and it's better to go well now, because I already added the Platformer Animation Template to the program, which you can see in that screenshot. :)

So, we have 40 frames to play with, and I divided them according to the above screenshot. So we'll have a Player that has animations for walk, jump, fall down, climb ladders, shoot from ladders, and duck. And of course in addition to these things our Player can still just Stand as well. :D

This is the "basic platformer model", and I think we have everything important here...

All other "extra cool things" such as Megaman X style "dashing moves" can be done via "Player Script+Transform" combinations, although first I must upgrade the controls of the "Player Object", so that we can give it Scripts+Transforms via the 4 "Action Buttons".

And also I need to add a free style "Jump Editor" of some kind...so that the jumping style of the Player can be freely defined. And also I think we need 2 new object Categories: "Platforms" and "Ladders"...So there is still lots of work remaining.

But I would say that version 8 will be released this month, hopefully. :)





 

Hm, I just noticed this while googling for the words "m484 game creation system" :








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In Google results Page 3 there was a link to the CIA, as you can see from those screenshots. :D

I didn't click it, but the link seems to lead to the "Argentina" entry of the "CIA World Factbook".

So, I guess the program is getting more popular lol. :D

This starts to seem like a funny month; a second LOL post already, and it's only day number 10. :D

Yesterday I linked a Youtube video to this blog which contained the 007 Living Daylights theme music, and today, one day later, the video was removed from YT. :)

Bad luck James, lol.

But now we need some replacement music...ok, this will do:

M484GCS Version 7.0 Released



Okay, here is Version 7.0 of the M484 Game Creation System:
http://m484games.ucoz.com/index/m484gcs/0-34

I have now finally decided to open source this program, so now, starting from this Version 7.0, the M484GCS is released under the GNU General Public License v3.

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EDIT: Starting from V8.0 the GPL License was changed to a custom open source license.
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The biggest reason why I'm making this open source, is because this will guarantee that the program will continue to exist, no matter what happens to me. For example, if I would die in a car accident, my work would still live on, because now other people will be able to continue the development of the M484GCS in the case that I'll not be able to do so.

So, Open Source is a "life insurance" of sorts: for the software.
An open source program will simply live forever.

In comparison, if a program is closed source, then it will just go to the grave with the programmer, and years of work will go to waste...this is an image that has been haunting me.

But now it's open source, so I can stop worrying. :)

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Also, I have made some important upgrades for this version: firstly the Editor and the Game Engine now handle files in the same way, which in practice means that the Game Engine can open project folders whose names are in the "gamefiles+something" format. So now you can easily move project folders between "standalone games" and the editor without having to worry about the folder names.

And secondly, I have added a small "Refresh files" button to the Editor main screen. This allows one to load new images and sounds into the project without having to restart the Editor.

And also some small bugs were squashed. :)