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KLAXXZ GAME MAKER (KGM) 1.0 released
Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
avatar

Hello,

My name is Gary V. Ambrose II. I am new to Allegro.cc. I just signed up 2 minutes ago so I am not sure where to post stuff. I will be going by the name "Klaxxz" here.

I have a few very large Allegro projects I'd like you to look at. They are both located on my website: http://www.klaxxz.com

First
KLAXXZ (The Video Game)- This is a very large on going project. It is a side scrolling RPG, with many puzzle aspects to it. Don't expect a release on this soon. It has about 200 pages of "C" source (Allegro 4) now.. but I plan to be working on it for the next few years before release. I will document all changes, pictures, etc.. as I create this project. Which is mainly what klaxxz.com is devoted to.

Second
KLAXXZ GAME MAKER (1.0)- In 10 days from now, I will be releasing the KLAXXZ GAME MAKER program. It's complete, but I wanted a month for pure testing. This is a "Game engine / map creator" for Allegro 4, 2D videogames. This also is an extensive project that will be supported for years to come. The manual alone is about 130 printed pages now. The features are "FAR" too many to list here. Rest assured.. if you want a great FREE 2D game engine, you will like this one. I have logged over 2000 hours so far programming this alone. You won't be able to download it till "APRIL 30th, 2011".. but the website is up now, complete with screen shots, and the manual that you can look at now. I won't even try to explain it all here... you can check the site. The sites main page http://www.klaxxz.com/index.html has a screenshot there, but if you follow the link to the "KLAXXZ GAME MAKER" webpage you will see alot more. That's at http://www.klaxxz.com/klaxxzgamemaker.com

Third
I should at least mention this. I intend to grow "KLAXXZ.COM" into a "C/C++ Programming/Allegro" site with code, tips, message boards.. everything related to Allegro Game creation. The website is very early in development, but I do have all the links, message boards, chat rooms, and such in place to grow. Don't worry, I'm not trying to replace "Allegro.cc" or anything. I just have some large Allegro projects.. and I want the site to be all about them. I'll even post your projects if you like. Right now, nobody knows about the website.. so I am starting to write about it in various places. Please help it grow.. and give your opinions.

Since I am new to this website.. it's best if you email me with my normal emails rather then here.

KLAXXZ.COM
cutoutcoins@yahoo.com (Probably best right now)
klaxxz@yahoo.com (I intend to use this more and more, just it's new so I don't check it everyday yet)

Thanks, and please write or comment! Include "Klaxx" or something in the mail contents so I don't delete it)
Gary :)

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

Audric
Member #907
January 2001

Welcome.
Pointing to your screenshots (scroll down one page) helps people get a quick idea of your advancement, commitment and overall seriousness. (IMO: Visually it's very confuse, like a www homepage of 1995,but there's clearly some effort in trying to mix all these images, fonts, textures etc.)
(edit: Note that 24-bit bitmap is not a good web format)

gnolam
Member #2,030
March 2002
avatar

Indeed. Please don't take this the wrong way, but... my first thought upon seeing your site was that this whole thing must be a very elaborate troll. :-X

--
Move to the Democratic People's Republic of Vivendi Universal (formerly known as Sweden) - officially democracy- and privacy-free since 2008-06-18!

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

I was quite impressed, myself. Perhaps the OP will stop hiding under a bushel basket, so to speak.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

jmasterx
Member #11,410
October 2009

A few things regarding your Web Site:

It makes me think - it should take seconds to find Downloads

Big walls of text are distracting

Ads and banners are distracting

Now that's just my opinion but having made a few Web Sites for clients, and done research on Web Site guidelines, these are the areas I feel you could improve on. This will attract more customers because people who Google your Web Site, of which most have a short attention span, might just leave because it is difficult to navigate. You do not want to lose customers over Web Site organization.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
avatar

so long as they follow the rules stated in the included "GNU Public License".

The GPL? Really. The GPL makes me sick. It's the "If you make anything using our software then you have to give it away for free license." I don't know about you, but I've been programming for years working on my library, and even now I wouldn't force someone who used my library to give what they create with it away for free. If they profit from it, it would be nice if they shared the profits with me of course, but I won't force them to (not yet). Imagine if the C standard library or the STL library was GPL. "I'm sorry, if you want to do anything profitable in C/C++ programming then you have to do everything yourself." It just leads to everyone re-inventing everything over and over again. I can understand using the GPL for a specific program that you want to remain available, but for a library? Come on.

tips.html said:

draw_sprite("C:/GARYS_GAME/title_pic.bmp", 0, 0);

A4's draw_sprite function takes 4 parameters - the destination bitmap, the sprite, and the x and y position. You could have overloaded draw_sprite, but then either you're retrieving the sprite from a global pool, or you're loading it each time you display it. Maybe this code is incorrect / out of date / inappropriate there?

PERSONAL RECOMENDATIONS:
COMPILERS / IDE:
DEV C++(4.9.9.2)

Dev C++ is outdated - why not try out Code::Blocks IDE for a pleasant suprise?

KCR Code Refiner

Now this looks interesting. Can you provide a short feature list, and maybe an ETA on when it might be available?

At any rate, it is nice to see someone contributing to Allegro and the game programming community, so thanks. ;)

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

GPL: You don't have to give it away for free, just make the source available. While that seems to be the same to a programmer like yourself, look at all the n00bs that can't install Allegro. You really think a thieving opportunist could tweak your code into something that benefits him in a proprietary way?

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
avatar

If the source is avaiable, then anyone can compile it for free and start passing out free or cheap versions to make a profit off of something I put my time and money into. Why should they profit off of my work?

That said, when I release my library, it will basically use a donation-ware / give credit where it is due / MIT license. When I start making programs with it, I reserve the right to charge money for them, and not give away the source code to it.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

anyone can compile it for free

look at all the n00bs that can't install Allegro

'nuff said.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
avatar

Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
avatar

TUFF CROWD!... ;D ::).

OK, I'll address a few things said here. For good or bad I do appreciate all comments.

GPL: The GPL is a very long and confusing document. I doubt anyone understands it fully. From what I read, here's is what I got out it.

1) You can "charge" for your program. A "distribution" fee. You must make the source available for others to use or alter. Your future versions must be bound by this also.
2) Someone can make a commercial program if you wrote a "tool" or something. They can also use your code and make a similar (updated) program. But they must give the original author credit. They cannot simply use all your code, stick their name on it.. and sell it to Walmart or something. In other words, my program is for creating games. You are making your own with it. Do what you want with them. But if you use mostly my code to make a similar product with a few added features you can't be charging for the work I give freely. Yes, I understand there is HUGE grey areas here. My personal thoughts.. do whatever you want with my code or program. Just basically don't re-name it and say it's yours.

WEBSITE DESIGN
I realize the website needs a ton of work. I basically threw it up. If you notice.. there are typos, and alot of links have no content. It will get there. I don't agree that it's as BAD and confusing as some have said.

KLAXXZ GAME MAKER
What do you want for free?.. ;D. Heck you haven't even tried it. Personally, there are alot of negative things against it from the get go. You have to install Allegro 4 (people are moving to 5 now), it's written in "C" (not many code in C now). And some of my code is very confusing to read. That's because I was self taught.. and really just tried to make things work. Oh.. I use too many globals too. Now the FLIP side of that coin. The program is confusing at first. Especially my "area maps". There you use the mouse to define movement. I do however have all clearly explained in the manual. Once you get a feel for it.. you can create an entire game worth of maps in a few hours. My 3 yr old watches me.. and he makes maps. It is very quick here.. but does take some time to understand. It is very powerful if you know how to use it. And you don't need to use my code for collision detection or whatever. Write your own. Anyway.. I'll have it up April 30th. Just try the editor how it is.. let me know what you think.
I also mis-wrote the link to the game maker.
http://www.klaxxz.com/klaxxzgamemaker.html

KLAXXZ (The game) Very early in the making. I plan to be working on it for several years. So don't really judge that yet.

Ok.. I'm out Klaxxz (Gary):)

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

Evert
Member #794
November 2000
avatar

Klaxxz said:

You must make the source available for others to use or alter. Your future versions must be bound by this also.

If you hold the copyright to all the sources, you can change the licence later (and close the source if you want to). A third party can't do that, because they don't hold the copyright.
Old versions of your code remain available under the GPL.

Quote:

I realize the website needs a ton of work. I basically threw it up. If you notice.. there are typos, and alot of links have no content. It will get there. I don't agree that it's as BAD and confusing as some have said.

Two things that struck me: for one thing, a lot of the content doesn't seem to line up properly, with text overrunning the edges of the box and the side banners not lining up properly. I suggest using multiple browsers while developing your website to make sure it looks correct in all of them.
Second, when clicking a link, my first impression was that it actually did nothing, because I have to scroll down to see the new content. This is also bad website design.
Personally I prefer clean, simple and minimalist websites.

gnolam
Member #2,030
March 2002
avatar

Klaxxz said:

GPL: The GPL is a very long and confusing document. I doubt anyone understands it fully. From what I read, here's is what I got out it.

1) You can "charge" for your program. A "distribution" fee. You must make the source available for others to use or alter. Your future versions must be bound by this also.
2) Someone can make a commercial program if you wrote a "tool" or something. They can also use your code and make a similar (updated) program. But they must give the original author credit. They cannot simply use all your code, stick their name on it.. and sell it to Walmart or something. In other words, my program is for creating games. You are making your own with it. Do what you want with them. But if you use mostly my code to make a similar product with a few added features you can't be charging for the work I give freely. Yes, I understand there is HUGE grey areas here. My personal thoughts.. do whatever you want with my code or program. Just basically don't re-name it and say it's yours.

That's not how the GPL works. >_<
What you're after is probably something along the lines of CC Attribution-NonCommercial or Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

Anyway. I skimmed the manual. And while I realize that you've spent an enormous amount of time on this, I'm going to be brutally honest (since everyone else is probably going to be too polite to say anything): you shouldn't have, at your skill level. I'm not saying this to be mean, or to try to crush your aspirations, but what you've apparently created is such a thin layer over pure C/Allegro that there's no real point in using it - especially since it appears to be implemented in an extremely clumsy way. For example, here's how the user is supposed to specify his resources:

Quote:

First, make sure you have the defines set in the headerfile.
Open the "klaxxzgamemaker.h" file", and alter these lines to
your info.
ALTER THESE LINES:

#define TILESIZE 50  
// Tiles here are square. Setting to "50" would be a 50x50 tile
#define TILES_IN_FILE 494 
// Make sure if your tiles start at 0, add 1 to the total to include all.
// This number must be exact or your program won't work
#define SPRITES_IN_FILE 5 
// Set your sprites. This is the same as with files/
#define TILE_DATAFILE "/klaxxzgamemaker/1tiles50.dat" 
// PLACE YOUR TILE DATAFILE HERE WITH PATH
#define TILE_DATAFILE_POINTER tiles50     
// Name the Tile datafile pointer. You don't have to alter this if you don't want
#define SPRITE_DATAFILE "/klaxxzgamemaker/sprites1.dat" 
// PLACE YOUR TILE DATAFILE HERE WITH PATH
#define SPRITE_DATAFILE_POINTER sprite1   
// name the Sprite datafile pointer. You don't have to alter this if you don't want

Using #defines this way is extremely inflexible. The easiest reason to understand is this: every time you add a resource (a tile, a sprite, etc), you have to edit some magic #defines and recompile all your code.

As for the "thin layer over C/Allegro" bit, let's look at a usage example:

#SelectExpand
1int main(int argc, char *argv[]) // Main program function 2{ 3 int mouse_status = 1; 4 bool *collision; // collision function 5 int frames_done = 0; 6 int old_time = 0; 7 int frames_array[10]; // an array to store the 8 // number of frames we did during the last 9 // 10 tenths of a second 10 int frame_index = 0; // used to store the index of the last updated 11 // value in the array 12 13 initialize_ktile(&mouse_status); // setup graphics, keyboard.. all that stuff 14 kbuffer = create_bitmap(GAME_BUFFER_SIZE); // Bitmap to draw on 15 // Load some images 16 layerbackground = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/layerbackground.bmp", NULL); 17 layer3background = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/layer3background.bmp", NULL); 18 tile50display = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/tile50display.bmp", NULL); 19 kgmtitle = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/kgmtitle.bmp", NULL); 20 xbuttonup = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/xbuttonup.bmp", NULL); 21 xbuttondown = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/xbuttondown.bmp", NULL); 22 btnforward = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnforward.bmp", NULL); 23 btnforward_dn = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnforward_dn.bmp", NULL); 24 btnblank = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnblank.bmp", NULL); 25 btnblank_dn = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnblank_dn.bmp", NULL); 26 btnback = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnback.bmp", NULL); 27 btnback_dn = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/btnback_dn.bmp", NULL); 28 extras_girl = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/extras_girl.bmp", NULL); 29 tilesinset = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/tilesinset.bmp", NULL); 30 spritesinset = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/spritesinset.bmp", NULL); 31 player = load_bitmap("/klaxxzgamemaker/player.bmp", NULL); 32 if(issoundon == 0) 33 install_sound(); 34 if(isjoystickon == 0) 35 install_joystick(); 36 set_volume(MUSIC_VOLUME, MUSIC_VOLUME); // Ignored if sound is off 37 clear_keybuf(); 38 clear_bitmap(screen); 39 40 for(int ii = 0; ii < 10; ii++) 41 frames_array[ii] = 0; //initialize the array to 0 42 show_mouse(screen); 43//YOUR DATA FILES (.DAT)//////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 44 // load our tile image data 45 DATAFILE *tiles50 = load_datafile ("/klaxxzgamemaker/1tiles50.dat"); 46 if(tiles50 == NULL) 47 { 48 set_gfx_mode(GFX_TEXT,0,0,0,0); 49 allegro_message("Could not load datafile!"); 50 exit(EXIT_FAILURE); 51 } 52 // ASSIGN TILES TO DATA 53 for(i = 0; i < TILES_IN_FILE; i++){ 54 tile[i] = (BITMAP*)tiles50[i].dat; 55 } 56 // load our tile image data 57 DATAFILE *sprites1 = load_datafile ("/klaxxzgamemaker/sprites1.dat"); 58 if(sprites1 == NULL) 59 { 60 set_gfx_mode(GFX_TEXT,0,0,0,0); 61 allegro_message("Could not load datafile!"); 62 exit(EXIT_FAILURE); 63 } 64 // ASSIGN TILES TO DATA 65 for(i = 0; i < SPRITES_IN_FILE; i++){ 66 sprite[i] = (BITMAP*)sprites1[i].dat; 67 } 68 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 69 quick_load(); // Loads last quicksave on startup 70 // MAIN PROGRAM LOOP 71 // Timing stuff 72 while(!key[KEY_ESC]) //If the user hits escape end loop and quit game 73 { 74 while(ticks == 0){ 75 rest(1); 76 } 77 while(ticks > 0){ 78 int old_ticks = ticks; 79 //PUT GAME LOGIC HERE////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 80 check_keyboard(); 81 backgrounds(); // PLACE YOUR BACKGROUND CODE HERE 82 assign_map(); 83 draw_map(kbuffer); // draw map to buffer 84 turn_on_and_off_displays(); 85 display_tilepicked_on_map(); // display the tiles you pick to the map + assign 86 splash_screen(); // this will only display once 87 move_player(); 88 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 89 // More timing stuff 90 ticks--; 91 if(old_ticks <= ticks) 92 break; 93 } 94 if(game_time - old_time >= 10){ // i.e. a second has passed 95 // since we last measured the frame rate 96 fps -= frames_array[frame_index]; //decrement the fps by the frames 97 // done a second ago 98 frames_array[frame_index] = frames_done; //store the number of 99 // frames done this 0.1 second 100 fps += frames_done; //increment the fps by the newly done frames 101 frame_index = (frame_index + 1) % 10; //increment the frame index and 102 // snap it to 10 103 104 frames_done = 0; 105 old_time += 1; 106 } 107 108 // SCREEN DRAWING HERE ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 109 update_screen(); 110 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 111 frames_done++; //we drew a frame! 112 } 113 114 // destroy bitmaps/datafiles 115 destroy_klaxxzgamemaker_bitmaps(); // place your bitmaps to destroy here 116 unload_datafile(tiles50); // unload your tiles (100 x 100) 117 unload_datafile(tiles100); // unload your tiles (50 x 50) 118 unload_datafile(sprites1); // unload your sprites 119 return 0; 120} 121END_OF_MAIN()

Basically... what you seem to gain is pretty much only trivial pieces of boilerplate initialization code, and from what's posted there, it's not even cleanly implemented: there's little checking of return values, repeated pieces of code that should be in their own functions aren't, etc. There seems to be some kind of collision code in there as well, but tile collision is, I'm afraid, trivial. Other portions of the manual reveal whoppers like rest(foo) timing and #inclusion of .c/.cpp files.

So... I'm terribly sorry, but you should probably have focused on making games for yourself and building up your coding skills before releasing code for public use. With a name like "game maker", one assumes a complete engine and framework where the user can add resources (graphics, sound, maps, etc) with ease and the only programming to be done is scripting - while this is more a collection of inflexible helper functions.

--
Move to the Democratic People's Republic of Vivendi Universal (formerly known as Sweden) - officially democracy- and privacy-free since 2008-06-18!

Neil Walker
Member #210
April 2000
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Is it just me, or does that lady on the front page look like Nicole Kidman (from the neck upwards, obviously)?

main-left.jpg

Neil.
MAME Cabinet Blog / AXL LIBRARY (a games framework) / AXL Documentation and Tutorial

wii:0356-1384-6687-2022, kart:3308-4806-6002. XBOX:chucklepie

Dennis
Member #1,090
July 2003
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Now that you mention it, I never realized Nicole had such long pointed ears before.

Maybe Luis Royo used her as a reference when he drew/painted it.

Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
avatar

gnolam.

It's really not that way at all in the "define" statements. For instance, there are over 800 (50 x 50 pixels) background tiles that can be used already. No need to change anything. Your seeming to imply that if you add a simple tile or sprite, you have to go through all this hassle to put it in. That's not the case at all. Now if you had a tileset that had say 100 tiles (32 x 32) you could use those instead. You would just alter the tilesize in the define statement (32 for tilesize, 100 for tiles) and place the path there. Or if you wanted to add another 100 tiles to an existing tileset.. change the define to reflect that. Your just telling the program what to expect from the file. Basically what you are doing is changing the value in 2 or 3 defines, for your entire project. So if you start making a game. You put these values. Then can work on your game without changing these again. I do however intend (for later updates) make it so you don't have to do that. I just haven't got around to it.

You do "recompile" the code when you create a game. You would be compiling anyway when you add code. The only difference is my code is compiled with yours. Look at it this way. It's not a "program" so to speak.. it's code they don't have to write. Like a shell.. and they simply delete the code for the editor when they are done with a game. It takes all of 2 seconds to do that.. which is why I placed certain things in certain ways.

As far as the GPL. I will TOSS that out. I got what I understood out of it, and wanted something established that was legal in my program. It really makes no difference, because I don't care what someone does with the code. I just didn't want them to take the entire project.. place their name on it.. and say they made it. I see this will be a problem.. so before you try it the GPL will be out.

In terms of "ease" of use. For me anyway.. it's the easiest tile editor I ever tried. And I've tried alot. There is code for "quicktiles" and to replace certain tiles. Say you have a map 200 x 200 tiles in size. And suddenly want to see what all the "grass" or whatever would look like a different type. You can do that automatic. You also select tiles with the mouse.. and pop them in the map. It's all pretty quick and easy. Try that out before you comment there.. because you have no idea.

Basically what my code does give you a quick way to make a game map. One that is very flexible. The coding of game events, it doesn't try to do. I will however add functions I find useful.. but that's not what it's about.

Now to the other users comment. Yes I used images I found on the net. Only ones I found that clearly stated they were "public domain" and I in no way claimed I drew them. I didn't know that was from LOTR, I just thought it was a cool looking pic. If someone wants it down, it will go down. That or any other. Easy as that. That's a problem though.. all these sites offer "public domain" images.. but you have no clue where they actually came from.

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

Evert
Member #794
November 2000
avatar

Klaxxz said:

As far as the GPL. I will TOSS that out. I got what I understood out of it, and wanted something established that was legal in my program. It really makes no difference, because I don't care what someone does with the code. I just didn't want them to take the entire project.. place their name on it.. and say they made it. I see this will be a problem.. so before you try it the GPL will be out.

People cannot take your code and claim that they made it when you release it under the GPL (yes, of course they can, but they always can). You still hold the copyright over the code.
In fact, if you want to make sure that people will properly attribute where the code comes from, GPL might not be so bad (although I personally don't think it's appropriate for libraries). Whatever you do though, pick a licence that you like and stick to it. There's a bunch of them to look through at http://www.opensource.org/ and Wikipedia has a page comparing different open source licences so you can get a quick idea of what the differences are.

Quote:

Yes I used images I found on the net.

That's often a convenient way to start, but remember that this means you end up with a set of images that don't always blend well together, giving an inconsistent look-and-feel to the game that is ultimately distracting. But presumably you intend to replace them with more permanent art work.
In other words, it's obvious from looking at the screenshots that this is what you've done, which for a finished product would not be a good thing.

Dennis
Member #1,090
July 2003
avatar

Klaxxz said:

I didn't know that was from LOTR, I just thought it was a cool looking pic. If someone wants it down, it will go down. That or any other. Easy as that. That's a problem though.. all these sites offer "public domain" images.. but you have no clue where they actually came from.

It's not from Lord Of The Rings, it's from an old painting by well known fantasy artist Luis Royo and was part of a collection called Warm Winds.

Don't ever just grab random images you find anywhere as you're more likely than not violating someones rights when you do so. Stealing art is never ok, not even as placeholder art. Use your own art for placeholders and if you feel it's inadequate you can try to find an artist later down the road to create some art for you (just don't expect to find one to work for free as that's just not going to happen).

Legal issues aside, what's more important from an aesthetic point of view is what Evert said about the inconsistencies introduced by slapping together lots of differently styled pieces of art. It just looks wrong, amateurish and it's hard to "read" for the eye.

Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
avatar

That's exactly what I did Evert. Used a few place holders. Mainly to get the "feel" down for the other coding. It would be impossible to create something with moving animation and such with just stills anyway. Unless you were making a "Myst" clone or something. I do however have a few friends in the art world. Actually I am an artist by trade, just a cutcoin artist, not computer graphics (www.handcutcoins.net). So I meet alot of artists. They don't know it.. but I'll be getting their help in the future :) I'd really like my one friend to help. He has worked for Marvel and DC comics. X-MEN and other main ones. I went to school with him, and he's on my facebook. I think I'd have to convince him I am going to finish this thing eventually before he committed to making art.

The images I used however were ALL on sites that stated they were "public domain" for use in websites and other things. Some further added for "non-commerial" purposes. Well mine is non-commercial.. I seen no problem. I also stated in the website that it's "very early" I just wanted to document what I was doing at the time.

I took the GPL out. It is one area I really thought "for or against" about alot. I wanted just "something" there. I decided on a very basic "disclaimer". Use at your own risk. It's in the program and manual now.

Anyway, part of the reason I put it all up before I released it was to get "feedback" so all is good.

Take care, Gary

As far as my coding is concerned. I am well aware there is ALOT of room for improvement. I make that known too. My program does however do what it says. It scrolls a game map very fast, and no flicker or anything. You just have to twiddle with the BPS and game speed a little if you want "Sonic the Hedgehog" speed. It's also the easiest "map maker" I've ever seen. It's only real issue is the code needs to be smoothed out more. But those are things I will be working on as I release future versions.

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

Evert
Member #794
November 2000
avatar

Klaxxz said:

I took the GPL out. It is one area I really thought "for or against" about alot. I wanted just "something" there. I decided on a very basic "disclaimer".

Technically, that's not good enough, as I understand it. The code is yours. In order for someone else to really be able to use it and do anything with it, it's up to you to say what. In other words, you should stick a licence on there. Even if it just says "do whatever you want with this, I don't care" as Allegro 4's licence used to say.

Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
avatar

It's got that. On a bitmap even, then some text below it. Kinda like "I don't care what you use it for, but your using at your own risk". Then a hold harmless clause below it that I found on the net. I looked at a few, how they were done and settled on one. I was really never concerned about any of this either. If someone wanted to use my code in their project.. or even take mine and make an "improved version" or something I was fine with it. Just didn't someone simply re-naming it, and calling the whole thing their own (If you understand what I am saying). Either way.. I doubt it would happen. So it's going out the way it is. All I have to do now for this first version, is make a few more example maps, add a few things to the manual, convert it to .pdf with page numbers and such.. and .zip it up. I'll get feedback.. keep making changes. There is alot I would like to do now.. but at some point it needs real people testing. Not just the group of high school kids that come over here everyday. I'll probably have an updated version a few months after that.

Take care,
Gary

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Klaxxz said:

Your seeming to imply that if you add a simple tile or sprite, you have to go through all this hassle to put it in. That's not the case at all. Now if you had a tileset that had say 100 tiles (32 x 32) you could use those instead. You would just alter the tilesize in the define statement (32 for tilesize, 100 for tiles) and place the path there. Or if you wanted to add another 100 tiles to an existing tileset.. change the define to reflect that. Your just telling the program what to expect from the file. Basically what you are doing is changing the value in 2 or 3 defines, for your entire project.

Gnolam is right, this is a really inflexible way to handle loading tilesets for a tile map editor. It would be better if your tile map editor got its information from a configuration file. It could be as simple as :

TILESET
32
32
mytileset.png
TILESET
64
64
mylargetileset.bmp

That way, all you have to do to change the tilesets in the editor is to change your configuration file and re-run the editor, or tell the editor to load the tilesets in that file. I mean really, who wants to recompile their program every single time a tile set changes? If you do it this way, you can't distribute your editor to people who want to use a different tile set than you, which is very likely given that they might want to create their own tiles.

Edgar said:

KCR Code Refiner

Now this looks interesting. Can you provide a short feature list, and maybe an ETA on when it might be available?

I didn't get a reply about this - can you tell me more about your Code Refiner please?

Klaxxz
Member #12,779
April 2011
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I understand what you are saying,, but your kinda missing the whole point of my program really. It's not meant to be a "stand alone". It is basically code to display the tiles, scroll the map etc. The user just starts writing their program with alot of code in place. So they don't have to create a tilemap.. things like that. So when they write.. they are compiling the code everytime anyway. When the game is done, they ditch the editor code. Not the functions for scrolling.. but like the title bitmaps and such. It's set up so that would take like 2 seconds.

In other words.. they are all ready sitting at their compiler. It would be easy however to add a config file, or put some command line arguments.. or even a "settings" function. Probably wouldn't be too hard to just count all that, and they wouldn't have to adjust anything (probably in an update version).

I know it seems inflexible.. but when your using it it's extremely flexible. You not only don't have to write all that yourself.. if you want to alter anything.. you just do it. My code is actually a part of their game project. It all gets compiled together. Which takes exactly 2 seconds for a full rebuild, and less then that for a "compile and run". I admit I am not a "schooled" programmer. But I have wrote alot of games.. and this works faster then any tile editor I ever tried. Just download it next week. If you only want to try the editor part.. it is compiled. It gets compiled every time. I am sure guys like you (who code all the time) will notice a million "bad practices". But, it actually works. The biggest problem I see.. is getting people to understand it. And hey.. if you have any "faster" way to display the tiles, I'd really like to know. Because I won't say mine is the fastest of best method. But it will display tiles as fast as most scrolling games I've seen. Anyway, here's a quick example. I may sit here.. and start making some background tiles with gimp. Then I use the allegro grabber to add tiles. So I have 50 more or so. That's what takes the time.. ;D. When I load it into my program.. I change 1 variable in the define. I am compiling the code anyway because it's all part of the project. Actually.. you can set that to more if you want, just not less.

I haven't really messed with the code refiner lately. It is a handy little thing though. It basically lets you test little snips of code, under varied circumstances. I'll get back to it when I can.. but for the time being.. I got alot planned for the "update" of this thing, so it may be awhile.

And hey, I do appreciate the comments and suggestions. So don't get me wrong. I just think everyone kinda misses the intention of my program. It was "meant" to be different. I used too many tile editors that were either slow, or had limited tilesets, or it was plain hard to place them on the map. Those are the things I have tried to address with this, and I will keep refining it.

Take care, Gary :)

FREE Game Engine / Map Editor - klaxxz.com

J-Gamer
Member #12,491
January 2011
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In large projects, you don't want to recompile the whole thing when you make a change in a single source file.

" There are plenty of wonderful ideas in The Bible, but God isn't one of them." - Derezo
"If your body was a business, thought would be like micro-management and emotions would be like macro-management. If you primarily live your life with emotions, then you are prone to error on the details. If you over-think things all the time you tend to lose scope of priorities." - Mark Oates

LennyLen
Member #5,313
December 2004
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J-Gamer said:

In large projects, you don't want to recompile the whole thing when you make a change in a single source file.

Indeed. There are definitely better ways of doing tile loading. I haven't written the editor for my project yet, but it will use the loading code from the game. I can add as many new resources as I want without having to recompile or modify any configuration files.

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