GM6

[Xenith]

I think this is a good place to ask, wonder,dream and suggest what you think should be added to gm on gm6.

my list

1).Better tiling, we need fill tools like the ones on rm2k(3)
2).Animated tiles, like water, or moving grass( i hate having to use objects for tiles,
3).Dialogue system, should be updated, i don't wanna have to use someone elses dialogue system, and i don't wanna create my own, becuz i'm not that good, and it wouldn't be too optimized
4)Transparency should no longer slow down the game, in rm2k3 you could pretty much have everything transparent ans it would still go normally,
5).Joystick should have a 'on release' event
6). should support more than 2 joysticks

that's all i got for now, feel free to post what you would like and post to tell me if any of those are gonna be added

[IsmAvatar]

I'll allow this topic. Just keep it RPG related.

[Noadi]

Yeah better tiling and animated tiles would just make my day. Using objects for all the different animated water tiles I have is a pain because I have a lot of them.

What I'm hoping for is good alpha blending. Oh the fun I would have with that. Nice shadow effects so when you walk under a tree the sprite goes into shadow, motion blurs that are partially transparent so they don't look too cartoony, day and night effects that don't require exclusive graphics mode. Using a dither pattern for stuff like shadows just doesn't look that great, far too pixely.

[IsmAvatar]

day and night effects that don't require exclusive graphics mode.

Make a sprite the size of the view, all black. Assign it to an object. In the object's step event: x = view_left; y = view_top
and use image_alpha to declare how dark it is. No exclusive mode required. May be slow depending on how large your view is and exactly how much is going on.

4)Transparency should no longer slow down the game, in rm2k3 you could pretty much have everything transparent ans it would still go normally,

Mark has stated (and proven) that this will be done. This'll also help speed up what I said above.

5).Joystick should have a 'on release' event

This can be easily achieved in code. Just requires a bit of logic which a lot of people seem to lack (no offense to anyone)

As for animated tiles. This can be achieved in code, or using an object, but don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see that happen.

[megamushroom]

3d arrays would be great ;D

price, descriptions, power, name, type, message, all could be stored in a more organised fashion, I could do so much with them, sigh.

alpha transparency would be good, also would moving tiles I would like, but 3d arrays are top on my list.

[IsmAvatar]

3d arrays will never be added simply because they are memory hogs.

Arrays range from 0 to 32000
2d array is
32001 * 32001 = 1024064001 = 1024064 KB = 1024 MB = 1 GB

therefor, a 3d array would be
32768000000000 = 32768000000 KB = 32768000 MB = 32768 GB = 32 TB, and who has 32TB on their computer? Even my nearly-super computer doesn't.

The reason for arrays is so you can send them through loops. What you ask for (price, descriptions, power, name, type, message) can easily be achieved using variable names.

global.price[x,y]
global.desc[x,y]
global.power[x,y]
global.name[x,y]
global.type[x,y]
global.mess[x,y]

I don't see any possibilty for loops in there anyways.
Anywhom, when it comes to dealing with arrays, and you think you need more than the specified 2 dimensions, look at it from a different direction. I find doing this allows me to consolidate my 15d array into a 2-d array.

Well, let's just say he won't make a 3rd dimension until your generic computer is a 32 TB machine. Until then, let's stick with a 1 GB for the 40 GB machines (just guessing at that number)

Now for your other demands:
Alpha Transparency? ever tried image_alpha?
Moving Tiles? Ever read the manual? GML | Game Graphics | Tiles. Tiles are a lot more powerful than you though, eh?

[dwmitch]

I'd like to see on the fly sprite dithering and a better dissolve animation that allows for smoother dissolves rather than part of the image fading out before the rest. No matter how optimized it is, alpha blending would still be slow on the average computer.

I would like to see alpha blending optimized, which according to IA it will be, but I have a feeling that even then the crossfades I require for some of the flashbacks (current sprites and backgrounds fade out while the new ones fade it) will slow down average computers, and having dissolve animations for every animation that will require it will increase the file size.

[IsmAvatar]

Firstly, if you don't mind my asking. What is sprite dithering?

Secondly, if you've tried out the logo example, you'll see that all graphics have been optimized to the point where a slowdown is not noticeable, and any slowdowns are simply the expense of how many objects are present.
www.gamemaker.nl/gm6.html

That is Mark's progress (or at least what he's telling the public), and that's also where you can find a few examples.

I love the view rotation. This will make such a great effect in RPG's. Just have an object trail along behind the character, and have the view follow the character but rotate based on the trailing object's direction.

[Noadi]

That's exactly what I want to do Ism but my game runs in 800x600 mode, it would lag like crazy. And actually any alpha blending with GM at the moment runs far too slow to be used as frequently as I want which is why I said I wanted better alpha blending so I can do the effects I want to do that right now just won't run well enough.

Dithering a way of using patterns to blend. Kinda like stippling or crosshatching works in drawing. The most common in a checkerboard pattern of either two colors or a solid color and transparency. It works but looks quite pixely. Here's an example with how my shadows look right now, as you can see the shadow looks kinda translucent but in a very pixely way.


By the way if the SNES could handle effective alpha blending I don't see why GM couldn't without it being slow. I don't think dithering will be neccesary at all if it's optimized so on the fly dithering would be a bit useless unless you want a pixely look.

[megamushroom]

wow! I didnt know arrays took up that much!

I use my arrays for my items and spells, so:

//0=name
//1=power
//2=mptaken
//3=type(1=attack, 2=heal)
//4=Time to be used
//5=help staus bar


summon2[0,0]="Charlie"
summon2[0,1]=2000
summon2[0,2]=45
summon2[0,3]=1
summon2[0,4]=1
summon2[0,5]="Summon the powerful beast Charlie"

with 3-d arays I would be able to organise it beter, but ah well.

I think Dithering can look great, but i dont see how on the fly dithering can be very helpful.

[IsmAvatar]

again, arrays are intended so you can run them through a loop.

an list of letters (numbers included) for example

for (yy = 0; yy < 6; yy += 1) {
for (xx = 0; xx < 6; xx += 1) {
draw_text(xx*16,yy*16,let[xx,yy])
}}

This way you have a mapping of letters. There's no need for 3-d arrays because there is no third dimension to map in GM.

[dwmitch]

No matter how optimized alpha blending is, there will still be computers that can't handle it. For example, my girlfriend's niece has a computer that can normally run a GM game, but one object with alpha set to .9 would cause a considerable slowdown. That's why a lot of games that try to allow for older computers (such as Baulder's Gate) allows you to switch between dithering and alpha blending.

As for the SNES handling alpha blending, every semi transparent object I've ever seen was dithered. I was just thinking runtime dithering options would be good for people who have computers that can't handle alpha blending. Maybe have a setting in an options menu.

1).Better tiling, we need fill tools like the ones on rm2k(3)

You may be interested in the workaround I posted in misc. snippits.

[megamushroom]

yes, ism, you make a very good point, i never thought of how I would actually loop them.

haha my stupidity shows again ;D

[dwmitch]

Add/sub/mult alpha. It would be useful for fake real-time lighting.

[Xenith]

i wish they would make it so if i have a player-split screen game you could have it so one character could be in 1 room while the other character is in another room