Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mars Lander Runner Major Update:

A promise made…
At long last the Lander Runner is (hopefully) going to receive its final iteration. And contrary to what I said last week, I’ve made a few significant changes:

Aesthetic Update:

Mars Lander Runner no longer has those unsightly black bars along the sides of the screen that made it look like a really weird aspect ratio. The sides of the screen have been properly filled with some real content, adding back the play/stop, load, and quit buttons from the Mars Lander Builder. Also, the buttons from dialog boxes appear nicely on the other side of the screen. Overall, I think it just looks better, and no longer requires you to go back to the main-menu to load another level.


The brand new look of Mars Lander Runner

Sunday, January 22, 2012

BGP GameMaker Help News:

If you're a long-time follower, you'll have noticed that BGP GMH has gotten a new front page! If you're reading this for the first time, then forget what I just said, it's always looked that good...
Anyway, a little less text and a few more images really do go a long way! I hope you're as happy as I am with the new look.
Speaking of the "new look" you might notice a little yellow button. It has the word "Donate" written on it, and I think it deserves a little elaboration:
Bluish-Green Productions Game Maker Help tutorials will ALWAYS be free. But it's kind of hard to offer something for free when you aren't making any money from other sources. I ought to be able to licence my tutorials for use this coming summer, which of course means I will be making more. However, I haven't heard back regarding this deal, so I can't count on it as a source of income. In the meantime, I thought if anyone was feeling generous enough to support BGP GMH, the opportunity should at least be available.
Thank you.
Now on to more fun things:

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I’ve been quite busy these past few months. Busy with education, busy with work, and busy with what you care about most: Game Maker. The result of this busy-ness with Game Maker is quite something; two programs, one called “Mars Lander Builder”, the other called “Mars Lander Runner”.

The Story of Mars Lander Builder/Runner:

Mars Lander Builder was a specially requested piece of software I developed as part of the aforementioned “work” I did. I work at a program called iCamp where I help kids make games, either by teaching them myself or by assisting them through tutorials much like the ones I write. Part of my work includes birthday parties, where the children go through our single shortest tutorial. Only, they rarely finish it within the time we have, and never get to make more than a single level. So I proposed that I develop a pair of programs, special proprietary level building software and another program that would run those levels.

Mars Lander Builder
As a result of this agreement, I will not be distributing the Mars Lander Builder, but I will be distributing the Mars Lander Runner. But what good is the Runner without the Builder?

Mars Lander Runner 50 Level Edition 

Level Packs:

I will release level packs on a weekly basis for the Lander Runner. The Lander Runner itself comes with 10 levels in a “Starter Pack”. The weekly packs will be in sets of 5, one for each weekday! Expect them along the traditional "Sunday-night/Monday morning" release schedule.

Title-screen of Mars Lander Runner

Level Editing:

While I can’t release the level building software, I can tell you how the levels are saved, and how you can edit them manually. The levels are saved in an alphabetical code with each letter corresponding to a different Object:
Levels are loaded from a 300 character “string”. They are loaded in columns, from left to right. Also, all letters must be in uppercase. The default case for any unrecognisable character is an empty grid space, and I’ve yet to enter a string that messes up the level-loading script. So it doesn’t matter if the string it too short, too long, full of lower-case letters, it will load. You can use Notepad to edit levels.
Alphabetical code for ObjectsAsteroids are different Objects depending on what direction they travel:
M = Left
N = Right
O = Up
P = Down
Geysers snap to adjacent surfaces automatically, but the time it takes them to fire can be adjusted:
T = 3 Seconds (Fast)
U = 6 Seconds (Medium)
V = 9 Seconds (Slow)
I could easily have written a level-code that would be harder to manually edit, but it would have been to our own detriment. After all, with such a simple level code (and thanks to the fact that it was made with Game Maker), the Runner can be ported onto any number of devices, basically anything Game Maker Studio will have support for.
So with all that in mind, I would like to issue a challenge:

Level Building Contest:

By manually editing a level save-file, try to design a level that is actually playable but can be read as a sentence when opened for editing. Don’t worry too much about it being “playable” if you manage to make a neat pattern, or discover that a high-school essay becomes a horrible death-trap, you can send those in too.
To submit your levels, simply leave the code as comments on this News Post. Let everyone try your level! HAVE FUN!
Anyone who sends in something exceptionally creative will get their levels featured in an upcoming Level Pack.
Tips:
  • You can leave        a whole bunch of spaces     and it will just load empty grid-spaces. This will prevent your level from being too cluttered while also reducing on how many “W”s you need in the save-code.
  • If you use an "L" in the code, the game will spawn a "Checkpoint" this Object was cut from the final game because of saving difficulties it would cause. The Object has no programming, and will appear as a "CP" in it's grid-space.
  • Grab any text you can find! What does this News Post look like as a level!?
So have fun! See what makes a neat level, functional or not.
And as always,

Good luck Game Making!

~Bluish-Green Productions