Quite epic

a: great platform collisions

Vadim647 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:30:52 GMT

Lets talk a bit about improving collision systems for platform games.$CUT$
1. Using collision masks.

Collision masks are probably the most often newbie mistake. Its not just about platform games. This must be used for any game.
By default, gm will create collision mask for object from all non-transparent sprite pixels to. This is great for static things, but a hell for a player (as you see in example - top images, the character will get stuck in grass more or less often, depending on movement code).
Using collision mask for character is a good way to get rid of random collision bugs
As you see in example, bottom images, even a rectangle mask for player and ground will kill all possible glitches, related to horizontal movement.
Additional note: if you are going to use image_xscale \ yscale, make sure that your collision mask sprite is symetrical around center (else player will have fun by getting stuck in wall when trying to turn around near it).

2. Using move_contact_* functions.

When coding your collision events, this does matter, because by default, after hitting a solid object, both are thrown to xprevious\yprevious. A object that has gravity applied to it, will perform a another fall (duration = square_root( 2*distance_to_ground/gravity )). That detects a inaccurate coding.
To avoid this, make your collision event look like:
move_contact_solid(direction,20);
vspeed = 0;
//other things that were here for any reason
Note: replace 20 with the maximum movement speed on Y axis. A common mistake is by using arguments (270,-1). When doing that, after hitting any solid from below, character will perform a instant fly into the ground below (if one will exist). So better to set up function arguments well.

3. Step-by-step movement.

The trick here is to allow walking to zero distance to wall, which does not happen in many games for some reason.
To use this, code must be built up like:
repeat (abs(h_speed))
{
if place_free(x+sign(h_speed),y) {x+=sign(h_speed);}
else h_speed = 0;
}
You may use for\while loops too ("for better perfomance").
When using this type of movement, you can use h_speed as the hspeed variable, so just change it by small ammounts, and you get non-laggy h-gliding.

Since these are the most common aspects of platform collisions, thanks for reading this article and good luck in your game developing.

a: webhosting

Vadim647 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:45:08 GMT

Did you ever knew about the site called http://www.free-webhosts.com ?
No? Well, pick your time to visit them someday. Even while this may appear as plain adverstiment, that website contains information about free webhosts\domain\etc. services, from all over world of internet. So, worth a look if you're thinking about making your own website.

Using gmhighscores system

Vadim647 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:23:48 GMT

Today we'll discuss, how to use gmhighscores.com online highscore system.

First of all, you have to register at the site.
Here you don't see anything special, or something I should describe better.

Then we log in, and go to manage account page.

Now, go to Register New Game.
At the current stage of site, you don't see anything hard there - you just need to input the game name.
If after clicking the button error page appears, try changing the game name.

Now you get directed to your account page, and your game appears in the list.

You finished with the website part of the action. Now let's see what functions you get provided with.
the example you probably got already contains 3 scripts:

hs_sumbit(name,gameID,score,verify1,verify2,verify3)
name is player's name, which will be entered to highscores.
score is player's score (which also goes to highscores).
the other 4 variables determine where the score will go and if it will go somewhere at all:

remember, the verification values must match, else the score goes nowhere.

hs_user(place,gameID)
this simple function returns the name of user that stands on position place in the game with id gameID (you can discover it from your account page, again).

hs_score(place,gameID)
same as above, but returns users score.

Example for filling-up the standart highscore table with online highscores:

var _n,_i,i,gameid;
gameid = 196;
highscore_clear();
for (i = 1; i <= 10; i += 1)
{
    _i = 0;
    _n = hs_user(i,gameid);
    if (_n != "0")
    {
        _i = hs_score(i,gameid);
    }
    else _n = "";
    highscore_add(_n,_i);
}

I hope this tutorial was usefull for you. Good luck in your game developement.

Some fractals

Vadim647 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:21:25 GMT

I've made some pictures that can serve as a base for the avatar, all related to different fractals.

Note: all these are separate images, that can be saved and edited when needed.