Swarm Development: Postmortem

[Ghost]

Regarding blurry pixels, I am pretty sure that this depends on the monitor. At home I can run AGS games in all combinations of filters, windowed and fullscreen, and they are always "sharp". The sorry heap of LCD junk I got here, however, stretches to widescreen and smoothens the image as soon as I go fullscreen: It always looks ugly.

x3 sounds okay but I think x2 is the safest setting- best not to annoy peeps who still run 800x600. That could lose us ~2 potential players  

[Baron]

OK, 2x it is, with instructions in the readme for people who may want to fiddle with the settings.

Also HERE is the version of the game to be released Friday/Saturday, unless anybody finds any last things to update.  I've got Armageddon's animating backgrounds in the middle cutscene (I had to alter the colour of two of the frames to preserve the flashing alarm effect), what there is so far of Snarky's hand animation, a 20-minute destruction background, all the sounds discussed above, custom text box and all the latest finicky things taken care of.  If there are no revisions offered within 20 hours this will be the version released to the public this weekend.

And good work, everyone.  I get so focused on getting the work done I sometimes forget to be appreciative 

[Armageddon]

I noticed one thing, it's not big at at all, and it could stay in. But when you click exit it shows the unfitting Grey GUI. Other than that the game was lots of fun to play, I'm definitely going to get someone to play it on Halloween! Good job everybody, let's do this again in another eight years.

[Ghost]

I noticed one thing, it's not big at at all, and it could stay in. But when you click exit it shows the unfitting Grey GUI.

We can't have that! Gimme a second!


This should do the trick.  I swiped the buttons and the colours directly from the in-game menu/inventory GUI, so it should be consistent.
The center plate has room for a "Quit?" label, and there's Yes/No buttons with sprites for all button states.

Ouit GUIs are a nuiseance to set up, but maybe we got a scripter for a quick addition?

[edit]

This is from the manual:

The results are BYTE OF THE DRACULATOR II.

Shouldn't it be "The result is..."?  (Since it is only ONE game?)

I'm German, so I may be totally wrong!

[Snarky]

Good job Baron!

Less than twenty hours to go, eh? I thought it was due for release this Sunday. I'd better hurry up, then.

As of beta 5, I noticed these outstanding issues:

Misspellings:
-"anihilate" for "annihilate" (I don't remember the form, it might have been "anihilated" or "anihilation")
-"M*A*S*H*" for "M*A*S*H" (one too many asterisks)
(These seem to have been fixed in the latest version)

You haven't put in my edits for the exploding dog to make it more balloony:


Inflated dog


Dog burst

I also think there should be a sound for when Merrick bites someone, so I recorded this:
http://www.mediafire.com/?kfw33i2426ps7y9

I have some code for dealing with the right-click to deselect items in the inventory window. (It's also smart enough to work over items: if you have an item selected it deselects it, and if you don't it works as look.) Here:

Code: ags

function on_mouse_click(MouseButton button) // called when a mouse button is clicked. button is either LEFT or RIGHT
{
  iSelectedItem = InventoryItem.GetAtScreenXY(mouse.x, mouse.y);
  if(button == eMouseRightInv) // Right click (in inventory)
  {
    
    if(mouse.Mode == eModeUseinv) // Unselect selected inventory item
    {
      player.ActiveInventory = null;
      mouse.Mode = eModeInteract;
    }
    else  // Look at inventory item
      iSelectedItem.RunInteraction(eModeLookat);
  }
}

// This is the OnClick handler for the inventory GUI
function gInventory_OnClick(GUI *theGui, MouseButton button)
{
  if(button == eMouseRight && mouse.Mode == eModeUseinv)
  {
      player.ActiveInventory = null;
      mouse.Mode = eModeInteract;
  }
}

You have to set "Override built-in inventory window click handling" to True in the general settings for this to work.

[Armageddon]

Aw, that was my first animation.

[Wonkyth]

Any Box-Art?

[Snarky]

Aw, that was my first animation.

And I like it! I didn't change much; I just thought it would be funny if you could see the poodle filling up with blood and inflating like a balloon.

One other thing I forgot to mention: for me the alarm sound plays only once, even though in the mid-game cut-scene it should be playing constantly in the background, right? (After all, the doctor shouts for someone to turn off the alarm, even though it's not sounding.)

Are we happy with Baron's "20-minute destruction background"? It looks fine to me, the only thing I was thinking was that it might be good, for extra drama, to do a lightning flash when Merrick shouts "REVENGE!", so we'd need a high-contrast silhouetted version of the BG and the hand sprite. (I'll do the latter.)

[cat]

I love that quit GUI, ghost! Now we only need a custom save/load gui. Aren't there modules for that?

[Baron]

You have to set "Override built-in inventory window click handling" to True in the general settings for this to work.

Ah, the missing piece of the puzzle!  The right-click drop for the inventory window shouldn't be hard to implement.

QUIT GUI - I'll get to that tonight -these ones aren't hard.

DOG EXPLOSION - It was Armaggedon's first ever animation.  Since I think it's important that he make it into the credits as an animator, I'll only change it if he has animated something else in-game.  I don't have it in my records, but that's not saying much.  Armageddon? 
      In my heart of hearts I'm not really happy with the IV tube just disappearing too, so I'll probably go in and fix that.

ALARM - The alarm gets in the way of the voice acting.  I think it suffices to play it a couple times to give the impression of an alarm going off, then leaving it.

BITING SOUND -Good idea!

LIGHTENING FLASH -Good idea!

SAVE/LOAD GUI - For a five minute game???  I remember customizing one a while ago.... I think it was for Besieged.  I don't remember liking the process....

[Snarky]

DOG EXPLOSION - It was Armaggedon's first ever animation.  Since I think it's important that he make it into the credits as an animator, I'll only change it if he has animated something else in-game.  I don't have it in my records, but that's not saying much.  Armageddon?

Well, apart from the fact that my version of the burst animation is just an edit of his, so I'd still expect him to get the credit, he would still have his initial tail-wagging animation (before the dog gets pumped with blood and slightly inflated) unaltered in the game.

Regarding the alarm: Just play it at a much lower volume?

[cat]

SAVE/LOAD GUI - For a five minute game???  I remember customizing one a while ago.... I think it was for Besieged.  I don't remember liking the process....

Yeah, true, that's not needed. Although I actually saved the game once or twice when playing.

[Corby]

Still time left? Figured some computer activity could liven this scene a bit.

[Ghost]

Wow. Look at the swarm all doing ninja edits! I'm lovin those animations, corby!

I love that quit GUI, ghost!

Thankies!

[Hudders]

Wow. Look at the swarm all doing ninja edits!

Typical late-rush behaviour! I was considering doing something with the idea of the vampire in the tube, but I can't be bothered now.

[Tabata]

                   

What is happening in here? That's incredible!
Such an amount of really nice gifts for the game during the last hours.

WOW!  -  Just WOW!

[Ghost]

What is happening in here?

We're totally SWARMIN'! Join us for teh Cockroach Square Dance!    <- if you find a smiley for THAT, I'll eat my sheet!

[Corby]

I'm lovin those animations, corby!

Thanks! Also, lovely looking GUIs there.

BTW, did that Merrick getting shot animation make the game? I never saw it?

[Tabata]

What is happening in here?

We're totally SWARMIN'! Join us for teh Cockroach Square Dance!    <- if you find a smiley for THAT, I'll eat my sheet!

Sorry, but I have had enough of them dancing around me the last weeks. 

But since you have been swarming really nicely and did a good work,
you alternatively might be satisfied with the music
and a little peek over here (and hold on to your sheet)

[Ekeko]

Hey guys!
Just played through it. Cool game! Would you like me to translate it into spanish?
If you would like, just tell me here, please!