Background Blitz Collection Screensaver v1.3

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 08:32:59

Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 12/07/2010 02:19:04
You did not have my permission....to be this awesome.

I totally forgot that underwater rocket thing I made back in 2004 or whatever ;o.

I took the liberty to use it as intro-pic, because it's very suitable for it I guess...
And because I have no artist skills to design something myself

So thankies for let me using your underwater rocket thingy for this screensaver 8)

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 08:34:55

Quote from: SteveMcCrea on Mon 12/07/2010 04:20:34
The image you have credited to me was, unfortunately, not mine.
I was just pointing out that someone had painted over a loominous critic's lounge paintover.

mmhh, must have overlooked that...
I'll remove your name [if there are no other entries on your name, I'll check]
and the loominous critic's lounge paintover pic in the next version.

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 08:37:44

Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Mon 12/07/2010 07:31:12
Why only 16-bit?
16-bit can have pretty disasterous effects on gradients.

Why:
Because I had no clue what setting to choose, so I kept it low.

Question:
Can I just change the setting from 16bit to 32bit and recompile the sceensaver without any trouble?

Calin Leafshade · Mon 12/07/2010 08:44:20

No not really.. you'd have to reimport the backgrounds or sprites (which ever way you have done it) after changing the setting.

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 08:58:13

Thanx for the info Calin.
Darn, 261 x re-importing room-backgrounds....
I guess I also need to re-import the guy-backgrounds?

I also used "compress the sprite files".
That doesn't harm anything doesn't it?

Calin Leafshade · Mon 12/07/2010 08:59:40

nah the compression is lossless..

if they are sprites you can just delete them all and reimport en masse

if they are backgrounds in room then you will have to reimport them one by one..

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 09:02:04

The guy-backgrounds are sprites, so that import en masse indeed

The room-backgrounds will be a one-by-one import :'(

Anyone else got suggestions?
Otherwise v1.2 [32bit] is coming up.
Soon...

Wyz · Mon 12/07/2010 13:17:54

Wow, that's amazing. Great idea!

Maybe a suggestion, I once made a screensaver loader so you can actually use it as a screensaver in windows. I might revisited the code because there are a few issues I'd like to improve.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=40804.0

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 13:42:54

@Wyz: Thanx

B.t.w.: I do remember that loader you made.
I might have a look after you have revisited the code cause
unfortunately it didn't workout for me last time I tried it with WOO....

Calin Leafshade · Mon 12/07/2010 13:49:23

I think scr files are just exe files renamed arent they?

arj0n · Mon 12/07/2010 13:54:31

Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Mon 12/07/2010 13:49:23
I think scr files are just exe files renamed arent they?

Yup

Wyz · Mon 12/07/2010 14:05:20

Yups, the loader just runs the AGS executable, but has one extra feature: it detects mouse and keyboard interactions and closes the game in that case.

Well, there is not much magical about the scr, it only tells windows it is a screensaver, the extra features are actually done by commandline switches.

Is there perhaps a way you can feed command line switches directly to the AGS executable and detect them in-game? That way I could make a game module, that would be even better.
Made a topic, I'll keep you posted.

Stupot · Tue 13/07/2010 14:43:15

If you fancy a bit of extra work you could have categories, or themes. So the user could choose 'space', or 'landscape', 'interior', 'urban'... whatever really. I think that would be a nice touch.

arj0n · Tue 13/07/2010 15:11:21

@Stupod:
So every background blitz theme would become a categorie?
That makes a lot of categories...
But I'll think about it

straydogstrut · Tue 13/07/2010 15:21:58

Looks great and categories is a great suggestion=)

If you really have absolutely nothing better to do, a Mac version would be nice. It'd make me stupendously happy and i'm sure lots of people..*voice echoes*..hey, where'd everybody go??

*ahem* Probably easier if I figure out how to do it myself, though I suspect i'd have to create it outside AGS (Xcode or somesuch).

Okay, that's my little project for the coming week=)

Ryan Timothy B · Tue 13/07/2010 17:56:26

It's a good idea.

Quote from: Arj0n on Mon 12/07/2010 08:58:13
Darn, 261 x re-importing room-backgrounds....
I guess I also need to re-import the guy-backgrounds?

I haven't checked this program out yet. I'm not sure what the 'guy-backgrounds' are, but I'm curious, instead of using room backgrounds why don't you just import them into the sprite manager?

That way you only have one room for the backgrounds and it loads the sprite whenever. You'd only need to define the amount of sprites and it would be much less work for you. It's just a thought.

arj0n · Tue 13/07/2010 21:00:52

Importing them into the sprite manager, mmhh, I'll check that out

And oh, 'guy-backgrounds' was a typo, I meant 'gui-backgrounds'.

Stupot · Tue 13/07/2010 22:58:05

Quote from: Arj0n on Tue 13/07/2010 15:11:21
@Stupod:
So every background blitz theme would become a categorie?
That makes a lot of categories...
But I'll think about it

I don't necessarily mean for every Blitz theme, but just maybe 10 or so more broader themes p'raps.

arj0n · Sun 18/07/2010 13:30:30

Reimported all backgrounds in 32bit.
Now I remember why I had chosen to use 16Bit: the compiled size doubles using 32bit.
Still keeping it now at 32bit.

arj0n · Mon 19/07/2010 19:36:25

Update:
Now available: v1.2: switched from 16-bit (hi-colour) to 32-bit (true-colour) version.

Working on categories now.
01. Exterieur [88]
02. Interieur [67]
03. Sceneries/Landscapes [100]
04. Space [7]

Maybe splitting them up in subcategories and removing the category Space cause it only contains 7 BG's.
Any ideas?