Messages

I've never heard of this before, but I'm definitely looking forward to it now.

Thank you so much, avo. You really didn't have to do that, and I appreciate it. This will not go forgotten.

You have made Xyzzy a very happy puppy.



Oh, and I, myself, without any help (Wow! Amazing!) also programmed a little thing where if the player is carrying food, Xyzzy will start following him and occasionally whine or bark, asking for a handout.

my camp is the plan, upstate new york

Great, I might be able to come up from Long Island.

I'm going to be in England in late July, so I was wondering if I'd be able to make it.

Okay, so I get the feeling that death can add to a game's atmosphere. But I find going to the save menu annoying. I'll only include death in my games if there is a quicksave key with three alternating quicksave slots.

Oh, and pardon my stupidity, but what's FOA?

Thank you again, Avo!

Except now I'm having problems with the script that chooses one at random...

xyzzy_randomize is called in repeatedly_execute, and xyzzyrerandomize starts at 1. Here's the complete code:

function xyzzy_walk_aimlessly(){
if (IsTimerExpired(2)){
  if (character [XYZZY].walking == 0) { //thanks to a-v-o for this script
  r_outer = r_inner;
   while (r_outer == r_inner)
   {
     r_outer = MIN_DISTANCE + Random (MAX_DISTANCE - MIN_DISTANCE);
     r_inner = MIN_DISTANCE + Random (r_outer - MIN_DISTANCE);
   }
   r_middle = (r_outer + r_inner) / 2;
   direction = 0;
 }
 int pc = GetPlayerCharacter ();
 int dx = character [XYZZY].x - character [pc].x;
 int dy = character [XYZZY].y - character [pc].y;
 int dist = (dx * dx) + (dy * dy);
 if (direction == 0)
 {
   if (dist < (r_middle * r_middle))
   {
     direction = 1;
     MoveCharacter (XYZZY, character [pc].x + Random (r_outer * 2) - r_outer, character [pc].y + Random (r_outer * 2) - r_outer);
   }
   else
   {
     direction = -1;
     MoveCharacter (XYZZY, character [pc].x, character [pc].y);
   }
 }
 else if (((direction > 0) && (dist >= (r_outer * r_outer))) || (((distance > dist) && (character [pc].walking == 0)) && (dist <= (r_inner * r_inner))))
 {
   StopMoving (XYZZY);
 }
 distance = dist;
 }
else {
 xyzzyrerandomize = 1;
 }
}
function xyzzy_lie_down() //thanks again a-v-o
{
if (l_status == LS_START)
{
MoveCharacter(XYZZY, Random(1280), Random(960));
l_status = LS_WALKING;
}
else if (l_status == LS_WALKING)
{
if (character[XYZZY].walking == 0)
{
FaceLocation(XYZZY, character[XYZZY].x, 0);
SetCharacterView(XYZZY, 28); //lying down view
l_status = LS_DOWN;
SetTimer(1, 1200 + Random(3600));
}
}
else if (l_status == LS_DOWN)
{
if (IsTimerExpired(1))
{
l_status = LS_NORMAL;
xyzzyrerandomize = 1; //used by the function which will randomize Xyzzy's action, haven't coded yet
SetCharacterView(XYZZY, 22); //normal view

}
}
}
function xyzzy_randomize() {
 if (xyzzyrerandomize == 1) {
 xyzzyrerandomize = 0;
 xyzaction = Random(1);
 }
 if (xyzaction == 0) {
   xyzzy_lie_down();
   }
 if (xyzaction == 1) {
   xyzzy_walk_aimlessly();
   SetTimer(2, 360 + Random(200));
   }
 }

However, it doesn't seem to actually call either function. Xyzzy doesn't move from his starting location.

Thanks for the offer, avo, but I'd rather do it myself. I'd just like to know what aspect of your script controls how far away Xyzzy can be from the player.

I understand what you mean, but that's why I will include six other solutions to the puzzle.

I have a couple ideas that I'd like to know some people's opinions of...

My game takes place in the future, so therefore computer programs take place in virtual reality. There is once sequence where the player IMs another character in AIM (I called it NAIM to avoid copyright issues). Since it's in virtual reality, there isn't a white screen but rather the player's avatar speaks to the other character's avatar. I decided to keep the AIM atmosphere and play the appropriate dinging sounds that are sent before each IM while the two characters say their lines. Do you like this idea, or not?

Also, I have an idea for a puzzle. There are multiple solutions to each puzzle, and there are 7 different paths you can go down. The ending of the game depends on how you solve each puzzle. There is one path where you must solve each puzzle in the most difficult possible way. One puzzle can be solved by figuring out what year the game takes place in (I don't tell the player that it's 2019). There is a hint that you can use Moore's Law (Computer technology doubles every 18 months). The player character's computer has a 3.2 THz (terahertz) processor, top of the line at the time. So, the player can use Moore's Law by taking 3.2 THz and the current top of the line CPU speed (right now it's 3.2 GHz, but it will still work no matter what) and making some calculations (3200 GHz / 2 until you get about the current top of the line speed, multiply 18 times the number of times you divided to get the current speed, divide that by 12 and add it to the current year to get 2019) to get the answer. Of course, if they can't figure that out, they can do it another way, but this way brings them closer to seeing the hard ending.

Whatcha think?

Thanks for the scripts and baseline help, but I'd like some walkable areas and walk-behinds to only be availible to Xyzzy. Is that possible?

And AVO, your script seems to make Xyzzy stay close to the player. How should I change it to give him more freedom to move around?

Also, I tested another action...choosing a random location and lying down. However, it seems to slow down my game a lot and Xyzzy doesn't actually move from his starting location. Can someone please fix this for me?

function xyzzy_lie_down(){
 if (IsTimerExpired(1)) {
       xyzzyrerandomize = 1; //used by the function which will randomize Xyzzy's action, haven't coded yet
       xyzzydown = 0;
       SetCharacterView(XYZZY, 22); //normal view
       //xyzzy_randomize() [leaving this in comments until I code it]
       }
 else {
 MoveCharacter(XYZZY, Random(1280), Random(960));
 if (xyzzydown == 0) { //checks if Xyzzy is not lying down
   if (character[XYZZY].walking == 0) {
     SetTimer(1, 1200 + Random(3600));
     FaceLocation(XYZZY, character[XYZZY].x, 0);
     xyzzydown = 1;
     SetCharacterView(XYZZY, 28); //lying down view
     }
   }
 }
}

I loved Grr!, but I have no idea what happened in the end. For a minute I thought Daniel hung himself, but then I decided against it.

Sorry I didn't post this before, I just noticed it. His legs don't look very muscular. Unless you're intending for him to be a skinny guy, I think you should bulk them up a little.

And my mom says his torso looks stiff and that his hips don't move a lot.

Maybe you could do it InterfaceOn to GUIOn style...unify the commands but keep all the obsolete ones in there.

THANK YOU AVO! I will remember to include you in the credits.

However, I have a few more questions...

Since they still clip if the player walks towards Xyzzy, how can I set Xyzzy to always appear behind the player (my game is from a top-down perspective)?

How can I make some walkable areas and walkbehinds only available to Xyzzy (i.e. going under tables)?

How would I set Xyzzy to only run around aimlessly for a random amount of time before randomizing his action again?

Even if it did work, you wouldn't be able to use it with sprites, since the artifacts from compression would make transparency impossible..

Speaking of transparencies, why can't we import Gifs? It would make transparency a lot easier.

Look at the character page: checkbox "Can be walke through"

Unchecked.

And how would I script it so that it uses a range of values?

Congratulations to the winners. I submitted various pieces of Awards-related trivia to MobyGames (and will submit stuff for Fatman and Apprentice once they're approved).

Many commercial developers would probably pay you to make characters like that.

Anticipation Meter:

Could you make me a character?

NO! I asked first!

I really like it. Even though you probably used a filter from the artistic menu to make it look like a painting, it looks really good.