Testing Wanted For A New Gp2x F200 Game

[Coder_TimT]

Thanks Tim, and I've replied to your PM too.

If you're willing to assist in testing, then I'm more than happy to have you on board. Hopefully it's near the end now.

BTW It's an incredibly long thread and even I can't remember half of it. And I'm sure it's all over something incredibly simple. But then again, it's keeping me coding and from designing new puzzles, so that's not such a bad thing after all

Here's the current state of play - I've included all media and a pc .EXE to show how it should work. http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/blox_gp2x.rar (2.7Mb)




Well, I don't know that I really have anything helpful to add currently. With the latest build, everything worked flawlessly for me except for the options menu, which simply didn't appear to be triggering any touchscreen events at all.

I didn't have any issues with any of the puzzles though(although I didn't play through all of them), even the last one with no walls played fine with the touchscreen.

Perhaps some touchscreen variable information output to the console "on touch" in the options screen would prove helpful. Also, you're not underclocking while displaying that particular menu are you? I ask since the touchscreen stops working below 160Mhz or so. I don't believe that to be the case since I increased the clock speed with another program whilst in the option menu and didn't notice any change, but thought I'd ask.

 

[iprice]

I wouldn't know how to underclock a GP2X tbh - the frame rate is set at a constant value and shouldn't/doesn't change. But at least most of it is/appears to be working now

I've had screen output all along (just hidden in release mode), and tbh it's rarely been that helpful seeing as a) running it on a F100 or pc show everything to be tickety-boo. Something's not quite right, but I'm getting there.

Cheers Tim.

 

[Manjuu]

Everything, except the touchscreen at the Options screen, seems to be working okay. The wall problem is no longer present.

Although, it seems that the touchscreen (such as while In-game) seems to have become more sensitive to letting go, even though I haven't removed the stylus. It also can be seen in the red highlight on menu buttons, as it reverts back to blue for a brief moment (and select the item) even though I did not let go or move out of the hit area. I do notice that the crosshair doesn't stay in place and keeps on shaking even though I didn't move the stylus. This problem maybe innate to the touchscreen. <_<

Almost done... :lol:

 

[sbock]

Confirmed.

I want to add just one little typo in the german translation:
"Blauer Feld" must be "Blaues Feld" in the Puzzle editor.

Regards,
Stephan

 

[iprice]

Thanks Manjuu and Stephan.

I've fixed the typo.

I certainly haven;t changed the senstivity, so it may well be something to do with the touchscreen itself - that could explain why I've been having such difficulties. I don't know.

 

[Coder_TimT]

I wouldn't know how to underclock a GP2X tbh - the frame rate is set at a constant value and shouldn't/doesn't change. But at least most of it is/appears to be working now

I've had screen output all along (just hidden in release mode), and tbh it's rarely been that helpful seeing as a) running it on a F100 or pc show everything to be tickety-boo. Something's not quite right, but I'm getting there.

Cheers Tim.

I was thinking along the lines of output when the screen is touched and output when the touch ends. That way we could see on the f200 if anything at all is happening on a screen touch in the options screen or if the event just isn't processed correctly because some variable isn't set correctly. As it is we can't provide much feedback beside the fact that it doesn't work.

 

[iprice]

Hmmm...

I'll add a couple of text outputs tomorrow.

In the mean-time, on the Options screen, does the cross cursor not move at all? That information is actually quite informative in itself. If it moves with the stylus, it means that touchscreen is working and it's just my code not interpreting the action properly.

If it's not moving, then it's something else.

Can you activate the Clear Profile option dialogue (OK/CANCEL) with the stylus (if it's selected by button controls)?

 

[Manjuu]

In the mean-time, on the Options screen, does the cross cursor not move at all? That information is actually quite informative in itself. If it moves with the stylus, it means that touchscreen is working and it's just my code not interpreting the action properly.

If it's not moving, then it's something else.

Can you activate the Clear Profile option dialogue (OK/CANCEL) with the stylus (if it's selected by button controls)?

I discovered something.

The touchscreen in the Options screen seems to be partially working. It works if I drag the crosshair itself, like a draggable object. When I release the drag, it would then select the menu (if present) where the crosshair is currently located. Tapping anywhere won't move the crosshair to that location, but it does respond that I selected something, which would be interpretted as the current location of the crosshair.

The Clear Records' Confirmation dialog is working properly using touchscreen.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Looks like Manjuu just found you what you needed...and with no debug output.

Just thought I would verify his findings. All menu options seem to work. You just have to click on the crosshair and drag to the location you want to activate, as opposed to the crosshair jumping to where you touch. I was able select each menu item and move the volume up/down by doing this.

 

[iprice]

Manjuu, that's what it's supposed to do.

The game offers a "release to activate" button approach - like most Nintendo DS games, and I did state this early on and also in the last menu test (with the three different options). You should be able to drag the stylus across the screen and not activate a button until you remove the stylus from the screen (whilst on a button/option). It will highlight any button/option it is over, but not activate it.

It looks like it may have been working all along, but people haven't actually been doing what I expected! D'oh!

If you want a simple click on the button/option to activate, then that isn't what I was expecting and hasn't been implemented in the menus. D'oh again!

That should be a simple fix. Looks like it could all be sorted

Believe it or not, I went for the most complex solution to the button press solution, but one that offered the most accuracy - looks like simplicity was actually the order of the day!

Thankyou!

 

[Coder_TimT]

Manjuu, that's what it's supposed to do.

The game offers a "release to activate" button approach - like most Nintendo DS games, and I did state this early on and also in the last menu test (with the three different options). You should be able to drag the stylus across the screen and not activate a button until you remove the stylus from the screen (whilst on a button/option). It will highlight any button/option it is over, but not activate it.

It looks like it may have been working all along, but people haven't actually been doing what I expected! D'oh!

If you want a simple click on the button/option to activate, then that isn't what I was expecting and hasn't been implemented in the menus. D'oh again!

That should be a simple fix. Looks like it could all be sorted

Believe it or not, I went for the most complex solution to the button press solution, but one that offered the most accuracy - looks like simplicity was actually the order of the day!

Thankyou!

It's not just that the event happens "on stylus up", you actually have to "grab" the crosshair in the top left corner and drag it to the menu item you want to activate. Then once it is in place, you can touch the crosshair again to use the menu item once the crosshair is over it. Then you can "grab" the crosshair again and drag it to another menu item. You cannot just tap anywhere on the screen and have the crosshair jump to that point on the screen, like in the main menu or game selection screen.

 

[iprice]

That then does appears to be a bug. It's like the stylus placement isn't recognised until it reaches position 0,0 on the screen.

That's useful info too

It should be exactly the same control method as the main menu. Maybe it isn't quite as simple as I'd hoped, after all. I'll have a comparative look at the main menu and Options code tomorrow and see if there's something very obviously different.

Cheers chaps

 

[Coder_TimT]

That then does appears to be a bug. It's like the stylus placement isn't recognised until it reaches position 0,0 on the screen.

That's useful info too

It should be exactly the same control method as the main menu. Maybe it isn't quite as simple as I'd hoped, after all. I'll have a comparative look at the main menu and Options code tomorrow and see if there's something very obviously different.

Cheers chaps

One last post...just wanted to be clear that you always have to continue to "grab and drag" the cursor, even after moving it from 0,0...

 

[Manjuu]

I'm aware of the "release to activate" method as that is one of the two things I test for touchscreen (the other being quick taps).

The problem is that compared to the other screens, the Options screen functions differently. The crosshair will not move at all unless you click on it first and drag it around, unlike in the other screens where the crosshair moves to the location of the touch and then you can drag all around you want.

It's like this: When initially entering the Options screen, the crosshair would be located on the upper-left corner of the screen. If I try selecting (by tapping or dragging) the menus, nothing would happen. I would need to go and drag the crosshair itself from the upper-left corner to a menu, then release to activate. After that, any taps or drags anywhere on the screen (except on the crosshair) would be recognized as activating that same menu; the crosshair would be stuck there until I drag it to the next location.


EDIT: I'm slow at replying... 3 posts already went by before I finished mine...

 

[iprice]

Yep. That definitely isn't right.

No worries, I've got plenty of information in these last posts to hopefully solve the problem once and for all.

 

[iprice]

New update - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/blox_test.rar (1.07Mb)

The only changes I've made are minor. These changes may affect the "Clear Profile" dialogue box (OK/CANCEL) or other parts of the program (highly unlikely). They may not actually resolve or change the current situation at all.

I've also added a variable debugger -

SEL="Stylus up/down in a valid situation"
OPT="Current option value" (returns to 0 if stylus not over option)
HI="Highlighted text value Minimum value=6 (Language)"
KEY="Button state indicator - resets to zero straight after action if pressed"
ACT="Has option been activated?"

X="Stylus X Position"
Y="Stylus Y Position"

STYLUS="Stylus up/down"

With regard to SEL and STYLUS "1"=stylus is touching screen.

 

[Coder_TimT]

STYLUS=1 and SEL=1 when you touch anywhere on the options screen, however X and Y do not change unless you touch and drag the cursor.

 

[iprice]

That's interesting - the GP2X know that the stylus is touching the screen, but it doesn't know where and is getting itself all confused.

This may be down do a GLBasic command - SetMouse. I've noticed that it's not doing what it's supposed to (place the stylus/mouse cursor at a specific position). It may be locking the mouse to position 0,0.

New update, which removes that command - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/blox_test.rar

 

[Coder_TimT]

That's interesting - the GP2X know that the stylus is touching the screen, but it doesn't know where and is getting itself all confused.

This may be down do a GLBasic command - SetMouse. I've noticed that it's not doing what it's supposed to (place the stylus/mouse cursor at a specific position). It may be locking the mouse to position 0,0.

New update, which removes that command - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/blox_test.rar




Same behavior. Only change is that the cursor starts at the last cursor position from the previous touch(which was selecting "Options" from the Main Menu) as opposed to 0,0.

 

[iprice]

OK.

I also noticed that I repeated the MX value in the MY variable.

I think I might start chopping away at the options screen until I remove whatever's causing the problem. I'll cut it right back to the basics.