Testing Wanted For A New Gp2x F200 Game


Heheh this is the problem I have. I just can't leave a problem alone until I've sorted it out.

Keep going and try not to be discouraged, although it is hard sometimes.

I'd be more help testing for you but I'm getting snowed under here at work. Not to mention the 25cm of actual snow coming down right now... :blink:
 
@iprice

Give me a break. I'm a little bit confused what to do.
But when all 4 toggle options are set to "1" the options screen (and the rest of the game) works like a charm. I can see no problems so far.

Regards,
Stephan
 
iprice said:
OK. I lied, kind of. This thing is haunting me now.

Here's another update http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/bloxv1_059.rar

This one allows you to switch on/off certain actions within the Options menu.

Press A, B, X and Y to toggle options. I've given a vague indicator to what each button does.

0 means toggle is off
1 means toggle is on

All toggles are 0 (off) when first starting, you won't visually see any actions (or cursor movement) and you won't be able to access any menu options.

You'll see that certain actions will require other toggles to be on (eg you can't access the Clear Profile option if you have no GUI dialogue or menu access.

Let's try to find exactly which toggles bugger up the menu access.

Touchscreen only (no D-Pad).



Um...no "buggering". Toggled everything on and it worked like a champ. In and out of the help screen, in and out of the editor, back to the start menu and then back to options...it just all worked for me...
Click to expand...
 
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I tried all the 12 possible combinations. None of them "breaks" the touchscreen.

Each toggle works as it should, and the ideal combination would be A, B, & Y, which works correctly.

Excellent work. Good thing you gave it another go. :lol:
 
Seriously? :eek: :lol:

To say I'm shocked is an understatement!

I'm pretty sure I did nothing but add the toggles :blink:

Now watch it all go wrong when I re-integrate D-Pad and buttons.

Thankyou :)
 
iprice said:
New update - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/bloxv1_060.rar

This uses the above working version, but re-integrates D-Pad and button support back to the Options menu (I'm just waiting for the "it doesn't work now" feedback).

I've added a new Win game victory celebration - the stars were always intended to be temporary. Thoughts please. :)




Seems to still be working well. Volume keys are currently not working in the options screen.

Confetti is nice...I almost think I personally prefer the stars though....
Click to expand...
 
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Oops! I forgot to add volume adjustment back in. Will do now.

I could make the victory celebration random, or have stars for a normal win and ticker tape for record beating attempts (or vice versa)

:)

BTW I'm upto 60 puzzles now for the main game. I think I'll do some more; trying for around 100 - I've still got a couple of weeks left.
 
Touchscreen & D-pad controls work properly in the Options screen.

Volume controls is missing only in the Options screen; it's present in Puzzle Editor & How To Play screen.

The confetti is nice, but the stars seem more lively as they move faster and flood the screen.

I found a couple of bugs In-game. :ph34r:

- If any of the other colored blocks (excluding yellow) is beside a yellow block, you can register a move using the other block in the direction of the yellow block, even though you can't really move in that direction and is not suppose to be allowed. Applies both for the touchscreen and D-pad controls.

- If a block is located on the 1st row of the playing field, you can make it move upwards to the toolbar causing the program to crash in the process. Applies both for the touchscreen and D-pad controls.

- If a block is located at the edge or corners of the screen, the program will crash if you try to make it move to the direction of the edge or corner of the screen. Applies only for the touchscreen.
 
OK. I'll leave the stars in. :)

Yeah, I only removed the Volume Control from the Options screen while cutting out bits to see what the problem was - I just forgot to replace it.

Yep. You're right about the Yellow block bug. Caused by a simple maths error (I'm only checking values to 8 and it should be 9).

Yep. Blocks definitely shouldn't go into the menu bar. That's more bad maths on my part.

I'll have to take your word for that and blame it on a maths problem (for a change). I'll have a look and see if I can guess what's happening.

Silly me for not noticing the first two. Well done Manjuu :)
 
iprice said:
New update - http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/bloxv1_061.rar

This version hopefully fixes all of the bugs identified by Manjuu and includes 10+ new puzzles. Total of 60 now. :) I've also restored the "Stars" victory display.

If all is well on this release, then I will remove the cross-cursor (it was only there to identify touchscreen problems)


The touchscreen in the Options screen broke; it's the "grab and drag" problem. Does this mean that the volume controls is the culprit? :(

All the three bugs that I found are now fixed.

The stars definitely has more impact than the confetti. The stars is a little jagged though, but I guess it can't be helped as they are being rotated. You could do it like how you suggested, that one would be for normal win, while the other is for when you break a record. I personally do find that stars fit the record win more than the normal win. :p

You might also want to consider removing the volume + & - combination to exit in a future release, as it isn't really necessary anymore & can be accidentally pressed when changing volume.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Music adjustment.

It's the same function that all elements of the program call - even the other menus call it. It's the only thing I've added to the Options menu, so it's got to be that. It has no connection to the touchscreen at all.

I'll take the call out tomorrow and see if it makes a difference - if it does, then I think we've identifies the cause. Maybe it's the Integer problem I mentioned a while back (volume increases by 0.1). But it works everywhere else. Bizarre.

I'll be well pissed if it turns out to be that that's been causing the problem the whole time. It's a simple 10 line function that alters the volume only. I've re-written every menu a dozen times and it's totally unconnected to the touchscreen.

I was never happy with the stars - not only are they jagged, but GLBasic isn't great at masking rotating images (if you take a screenshot on pc, you can clearly see a pink outline). Even from the very beginning of the game I wanted to lose the stars. I did confetti in BlitzMax in another game and it worked brilliantly, but that was on pc. GP2X/GLBasic isn't as fast or as smooth and I had to reduce the number to keep the speed up.

At least the in-game bugs are fixed :)

Cheers Manjuu - at least we know it did work and that it can work!
 
Puzzle #52 & 53 are not solvable. The number of dots and blocks do not match.

It seems you altered Puzzle #35 and made it easier. Is the previous one really solvable? I still can't solve it. :huh:

Aside from those 2 puzzles (and previous #35), I was able to solve the rest.

I think I found another bug In-game. The scrolling background sometimes stops moving when a puzzle is loaded/resetted; it's turned on in the Options screen.
 
Puzzle ##35 was solvable, but it took too long to do, hence I made it easier. Re: 52 and #53, sorry about that - creating and testing them in 5 minutes is almost impossible sometimes and I must have missed those two. I thought I'd put in checks for this sort of thing - testing that number of blocks=number of pads. I know the check works in Test mode, I thought I'd added it to Save mode too.

The scrolling background may not look like it's moving, but it is - it's just that with certain puzzles, the pattern does not appear to move. The patterns and scrolling is random, so occasionally you will get a pattern that conflicts with the direction of the scroll (eg the diagonal stripes and scrolling down) - it is moving, it just doesn't look like it is.

New update and a new puzzle - #61 (you'll have to access it via the game or Test mode, as I haven't increased the max number in the Puzzle Selection screen yet). http://www.iprice.remakes.org/stuff/bloxv1_062.rar

Volume control is toggled on/off in Options mode with START. I've also recoded the Volume control a bit.
[EDIT] Just added Save Puzzle check.
 
The volume control in the Options screen seems to be the culprit. The touchscreen stops working when volume control is activated, and it works again when the volume control is deactivated. <_<

What's the point of having an OK and also a Cancel button in the Warning dialog, when the sliders and pads don't match, if they both do the same action? I do prefer a way to override the dialog to save (or test) an incomplete puzzle, and also, to load a puzzle without having to clear the current incomplete one.

iprice said:
The scrolling background may not look like it's moving, but it is - it's just that with certain puzzles, the pattern does not appear to move. The patterns and scrolling is random, so occasionally you will get a pattern that conflicts with the direction of the scroll (eg the diagonal stripes and scrolling down) - it is moving, it just doesn't look like it is.
Click to expand...
That does make sense if it only applies to the diagonal backgrounds, but it also happens to the square backgrounds. Unless the random scrolling can also result in a nonmoving value?
 
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OK. It looks as though at long last we've found the problem and the reason for all those re-writes. No wonder I couldn't find the problem! I've a couple of ideas before finally declaring the war over :p

Re: Over-riding Save/Test, OK - I'll make it so that you can continue or cancel the Save/Test. :)

Re: Non-scrolling, maybe there is a value that is null-scroll. Should be easy to sort out.

As ever, many thanks Manjuu :)
 
Just for the heck of it, I tried playing without the touchscreen and had a couple of comments on the controls... Obviously these are just my opinions, maybe Manjuu or someone else could also try playing without the touchscreen control and see what they think.

1. Seems like there needs to be a key repeat delay put in place for dpad movement. It's easy to move more than one square at a time with a single directional movement. Just a pet peave of mine, it really cuts down on my enjoyment if I am constantly having to fight the controls to only move one square.
2. The key sequence to carry out a move isn't fluid/natural to me. I keep wanting to select the square, push the direction and have that direction stick and be able to release it, then release the 'B' button to carry out the move. For some reason have to keep the direction button held, just isn't natural to me. This is obviously a matter of opinion, I would just be curious what others thought...

Just FYI though, overall I love this game. Unless some other really impressive stuff comes out of this competition, I think you'll have you're own f200 to test with soon.... :)
 
Coder_TimT said:
Just for the heck of it, I tried playing without the touchscreen and had a couple of comments on the controls... Obviously these are just my opinions, maybe Manjuu or someone else could also try playing without the touchscreen control and see what they think.

1. Seems like there needs to be a key repeat delay put in place for dpad movement. It's easy to move more than one square at a time with a single directional movement. Just a pet peave of mine, it really cuts down on my enjoyment if I am constantly having to fight the controls to only move one square.
2. The key sequence to carry out a move isn't fluid/natural to me. I keep wanting to select the square, push the direction and have that direction stick and be able to release it, then release the 'B' button to carry out the move. For some reason have to keep the direction button held, just isn't natural to me. This is obviously a matter of opinion, I would just be curious what others thought...

Just FYI though, overall I love this game. Unless some other really impressive stuff comes out of this competition, I think you'll have you're own f200 to test with soon.... :)
Click to expand...
Actually I have the same comments as you about the D-pad controls. I just didn't bother bringing it up as there were more pressing issues. :p

As mentioned, I do find it bothersome that the movement skips from time to time. I rather have a slightly slower movement than a faster inaccurate one. (I already brought this up before and was tweaked down, but it still doesn't feel right.)

I do also experience slipping up the moving of blocks as the D-pad controls is indeed somewhat awkward. Maybe changing it to an instant move when you press a directional button while holding down an action button.

While we are already at the subject of D-pad controls. I might as well suggest to utilize the L & R buttons to quickly access the menu bar while In-game (like how you did before) and also the toolbar in the Puzzle Editor. Also map the Start and Select buttons to different specific actions like for load/save, undo, or quit. These additions will definitely make the D-pad controls much faster and easier to use.

Without question, touchscreen beats the D-pad controls. I can finish a puzzle in a few seconds/minutes using the touchscreen, while it takes much longer when using the D-pad controls. As how it is now, the D-pad controls is very slow and tedious to use, which reduces the fun of playing the game.
 
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I'm open to all opinions and suggestions with regard to control schemes. The game was primarily designed for touchscreen really, with D-Pad support tacked on. However, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to make the best of them.

1. Re: Skipping squares - this is a difficult one really. I have to make the game that's fast enough to play with keys, but not too fast that you constantly zoom past the blocks you want to use. The result will be the same if too fast or too slow - people won't enjoy it and therefore won't want to play. Maybe an extra option for Cursor speed?

I've still got a couple of weeks to iron out any control issues and any other bugs that crop up, together with some extra levels etc.

2. With regard to sticky direction controls, I'm not averse to adding them. I can give players a choice of how they play - there's space in the Options screen to add that. I can but try. Possible options then are -

- Standard controls (Hold B etc. + D-Pad selection, remove B etc.)
- Sticky controls(Press B etc. D-Pad Selection, then B again to use direction (what about cancel move?))
- Instant controls (Hold B etc. + D-Pad direction to fire in that direction)

I'm glad you're enjoying it - I am too. It's a game I've wanted to make on a handheld for a long time if it wasn't on GP2X, then I would have done it on DS.

With regard to L & R for the menu bars, that's possible as is mapping START and SELECT. Not sure they'd fit for Load/Save, but I'll think about their uses. I was considering using SELECT in-game to return to the Puzzle Select screen. Now that the main bugs have been identified, it's now time to make the game as user-friendly as possible. :)

I don't know how many others will be entering the competition, but I expect there are quite a few. To date I know of two others entering the comp. PeeJay and AndyH (both from RetroRemakes, as I am), have entries either completed or near to completion. People are either keeping their cards very close to their chests or there isn't a lot of interest. I really don't know. I must admit though, I do hope you're right :D
 
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