limitaions?

[LB]

I don't think it ever will be in MMF2. If your executable or MFA alone need to be 2GB or more, you have other more serious problems...

[Jibs]

Not really. You can buy games that are gigs, haha...mind you they're full cg productions...image the biggest 2d game ever in mmf2...movies movies and more movies...more than 600 hours of game play! haha

[Jibs]

dungeon crawling! you'll be crawling before you reach the end of this dungeon! lol

[Danny]

Yes but this will boil down to game design techniques and optimisation such as external level formatting, external file packing etc. Professional game developers don't cram all their content into a single executable...

If you're hitting the 2gb marker then you have to re-address the way your building your games.

[Jibs]

nah, I was just joking, but to be honest I don't know the difference really. Is there a problem with big exe files?

[ProdigyX]

Couple of questions.
Is the problem when the .mfa file is 2GBs+ or when the resulting .exe is 2GBs+?
Can is still be built problem-free when (answer from above) is greater than 2GBs or will it fail each and everytime?

My worry is that for a while, I've wanted to do a game with achievements, complete online hi-score systems, all planned out levels (....over 600 planned...), multiple playable characters (6+), multiple sets of power-ups (A BUNCH), complete with music. The graphics are not memory intensive at all. (I would imagine as it is mere pixel art) Whilst I can move the music to an outside source, I feel as if I would run out of room. I feel like this because I've done the file screen level, 3 levels completed (literally just the levels completed; no features in them whatsoever), 1 character, 3 power-ups, and the saving system for what I've completed is what is done. The .mfa file is 22MBs and the .exe is 17MBs. And that's with no sound or music! Everything I've done has been semi-optimized so I may have to keep optimization in mind whenever I go back to work on the game, but I suppose I can always split the game; make the game into 2 executables

[Danny]

2gb will be for both, a 2gb MFA file probably wouldn't open as this is the virtual memory limit (on 32bit os').

If you're intending on making/developing a 'serious' game then optimisation is key, not just for your own sake but for the user's sake and the product's future sake. Using the storyboard method is good for small games but larger games need to be well optimised otherwise you're either gonna

a) Run out of morale to keep developing the game due to a huge storyboard + any changes would mean changes to every frames event editor!
b) Run into problems with filesizes.

I would strongly recommend studying and writing up an engine using a more stable approach of utilising the extensions available including; Single Frame/2-Max W SubApp, Arrays, INI++ and the Global Function Object.

Using this method you could then develop your own maps in a seperate editor (created by yourself of course) which you could then make this map editor available for joe public to use in future and also use external graphics, sounds and videos. All of this can be utilised quite well and will keep your game well optimised albeit a bit more of a pain in the jacksy but the hard work will be worth it in the end.

Too many people think of MMF2's runtime as the 'engine' but it's not. You need to create your own engine that uses MMF2's runtime, once you create something unique that is your own it is very customisable and the world is your oyster!

[ProdigyX]

Yeah, I've already been working on a level editor for the above reason.

Only problems I have with importing the level into the game are
1) More of a pain as you said.
2a) All events would have to be on one frame.
2b) That would mean I would have to do all stages of graphic at once.
3) Online hi-score system would be extremely limited.
4) Achievement system would also be slightly limited.
5) Problems with the level editor until it is literally perfected...

But I'll deal with it. It all can be fixed/worked around.

[Jibs]

"I would strongly recommend studying and writing up an engine using a more stable approach of utilising the extensions available including; Single Frame/2-Max W SubApp, Arrays, INI++ and the Global Function Object.

Using this method you could then develop your own maps in a seperate editor (created by yourself of course) which you could then make this map editor available for joe public to use in future and also use external graphics, sounds and videos. All of this can be utilised quite well and will keep your game well optimised albeit a bit more of a pain in the jacksy but the hard work will be worth it in the end."

could someone explain that a little more to me? I didn't know you could create levels in an external editor..what kind of software would that be? How do you use external files in your game, so that the exe could get to them? some sort of scripting invovled?

[ProdigyX]

No scripting whatsoever.

This example will be based on Super Mario Bros.
Let's you say you have an ini file with a group called "Goomba X" Where X is the number of the Goomba.
Under this group, you could save the X Position, Y Position, and anything else you would need to be saved.

You could run function/loop (I'm using the Ini ++v1.5 extension)
to do Create & place the goombas.


For example
Start of Frame
Perform Loop "Load Goombas"

On Loop "Load Goombas"
Set Max value of Counter 1 to Number of Groups Whose left 6 characters = "Goomba"

Always set "Goomba String" to "Goomba "+String(val(counter 1))

On Loop "Load Goombas"
If the text of "Goomba String" = A group within the ini file
Create Goomba a (0,0)
Set X Position of Goomba to Value(what ever you would label the item for X position)
Set Y Position of Goomba to Value(what ever you would label the item for Y position)
Add 1 to "Counter 1"

Hopefully you get the general idea behind this. You make a self propagating function for a section of your game (enemies, loading stuff,etc) Then you make actions based on the information coded within the ini.

You made be wondering "Well how do I make the ini?"
Simple. One idea is you could make a level editor for your game and make it so that only the level editor can save/load (or just save) the level after you build the level. (You would have to create your own saving engine for the level editor). Another way is to have one frame in your app dedicated to making new levels. Make a level, save the level using the same system you would use for the level editor, then delete all instances of each active object (be sure to leave one instance of each and make sure they are not created at start), and repeat