Global Events questions

[Macaw]

Question 1: When using the "change animation" function for an object in the global events it only displays the default animations and not any extra custom animations you have added. Why is this?

Question 2: If you have a shortcut of an object in the global events and then you rename that object, the shortcut in the global events doesn't automatically rename itself and all the code becomes useless and you have to re-import the object to the global event editor. Is there an easier way to deal with this if you want to rename stuff and not have to redo all the code?


Thank you!

[Konidias]

1. I believe that objects lose their local names when global. The same thing happens if you try to set animations for an object by its qualifier. Custom animations start at 12 not 13... Animation sequences have a base index of 0.

2. There is no easier way to do this. I would personally avoid using global objects all together. Are you trying to make a game with many levels spread across different frames? I only ask because it might be better to just create a level editor and keep everything in one frame. (or try to keep things in one frame on different layers)

[Macaw]

2. There is no easier way to do this. I would personally avoid using global objects all together. Are you trying to make a game with many levels spread across different frames? I only ask because it might be better to just create a level editor and keep everything in one frame. (or try to keep things in one frame on different layers)

Yeah thats what I'm doing, but a level editor seems too restricted for what I'm making. I have lots of unique stuff in each frame, both in terms of graphics and code, and putting everything into one frame would just be way too cluttered I think. Its not a simple game with a whole bunch of similar looking levels with the same objective, pretty much every frame has something different going on in terms of conversations, going through doors to enter different areas, cinematics etc, stuff that seems would be really tricky to do in the confines of a single frame level editor engine.

[Nifflas]

Yeah thats what I'm doing, but a level editor seems too restricted for what I'm making. I have lots of unique stuff in each frame, both in terms of graphics and code, and putting everything into one frame would just be way too cluttered I think. Its not a simple game with a whole bunch of similar looking levels with the same objective, pretty much every frame has something different going on in terms of conversations, going through doors to enter different areas, cinematics etc, stuff that seems would be really tricky to do in the confines of a single frame level editor engine.

It's quite the opposite. Knytt Underground uses one frame and a custom level editor and format. It features 1800+ rooms (2000+ after the coming update, the world size will be 47616x25920 pixels) 1000 unique scenery objects (probably a hundred thousand instances), and tons of NPC's, enemies and creatures. It worked best within a single frame since I decide when to load/unload rooms/images/music and not having to deal with global events where values are unnamed, or having to avoid qualifiers... it all makes life so much easier.

Maybe in MMF3 it'll be different, but for MMF2 at least the advanced user will normally want to build as much as possible into one frame.

[Macaw]

I looked up footage of Knytt Underground and noticed it was all static rooms. Where exactly do all the different rooms get stored in a single frame game like this?

Also, what if a game has scrolling and all the levels are radically different sizes?

[Warmachine]

1. I believe that objects lose their local names when global. The same thing happens if you try to set animations for an object by its qualifier. Custom animations start at 12 not 13... Animation sequences have a base index of 0.

2. There is no easier way to do this. I would personally avoid using global objects all together. Are you trying to make a game with many levels spread across different frames? I only ask because it might be better to just create a level editor and keep everything in one frame. (or try to keep things in one frame on different layers)

^This. Once an object becomes a global event, even the alterable values change from the given name back to alterable value a, b, etc. The easiest way i've found to do this is just run what you want your global event to be in the normal frame editor, test it and if it works, THEN dump it in the global events editor. That way at least you know what's what.

[Nifflas]

I looked up footage of Knytt Underground and noticed it was all static rooms. Where exactly do all the different rooms get stored in a single frame game like this?

Also, what if a game has scrolling and all the levels are radically different sizes?

It's in a custom level format using the Ini++ and Binary Array extensions together. I made an editor in MMF2. Making it scroll is definitely doable too, I did this in FiNCK. I would have divided the levels into different scrolling "sections", and when you exit one area, you enter the next and the game loads all its content. It should be no problem, not even with rather large scrolling areas. The hardest thing is to make the whole world a huge and continuously scrolling, because that will force you to dynamically load/unload data and objects (very fast to avoid freezes or a slow fps), but with skillful use of events, even that is possible.

I'd put it like this: working in a single frame and a custom level format+editor is always a more powerful option, but it takes lots of skill and time. Working with multiple frames is easier, and probably the best way to go for a beginner, but it has drawbacks due to MMF2 not being very global-oriented. Hopefully, MMF3 will be designed much more around that you'll want to share most events and objects over most frames.

[Alonso]

You know what would be nice? If you could set up 'templates' of code and objects, and you could assign templates to any frame you wanted, or even combine several templates by referencing them into the same frame. And then you'd be able to otherwise code around anything you wanted inside that frame. But any events or objects that are tied to the template would be changed globally if modified in any frame that references it.

It would be a good alternative to having to code a level editor yourself.

[Konidias]

But assuming that you are not some alpha nerd that has access to this INI++ and binary array me-what's-its, and you like to create something a bit more visual, perhaps using multiple frames might make sense. For me, I'd have a title screen, and something to choose a character, and so on. Even a relatively simple game like Super Mario Bros. would use different themes: the same except for underground in 2-2 and 4-2, at night for worlds 3 and 6, those giant tree or mushroom platforms for part three of the world, a castle for part 4, underwater for 2-2 and 7-2, and that bridge with Cheep-Cheeps jumping for worlds 2-3 and 7-3. I don't actually know a warehouse in the Mushroom Kingdom big enough to stash all that, and if you tried to cram it all into one frame, that's what you'd end up with: needing a warehouse-sized bandwidth. And levels in that game are not a uniform size. You would also need a blue background for the frame in all but the castle or night scenes, which call for black. And the underwater sections demand a darker blue. I haven't quite figured out if it's possible to change the background colour of the frame midstream -- maybe it is not possible. And if somebody likes lush cinematography, this becomes even more prohibitive. In simple, my room and my life is a big enough clutter, without trying to create a cyberworld messy room also.

Alpha nerd? Really?

Ini++ is extremely easy to use... You're literally telling it "save this text to this file, load this text from this file". Please don't stoop to insulting intelligent people just because you don't understand something (or are unwilling to learn). You're just stifling progress and creativity, even though you think you're all about being "creative", you are just putting restrictions on yourself for absolutely no reason other than you don't want to make the effort.

Also I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Super Mario Bros was programmed to load everything from the same "frame". Super Mario Bros didn't have a frame editor. I don't think you understand at all what we mean by "putting it in one frame".

We aren't actually suggesting that you just put all the active objects in a single frame and hide/show them when you need to. We are suggesting that you build a frame (which basically should be empty or near empty in your frame editor) and then you add events that can actually load/create the objects you need on the fly, in that one frame. You can also dynamically size a level to be however large you need it... all in one frame.

I'm not sure you even understand basic game design. Do you really think that Super Mario Bros was created using something like MMF? It was all hand coded, and it's just loading and displaying tiles when they are needed. It was infinitely more complicated to create levels back then.

[Konidias]

Actually Super Mario Bros was written in 6502 Assembler... and why wouldn't they want you to know? It's not some closely guarded secret.

Also I don't think you actually understand what bandwidth means.