YYYYYY

[Shasharala]

So I assume the exclamation points are quicksaves.
I also assume the - indicates a bounce wire.
But... what is the funny pink y looking symbol and what do the % signs indicate?

[Robson]

So I assume the exclamation points are quicksaves.
I also assume the - indicates a bounce wire.
But... what is the funny pink y looking symbol and what do the % signs indicate?

That's exactly right Hyphens are bounce wires. Grey exclamation marks are the checkpoints and a yellow exclamation mark is used to show the active checkpoint. There's a yellow one in screenshot 2. % signs are platforms that dissolve and the yen symbol is a shiny souvenir.

I'm going into work tomorrow (sunday) to keep a friend company, so that should give me a few hours to write more stuff. I'll try to upload a video of the test levels early next week.

[Robson]

I've been a bit ill over the last couple of days, so haven't had a chance to write more stuff in

However, as promised, I've made a video of the current version The main purpose of the video is to show the engine. The levels were very quickly written in to demonstrate the features and will most likely not be in the final version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOitH6yZVPk

[Requiem]

Very cool. I like the new puzzle style you put in with the last screen, that brings a whole new set of challenges to the game.

[allen]

Yeah, looks really cool so far. That new puzzle mechanic is indeed very cool looking, but also looks confusing-and hard. Which is good. Was kinda skeptical about this at first but you're doing great.

[Shasharala]

Wow!
Screen flips! 
That looks awesome!

Also:
if only "Doing Things the Hard Way" was really that easy. 

[Robson]

Thanks guys! Glad you all like it I've added some more stuff:

A map:


Wires that reverse gravity:


Moving word enemies:

(these are 'in progress' because I want to start the letters as white, then colour them red if they are responsible for a player death. like spikes)

Xbox 360 controller support:

(I'm very bad with controllers)

[Shasharala]

I can't wait!
 

[rprince]

The Y character is one of the orientations for spikes I'll definitely give the crewmates names that begin with Y though. Suggestions are welcome!

I'll claim "Yellow" then.  That's the easiest and most obvious colour beginning with Y.  I'll let someone else figure out the rest ;-)

[Terry]

Y appears to be a lot harder than V! I was only able to find the following, and they're not great...

  Yama OR Yu chi
  Yvette
  YELLOW
  Yucatan
  Yew
  Yale OR Yacht

[Shasharala]

Whoa.  Good job Terry. 
I think all those actually work quite well.

[Robson]

I like them as well! It feels like the colours suit the emotions. Written some more things in today:

First we have terminals:


Tiles which move you left or right:


Crew members, which end the campaign and display your statistics:


A menu, which displays a list of the campaigns and your best stats:

(I need to add grades, so there's a reason to get all the souvenirs, no deaths and below par time in the same session)

Here's a bonus screenshot of the level editor and my desktop.

The remaining tasks for step 1 are in the first post.

[nathanel]

"Sub Conway()"? :D What purpose will that serve? :D Can't wait to see!

Great job, really!

I only have one question: how did you do screen rotation in VB6? :o I mean, there are probably bazillion ways to do it, but I cannot think of any fast one.

[Robson]

"Sub Conway()"? What purpose will that serve? Can't wait to see!

Great job, really!

I only have one question: how did you do screen rotation in VB6? I mean, there are probably bazillion ways to do it, but I cannot think of any fast one.

Thank you!

The conway function is used to generate the menu background, although I'm half tempted to use it to generate level backgrounds as well. I also had a wild idea about making a gravitron-style mini-game using the rules from the game of life to generate obstacles, but I'm forgetting about that until the main game is finished

The screen rotating is done with PlgBlt. At 0.1 second intervals the game generates an image that's 10 degrees left or right, until it hits 0, 90, 180 or 270. Here's the the rotation code, which takes about 0.02 seconds. Rotating the area affects almost everything else in the game, so it's definitely the most complicated feature I've written in. I'm really happy with it though, because it'll allow me to make up new puzzles and do nifty stuff like turning bounce wires into gravity reverse wires

[nathanel]

For the code, well, thanks for explanation. :D One more silly question: Did you have to program a code that turns playfield at its current state into a picture that is then rotated, or is that PlgBlt function capable of immediate transformation of program's display? :o Anyway sorry for offtopic here.

And the Conway's Game of Life idea is superb! Actually, I've been thinking about a simple shoot-em-up game with enemies at least partially generated by Conway's rules (or some other rules), but, to my big dissapointment (but also delight) I found out that someone has already done it!  But still this topic is extremely innovative and hot, it's procedural generation and replayability at their best.

Or maybe not so innovative, as when trying to find the game I've mentioned I just found a bunch of other games using Conway's Game of Life. :| Well, definitely still hot.

Again sorry for offtopic Mr. Moderator :D (Okay okay! You're excused! /Moderator)