So I'm really knew to game development and coding as a whole, so I'm still learning basics. I'm trying to figure out how to code a basic jump function. I got it to run but, I'll let you see. Go ahead and boot up the cart if you haven't already. It may take a while for you to notice what's wrong, as it's very subtle, but I trust you'll be able to work it out.
So I got the basic idea for the state code from Urbanmonk's post in this thread
I also referenced begginer's demo and game states-simple from the edu toolset. I tried googling them but nothing showed up. But those were more just learning basic concepts than anything else. IDK why that happens when you start it up. Try pausing and unpausing it also. IDK if the pause button will do it, but if you press escape inside PICO-8 you'll see it happen again. I'm really confused guys. I wouldn't have been surprised if the code was so broke it didn't run but I didn't even consider this happening as a possibility. Like really please I need to know why this even occurred lmao
1 comment
Just a little track I put together trying to figure out the music editor
Every other file it automatically loads into the cart directory but it doesn't do that with the alpha demos and I can't find them anywhere in the game's folder. I can't find the carts online to download them
< START
<
< So I started getting into game development a little over a week ago, and I have alot of questions about this place and the fantasy consoles.
< To start out for context of what I've learned so far, I'm gonna link two videos. I've done most of the built in tutorials for game maker and
< the latest one was the "My first arena shooter tutorial". The first link is gonna be footage of what the finished tutorial project is supposed to
< look like a little about how it works, then the second clip is gonna be what I made and what I added and figured out (largely through brute
< trial and error) to do on my own. I have to record on my phone cuz I'm rocking a sweet 2011 macbook air and the appersoft recording
< software I'm used to using on other computers cuts the framerate down into a quarter of what it's supposed to be.
<
< [This is the tutorial version of the game] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hmiQXs0R1nHapy-cj6Iv2gzJ830rgd4M/view?usp=sharing)
<
< [This is my version] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1olAcKUsyuc0jhraSa4P8du7Eqoui8o_C/view?usp=sharing)
<
< A few things I forgot to mention: those white circles spawn the enemies. Instead of placing an invisible object that spawns the enemies
< I made an object to spawn them that has hp and can be destroyed. What I meant by the cursor being weird is that I couldn't figure out how
< to make a proper persistent cursor that moves to the mouse point. Instead, in the step event (step event's in gamemaker are the equivalent
< of PICO's update function. They're code that's checked every frame. Dunno if step event is a common term so idk if this is common
< knowledge lmao) for my obj_player I wrote it so that he spawns the cursor image at the mousepoint every frame, then for the cursor, in it's
< create event (init() equalivent) I set it to have a starting cooldown count of 1, and then in the step event, it subtracts one point of cooldown
< every frame, and when the cooldown equals zero, it destroys itself. Definitely made the cursor looks weird. It's subtle but if you play close
< attention and move the mouse quickly you can actually see this occur. Anyway, that's general context for what I know so far about coding
< and game development. If you guys have any questions about the code and wanna look through it feel free to ask and I'll try to find the
< relevant code. I was planning on doing more with it, but since I got in way over my head with my own shit and didn't even consider waiting
< until I finished the tutorial, it kinda made me hate the project. Especially this one feature I tried to make where it would wait a second to
< respawn you upon death. Spent half a day trying to figure this shit out. Eventually, I got it to work by having the player drop an invisible
< object upon death, and having that trigger the restart the level 60 frames after it spawns. IDK wtf I did but when I loaded it up to record
< last night I found it not working anymore :(
<
< So, that out of the way, I first learned about PICO-8 through the Celeste PICO-8 easter egg. I literally just thought
< Pico-8 was the name of the Celeste prototype lmao. Jump 3 days ago, after finishing all the built in tutorials and I felt like I had kind of
< reached a dead end. I was just gonna continue working on that shooter. But over the course of that actual day, I learned a fuck ton. I
< learned how much overlapp there is between most beginner game engines (makes sense, I don't fully understand all of it but I know
< the general goal and changes of C# over C), then I found it.io by accident, and from there, I discovered PICO-8 and immediately thought
< "This would be great for game jams." Ended up spending half the day researching PICO-8 and a little bit learning voxatron, and I fell in love.
< I mean a game console make for an emulator made for the game console. That's fucking genius. Everything about how that whole aspect of
< of this is genius. It can run on anything easily, it's inherently amazing for debugging, and considering it's simplicity, it's much more beginner
< than most debuggers seem. I did the built in debugger tutorial for gamemaker and I still have no idea what the fuck happened during it.
< And the way that the console is the development software for the console, allowing the modulation of other people's games that this system was built for.
<
< Anyway, what general information should I know about Lexaloffle products, sites, and communities? Or useful information for people who just barely understands the basics of any of this?
<
< Where can I download the demo carts for both voxatron? I can play them but I can't find them anywhere in the game's folder so that I can edit them.
<
< How usable is PICO-8 for larger projects? Like I know you can package 16 carts together, but I'm assuming It's just a pack with each
< individual cart file rather than anything that stitches them together as one game, correct? I'd love to use PICO-8 as a way to make simpler
< games
< with much less overhead that actually has a reasonable amount of content. I like games you can sink alot of hours into so I'd rather make
< larger hobby projects. I'm not talking actually big games. I'm talking like an hour minimum (If it has good replay value) and four hours max.
< That's obviously alot more than I could currently handle, but I think in general that's a reasonable amount of playtime to expect to be able
< to produce. Like I would be very proud of a four hour game. And even further later on, how about using PICO-8 to build the majority of the < game and using gamemaker or something to stitch the levels together and further improve the game beyond what PICO-8 is capable of. I
< have no doubts about PICO's capacity for actual game design and mechanical complexity. It's main limitation is content size, other than
< that I feel like it's very capable for making a full game. It wouldn't even have to go
< against it's original design goal to achieve this. Leave amount of data that can be held in each cart to relatively the same, add an extra cart < type with a much harsher size restriction that's only to be used for assetts and code shared accross all levels, along with tools for stitching
< the levels together, and added features like a main menu screen. I feel like this would keep in with the spirit and intentions of PICO (and
< Vox but it's still in alpha) while allowing these softwares to be viable for full scale releases indie releases. It would turn PICO's relationship relationship to full games into what it's relationship already is with individual levels. Long run I'd love to like code the base of it and generate
< alot of the levels and of it in Pico,
< and then export it to something like gamemaker. I'm assuming once I start getting the hang of things and when I reach a high enough level < where this is even relevant, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to do that, correct?
<
< If you guys know any good Pico/voxatron games with a large amount of content similar to what I'm talking about I'd love it if you could send me an link
<
< What game dev resources/community websites and groups should I be aware of? All I'm really aware of is this and itch.io, both of which
< I learned about 2 days ago lol
<
< I think everything around the idea of these fantasy consoles is genius (I doubt that's a controversial opionion here lol) and I honestly think
< that it's kind of the future and there's alot of unique things you could do with it. Is the idea copyrighted? I know I have no immediate
< plans of doing something like that, but is it possible? Obviously I don't want to have someone just steal what these programs do, but
< just like the underlining concept. Zep has already proven that that it's a diverse concept with the differences between the two programs. I
< wanna know just about the base concept of a console made for an emulator made for that console, with the console being the
< the proprietary game development software, allowing you to play a game and immediately edit it. Especially with how popular open
< source is becoming, I honestly feel like this is kinda the future of game development. It just makes so much fucking sense.
<
< I know Voxatron is backwards compatible with PICO, what are the limitations of this and plans on expanding it? Is it possible planned at all
< to use that functionality to essentially treat both programs as one, treating vox like the 3D engine and PICO like the 2D engine? I feel like
< that would allow for a very versatile engine. Even moreso than either are on their own.
< Especially if it came with extra functionality to make this easier to do than expecting people to figure out how to do more complex features
< on their own. Like have a 2.5 D mode built specifically for this.
<
< That's about it. Thanks in advance!
<
< END
< SHUTDOWN
