Demo Alchementalist - A spell crafting, element mining roguelike

attic-stuff

Member
What does this mean? The surfaces get corrupted? I assumed they'd just be lost due to volatility and need to be rebuilt (which I'm checking for).
sorry yeah that was a little hyperbolic haha. it means they are lost to volatility. alt tabbing is actually like enemy number 1 to surface volatility with window resizing coming in second. if you have surfaces that need to be updated in real time, then they definitely need to have an existence check every step.

so basically you need to, when the window regains focus, re-create the surface using the cached size instead of the current window size, that way it doesnt make a size of 0.
 
sorry yeah that was a little hyperbolic haha. it means they are lost to volatility. alt tabbing is actually like enemy number 1 to surface volatility with window resizing coming in second. if you have surfaces that need to be updated in real time, then they definitely need to have an existence check every step.

so basically you need to, when the window regains focus, re-create the surface using the cached size instead of the current window size, that way it doesnt make a size of 0.
Can I not just set them to the size of the application surface (if that size is right for the surface, I mean)? Because obviously it doesn't get wrecked by alt-tabbing or barely anyone's game would work well.
 

attic-stuff

Member
Can I not just set them to the size of the application surface (if that size is right for the surface, I mean)? Because obviously it doesn't get wrecked by alt-tabbing or barely anyone's game would work well.
yeah the application surface is not changed by alt tabbing, so if your other surfaces are supposed to be the same size as the app surface then that works
 
yeah the application surface is not changed by alt tabbing, so if your other surfaces are supposed to be the same size as the app surface then that works
Hahaha, ok, I mean, it doesn't "work" (at least consistently), but surface volatility is likely not the problem I guess. This problem has been hounding me for months now, it's very frustrating.
 

attic-stuff

Member
Hahaha, ok, I mean, it doesn't "work" (at least consistently), but surface volatility is likely not the problem I guess. This problem has been hounding me for months now, it's very frustrating.
are you using the latest version of gm, or are you on an older version? because if youre using an older version where surfaces did not have a reference type and were integers instead, could be a case of the surfaces getting junked from re-used indices.

also, is this just a thing that happens at launch if the game is launched alt tabbed, or is this something that happens a lot during play as you alt tab?
 
I am on latest. I always push a commit and then install the new versions because I want access to the juicy new features. The black screen only happens on the actual boot (and inconsistently, I can be alt-tabbed out of it like 90% of the time with no problem), but I haven't encountered the problem that @Prrz mentioned, so it's hard for me to speak on that. It might be related to surfaces or it might be related to something else (though, surfaces are what comes to mind because of their volatility).
 
Just dropped the new version of the demo. This one has quite a few craftable spellboosts, plus a lot of changes to a bunch of different things.
 
So the Alchementalist demo is now on Steam! I absolutely wouldn't have gotten to this point without the help of the lovely contributors in this thread and elsewhere, in particular @Zizka for contributing art and listening to me ramble a lot, @Kezarus for being a great mate, @Prrz for selflessly volunteering their time, and @Repix for always being super supportive.

It's a kind of bizarre experience having it out there. The game was basically an old, broken skeleton a month ago, with a lot of systems, but no connective tissue. It wasn't playable at all, and I was happily chugging along adding things as I saw fit and very slowly working towards the end-goal of release. Then I realised how close NextFest was and how I'd need a demo for it and suddenly lost my mind. I've put in multiple 24 hour+ coding sessions and drunk innumerable glasses of coffee & softdrink over the last few weeks, desperately trying to tie everything together to change the game from what it was: a scattered mass of interesting parts, into what it's become: a functioning demo. Not 100% polished and not 100% stable, but in such a better state than it was three weeks ago that I can barely believe it. In a way, I'm experiencing the game for the first time now just as everyone else is. It's a mind bender, that's for sure.

Anyway, enough rambling, I just want to say thank you again to this community, so full of lovely kindred spirits in the game dev journey, you all rock! Oh, and make sure to wishlist Alchementalist, hahaha, steam needs those stats baby!
 

Kezarus

Endless Game Maker
Those deadlines can be tough, but you are tougher, mate! =]

Now, don't forget to wind down a bit as you already get to that finishing line, there are more to come. It's not a race, it's a marathon and I wish to be here by your side and see you succeed. Take care!
 
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