GMC Jam Discussion GMC Jam 30 / XXX / Discussion

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GVmG

Guest
So, it turns out GameMaker Studio 2 doesn't like Nahimic2 audio stuff.

My laptop has it, and... turns out it was the cause of my audio trouble after all. Nahimic2 is a thingy SI laptops use on top of Realtek audio drivers, to add effects and all. Turning it off, terminating it, nothing worked until I manually triggered the default Realtek control panel and prevented Nahimic2 from launching on boot. Then it worked flawlessly.

It's so weird how something that simple and specific prevented my game from not only having audio ingame, but also not playing in the IDE or in other computers after being built. Thankfully it works now. And my entry is... "Complete".

By that I mean that there are 30 seconds of gameplay and 2 minutes of terrible, cheesy plot. And those 30 seconds of gameplay are very umbalanced. But at least it works fairly alright. I'll include a download link both here and in the games topic, but if I wake up in the morning (which I have an alarm for) I'll definitely tweak it a bit, maybe add some extra gameplay too.

But yeah, for now that's it. s-ul download link (will reupload to another host in the morning)
 
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Otyugra

Guest

I wasn't able to get much done today but at least I have tomorrow to try to turn things around. In the meantime, can I interest anyone in buying an "awful tunic"?
 

CodeManu

Member
How did you do that color effect? O_O
It's actually quite simple, the screen has a shader that modifies RGB values of the draw surface depending on the time of the day (day, afternoon, night), then I draw every light (like this) to another surface with additive blending, and then use that surface to subtract the alpha value of the draw surface, so I get something like this. (the "white" part of the image is just transparent, but the background is white so It might not be obvious :confused:)

And finally, just have to draw the normal draw surface without the shader, and draw the new draw surface on top of that :D
 

NightFrost

Member
Done! Well, as done as it can get within the jam time limit. :) (Link to entry)

Didn't have the time to do some finishing touches, mainly backgrounds (enjoy the black) and taking the logo beyond first concept stage. The high scores list was a last-minute addition scavenged from an older project, and doesn't have name entry option.
 
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Misty

Guest
It's actually quite simple, the screen has a shader that modifies RGB values of the draw surface depending on the time of the day (day, afternoon, night), then I draw every light (like this) to another surface with additive blending, and then use that surface to subtract the alpha value of the draw surface, so I get something like this. (the "white" part of the image is just transparent, but the background is white so It might not be obvious :confused:)

And finally, just have to draw the normal draw surface without the shader, and draw the new draw surface on top of that :D
Hope you are being sarcastic.
 

NAL

ʕ ᓀ ᴥ ᓂ ʔ
GMC Elder
The Jam Games topic is now closed! Voting topic will arrive later today, followed by a .zip containing every game and the launcher provided by @Alice. For any late entries/last minute changes, please PM either me or her with a link and any necessary information - however, this may not guarantee inclusion in the game zip depending on how late from now you leave it.
 

The M

Member
Aw, come on. I had several seconds to go.:(

Edit: Upon playtesting now that I've proper time, it seems like the only bug I've got this time around is a missing sound effect. I can live with that (although to be fair, the game would have been much better with it :p).
 
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Couldn't edit my game post and forgot an afterword so I'll just post some stuff here.

I named my game Super Charger, attempted to include all three themes but only really got Charging Up working as the main mechanic. I included a button to "Switch Modes" which changes the gameplay from shooting game to jumping game, so there are shooting and jumping sections. I meant to have collectables and obstacles in the jumping sections but I ran out of time(Scope too high for me I guess), so they are just fun little intermission areas now. Sticking Together only exists in my story, and only in the capacity that a symbiotic organism has joined with with you and gives you charging abilities. I ran out of time to find a way to explain that part of the story and how it affects your abilities in game though.
Also, a tip with the boss. Aim for the head if you can.

Just in case the controls aren't clear in the readme (sorry I didn't include them in-game):
On keyboard, WASD or Arrow keys will move and aim, Z is shoot, X is jump and C is Mode Change.
On gamepad, Dpad or Left stick moves and aims, X is shoot, A is jump, and Y is Mode Change.

In jump mode, you can press the shoot button to do a little air dodge, can be helpful.

I think that's everything?
 

HayManMarc

Member
Big huge thanks to @NAL for including my 20-minute-late, unfinished entry!!! I hope you all enjoy the art and animations, as that was where most of my tiny amount of time went. Please read the read_me included in the zip for instructs, credits, and other notes.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL! Some amazing looking games this time around!
 

NightFrost

Member
When updating my display code I may have introduced a little mistake, so displays not at 16:9 aspect will clip instead of fit to screen (add black bars). All mine are 16:9 so I can't actually test that.
 

The M

Member
When updating my display code I may have introduced a little mistake, so displays not at 16:9 aspect will clip instead of fit to screen (add black bars). All mine are 16:9 so I can't actually test that.
Well, I tried downloading it and it scales fine as far as I can tell (no black borders). My current monitor has a 5:4 ratio.
 

Bingdom

Googledom
Since I like to self-reflect, here are some of my thoughts about my entry.

What went well
  • The kill camera performs nicely.
  • Good variance with maps.
  • Adding GMC members was a good idea (and making myself an easter egg).
  • Explosive barrels have a nice effect on tanks when they explode (body and turret often spins when close enough).

What could've gone better
  • Tanks having more range than the camera was a bad choice. It's not fun getting killed when you can't see them on the screen.
  • Objects being a core mechanic to the game. Currently, they perform more like an obstacle than anything worth leaving on your tank.
    If they had more value, players would be able to develop tactics which would've definitely helped with replayability.
  • Depth ordering is often not ordered properly.
  • Draw a mockup. If I knew earlier what it would look like before I put it in the game, it would've helped me choose the right colours.
  • Some effects don't make much sense/ are bugged. Eg. Screen shake when you see nothing getting destroyed, explosive barrel's explosion too small (hard to pick up range).
  • Tank shooting isn't as well balanced as I'd like. It requires a bit of practice to get it right. There's also an exploit.
  • Indicators are good, but they could've been better.
 

Alice

Darts addict
Forum Staff
Moderator
Remember, everyone, you can message me if you want some last-minute changes to be included in the Jam ZIP. Once the ZIP is ready to be sent, there won't be no more waiting. ^^'

(said the one who posted her and others' entry late... u_u')
 

Micah_DS

Member
Remember, everyone, you can message me if you want some last-minute changes to be included in the Jam ZIP. Once the ZIP is ready to be sent, there won't be no more waiting. ^^'

(said the one who posted her and others' entry late... u_u')
WAIT, do you mean I can get my game in still???
 

Micah_DS

Member
Does the Jam Player actually display the 120x120 thumbnails, or is that a feature planned for later? I've never seen any thumbnails in the jam players so far..?
I was just thinking that I always forget to make a thumbnail, but especially this time around, since I was scrambling like mad just to upload my build. ^^'

I'm so very thankful that my game got included though. I don't expect it will rank all that high though, mainly because the level is a little lengthy and there are no checkpoints. That was obviously not the plan, but I simply failed the crunch, allotting far too little time to make the level... Still, it's my personal best for a solo jam game to date, so progress is progress.

- ABOUT "BAD" THEMES -
I complained a little on the Discord server about the themes, but I was just frustrated. But looking back on that, I gotta be real; I can already tell that people made some great games with these themes, so the fact is that I just need to 'git gud' at jamming is all. I also realized it's not very respectful toward the people who came up with the themes to say they aren't good. Also, I honestly don't know if I could do 'better'. Whatever the case, I just wanted to throw a little apology out there, and now.. I really need to sleep.

EDIT:
OH, I just realized I should say my game uses the themes CHARGING UP and STICK TOGETHER.
But it is made fairly obvious in my intro screen's text, I guess. (now sleep)
 
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Triangle

Guest
Remember, everyone, you can message me if you want some last-minute changes to be included in the Jam ZIP. Once the ZIP is ready to be sent, there won't be no more waiting. ^^'

(said the one who posted her and others' entry late... u_u')
I am so tempted to take you up on that, because my game is so unpolished and I had like three dozen things planned that didn't make it in, but I feel I should just leave it be at this point, missing sound effects and crosshair along with the rest.. Still kicking myself that I forgot to add that crosshair, it would have litterally been one line of code and I remembered to do it JUST after I uploaded the game..
Still pretty happy with it all though, I really wasn't expecting to meet the deadline at all so I'm content.
 

NightFrost

Member
Well, I tried downloading it and it scales fine as far as I can tell (no black borders). My current monitor has a 5:4 ratio.
Maybe talking about black borders wasn't such a good idea since the background is also black, so telling where the edges of the app surface are isn't very easy. The intent was, since the view is static (doesn't need to move), it should just give a view into 640x360 room (so 3.0 magnification on 1920x1080 display) and have it centered on displays not at 16:9 (so vertical center on taller ones, horizontal on wider). I don't have time to review my code but I'm fairly sure this isn't happening.
 
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Otyugra

Guest
Hey guys: I forgot to mention in my README file that you can resize the game window, meaning you don't need to squint your eyes at a tiny screen if you don't want to. If I see any reviewers complain about the small game window, I plan on PMing them to let them know about this.

EDIT:
What went well:
The core gameplay of circling around 8 positions against a vertical cave wall ended up being surprisingly great considering how simple it was to design and yet how fun it was to test. I got a lot of mileage out of so little in that respect. The menu system for selecting 4 items was really professional and its randomize button started as a bug but became an easter egg. Also, I was happy that the gameplay morning section didn't require a single word on the gui.

What went poorly:
Like usual, the game is woefully incomplete. I didn't get a chance to implement the shop simulator, but at least I can say I implemented the first part of it. Multiple times, I got stuck on simple bugs because I didn't debug properly. I never got a chance to add moving enemies. I wasn't able to add music (not enough time).

Compared to the original:
Even though it is nowhere near as long as I hoped it would be, in the final few hours, I was able to tweak it to seem like it sorta had a proper end "you win" moment. I made sure that nothing I added was unfinished, and that the game had replay value. Compared with Hippy Business Balloon, Cavern Business Balloon is about as nuanced with the control and noncontrol you have over the main character, which is good. HBB is famous among my friends for the way you control Bernardyn; this may not be as awesome as HBB's controls, but it gives the player a lot of freedom and choices while balancing chaos, so it works, IMO. This game lacks an explaination for why a balloon wants to start a business in a cave, but that might be better than the cringe-y execution of the story in the original. Bernardyn didn't need to be a hippie, and he didn't even need a name. I put a lot of focus into the gameplay, but the cheaper art looks nice in its own way. This remake feels tighter but lacks the charm of the original.
...I haven't changed much since I made the jam version of Phantomatics long ago. My style has become less intimate because I want to better balance experiementing with wide-appeal. Behind the scenes, I've gotten better at taking care of myself during jams in balance with knowing when to push myself.
 
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FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
After a 15-hour sprint and several hour-long interruptions later, I got my entry in with 2 minutes to spare:



Though I was ultimately able to come up with a playable product, I must say I didn't handle this one as well as my last successful entry in Jam #6. Arguably, it was even worse than my almost complete but unpublished entry in Jam #7 (which I hope to finish within the next 2 weeks for closure). It's sort of a "half-win" that I'm not really all that proud of in the end.

The reason: I settled on the main mechanic way too late and left almost no margin for polishing or balancing. The other two jams I had a clear idea about where to head from the zeroth hour, and they both landed more or less in the same trajectory I planned. This one I hopped between 6 concepts (2 board games, 3 other action games, then this one which I finally made), and that took until the end of the Saturday for it to settle. It was a day-long battle between taking my MCTS engine out for another spin and not risking an idea that it handles too poorly (pretty common for an unenhanced all-random MCTS) or too well (exploiting a game feature I didn't foresee). By the time I finished all the graphical resources and code 15 hours later, I only had time for a leveling system based on linear interpolation and little more than test-playing the first level.

Of the 15 hours I spent on the project's actual content, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the menu system (at least one half). Part of this has to do with it being my first time formally using GMS 2 from the get-go (as opposed to an import), and the other has to do with me deciding to switch to a JSON-based save-load (so a straight import wouldn't have helped). In the end, I abandoned everything that the save-load part of the menu system would have handled --- sound/music toggles, high scores, user info --- just to rush in the main playable part of the game. Very basic mistake on my part.

So here are my goals by the beginning of the next Jam:
  • Practice and refine toolset for tree-search AIs (MCTS, Minimax, Backtracking)
  • Experiment with nondeterministic AIs for card games and board games with randomization elements
  • Formalize a workflow for a "reactive" organization of GML projects to cut down on explicit handling (this may have to wait until sequences come out, since I foresee it playing a major role)
  • Create a "Jam starter kit" with a menu structure, settings and basic sound/music toggles (I promise to open source this just to keep things fair and help increase focus on design in future entries)
Hopefully this time around, I'll actually have time for these items outside my day job and other commitments.
 
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GVmG

Guest
Btw if anyone is interested in debugging my game (for whatever reason) just hold P while the intro transitions into the main menu.
 

sylvain_l

Member
:Dsorry you won't get my usual unfinished unplayable entry this time I didn't come back in time.

congrats to all the participants.;)
 

Bearman_18

Fruit Stand Deadbeat
Some of these games look and/or sound pretty solid. I downloaded a ton! Maybe I'll write reviews or something.
 
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Misu

Guest
I did a post version of my entry because I found several more bugs that I didnt notice from last night.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwa69ni04ge3b1b/Misuware_postV.zip?dl=0

This is mostly a bug fixed version and there are still a couple more bugs Im still checking out. Also the read me is updated in this one. As for artwork, if I have little motivation at all (which I doubt I will) I could add the missing art stuff for those microgames that doesnt have.

Only took me a day and a half to work on this and it wasnt easy. Good luck everyone!
 

NightFrost

Member
For a quick retrospective on my game, I see at least the following problems with it:
  • Some missing and unfinished graphics, obviously enough.
  • No difficulty curve. Puzzle size and timer would be obvious picks, but both can go only so far before hitting a hard limit. Perhaps the goal should be to clear N amount of puzzles for highest possible score, instead of infinite puzzler.
  • During the solving phase, nothing awards any points. They all come only after the puzzle has been solved. There should, for example, be a one-time point award for each tile connecting to the power source.
  • Besides connecting special marked tiles for extra points, there's nothing else to do on the field except turn tiles to reach the goal. More secondary goals, and progress blocks of some kind, should be added.
  • Add a larger pixel font instead of using a stretched version of the smaller.
 

Gravedust

Member


" . . . "

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I SHOULD HAVE CALLED IT "FARMOR!"
*slams head on desk* Damn it, my brain just wouldn't give me a name last night, so I called it what I called the working file.
…plus it's not even really a sim…

Anyway. Time for my indulgent post-mortem ramble/explanation of everything I has too tired to remark upon at deadline after angrily deleting the stain of embarrassment that always is my attempt at a devlog.

Feel free to skip if you just aren't interested.

Anyway, the theme was SWITCH BETWEEN TWO GENRES, and the game is an exploration of what would happen if Stardew Valley and Enter the Gungeon were stuck in an elevator for 72 hours and decided to live for the moment.

As befits the theme, the game alternates between the daytime 'farming' phase where you plant, nurture and harvest undefined red produce for cash, which you in turn spend to try to survive the nighttime 'combat' phase, while trying to lose as few plants as possible so your harvest the next day will not be utter garbage, making it that much harder to not get shot dead by the evening's compliment of murderers from space.

I thought this would be a decent idea, but it actually turned out to be a bit deeper than I initially imagined; the plant management side of the day phase is about as important as the point-and-click-and-dodge of the night phase. I'm still trying out new planting and watering strategies.

The difficulty of the night phases ramps pretty brutally, which is for a number of reasons. One has to do with the fact that I would rather frustrate players than bore them. 'Days' last a total of 6 minutes each, (3 per day phase, 3 per night phase) so a player getting on top of the difficulty curve means a very long playtime. This is a jam game so while I made as much content as I could, it's not going to support a very long play session. So essentially I make it hard too early on purpose, because this game needs a LOT more balance that I can give it with only myself as playtester, after staying up for over a day straight. So if you don't make it very far on your first playthrough, you're not bad at the game, it's me being a jerk. Plus I know people who like the game will try to rise to the challenge. Difficulty actually stays static after day 3, so if you get that far you can say you beat the game. ;)

There are also a couple of bugs that I mention in the readme that I will repeat because who actually reads the readme, amirite?

+ Don't let fruit touch the ground. (i.e, don't throw it anywhere except the sell bin.) It will lose all it's sell value. :( This sucks and eliminates a lot of strategy possibilities, but by the time I realized what was happening I was too stupid to know how to fix it without probably breaking something. (since focus and sanity are finite resources in a Jam.)

+ If you are having trouble picking up front from a cluster of plants, get VERY CLOSE and keep trying. Also, picking green fruit just makes them disappear. Wait till they are ripe, dammit. Double also, since it's not something you might not notice initially; fruit that is picked as soon as it is ripe is worth a idle bit less than fruit that has been left to grow a bit more.

+ Buying an ammo pack only reloads your CURRENTLY EQUIPPED weapon. Sorry, I was too stupid to code in a decent affordance for this by the time it became an issue.

+ Grandpa is an idiot, jumping is not useless. It is your version of a dodge roll; you have I-frames while you're in the air.

+ Try this one weird trick: Water plants at night and see what happens. May not be obvious until the @#$% hits the fan.

+ Yes, the double shotgun is two regular shotguns stuck together with duct tape.

Anyway, I think that about covers it. Thanks for reading!

One thing that bears mentioning is that I actually like where this game is going. I have a lot on my plate but if people are interested in seeing a prettier, less buggy and better balanced version with more music produced in the future, LIKE THIS POST and I'll try to make it a priority. Will PM likers with a link when done. Full disclosure: it will take a LOT of likes, the code for this one is a dumpster fire burning high into a night sky filled with deadly meteors, and I'm probably better off rewriting the whole thing and I won't be sad if nobody cares enough for me to do that. >.>

Anyway. Had a fine time in the Jam; there's a lot of really cool looking entries, and I'm excited play them when I get the chance. :)
 
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VagrantWhaleGames

Guest
Hey friends, had a lot of fun. I'm not very good at writing so I didn't post a blog...but I will say it was my first jam, I spent most of my time on the concept/mechanics and balance of the game. Ended up spending TOO much time on it...Now I know for next time. :)

looking forward to checking out some games.
 
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GVmG

Guest
Oh nice, a 71/100, thanks @Misty

Definitely didn't deserve it lmao

But yeah I can see what you mean with all the points. I'll be honest, I don't think the text is a lot, but it is definitely way more than the gameplay. And there's a reason for that, which was partially in the devlog: there was gonna be more gameplay in that aircraft section (later I'll upload the source project of the game, where you can see that bullets and enemies were standardized so adding more interesting patterns and behaviours would have been super easy) and, as you mention, even a stealth section with the player parachuting off the aircraft (so I could fit the SWITCH BETWEEN DIFFERENT GENRES theme in). Unfortunately though, I encountered a bug halfway through day two, that made the audio completely broken.

It took me forever to fix it because there was literally no documentation about it (all I found on Google was some obscure Linux-only audio driver stuff that had nothing to do with GameMaker). When I was done with it all I had the basic gameplay and the text down. I had to tweak what I had and finally add audio instead of working on everything I had planned. The bug itself was GM:Studio 2 somehow not liking the Nahimic2 audio software that MSI puts on top of Realtek's drivers. In fact, it disliked it so much that not only did audio not work ingame, it didn't work in the editor either, and it also didn't work on another computer, after the game was built. Had to launch the Realtek control panel (from the old style Windows control panel, which is hidden on Windows10), disable Nahimic2 from starting on boot, and tweak some stuff in the Realtek control panel, all of which I had to randomly figure out by trial and error.

Thanks for the feedback though, really appreciated :D

PS the "show don't tell" stuff is my own fault, because I decided the game had to fit in a way larger worldbuild I'm working on in the background. I take full responsibility for the terrible result lol
 

Micah_DS

Member
Smooth Robotics by Micah_DS
Legit, 10/10. Actually just kidding. No idea how to get over the block, so 0/10.
I've gotta ask, is it legitimately that hard to figure out? Is this just with Misty?

In the "how to play" information on the start screen, I explain how the "ball form" works there, but I also took another measure of helping the player find out about it by limiting the player's options in the very beginning. You have 2 buttons, and this is the start:
Limitede starting options.png
Being the dev, it can be hard to see these holdups people might have, since I know my game so well.

-
BTW, I plan to try to do video reviews again. I'm going to try to record my initial playthroughs, but if that doesn't go well, I'll just do what I've done in the past with video reviews.
 
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Maximiliano

Member
I've gotta ask, is it legitimately that hard to figure out? Is this just with Misty?

In the "how to play" information on the start screen, I explain how the "ball form" works there, but I also took another measure of helping the player find out about it by limiting the player's options in the very beginning. You have 2 buttons, and this is the start:
View attachment 20373
Being the dev, it can be hard to see these holdups people might have, since I know my game so well.
I got over the first block (which if you read the instructions is pretty obvious) but I was completely lost after that. My powerbot would fly up, I'd try to follow him and he would get attacked by some monster before I could get to him. I would then die from a lack of energy.
 

Micah_DS

Member
I got over the first block (which if you read the instructions is pretty obvious) but I was completely lost after that. My powerbot would fly up, I'd try to follow him and he would get attacked by some monster before I could get to him. I would then die from a lack of energy.
Oh boy.. I've failed you all.

Being more serious though, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm expecting the game is much harder than I thought, then... oops.
 
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