Scorpion Engine

[malko]

Thanks earok ! That's cool !!!

[earok]

Cheers @malko

New update to the Git repo:

* "Standard Library"
Previously, the compiler had hard coded constants and variables. These have been extracted into the new StandardLibrary.ink file.

* Finer grained camera restriction control. Previously, camera restrictions (such as forcing the camera to only move in one direction) could only be done through frame-by-frame updates on the Ink Script. Now they're part of the core engine functionality (see Alex Kidd demo for update), which is both tidier and faster than doing it through repeated calls to the Ink Script.

* Automatic camera tracking is restricted to 4 pixels per frame. This prevents large jumps (such as in the Alex Kidd demo, previously the camera would snap hard to the right when entering the water)

* New event - Divert_OutOfScreen. As an example, on the Alex Kidd demo, when Alex Kidd steps outside of the camera bounds, he'll be forced to stay within them. On the Alex Kidd demo, the divert is to a function inside of the Standard Library.

I think.. I really need to do another sample game. A simple shoot-em-up so I can get projectile logic working and tested.

[Retro1234]

In Alex Kid demo when.you brake a stone or something it just Pastes a tile is it not possible to have a animated sequence like the n the game?

[Clydos]

Would be cool to recreate Team17's canceled "Witchwood" with the Scorpion Engine (if there would be more assets): [ Show youtube player ]

[earok]

@retro1234 yes, and it's fairly straightforward to replicate that block breaker effect, so I've added that to the latest sample

Other than that, two other changes to the git repo have been made - game.exe has been crunched with cranker, and downloadable LHAs of all of the sample games are in the repo as well.


Witchwood looks pretty cool :O if someone wanted to take up the project, I could maybe help out here and there.

[Retro1234]

Cool

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by earok

@retro1234 yes, and it's fairly straightforward to replicate that block breaker effect, so I've added that to the latest sample

Other than that, two other changes to the git repo have been made - game.exe has been crunched with cranker, and downloadable LHAs of all of the sample games are in the repo as well.


Witchwood looks pretty cool :O if someone wanted to take up the project, I could maybe help out here and there.

Yes, your engine will do the trick i guess

[Retro1234]

Whats the basic way Tiled stores it data? is it Horizontal rows stored in Word? like most Amiga Games?

[Samurai_Crow]

Tiled supports multiple export formats. Its website is mapeditor.org if you need docs.

[Retro1234]

Well what method does Scorpion use?

[earok]

Tiled's native format is based on XML (with an optional JSON variant), Scorpion converts them to a format along these lines:

- One longword for each tile. The top byte is metadata bits (is the tile solid, does the tile contain an animation etc). The bottom three bytes are the tile ID - the reason why three bytes are used is that these bytes are changed into the absolute chipram address of the tile graphic (for fast lookup when redrawing a tile).

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the actor ID or block ID that occupies this tile

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the animation ID (if any)

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the foreground tile ID (if any)




Having said that, I probably should merge the animation and foreground IDs down to a single byte containing both.

[Samurai_Crow]

@Earok
You might also want to free up the most significant byte for addressing space because the Vampire SAGA core makes little distinction between chip and fast RAM. It can access the full 32 bits in other words. (You'll be safe until the full drivers are out for AROS but just to be safer....)

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by earok

Tiled's native format is based on XML (with an optional JSON variant), Scorpion converts them to a format along these lines:

- One longword for each tile. The top byte is metadata bits (is the tile solid, does the tile contain an animation etc). The bottom three bytes are the tile ID - the reason why three bytes are used is that these bytes are changed into the absolute chipram address of the tile graphic (for fast lookup when redrawing a tile).

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the actor ID or block ID that occupies this tile

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the animation ID (if any)

- Then an additional byte for each tile containing the foreground tile ID (if any)




Having said that, I probably should merge the animation and foreground IDs down to a single byte containing both.

Thank you sir

[earok]

Daily update time. As always, these can be grabbed from the Git.

* Added "Number Font" functionality, essentially the ability to track a variable (such as score or money) on a UI counter automatically. Example of this added to Zelda game - collected rupees are shown on the UI. This does need to be better optimised.

* Added ability to set the maximum number of any specific type of object in game at once for performance reasons. Example of this added to the Alex Kidd example, where no more than one pair of "broken blocks" will show up at once.


@Samurai_Crow I'll keep it in mind. If it comes to it, I could do a slightly altered version for vampire.

[malko]

earok, would you mind updating the first post so it contains the link to the GitHub repo ?
Actually it is in post #97

[xboxown]

Originally Posted by earok

@saimon69

The short answer is - I don't see why not. The ink scripting supports a complicated RPG system behind the scenes, including random numbers (dice rolling), storing XP, handling level ups, dialogue and branching decisions.

Cheers @Steril707, I'm also hoping that it gets picked up for a few projects.

earok,

How about we make a kickstarter campaign where we get enough money and hire a power programmers and turn this into a full fledged editor where it compiles the games for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, AROS, MorphOS and Amiga 68k?

I AM SERIOUS!!! I AM NOT JOKING!

You already have the foundations done already! We just write functions or subroutines that uses the script and these subroutines or functions to do certain function and then convert these subroutines/functions in a click and play parameter windows interface and poof. Any person can make games and then decide which platform using the scorpion engine to run your design; Windows, Mac, Linux, Amiga68k, MorphOS or AROS?

What do you think?

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by xboxown

earok,



How about we make a kickstarter campaign where we get enough money and hire a power programmers and turn this into a full fledged editor where it compiles the games for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, AROS, MorphOS and Amiga 68k?



I AM SERIOUS!!! I AM NOT JOKING!



You already have the foundations done already! We just write functions or subroutines that uses the script and these subroutines or functions to do certain function and then convert these subroutines/functions in a click and play parameter windows interface and poof. Any person can make games and then decide which platform using the scorpion engine to run your design; Windows, Mac, Linux, Amiga68k, MorphOS or AROS?



What do you think?

If you want all of those running, translate the graphics and scripts to Hollywood. Of course you will need a graphics card and 020+ to run it on 68k suddenly. (OOPS!)

Otherwise just distribute it with AROS 68k and run it on UAE as has already been done with AmosPro.

[earok]

@malko Good idea, I've gone ahead and done that.

@xboxown I don't really feel comfortable with Kickstarting it. With Scorpion, I'm going to just continue developing it at my own pace and my own way.

[earok]

New updates pushed into the GitRepo

- Fixed error with forward slashes in the Ink Script.

- Altered "divert_playeroverlap" event (for blocks) so that it can be triggered on a collision with a solid block.

- Added Block_X and Block_Y Ink variables, to get map coordinates of block that triggered an event

-Added XSpeed and YSpeed Ink variables, to get/set player and actor speeds

Those last three, while minor in of themselves, can be used together for some really cool things. For example, I've added a "Mario" style upward block breaking mechanic to the Alex Kidd demo (which was not a feature in the original game, but I wanted to try it here). The code in the ink script that drives it is like this:

=== BlockHit ===
//If we're horizontally aligned with the block
//(We divide by 16 to convert from pixel co-ordinates to tile co-ordinates)
{ Player1_X / 16 == Block_X:

	//But below it
	{ Player1_Y / 16 == Block_Y + 1:
	
		//Stop the player moving upwards
		~Player1_YSpeed = 0
	
		//Destroy the block
		-> DestroyBlock
	}
}

//Go back to the game
-> GAME

=== DestroyBlock ===
//Make the destroy block sound
~ sound = sndblock

//Spawn the object that represents the broken left half
~ block_spawn = blockbreakleft

//Spawn the object that represents the broken right half
~ block_spawn = blockbreakright

//Delete the block
~ block_type = null

//Go back to the game
-> GAME

[Clydos]

Nice!

So, -> DestroyBlock means, "call the Methode DestroyBlock that is declared between ===", right?

I don't get the two ~ block_spawn commands. I mean, doesn't the second one overwrite the first one so that just blockbreakright is "executed"?