Kajika

DMO Testing Day

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:03:40 GMT

Today I had the latest build of DMO hosted. Which is essentially an unstable work-in-progress version. Although a decent amount of information was provided upon login(taking up 1/4 of the screen) it seemed to go completely unnoticed.

However, getting past the complaints and many rude and offensive 'reports' players left me; the test was rather successful. I gathered a decent amount of feedback about some changes and new features.

Most of the game appears to be stable, there is some work needed in various areas and definite lack of polish in others. I'll continue to chip away at these and host occasionally so we can get closer to the finished version.

I'll be approaching it in pieces, getting one piece complete at a time then moving on to the next section. Things like rankings and scores/medals are a little down the list but they'll be viewed eventually.

I have decided how I would like new graphics and map layouts to be, it's nothing amazing but it's another step towards completion. I'll seek out some graphic artists in the near future or just try to get it complete myself.

Thanks to all those who helped test and left bug reports.

DMO Public Servers Restored

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:55:28 GMT

Thanks to the efforts of the server guys it looks like our lufika.com server is working again. This means validation will work properly, allowing public servers to run without problems.

Current update is still progressing. I've recently made some new decisions regarding the interface; so expect some minor changes there.

I'm considering delegating some work out to others, perhaps hiring a graphic artist to rebuild the graphic style of the game but haven't had much luck with others in the past.
I feel DMO reflects on BYOND somewhat, which has inspired most of the changes to the game to bring it up to a higher standard.

So a few questions:
Do you feel redoing the games graphics is worthwhile?
(The game has been limited to the maps which are only made up of my poorly made icons, a good artist could help expand the game in this respect)

Are there any major interface features that you'd like to see?
(I don't play any BYOND games so I don't know what cool things are becoming a standard)

Are there any good chat/text/communication libraries floating around? I have made my own but I don't know how great the security is and all.

Any other new innovations/features that I haven't noticed?

DMO Status

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:01:52 GMT

Things are still progressing at a slow pace, I've mentioned many times that it's difficult to work on the project.
I have completed one of the major updates to the game just recently, I won't reveal it just yet but it gives the game a more intuitive and polished feeling.

The major hold up with testing and progress is unfortunately our lufika.com server. Sadly the kind folks who run the server take weeks to respond to our requests. We need to update BYOND on the server and we're just getting blown off.

This is also the reason why there are no servers being hosted today it seems, the server is spitting out errors; I have no idea when they'll even acknowledge or fix the problem.

I still can't give an ETA on the updates, I still have a few changes and updates to make before testing will begin.

Mega Man Update

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:15:45 GMT

Control Problems
I received quite a few reports of characters over-moving and controls becoming "sticky" or "locking". In short, this is due to the game running behind; I hadn't tested on a slower computer so I never encountered the problem myself.

I am genuinely embarrassed such a serious issue made it into the release, even more so by the comments I've being pointed to on the BYOND forums.
I apologize for misleading users on the actual game, BYOND's controls aren't the problem.

I hope those users that experienced problems try the game one more time and disregard the problems of the earlier version.

What's different?
Not too much was added to this version. The major change was a complete rebuild of the collision system, which was the culprit in the past version for the slow-down.

I was in the process of separating the Mega Man parts from the engine when I read the comments of laggy controls so I had to shift gears to get a working demo out again.

A stage select screen has been added but only two of the stages are accessible now(Guts Man and Zero).

Mega Man can now slide. Charging animations and charge blasts are different.
Platforms have been improved.

Only two characters are available now, Mega Man and Proto Man. You can switch between these on the stage select screen.

Future updates?
My next goal is to separate Mega Man code from the engine so I can reuse the base for another platformer at some point.
I would like to add at least 4-8 stages and some boss powers and items.

Any multi-player yet?
Before I started working on getting this release together I had done a lot of work on getting two players moving around. Since it can't use BYONDs default network model, I had to set up a client/server model. Someone was nice enough to post a link to a demo but I was unable to learn or take anything from it so I had to create my own library.
Basically it sent "messages" back and forth between the server and multiple clients. If you've ever looked into dealing with networking in C++ games you'll have a good idea how this works.

I tested a very crude version(which just sent positions and control information many times per second) with Lufia.
The results were expected with the method used(characters were jumpy because of the time between updates) but short of that it was a successful test, we were able to run and jump around in the same area with around about 1/4 to 1/2 a second delay between us.
Obviously this is only a proof of concept as far as multi-player goes. A real game would apply smarter networking and estimate player movement to allow for a smooth experience.

I'm not promising anything as far as a multi-player platformer right now. Some people are interested in the possibility and I wanted to share my experiences thus far.

Mega Man Released

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:12:28 GMT

As the game only has three levels I am reluctant to call it a full game, although it does have all the necessary mechanics completed. Adding a few more levels, projectiles and bosses wouldn't take too long but I didn't want to turn this project into a full game, I have already achieved my goal.

Originally the game used more realistic jumping and movement velocities, when I decided to turn it into a Mega Man game I had to adjust it to accurately mirror the Mega Man controls and physics. A lot of study and testing went into this, including getting the collision box around Mega Man just right.

This game only contains three levels, which are unlocked one after the other. The final level was an added bonus, it was only added on a whim which gave me a chance to add a more advanced and difficult boss.

Several playable characters are available, they are unlocked as you complete the levels and find items. You're able to switch between them during a level except during the last boss fight.

Why a platformer?
This is a project I've been wanting to do for a long time. Since my time with BYOND I've created several small pixel movement demos in an attempt to create a simple side scrolling platformer, unfortunately BYOND lacked some features which made it possible.
With BYOND 4.0 came some necessary features, key up/down detection, interface customization and client screen offsets. I decided to start from scratch and make a simple platformer game from the ground up.

Is it Multi-Player?
Unfortunately the engine could only be used as a single player game. I tested the possibility of a multiplayer option multiple times but it just wasn't reasonable, the data transfer is just too slow; the game appears very jumpy to clients. It's not unexpected, the networking in BYOND is obviously not designed for that sort of game. Perhaps if the network export features were more reliable, it may have been possible.
I also toyed with the ideas of 2-player gameplay using the same keyboard. It worked fine but didn't seem as useful as network play, and the game wasn't meant to grow too big.

Will the game be updated?
Unlikely. BYOND isn't the best platform for a project like this, especially lacking multi-player support. There is an unknown problem where the game appears to slow-down and become less responsive; I spent a lot of time trying to track down any leaks but found nothing significant; everything the game creates is cleaned up correctly. Sadly BYOND lacks some more in-depth debugging features at this time.
This makes me reluctant to add any more to the game because features may have to be disabled.

Was it difficult?
Yes and no. The challenge was that the game required many unique systems, I had to create my own libraries and management systems. Game states were used to separate areas of the game. Sprites represent all game objects, which only use objects to display themselves. Sprites also had to be bigger than 32x32, up to 256x256. A custom icon management method was required as the sprites were bigger than 32x32, I couldn't decipher how the large icons worked in 4.0 so I had to create my own method using the 32x32 limitation.
The hardest part was dealing with the icons, something I don't like doing. This is the major reason more wasn't added.
Enemy AI was especially difficult, having never worked with AI in a platformer before I had to be creative.

Any plans to release the source
Not at this time. Due to my lack of experience with this kind of game some parts of the code doesn't look too pretty. I don't believe it would be beneficial to release it in the current state.
As for the libraries and such at the base of the game, possibly. I made them first and well enough but I'm no expert and the BYOND community is unforgiving if a library has a flaw or uses something that has a better alternative. The safest option is to not release anything.

What has BYOND 4.0 allowed?
The best feature is the interface and the ability to customize macros, allowing you to detect key up/down events. The other major feature was allowing the client screen to be moved in pixels.
Both of these features were essential.

Duel Monsters Online: Progress Report

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:03:43 GMT

I created this game just over four years ago now, although only portions of my free time were dedicate to the project it has progressed and developed in to a much larger game than I had anticipated. Finishing up is something I've been claiming for the past year or two but I feel the timing will be correct soon. Once the current version(which is still in development and testing) is 'complete', meaning all of the features finished and stable and any serious problems addressed, I will be moving my attention away from the project and onto other things.

I don't believe a game is ever really 'complete', developers either run out of time or resources(money, system limitations, interest etc). In my case I feel the game has grown enough to consider it 'complete' and move on to bigger and different things. Of course, it is very tempting to add 'just one more feature' and I may very well do so after this time, however, I can't dedicate the rest of my life to one game.

If you've followed the game you probably have a lot of questions, I'll try to answer the most obvious questions below:

What is happening to the game?

If you're a regular to DMO, you've no doubt noticed the 'test server' which is the latest version being developed. The server is updated every few days with new updates and bug fixes, drawing us closer to the final version. This version will be considered '6.0', representing the final step for the game.

Over the coming days/weeks there will be changes, improvements and additions to the test server. Not everything will be released immediately, over time new features will be released for testing. Releasing everything at once isn't a good idea in this situation.

What's the plan?

The priority is to get the game stable, there won't be any huge changes overall the game will remain the same with minor additions and changes to improve it. The test server will remain up everyday with new builds every few days to fix previous bugs and release changes/additions.

Once all features have been added and the game is reletively stable, it will go into the completion phase and only receive the occasional bug fix.

How much and what has been added so far?

There are actually a lot of significant changes to the game since the previous version. Aside from the obvious bug fixes and refactoring of many systems(which there was a lot of, many systems were redone to allow new additions) a lot of new features have been added. If I've done my job well, players won't notice a lot of the refactoring.
Although these are boring to point out, refactoring takes a lot of work and preparations, many hours and days can go into a major change.

- New Cards
The next set, Magician's Force, was added; increasing the legal card count to over 1,000.
Various cards from the 'Shadow lists' were moved to the legal area as well as many new promotional cards added.
Over 100 in total.

- BYOND 4.0 support
A new unique interface was added with several interesting features.

- Tournaments
Huge tournament system upgrade which supports multiple tournaments as well as player submissions.

- Duel Matches
Best 2 out of 3 duels were added along with Side Decking. Added a new dimension to playing the game.

- Team Gauntlet
Two teams of up to 10 players can duel against each other in a gauntlet style match, the loser is ejected and the winner faces the next opponent with their Life Points from the previous match.

- Options Update
The little input/alert boxes recieved a makeover using some 4.0 features. They are much easier to use and look more professional overall.

- Various small updates
To be honest I can't recall every feature added to this release as the version has been in development for a long time now.

What is left to add or do?

- Duelist Kingdom
I expect to have the DK up and running again soon. It is actually a separate addition to DMO that doesn't actually affect the normal game but it is important none-the-less.

- Rankings
Originally removed due to cheating, I have some plans to make it less suspectible to cheaters and more fair for everyone. I'll announce more details when I get to the stage to work on it.

- Fix 'internal arrays' problem
This has been an issue that has plagued the game for a long time. Information on the cause is scarce, I'm expecting the next update will fix the root cause or at least give developers a means to track it.

- (Secret)
I'm expecting this one to be done and released soon. I'd rather not mention it until it's done and added.

- Secret Feature
This is the 'big one' I've mentioned a few times. This will be the last feature I release, although it has been completed for some time it will be released once everything else is ready.

When will the game be released for players to host?

Maybe never. Currently my focus is on getting the version stable and finished. The test server is all we need for now, extra servers will just spread out bug reports and make it more difficult to track problems and update. Having to prepare a releasable build can take a while, uploading one to our own server is quick and painless(not to mention a lot cheaper on our bandwidth).

How long will all this take?

I expect everything will be done by the end of next month. A lot is resting on fixing the internal array error mentioned; which solely relies on the BYOND staff as I've spent hours trying to figure out why it occurs and attempting to replicate it without success.

I'll attempt to use this page a little more by posting update information and future plans.

Happy Birthday DMO

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:51:38 GMT

This Sunday marked the 4th year since Duel Monsters Online was released. If you're a regular you were probably wondering why nothing special happened for this occasion.

Although we did have a plan, things didn't turn out how we expected. We're still waiting on external forces. The global plan is stalled until things start to happen, it's out of my hands for now.

This doesn't mean the plans are canceled, I still intend to continue with them once things fall into place.

DDMO Returns

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:40:15 GMT

If you're a fan of Dungeon Dice Monsters Online and haven't noticed yet, it is back up regularly now.

For some reason or another the hosting server is unreliable, we haven't received any information as to why this happens but we'll have to live with it for now. One of us will put it back up as soon as we notice it's down.

In the past week I have also updated it with minor bug fixes and features. The major addition was 14 new dice from the Elemental Hero set, four are normal dice and the rest being fusion dice.

While it won't be updated on a regular basis, we will be adding new features and dice as time goes on.

Force Internal Arrays Error

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:13:39 GMT

I've researched as much as possible but there is no documentation or explanation anywhere around the BYOND site. Forum posts don't seem to get resolved on this topic.

I am receiving this error after about 12-24 hours of running duels in DMO(using NPC controlled characters) which happens after about 1700-1800 duels with some changes to make heavy use of overlays(more so than usual).
Obviously it's not practical to run this kind of test, which brings me to my request..

How can I go about forcing this error to occur? A small debug verb that makes it occur reliably would be a huge help. I'm aware overlays/underlays use the arrays but that doesn't help much, I've rebuilt features to not use overlays but such changes usually come at a price and some features just aren't reasonably possible without them.
If I'm able to reliably make it occur, I will be able to narrow down the problem area.

The actual error is:
BYOND(350.909) ERROR: maximum number of internal arrays exceeded (65535)!

DMO Download Back Up

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 13:36:14 GMT

The host files for the current public version of Duel Monsters Online are available again.

Unfortunately there have been many problems and delays arise recently, I had intended to have some other plans in motion long before now. I will continue to host the test version to solve as many issues as possible before a release.

Dungeon Dice Monsters Online will be restored once the next version of DMO is complete.