Messages

1

SFML projects / Re: [Workyrie] Ascii the Brave Cat

« on: March 20, 2021, 09:08:34 am »

Hi eXpl0it3r,

Thank you very much for your feedback
I managed to fix some of them and update the game already.
They are precious information.
Since I have to do this project alone,
I accept that I'm lack user and tester feedback.


"both release and debug SFML libraries"
<-- Yes, I shouldn't do that.
The reason is I was wanted to test the performance of both debug and release versions on the user machine. And somehow, I'm lazy to remove the debug lib. Maybe I'm afraid that I want to use them again in the future.

"The menu elements aren't properly aligned."
<-- Wooaa I didn't notice this. It is a very small gap. How can you notice it? It causes by the font I use, but OK I will try to use local bound to manage it. (There is a lot of text like this.)

"The key bindings you can configure are not actually saved."
<-- I forgot to call the save function when you press save. The game will save it when you start the game on the world map. But I fix it already, will now save it immediately after the player finishes configuring it.

"Closing the game with a single press of ESC is rather annoying."
<-- Already fixed

"A video mode change requires a restart of the game...you can just recreate an SFML window"
<-- Well, this is a good point. I had tried to recreate the window already but somehow it gives a strange result. So I decide to skip this feature first.
I will try to investigate this issue again and ask the forum if I can't manage it.

"Borderless window and Borderlesswindow2?"
<-- Bordeless2 won't draw a black bar, please see this pic. https://ibb.co/q1gBXKL
You won't see the difference if your monitor screen aspect ratio is 16:9.
I made this option for users who use 4:3 monitor (like me) or who use ultra or super ultra widescreen.
They can select that they want the black bar or not.
I guess the player who uses a super ultra-widescreen may not want the black bar.

Thank you very much again for your feedback




 

2

SFML projects / [Workyrie] Ascii the Brave Cat

« on: March 19, 2021, 10:11:43 am »

Hi again everyone

You can think this is part two of this thread.
https://en.sfml-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=27939.0

I use SFML for a long time but didn't notice this forum.
So today I would like to show my games made by SFML.
And share some interesting experiences with you.

In this part, I will introduce my new game that just released a few weeks ago.
Ascii the Brave Cat.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1534930/Ascii_the_Brave_Cat/



In 2019, my new team was planned to use Unity for the new 2D action platformer game.
But somehow, that plan is failing and I have to finish the project alone T T
"How long does it take to learn Unity for made this game?" I ask myself.
Unity can't help me in the core game logic part.
No matter or what I have to define it by myself.
Some Unity script or sub-engine may help, but I have to spend more time to find and learn about them.
And that still not include the risk of bug or glitch from 3rd party tool that I can't handle by myself.
So, I can answer immediately that it will use SFML again.

However, there is another big problem, what tool will I use to be a level-editor?
I try all level-editor tools on the internet but none of them suit me.
The reason is by somehow, I didn't use a traditional tile base.
I have to draw all sprite by myself and It is very difficult for me to make them tile correctly.
So, I draw a full sprite picture instead.
My full sprite pics have different sizes and can't fit the grid base of that tool.
But finally, I found there is one tool that I can use, Unity.
Unity is a good level editor for 2d and 3d.
And it is very flexible for custom.
So, I made a custom script to export the scene to my format.
And my game read the exported file and render, manage game logic by the SFML engine again.
This work! I can have both a good engine (SFML) and a good level editor (Unity) at the same time.
Without spending time to learn and practice Unity, I can finish this project in time.



Please feel free to discuss or ask any question

3

SFML projects / [Workyrie] Wanderjahr TryAgainOrWalkAway

« on: March 19, 2021, 10:02:47 am »

Hi everyone

I use SFML for a long time but didn't notice this forum.
So today I would like to show my games made by SFML.
And share some interesting experiences with you.

Wanderjahr TryAgainOrWalkAway (PC-steam 2016)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/434860/Wanderjahr/



This game was made in 2012, by SFML 1.6.
The reason I choose SFML is that after trying several engines, this one is the best suit for me.
I didn't want to use fancy features, just want some wrapper to let me draw sprite and play sound easily.
And SFML works well without any problem.

Story1
When the time comes, I had a chance to port my game to the console machines.
I realize that it is easy.
Since SFML had categorized source code and feature into different modules already.
What I just need to do is re-write some functions of SFML (draw and sound) by using the console's API.
You can think it is something like made another SFML by using DirectX instead of OpenGL.
I don't need to touch any game's layer source code.
And the porting process, of the game's engine part, took only a few days.

Story2
At that time I have to find some tool to manage the animation system.
Such as define the animation timing of each frame,
define collision box for each frame, playtest animation with the ghost of the previous frame, etc.
(I think Unity didn't have those features and Unreal still not free at that time.)
So, I finally decide to use my favorite toy, Fighter Factor.
Yes, the one you use to create custom characters for that open-source 2d fighting game, MUGEN.
Fighter Factory works well for my requirement but it generates a unique result file.
No engine in this world can open this file format but that is not a problem.
Since SFML provides the source code and I attach it to the project solution.
I can add my own sprite render API that supports that file format.
This makes the source code of the game layer intact and the overall architecture is beautiful.

Please feel free to discuss or ask any question
And there is another game I made with SFML, please see the next thread

4

General / Fps drop to half when change to lower resolution

« on: December 15, 2020, 04:57:52 am »

Hello
I have some strange behavior.
My sfml app run fine with 60fps (vsync on) in 1280x1024 desktop.
(I'm still using a 4:3 screen monitor)
Then I want to test something so I try to change the desktop resolution to 1280x720
which is lower than the previous resolution.
But the result is my app run very lag and fps drop to 30.

PS. I also try to set Vsync on-off but my app still looks very lag even it got 700fps.

Does anyone have an idea what happens?
Thanks a lot in advance.