Quark Robot dev blog

Week #48 update

Quark Robot -

A lot of time was spent this week doing some general maintenance on the project, checking to make sure the game matches the original and fixing some bugs. With the help of Leandro, I'm happy to safely say that one can play the game for hours and not find a single glitch!

The November build is now ready! Head over to the downloads page and get yourself a copy. There is only one more update this year so this will be the last big push to get as much done as I can. The good news is my brother is back from a work trip so he'll be able to chip in to speed things up.

Some of you may have noticed the end game credits where the same as the old File > About menu ones. I spent quite a lot of time to adding the original. These are by far the largest of the cut-scenes and are separated over three separate files (six files in total). Unlike the other cut-scenes, the credits are not 100% - the speed of the scrolling credits is not the same. The original ones are a little jerky for my liking. I don't think this is massive issue though.

*The original game credits in action*

Editor

  • nothing, yay!

Game

  • the default F5/F6 speed toggle will no longer alter the game speed if the control key is pressed
  • improved code that handles going from one puzzle to the next;
  • this includes fixes for cut-scenes
  • fixed bug that did not blow up a blastable block that had a buried bomb in it
  • pick-axe rubble fixes;
  • rubble no longer falls off a phase block when rubble is two blocks above
  • block edge seaming now correct when filling in a blastable hole with rubble
  • blocks now restore rapidly when filling with rubble
  • monks can now drop gold after being blown up by a bomb - this matches the original
  • player can no longer be gassed when they are using a monkey bar - this matches the original
  • runners can no longer spray befuddlement gas at a wall - this matches the original
  • monks are now immune to gas if they are on a ladder - this matches the original
  • runners are now immune to gas if they are on a ladder but aren't moving - this matches the original
  • AI tweaks for monks;
  • now ignore fallen rubble
  • now ignore other monks stuck in a hole
  • if you find that these tweaks don't match the original like they should, just drop me an email

LAN

  • nothing, yay!

General

  • file dialog;
  • when filtering files and no files found start with what you typed, the files will be filtered if the contain what you typed instead
  • muting sound effects and music (CTRL+E/CTRL+M) now works throughout the game and not just when playing
  • fixed bug that caused a message box being shown directly after another to have no text
  • portions of the window manager (mangers dialogs and all their UI controls) significantly altered to reduce complexity and remove all non-UI based functions
  • multiple modal windows no longer draw progressively darker if open
  • video player improved;
  • AVI cut-scenes (astro, aqua and the ending) now pause when game no longer has focus
  • altered to reduce complexity
  • improve readability of code
  • reduced resource usage
  • textbox font drawing simplified and moved to font class (shadow stuff mainly)
  • debug area lightened - it was originally but somewhere along the line it was blackened...

Bugs being worked on

  • nothing, yay!

Coming soon

  • fall-back to keyboard input when a gamepad is unplugged during a game
  • in-game menu: this will replace the old file menu strip
  • working scoreboard

What I'll probably do next week

  • continue playing the game
  • finalize LAN gaming
  • mockup a lobby interface for network games