New game release: Bubble Buster!

[Chai]

wow!! this is a good game . good job man!!! good job.

[BeyondtheTech]

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic ... C_ID=24350

I had a TabletPC user test it out and it crashed when the Enterprise blows up. I know it's the only graphic I use that was originally PNG and uses alpha transparency.

Any clue?

[makslane]

You can repeat this crash?

[BeyondtheTech]

I don't have a Tablet PC (which is why I was asking the people over at TabletPC Buzz to try it out), but it works fine on the Pocket PC port, albeit slow during the first explosion - it appears to be much faster and smoother afterwards.

[Dark RyNo]

Quality game, well done.

In the windows file, it crashed when the enterprise blew up for me.

One question:
How do you change the logo for the .exe file?
Mine are always the GE smiley face.

[makslane]

Ok, I get the crash here. I will try fix for next version.

How do you change the logo for the .exe file?

Just choose a .ico file in "Icon file" option in the Game Editor Properties panel

[BeyondtheTech]

After much success with Bubble Buster (over 6300 downloads in one month!), I have nearly finished Bubble Buster Advanced, a complete rewrite of the program with all new graphics and animation, parallax scrolling, more game characters, music and sound effects, and much more.

In this version, I learned from the forums here how to use the LoadGame() function to break up the program into its respective parts (splash, title, game, etc) and used the saveVars()/loadVars() command to pass the variables between each other.

However, I noticed a couple of issues that I am encountering:

1. Using a script, if I run a saveVars() immediately before a LoadGame() in order to pass variables between the program, they sometimes do not save, especially if the program is stored on an SD card. The variables file comes out as 0 bytes. Is it perhaps because the I/O is slower and it didn't finish writing the data?

2. I am experiencing random crashes in the game. It only happens on the Pocket PC, never on the Windows platform. I thought it was narrowed down to usage of the stopSound()/PlaySound2()/PlayMusic[2]() commands, but perhaps it's a memory allocation error or leak, as it's more likely to happen upon the second or third launch of the module. Also, sometimes a soft reset of the Pocket PC won't work, requiring a full hard reset (or pulling the battery)! I usually thought the soft reset would work for any crash, but I pressed that hardware button and sometimes, it did nothing or just blank the screen!

3. If some of the separate game files (herein called modules) are using the same graphics, animation, or music... can that be placed outside of the game or EXE files and each of the modules will load them as needed? It would reduce the size of each module and not have to waste space on the user's PocketPC.


Makslane, sorry for the repeat (I'm emailing you this message with the proram in question as well as the TTF file that crashes when trying to access that in the GUI.)

[BeyondtheTech]

I have narrowed down the moments when the crashes have occurred in my game…

Coincidentally, it happens at the beginning or end of each level.
1. Upon load of GAME.DAT – the screen remains black, and it also happens to be when the “Get Ready” screen is about to appear.
2. “Level completed” screen (clicking the last bubble)
3. “Game over” screen (when pressing the green X, or running out of time)

The only things I remember doing out of the ordinary is performing some or all of these script commands:

Code: Select all

void stopSound(musicchannel)
musicchannel = PlayMusic2(“data/discoserver.xm”,musicvolume,65000,MEDIUM_PRIORITY_MUSIC)
PlaySound2("data/orchhit.wav",soundvolume,0,0);
loadVars(“bublbust.sav”,”gamedata”)
loadVars(“bublbust.thx”,”register”)
saveVars(“bublbust.sav”,”gamedata”)
saveVars(“bublbust.thx”,”register”)

Everything else is variable assignment, some EventEnable and EventDisable commands, ChangeAnimation, etc.

Could it be some sort of I/O that’s crashing my game?

[makslane]

After much success with Bubble Buster (over 6300 downloads in one month!)

Congratulations

1. Using a script, if I run a saveVars() immediately before a LoadGame() in order to pass variables between the program, they sometimes do not save, especially if the program is stored on an SD card. The variables file comes out as 0 bytes. Is it perhaps because the I/O is slower and it didn't finish writing the data?

May be. I need investigate the issues with SD cards.

2. I am experiencing random crashes in the game. It only happens on the Pocket PC, never on the Windows platform. I thought it was narrowed down to usage of the stopSound()/PlaySound2()/PlayMusic[2]() commands, but perhaps it's a memory allocation error or leak, as it's more likely to happen upon the second or third launch of the module. Also, sometimes a soft reset of the Pocket PC won't work, requiring a full hard reset (or pulling the battery)! I usually thought the soft reset would work for any crash, but I pressed that hardware button and sometimes, it did nothing or just blank the screen!

I have remove some crashs in your game. I think the new engine will solve this.

[quote]3. If some of the separate game files (herein called modules) are using the same graphics, animation, or music... can that be placed outside of the game or EXE files and each of the modules will load them as needed?[quote]

In my task list!

[BeyondtheTech]

Wow, it seems stable - I'm playing many levels and loading the game a few times around, and never crashed!

By the way, when you replace the engine, I only need to re-export the first executable, and not the separate 'game data only' files?

Thanks again! Woohoo!

[makslane]

Is a good practices export the dat files too.

[Joshua Worth]

Is there a Linux version, cause that's kida what I use!

[freestyle1279]

The game has to be activated by using a file explorer. Tried to duplicate the .exe file into start>program>games folder, but after loading the "bootscreen", the game hangs. Is ther anyway i can port the .exe file to the games folder whereby all the games are,upon installation.

[BeyondtheTech]

On some devices, I noticed the shortcut to the EXE doesn't get created. Don't duplicate the EXE, just make a "paste shortcut" of it in the Games menu. I'll be making a fix and uploading to PocketGear and Handango shortly.