gameEditor 1.4.1 Announcement [Beta Released]

[skydereign]

How do you resize the Script editor?

In the top menu bar click [Config]->[Preferences]. From there change the editor size values.

How do you nudge? I did what skydereign said.

When you have selected an actor (easiest when the actor control panel is open) press control and the arrow keys. So control-left would nudge the actor left.

[lcl]

There seems to be something preventing file i/o functions from working. I haven't tried them all, but at least
fwrite, fread, fputc, and fprintf seem to always cause a crash.

This function makes GE crash:

Code: Select all

void test(int value)
{
    FILE * f = fopen("testFile.txt", "w+");
    fprintf(f, "%i", value);
    fclose(f);
}

//And then used like this, for example in view's key down event:
test(5);

Running that code crashes GE and creates an empty file with the name testFile.txt.

This might have something to do with GE's permissions, maybe?

[skydereign]

There seems to be something preventing file i/o functions from working. I haven't tried them all, but at least
fwrite, fread, fputc, and fprintf seem to always cause a crash.

It works fine in the linux version. Therefore I know the change that is causing the crash. It had to do with a fix makslane made to actually make file io properly on windows. I had to modify it a bit to make it build for linux, seems I broke the fix. I'll get that patched up and released in a few days. Thanks for the bug report.

[lcl]

It works fine in the linux version. Therefore I know the change that is causing the crash. It had to do with a fix makslane made to actually make file io properly on windows. I had to modify it a bit to make it build for linux, seems I broke the fix. I'll get that patched up and released in a few days. Thanks for the bug report.

Great.

[digiot]

First, brave done, Sky !

A special thanks goes to you for your engagement in the Linux build !

And let's not forget to also thank Makslane for bringing GE on its way,
and all the other people, who have contributed to the development!

Please don't think, there is only such minimal interest in GE's progression,
as the amount of forum postings might imply.

Several people may wait, to see GE becoming more matured, or just haven't
found the time and/or the skills, to use GE in a continuous, productive
and serious way.

Take me for example, I'm even in both groups.


Here are some questions :

Is there any actual changelog, or could you please post one here, or even
better, a list with the remaining known bugs ?

Are the Linux issues solved ?

Someone also should update the docs, they even talk about pricing...

Apropos, what's about the GE-logo splash screen ?


That's all for this time, keep up your great work !

And I'm hoping, you will get support from the one or the other helper
with some time and knowledge !


Cheers !


digiot

P.s.: Just noticed, splash seems to be deleted, what will not hinder anyone, to
credit, who does deserve credit !

[skydereign]

First, brave done, Sky !

A special thanks goes to you for your engagement in the Linux build !

Thanks. Linux is a must, it's why I found gE in the first place after all.

Is there any actual changelog, or could you please post one here, or even
better, a list with the remaining known bugs ?

I currently haven't set up an official changelog. It seems gE uses this page for it http://game-editor.com/Changelog, so I'll update that soon, as well as add a file to the project dir. Same goes for bug lists, I've just been using these two pages. http://game-editor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10516 http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/game-editor/report/1
Again, I'll make an official list.

Are the Linux issues solved ?

Not all of them. The audio fix should be in 1.4.1, but the copy/paste problem still exists as well as the file selector is still really bad. The copy/paste issue I'm hoping to get fixed before the official release.

Someone also should update the docs, they even talk about pricing...

Indeed. I'll talk to makslane about that, as he is the only one who has access to the docs.

Apropos, what's about the GE-logo splash screen ?

I'll be looking into updating the splash screen to something more appealing, and perhaps making it purely optional in the game properties dialog.

[digiot]

Thanks. Linux is a must, it's why I found gE in the first place after all.

That is nice to hear, I was afraid a little in the past, that the Linux build
would be totally cancelled.

Sounds, that you have to do all the work with no help, the coding, the project
management and the forum moderation ?

Indeed. I'll talk to makslane about that, as he is the only one who has
access to the docs.

The GE site and the documentation are in the hand of Makslane, and there
is no chance of a short time of cooperation for the 1.4x release, Makslane
is only working on the 1.5 version ?

So I nearly don't dare to add a little request:

Others have cited that before, the text in the editor is hard to read.

A darker background, or even color customizing, is already on your todo list,
but what do you think additionally about a larger font size, or also to make
the font size customizable ?

The copy/paste issue seems to be a minor problem, compared to the readability.

I'll be looking into updating the splash screen to something more appealing,
and perhaps making it purely optional in the game properties dialog.

To make it optional is a nice feature.
But will you really spend your time on designing a new one ?

Whatever splash you will offer, it will fit only accidentally into some games.

In the most games, it will look like a foreign object, and that may be the
reason for the most people, to get rid of it.

Maybe just adding some text around the GE mascot, providing a little info
about GE, would be enough ?


That's here enough, too !

[skydereign]

Sounds, that you have to do all the work with no help, the coding, the project
management and the forum moderation ?

Nowadays yes. I can contact them for occasional things, but they aren't directly working on any of it right now. When I get all the build processes set up, things will be a lot easier to maintain for me.

The GE site and the documentation are in the hand of Makslane, and there
is no chance of a short time of cooperation for the 1.4x release, Makslane
is only working on the 1.5 version ?

makslane isn't working on gE as far as I know. He would fix a bug here and there at our request, but he is busy doing other things (same goes for akr).

A darker background, or even color customizing, is already on your todo list,
but what do you think additionally about a larger font size, or also to make
the font size customizable ?

I mentioned this somewhere, perhaps it was a different topic. That is one of the things I'd like to add, but it won't be in the current release.

To make it optional is a nice feature.
But will you really spend your time on designing a new one ?

Designing a new one takes very little time. I'm planning on just using an older gE banner. The pacman will be much smaller, and not rendered looking, as well as the text will look much like other game engine splash screens. And yes, I definitely think it is worth spending my time on. That is one of the largest ongoing debates about gE, as many of the users here want to support gE, but the old splash screen was just not appealing.

[digiot]

So there are two construction places : The website and the program.

When I got it right, the http://game-editor.com can only
be handled my Makslane, who has no more time for GE generally.

But I can't understand, why he will not update at least the mainpage,
propagating the new beta release, and maybe commenting something I-port
related (version 5 issue).

For helping you with the code, we need the sources again, and some build
instructions wouldn't be bad.

With my current skills, I can't really help coding GE, but I could try to
change the editor colors and text size.

Also changing the Wx colors, and making the menus opaque and the buttons
flat (or whatever, to make the GE window fit into the desktop theme !),
comes into my mind.

Additionally, I would like to implement some new x-window properties, to
make xprop a little more verbose, and to have at least the icon(short)
name property in the window title.
When I get really crasy, I could try to give the current project name to
the long name property, to have a complete window titel, like:

[ X _ ^……………………… My_Project - GameEditor……………………]

But I don't know, if it's as easy as it might look, to create new properties
in the code.

As a workaround, I could offer a launcher for Linux, where a cd into the
GE directory is performed, GE gets started and then setting the window title
with the help of Wmctrl (which must be installed on the system).
But I think, every Linux user here already has such a launcher...

And yes, I definitely think it is worth spending my time on.

You should also have some fun, of course !

But I fear, the people will all praise your nice GE-splash,...immediatly
disabling it.

The largest support I can offer here, is, to just use GE !

I have a project around here, which is nearly completly(90%) rough drafted,
but not designed special for GE.

It's a kind of a testing project, to be adapted for different programming
languages or authoring tools, even an Ascii/Curses port is planned.

Up to today, I'm not sure, if I really will "dive into Python"(they have
PyGame and Cocos2d!).

Lastly, it all boils down to SDL, which you can access from many programming
languages.

Will see, how I can manage a smooth start with GE, if necessary, I can cry
for help here on the forum !

P.s. : I have tried several combinations in the [quote] tag, how can I put a name
after the quotes ? [solved]

[JaroodaGames]

P.s. : I have tried several combinations in the

Code: Select all

[quote]

tag, how can I put a name
after the quotes ?

Like so:

Code: Select all

[quote="name"]quoted text[/quote]

becomes

quoted text

[digiot]

Thanks, JaroodaGames, with quotes I haven't tested !

[skydereign]

When I got it right, the http://game-editor.com can only
be handled my Makslane, who has no more time for GE generally.

But I can't understand, why he will not update at least the mainpage,
propagating the new beta release, and maybe commenting something I-port
related (version 5 issue).

I can change anything on the wiki, but I can't change the documentation pages (like the script reference and similar). My time is mostly devoted to my school work, so I don't have much time to actually work on gE (which is why I haven't updated the main page, and other wiki pages to reflect the 1.4.1 beta). It is a beta release, and not the official one, so I haven't taken all the official measures to update references.

For helping you with the code, we need the sources again, and some build
instructions wouldn't be bad.

The 1.4.1 code base is on github, and the build instructions should work. https://github.com/game-editor/game-editor

With my current skills, I can't really help coding GE, but I could try to
change the editor colors and text size.

Editor colors have been taken care of, all there is now is creating the interface and classes to make it customizable. And text size is a lot less trivial than you are probably thinking, but if you want to give it a try, go ahead. The script editor is rather hardcoded at the moment. Though if you just want to double the size, I think it'll be pretty easy.

But I fear, the people will all praise your nice GE-splash,...immediatly
disabling it.

That is fine, and mostly to be expected. I'm not expecting anyone who doesn't use the forums to want to help gE by keeping the splash screen. I look at it as a feature for those that do.

[digiot]

So the web site stuff also lays on your shoulders, oh dear !

Don't feel somehow driven, relax, first do your essentials, relax again,
and then look, what you can do for GE.

And if you really can't recruit any helpers, such stuff like web site, wiki
and docs then has to wait, or you must clone yourself.

I will see, if I can find any entry in the sources, it's like to search for a
needle in a haystack.


Thanks again, that you keep GE alive !

[speckford123]

It's nice to see more development and bugfixes
I might have to get back into the game design scene sometime soon~

Also, kind of blows my mind that I've been a member for almost 7 years, haha
I'll be grabbing the beta there soon

[digiot]

There is something I have to add here, concerning the text size.

Also outside the editor window, the text in the menus and the tooltips
can become nearly unreadable, if you use a HD-monitor.

Maybe, you can simply enlarge the text generally a bit, in the whole GE ?


My search in the GE sources has not brought me any further.

Would be nice, if you could tell me, where in the source I have to look
for setting the x windows properties, I'm totally lost among all the
h/cpp files!

I want to set at least the _NET_WM_VISIBLE_ICON_NAME, to have a window titel.
Don't know, if I can achieve that with my limited skills, but to look a
little deeper into X's window properties is the effort worth.


Here are 2 issues I noticed (in 1.4 and 1.4.1beta) :

– Starting GE in the console (Linux, Debian stable, 64bit), gives the
following output:

open /dev/sequencer: No such file or directory

– The size of the GE window can only once be changed to maximised, and then
not any more.

Hope, here is ok to post bugs and issues, or where should they go to ?

Edit: Ha, just controlled the output in the console, and now...it's gone!
Seems, it is caused by my launcher experiments...