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Blockworld Project!   1 | 2 | 3
Laura
Tea Queen

Laura

Administrator


 visit Laura's website: CC Chat
  7/19/2010

I am with Draconorn and Liam! Go for it, AquaShee, let us have a little taste. ;) Coincidentally, I've just booted up DS today for the first time in ages, so I'd love to have a play with Blockworld later. :)
 
Uzag

Uzag


 visit Uzag's website: DeviantArt
  7/19/2010

Sounds like much fun, a very different project and idea :D
 
RisenAngel
Sanely Insane

RisenAngel

Manager


 visit RisenAngel's website: The Realm
  7/19/2010

The water blocks are the primary reason I'm interested in this room in the first place (so I can not only customize the ecology but the overall appearance of an aquatic area), so I second/third/whatever an alpha release.

~ The Realm ~
Risen Angel's Creatures Blog


 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/19/2010

I'll see if I can get an alpha wrapped up by tomorrow or something.

The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

Well, this certainly is interesting! I know now is a bit late for ideas, but I'm thinking if you want to, you could probably make a block dispenser, and have a lot of empty space in the metaroom, that way, if people want to, they can expand even further that previously thought!
Also, maybe a block eater, something that can be used in the sake of removing the extra blocks!


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

The alpha version has been released! Do your best trying to break it in as many ways as possible, and tell me all about it in this thread.

The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

HURRAY!
This looks great, the background certainly is interesting. So, with the editing mode, I noticed an inventory for block world, and I'm wondering if that's the way to edit the room...


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

Yeah, open up the inventory while in the room, and click one of the little icons to make a block appear. You can keep picking up copies of the block until you're done, then close the inventory again.

The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

Interesting. I'm figuring it out, and it's kind of fun, despite being time consuming. I put a camera agent (floating hover-thingies) into the room, and it's doing fine. I'm going to see if I can add other agents, so wish me luck!
Oh, and I noticed that it's possible to put two blocks in the same place, and that they often show up through each other (ex: Dirt block underneath sea block= sea block on top, that's transparent). Not to mention, stacking water blocks make it seem like the water is deeper running!

Oh, and does this metaroom overlap with any others?

EDIT: I used the Tuba Seeder in the metaroom, and it works on dirt blocks! Oh, not to mention, the Tuba Seeder doesn't seed on areas that lack blocks, such as the very bottom, and it doesn't seem to seed underwater, or on metal (Or it's a combination of on sea water and metal, or something).

EDIT2: Oh, and the larger the amount of blocks, the longer it takes to open and close the edit panel.

EDIT3: It turns out that when using fresh water, only one fresh water block can be stacked on an already existing one, but if more are added, the texture and color doesn't change any further than after adding the first, but with sea water, I've tried 3 sea water blocks in one place, and it's color is deeper in comparison to 2 sea water blocks, which is deeper than one sea water block.
Along with that, tubas DO grow on metal blocks, but they have to be above ground. Agent's don't disappear when touching the very bottom of the grid.
Things are running smoothly, and I've encountered no bugs but the loading time being progressively longer based on the amount of blocks.
Though, if you stack blocks (two+ in same grid block), it is treated as one block when loading, and, they are seperateable.

EDIT4: When a dirt and water block are stacked in the same grid spot, it is treated as a dirt block, meaning, Tubas can grow there.
Since it is treated as a dirt block, you cannot place fish in the water segment of the stack.
I tried using the block editor in another metaroom, and the grid appears for that metaroom, and when placing blocks, they appear in the middle of the grid spot. If you close the editor, then the block disappears. Though, I accidentally uploaded a different metaroom twice, plus the critters and plants (but not twice each like the room), but I got an error message saying "Map Editor can't change this metaroom; I'm still in it", but it's not one that prevents my game from working, it just appears randomly. What does it mean, and what does it do?


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

Ok... I didn't quite expect such a long post so soon.

Most of your observations are correct, but I thought most of them would be pretty obvious too. Of course tubas grow on dirt and don't grow underwater... I mean, that's what tubas do, right? And water blocks are supposed to be stacked, otherwise they wouldn't be deep enough for Aquanorns. (And yes, they can swim in it if you have the swim agent installed)

Putting blocks on top of blocks just causes two blocks in the same spot. They'll still try to do their thing. Usually the youngest block gets to decide the room type when you leave edit mode. Having a water block on a dirt block just makes a dirt block filled with water. You can put really tiny fish in there if you like.
They are never treated as one block, though. I don't know why you think that.
The stacked water blocks is just how semi-transparent colours work, nothing special there.

The blocks behave oddly outside their metaroom. It's an alpha release, so I didn't bother fixing that I'm glad it doesn't seem to break things terribly.

Having more blocks does make the edit button slower, since it has to check each block and adjust the room accordingly.

So, umm, anyways... Just tell me about the stuff that goes wrong in terrible, horrible ways. I tested most basic things already.



The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
xan

xan



  7/20/2010

I added a download link to your news post man 'cause I'm a little slow and was freaking out for a minute thinking I was horribly missing the URL

I'm gonna go play with this, back in a bit

 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

Okay. Sorry, I was just posting everything I did. I feel kinda stupid. Well, I'll go back to checking in a little while. From what I checked, most things are doing fine, critters are working fine, norn doing fine in there too.
So yeah, you're right, most things are fine. I just have a question or two:
Are you going to keep all blocks square, or make triangular ones for slopes and hills?
How do I delete blocks, do I just kill hots them?


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

You can't delete them yet. The safest way would be kill hots-ing them while in edit mode.

Slopes and hills are impossible, because the entire concept of having a modifiable metaroom relies on a square grid.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
xan

xan



  7/20/2010

Done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU8RkK_oaFY

this is the best metaroom ever, thanks

 
Uzag

Uzag


 visit Uzag's website: DeviantArt
  7/20/2010

It's... purely addicting XD

The only error I've gotten so far is that a lot of stuff likes to sneak inside the dirt & rock blocks. It can be flora or fauna that escapes in there or creatures that simply drop items (well... mainly crawling baby grendels with long arms, they seem to love dumping half-eaten food there. Great way to get rid of these "yucky" carrots? XD).
Usually the block will just act like a tiny cage, but sometimes it leads to error scripts. Especially if the thing that is trapped tries to grow?

Are you only interested in errors, or can ones post wishes too? ^^

Anyways, this concept is awesome and great fun, I love it. Very smooth controls and easy to grip how-to-do-it too.
I demand room builder contests in the future!


EDIT: If placing either kind of water at the very top row, the square will cause a "Failed to get door permiability" error soon as the the editing mode is turned off.

 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

I think I found a bug:
If you place a block at the bottom, to where only half is showing, it gets stuck halfway, and doesn't move. You can still move back, but, it just looks wrong...

EDIT:
*FACEPALM* Okay, I tried kill hotsing some extra, and something strange happened when I used the tuba seeder......
Oh, and how do I take screen shots, I kind of want to show you what happened....


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

Oooh, thanks! That's great stuff to know. So placing blocks outside the room edge breaks them, and water blocks don't properly check if their upwards neighbor even exists.

What happened with the tuba seeder, though? I need details to know what's wrong.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

Well, when I kill hots'd two land blocks in the sky I didn't need, and dropped the tuba seeder....
It went through the two spots (which were 2 cubes apart vertically or so), and it had seeds that planted themselves on the spots where the blocks were. They're also growing, and it's right on top of where the blocks should be....
It thinks the land is still there...

When I try dropping something where the block was, it thinks there's a block there, so nothing can be put there....

When I throw something, it bounces off where the block should be, and when I edit, there's a red square where the block was....

EDIT: Oh, and you know the lizards from norngarden?
Turns out, if you throw them, they fly a lot slower. Not to mention, at a designated time in their flight, they stop flying completely, and hang mid-air, trying to move their legs, but not moving, and if you click on them, they make no noise. You can throw them again, and for a short while, they can move, make noise, but the second they hit the ground, or the second their flight time runs out, they stop doing everything.

EDIT2: Okay, turns out, when I double checked, that the bug occured with the lizard, BECAUSE I took the egg, and hatched it in there. The other I placed in there, is fine, but if you drop them from high up, they move forward one block as they fall, and then behave normally. Turns out the one I found was just weird because I hatched it in the metaroom....


beep
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/20/2010

Hmm, did you kill the blocks during edit mode, or out of edit mode? Can you even kill stuff when paused? I forgot. Either way, this'll be fixed when blocks can be deleted.

As for the lizards, they're acting just fine. The one you had that was bugged was probably just bugged, I have lizards running around in Blockworld all the time without worries.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
LoverIan

LoverIan



  7/20/2010

'Kay. I'm gonna play later, I'm kind of having creatures burn out.

beep
 
RisenAngel
Sanely Insane

RisenAngel

Manager


 visit RisenAngel's website: The Realm
  7/20/2010

Blockworld's working great for me at the moment. I haven't encountered any game-breaking errors thus far (not even when I accidentally went into edit mode when there were agents and creatures in the aquarium I built), although my game did slow down a bit once I finished making my room, probably due to all the water blocks.

It's quite the spiffy place. I've found that making an aquatic area while listening to Dire, Dire Docks is a nice way to calm yourself down after a stressful day.


~ The Realm ~
Risen Angel's Creatures Blog


 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/21/2010

Mmm, water blocks do use semi-transparent sprites. Could cause slowdown. I'll look into making that an option, or just remove it.

The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Laura
Tea Queen

Laura

Administrator


 visit Laura's website: CC Chat
  7/21/2010

Well I've been playing around with it for a while this morning and the thought occurs that Blockworld would make a really awesome platform game. :P

I can pick up the block inventory tray and move it around, is that supposed to happen? Though I find that quite useful.

 
Liam

Liam


 visit Liam's website: Spellhold Studios
  7/21/2010

This is awesome :)

My only request would be for different sized blocks; the option to create 1/2/4/6/8 smaller ones would save a lot of time when creating areas.


- Liam / K'aeloree

Spellhold Studios, a Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights and Oblivion Modding Community

 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/21/2010

That'd be very tricky.
Personally I was more thinking of allowing you to 'paint' blocks all over the place. Would be a lot faster.

Thanks for all the nice comments so far, guys and gals. I'll iron out the bugs and add lots of new features. Eventually.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  7/21/2010

The normal DS Options Panel still works during edit mode. When you use the Pause button twice does the world again run as normal, although Blockworld still is in edit mode.

It is no bug, but it still is annoying me because I am very impatient: when you change between edit and normal mode does it change block by block back. The more blocks you have the longer takes the change. My suggestion would be to run it within an INST.


Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/21/2010

I guess it doesn't pause the pause menu, I ought to fix that.

The 'INST' command does not magically make anything faster. If anything, it slows the game down.
The INST command causes the next set of commands to be executed in a single tick, instead of being spread out. This is useful because it avoids other agents doing stuff that could mess up your script. But if you make the game execute hundreds of commands in one tick, the game will seem to freeze until everything is done. It makes the tick last longer to fit in all commands.

The Edit mode switch already uses the INST command to avoid norns and other agents running around while half of the blocks still have to update. And it has to update every single block each and every time to avoid the grid being messed up when a block gets killed unexpectedly.

So basically, the very reason the change takes so long is *because* it uses the INST command.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  7/22/2010

I know how the INST command works.

I also know that during an INST the screen is frozen in case the tick takes somewhat longer, but I see how the little pencil vanishes from each single block.
When it would be that screen-freezing you mean then either should nothing/hardly anything be noticed by the player or one moment everything stops and then #poof# suddenly they're gone.

I am actually not too bad about such, at least my machine is not very fast compared to other CC members'. I think mine hardly could run Vista or 7.


Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 
rainbowcat1

rainbowcat1



  7/22/2010

I really love moving the blocks around and all, but I have a question. Before I put my little nornies in, will they be able to walk off the blocks and fall into nothingness if I don't make guard rails?

"Everything you can imagine is real" ~Pablo Picasso



 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/22/2010

Papriko: That's because the Edit button calls a script on each block. So I just have to loop through each block regardless of type, and the block can then do whatever it should do. INST commands won't get passed along across scripts, so it has to use several.
Since the game is paused during this switch, and each INST block already takes longer than a regular tick, it's still the fastest way possible, unless I trim down on the code somehow.

Rainbowcat1: Yeah, norns can fall off the ledges! It's safest to have guard rails of about 2 blocks high to avoid problems.

EDIT: I was thinking, since slopes aren't possible, Norns will probably miss out on hot land-to-water action. How would you guys feel about "Stair blocks" that allow norns to walk up and down a block? It would mostly be a teleporter thingy that looks like steps and teleports the norn up or down a block.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  7/22/2010

Oh, you are MESGing the blocks? Now everything gets clearer, sorry.

And the stairs block sounds good :D


Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/22/2010

It would be very tricky to code though, and liable to have bugs, and rely heavily on correct placement by the player... Oh well, it should be fun either way.

The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  7/22/2010

Well, said player probably will find out quite quick which placement is right and which not...

Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 
AquaShee

AquaShee



  7/23/2010

Yeah. I'll have to use a 1 by 2 block though, that connects two blocks diagonally. Sadly, critters and other non-creature things will not be able to walk up it unless they jump.
But it'll be very useful for making a pond that can be walked out of.


The Community Scribble: make (y)our own metaroom!
 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  7/23/2010

You could make an ANDV check on ATTR to determine if an agent can use the stairs or not. That's what I always do to keep my agents flexible.

Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 

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