Alien Puzzle Version 4 Final

Here is the final version of Alien Puzzle. This project is now done, and will not be worked on anymore. I know there are bugs in it, but at this point, it works pretty well still. If any major ones are found, I may fix them, otherwise, I probably won't. Also, please beware that the game is split into 12 rar files, sorry about that, but I had to upload it that way.

Game Files: Downloads
Level Editor: Download

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Ok, I've been working pretty consistently on a better version of Alien Puzzle with sounds, sound effects, options, etc. etc. Thanks to North_McCormick over at palib, there is now an actual level editor program. It will be released with a different download link when the game is released. Currently, I am putting more levels into it, tweaking things here and there, etc. etc. so it should be released today, that is, if nothing comes up. This will most likely be the final release of the game, other then any to fix bugs and stuff, but this release will definitely be worth downloading. It has a ton more stuff then version 3 did (the one from neocompo) and makes me kinda disappointed that I couldn't get it all in before neocompo. Either way, keep your eyes peeled, there are some huge new changes coming to this game :)

-GEMISIS

Alien Puzzle

I took a chance and decided to enter neocompo with a DS game I made called Alien Puzzle. It's has a fairly basic concept: Navigate the level and collect as many points as possible, then get to the end of level teleporter. The catch? You can't stop moving, at all. If you hit a wall, you bounce right off it. The current version (Version 3) includes a settings saving feature, with settings made up of: preferred screen (can be switched in game by pressing start, then select), overall high score, username of the person with the high score (acquired via the Nintendo DS name), and some other saved settings that will be revealed later. On top of that, if you don't like the built in levels, you can make your own, but beware, currently there is no editor. The level format is as follows below in the description of the game. The neocompo post can be found here: http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,5731.0.html

Installation

Place the data folder in the root directory of your flash card, then run the game.

Level Format

Example(Included with the game):

pgg.txt:
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
1 0 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0
1 32 0 2 1 1 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 2 0
1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
1 2 5 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 2 0
1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 2 0
1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 2 0

How to make a level:
Put the corresponding numbers in the corresponding area and then save it to a .txt file in data/pgg/custom/levels and it will appear in the file browser. You can use notepad to make the levels, and maybe other text editors (haven't tried any others). Picture those numbers as the DS screen, with each number represent an 16X16 spot on the screen. The definition of each number is below.

Custom Level Number Definitions:
-1 represents the player's starting position
Limit per level: 1
0's represent blank spots
Limit per level: none
1's represent walls
Limit per level: 60
2's represent points
Limit per level: 60
3's represent bombs
Limit per level: 60
a 4 represents the 1st portal
Limit per level: 1
a 5 represents the 2nd portal
Limit per level: 1
a 32 represents the end of level teleporter
Limit per level: 1

List of stuff:

Points: the brown fossils, these give you points
Bombs: the white bomb sprites, these will kill you
Blue Polygons: these are teleporters, the one with the F is the end of level teleporter, the other two you can use to move. But only one works, and you have to figure out which one.

In-game Objects

Points:

Bomb:

End of level Teleporter:

Other Teleporter:

Main Character:

Wall:

Download

New Computer?

So I've been dealing with tons of issues on my computer for about two years now, and after getting my wisdom teeth pulled, finally could not take it anymore. I went ahead and backed up all my projects, and reinstalled everything. But first, before I go into what I'm doing now, let me explain the whole story.

I had originally started with Windows XP about 3-4 years ago. It started as a family computer, until we each got our own, then it became mine. I was not good at all with computers at the time so when I hear about a new Operating System (Vista) I foolishly upgraded to it as soon as it came out. That's when all of the major problems started, such as programs using too much memory, general lag while online, etc. etc. I even had one program that would open up automatically at start up, and would just suck up memory and grow. It would eventually get so big as to prevent me from opening new programs.

Now back to the main topic: The fix. I have just spent the last two hours finishing up fixing my computer. I also spent about seven hours fixing it up yesterday. The fix: backup all my data, install XP over Vista (which wiped my hard drive clean), then installing Vista on top of XP. After that, I simply went online, reinstalled all the programs I needed for homebrew, movies, music, etc. So far, I am not experiencing any of the problems that I had before. No lag, no memory issues, just a cleaned up computer.

Now I'm not saying that this is guaranteed to work, I'm just saying that it worked really well for me. The main reason for this post is to just show how getting cleaning your computer like that can be a good thing. I'm also posting this to let you guys know why this upcoming week is going to be a bit slower, and to let you guys know that those previous issues were the main thing from keeping me from making more videos of those programs I make. Hopefully this will fix all of my problems, and I'll be able to do a lot more now, but I guess we will have to wait and see, now won't we?

-GEMISIS

"Webcam Fun" Video

"Updates and the first one?" Video

GEMS Wifi Lib

Info:

These are two libraries I made for wifi on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii via homebrew. They contain functions to help make wifi on these systems easier with homebrew.

Downloads:

All files can be downloaded from here

DS Version Info can be found here
Wii Version Info can be found here
Readme.txt Contains some useful info too

Pixel Perfect Collisions Demos

Info:

These are a bunch of pixel perfect collision demos that I made. These particular ones are for the Nintendo DS, via homebrew. The current version as of this post is Demo 4, and can be found at the links below.

Download Info

Demo 1 Files: Click Here

Demo 1 Instructions:
Go to the folder Demo 1 and download the files. Unzip PP_Demo.rar to the root folder of you card, the run PP_Demo.nds. Touch the screen to move the sprite. When a part of the sprite that has color is at position 256, 192, the sprite will go back to position 0, 0. When it no longer touches there, it will go back to the place you are touching.

Alternate Demo 1 Instructions:
Instead of downloading the files and the normal PP_Demo.nds, just download PP_Demo(No Fat).nds for the demo that uses NitroFS.

Demo 2 Files: Click Here

Demo 2 Instructions:
This demo uses NitroFS only. Download the demo, and then launch it. To test this demo, use the control pad to move around. Your position will be shown on the top screen. If one of the colored parts of the sprite touches a dot on the screen, the word collision will appear above your position coordinates on the top screen. Otherwise, it will be blank.

Demo 3 Files: Click Here

Demo 3 Instructions:
This demo is exactly the same as demo 2, but includes a major speed change.

Demo 4 Files: Click Here

Demo 4 Instructions:
To play, follow the instructions from demo 2. I've added different colors to it now, and changed it to update every 4 VBLs. When you pass over a color, it will display 2 numbers under "Collision Info:". The first one is a number representing a color from the sprite. The number is based on the position of the color (starting from the top left corner, and ending at the bottom right corner, increasing each time it reaches a new colored pixel). The second one is a number represents this same info, but for the background. I've added as much of this info as I could fit nicely on the DS top screen as well.This demo also only uses EFS.

Change Log:

Demo 1:

(Initial Relase)

Demo 2:

-Changed controls to use control pad
-Only uses NitroFS
-Changed to use collision map

Demo 3:

-Improved speed greatly

Demo 4:

-Changed to update every 4 VBLs
-Now has most of the info on the top screen of the DS
-Added color to the graphics
-Added a color checking function to check each color and represent it with a number

Purpose Behind these demos:

The purpose behind these demos was to test how well pixel perfect collisions work on the Nintendo DS. In these 2 demos, what you saw was collisions that did not use general bounding boxes or circles. It was literally checking each pixel, with specific formulas to get each collision. You are able to get each different color as well. For example: if one pixel on the sprite image is red, and another is blue, you can check to see if only the blue pixel is touching something. This becomes very useful for doing things like character collisions, as it makes it way more accurate then a bounding box or bounding circle. I would like to know though, how the speeds are for everyone, so please leave a comment about how well this works if you've tested it. Please only post though if you've tried demo 2, as demo 1 should never have any lag, however, there is no guarantee

It's Here

I finally got a blog to post stuff on. I'm currently setting up quite a bit of stuff, trying to get things organized. I hope to have it up and running by the end of this week, maybe sooner.