1.7 will feature quite a bit and shall be here by the end of the month.
The following WILL be included (among more than 150+ other changes / fixes):
-better graphical scripter -wall and floor concept -alpha support for characters and tile-sets -further customization of things like locks/codes -flash/shake screen/character -terraformation enhancements -resource cut/copy/paste -spell checker -checkpoints/quicksaves -audio enhancements -speaker object -new interface field features -general editor enhancements -new scripting events
However, 3D, Mouse and Platformer are still in beta and are subscription-only at this time. I'd like to thank everyone who subscribed last month, making it the most subscribed month to date.
To explain why these three will not be in this version:
Platformer is probably the closest to being done, but I need to make sure that AI is really working well for it and for it to be consistent.
Mouse is the second closest to being done, but I needed to get dynamic triggers done (which unfortunately, did NOT get done yet).
3D still requires character animations and better importing.
I had briefly talked about multiple floors and its use in platformers. Today, thanks to some help from some users, I now present to you its use in action.
But before I show you, I'll go through the changes to make this possible...
Views Within the editor, you'll be able to edit your levels in the following ways:
Standard 45 degress - This is the view we're all used to, everything that is facing up at the sky, or down towards the south, is completely visible at the same time. This is the common view for most 2D RPGs.
Top - This is a view that is less often used in games in general. The only things that can be seen in this view are things facing up at the sky. This does, however, make the current 2D vehicles make more sense, and characters with the flat mode setting should work fine in this mode when everything is said and done.
Front - This is the view we've all been waiting for when it comes to platformers. Things facing the south are the only things that can be seen. Characters and walls is pretty much what these games are composed of.
3D Perspective - A generic view similar to that of the standard 45 degrees view, except that it gives perspective and could prove useful for simple 3D games.
Wall Terraformation Walls have the ability to have edges automatically generated, making it all around fairly easy to make a much prettier structure. Since walls are the basis construct of platformer games, this was vital.
Multiple Floors With front view, comes the real easy feature of being able to place tiles on higher/lower floors. Currently this had to be done with hacks. Now 001 supports them natively. Everyone making a platformer should consider switching over. You can go below or above them now, and do some interesting things.
3D Zones Something that subscribers will enjoy towards the end of the month, is 3D zones. Currently, all zones span the entire Z axis. With this new feature, you can clearly see how it can help in platformers. You won't need crazy comparison branches and all that stuff just to react to certain areas on certain floors. This, of course, can be used in non-platformer games, to create events for when people fall into holes, or jump under certain spots, etc...
Platformer Art If subscribers increase at the current rate, and people are appreciating the art to come for RPGs, our artist, Juan, will proceed next with art dedicated to platformer games. Of course the art can be interchanged just fine, but platformer art will definitely have a slightly different style. Though I hope most will, as many have already, really pull off their own work in this area. That being said, it never hurts to have a baseline.
I'd like to stress that the art in this forthcoming video is NOT the art that will come with 001. This is art made by Stephen Chapman for his personal game.
Some interesting things were added to 1.7 that can be seen in the following shot (thanks to Stephen for taking it). It takes advantage of the new editor options feature, which allows you to customize the colors (among other things). But there's something else...
Updated Graphical Scripter
It also shows off the new quick access event listing (which will also be customizable) based on another maker (and requested by a user).
I was thinking for a while now, and I've decided. Next month will be the last month for premium resources. That is, those subscribed for February will be the last ones to receive resources from the premium resources pool. The resources that have not yet been used will be gone forever.
The reasons are as follows:
1. Inconsistency between months. 2. Inconsistency between users for a particular month. 3. Lack of the entire 001 community benefiting. 4. Costs of "premium" resources are not worth it. 5. They are not being used all that much.
So what will this be replaced by? Well, I just spoke to my artist about it, and here it is:
Starting March 1st, for the first 10 days of each month, that is, by the 10th of every month, users will have to submit THREE reasonable resources they would like to have, prioritized by which they'd like the most. The artist will be given all of these, and every user will have ONE of these assets put into 001 officially, accessible just in time within the beta usually released in the last third of that month.
I feel that this makes it consistent for everyone and for each month. I feel that this benefits the entire community. I feel the costs for this are way more reasonable - and that they're going towards a better goal. And they'll be used by way more people.
I hope you appreciate and enjoy this change, and I hope you understand the reasoning behind removing the premium resources.
Every couple of months, I've put things in motion to improve the performance of the engine and the editor, as new features are added that end up slowing things down.
Except yesterday, after seeing how performance tanked when having implemented platformer and wall features, I figured I'd try a few things to see if I can get things going.
The outcome was maps now load four times faster than the currently released version. And the general performance of the engine is about three times faster than the currently released version.
There are still things I plan to do in the near and far future, but it's safe to say, things will be more pleasant the next version of 001 you use .
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