New Video Tutorial: Bombrox
I've released a new development file: Video Tutorial: Bombrox. It consists of a D-Mod and a video.
The D-Mod is a simple one-screen thing that has a wizard summoning some bombs to blow up some rocks.
The video shows you step-by-step how the D-Mod was created. It lasts about sixteen-and-a-half minutes.
This is a test to see if video tutorials are useful. So... please, critique away. If video tutorials sound like a nice idea, let me know what to improve so the future ones will be more beneficial.
The D-Mod is a simple one-screen thing that has a wizard summoning some bombs to blow up some rocks.
The video shows you step-by-step how the D-Mod was created. It lasts about sixteen-and-a-half minutes.
This is a test to see if video tutorials are useful. So... please, critique away. If video tutorials sound like a nice idea, let me know what to improve so the future ones will be more beneficial.
I like the idea of videuo tutorials. I'm not keen on what this particular one though. There are some things I would like to see in a video utorial, though.
Why? Maybe because the subject of the tutorial (how to bomb rocks in a cutscene, basically) is a bit too specialized?
As I hinted at earlier, this is foremost a test. I created it on bombing rocks because Erwin and some other people were creating overly-complicated solutions on the forums.
If this seems like it'll be a good idea, I'll create general-purpose tutorials on (better) subjects like hardness, depth que, loading graphics into dink.ini, how to create an enemy script from scratch, how to create a non-player character, how to start a D-Mod, and more.
As I hinted at earlier, this is foremost a test. I created it on bombing rocks because Erwin and some other people were creating overly-complicated solutions on the forums.
If this seems like it'll be a good idea, I'll create general-purpose tutorials on (better) subjects like hardness, depth que, loading graphics into dink.ini, how to create an enemy script from scratch, how to create a non-player character, how to start a D-Mod, and more.
lol Tal 
/me checks the file. Now that I think of it, you are gonna get a problem if you want to make a movie about installing and using DFArc (you need the .dmod movie file which explains the use of DFArc but you also need DFArc to extract the movie from the .dmod file
)
Funneh; "Hit PageUp.. <massive screen of sprites appears and instantly:> Hey, there's a bomb" - someone who's new to D-Modding will probably need some more time
/me checks the file. Now that I think of it, you are gonna get a problem if you want to make a movie about installing and using DFArc (you need the .dmod movie file which explains the use of DFArc but you also need DFArc to extract the movie from the .dmod file
)Funneh; "Hit PageUp.. <massive screen of sprites appears and instantly:> Hey, there's a bomb" - someone who's new to D-Modding will probably need some more time
I won't download it. Tal's review convinced me not to download this file.
Just kidding. I won't download it because it's too big. I have a stupid dial-up connection. Sorry, redink1. I'm sure it's a great file.
Just kidding. I won't download it because it's too big. I have a stupid dial-up connection. Sorry, redink1. I'm sure it's a great file.
I only have sound with avi's in windows media player, how can I fix this?
You aren't seeing any actual video when you run the file? You'll need the DivX codec (I think it mentions that on the file page). I recommend you google for the Matroska Pack; it has the DivX codec and various others without all the clutter.
If you do decide to install the Matroska Pack, though, you'll need to pay very careful attention during the installer to make sure it actually is set to install. There's a little + thingy you'll have to click on and so on and so forth.
If you do decide to install the Matroska Pack, though, you'll need to pay very careful attention during the installer to make sure it actually is set to install. There's a little + thingy you'll have to click on and so on and so forth.
Simeon: Yeah
Though, mousing-over each sprite and saying "Hmm, is this a bomb? No. Hmm, is this a bomb?" might not be too interesting either
Users have the advantage of pausing the video at any time, at least. It's a balancing act.
If someone needs a movie about installing and using DFArc, we could just zip the movie by itself
My original idea was to compress the movie and the .dmod together in a zip file... but I discovered that the movie compressed surprisingly well (probably thanks to its largely-unchanging nature), and storing it in the .dmod file shaved off a couple megabytes.
Though, mousing-over each sprite and saying "Hmm, is this a bomb? No. Hmm, is this a bomb?" might not be too interesting either
Users have the advantage of pausing the video at any time, at least. It's a balancing act.
If someone needs a movie about installing and using DFArc, we could just zip the movie by itself
My original idea was to compress the movie and the .dmod together in a zip file... but I discovered that the movie compressed surprisingly well (probably thanks to its largely-unchanging nature), and storing it in the .dmod file shaved off a couple megabytes.
Why? Maybe because the subject of the tutorial (how to bomb rocks in a cutscene, basically) is a bit too specialized?
No, not because it's too specialised, but because I am not interested in how to do that since I will probably never do it (if I even do any dmods that is, which at this rate seems unlikely).
As I hinted at earlier, this is foremost a test. I created it on bombing rocks because Erwin and some other people were creating overly-complicated solutions on the forums.
I was wondering if that discusion on bombs blowing up rocks was why you choose that topic.
If this seems like it'll be a good idea, I'll create general-purpose tutorials on (better) subjects like hardness, depth que, loading graphics into dink.ini, how to create an enemy script from scratch, how to create a non-player character, how to start a D-Mod, and more.
Now those seem more interesting to me.
No, not because it's too specialised, but because I am not interested in how to do that since I will probably never do it (if I even do any dmods that is, which at this rate seems unlikely).
As I hinted at earlier, this is foremost a test. I created it on bombing rocks because Erwin and some other people were creating overly-complicated solutions on the forums.
I was wondering if that discusion on bombs blowing up rocks was why you choose that topic.
If this seems like it'll be a good idea, I'll create general-purpose tutorials on (better) subjects like hardness, depth que, loading graphics into dink.ini, how to create an enemy script from scratch, how to create a non-player character, how to start a D-Mod, and more.
Now those seem more interesting to me.
This seems like a good teaching tool.
From your video, I could suggest a series of smaller, single task, tutorials that would really help beginners.
eg.
If the question was, "How would I make an NPC toss several bombs to blow up a group of rocks all at the same time", this video would be perfect (Except you don't get to see the bomb delivery, they just kinda show up).
If the question was, "How do I make a rock blowup", a beginner may miss the important details.
The first thing I noticed was that you automatically add closing scope delimeters, then build that section of code within them. Perhaps this could be the bassis of a good primer, as many of the "help me with my dmod error" requests are simply this sort of error.
All in all, I thought this was a good production, but the filesize may be extreme for those still on dial-up.
mm.
From your video, I could suggest a series of smaller, single task, tutorials that would really help beginners.
eg.
If the question was, "How would I make an NPC toss several bombs to blow up a group of rocks all at the same time", this video would be perfect (Except you don't get to see the bomb delivery, they just kinda show up).
If the question was, "How do I make a rock blowup", a beginner may miss the important details.
The first thing I noticed was that you automatically add closing scope delimeters, then build that section of code within them. Perhaps this could be the bassis of a good primer, as many of the "help me with my dmod error" requests are simply this sort of error.
All in all, I thought this was a good production, but the filesize may be extreme for those still on dial-up.
mm.
Yup, the filesize is killing. Not that I'm on dial-up, but I remember dowloading PQ in 3-or something hours.
Not that I ever use this way of blowing up rocks. I have this handy script called "bomrock.c" which destroys itself when hit by a bomb. Spawning the bombs would use the same code as "item-bom.c".
Not that I ever use this way of blowing up rocks. I have this handy script called "bomrock.c" which destroys itself when hit by a bomb. Spawning the bombs would use the same code as "item-bom.c".
Hey, well done - I like it.
Couple of questions. Which version of WDE are you using? I ask this because the version you can download from the Network (WDE 1.4 Beta 2) doesn't display the sprite sequence numbers down the bottom left on my computer it shows a "Ready" statement and very briefly flicks over to the sequence numbers....
but... I have an earlier version of WDE called 1.4 Final which has:
a) and earlier file date of April 3 2003 compared to the Beta 2 version of June 21 2003
b) is only 152 KB in size compared to to Beta 2 version which is 192 KB
and this displays the sequence numbers and frame numbers correctly as per your video tutorial.
Second question is what settings did you use to get the DivX file so small?
I remember trying to do a WDE video tutorial a while back and at 12 minutes duration I had 75 MB file size, so I stopped. Any pointers you have regarding the DivX compression settings would be greatly appreciated.
Couple of questions. Which version of WDE are you using? I ask this because the version you can download from the Network (WDE 1.4 Beta 2) doesn't display the sprite sequence numbers down the bottom left on my computer it shows a "Ready" statement and very briefly flicks over to the sequence numbers....
but... I have an earlier version of WDE called 1.4 Final which has:
a) and earlier file date of April 3 2003 compared to the Beta 2 version of June 21 2003
b) is only 152 KB in size compared to to Beta 2 version which is 192 KB
and this displays the sequence numbers and frame numbers correctly as per your video tutorial.
Second question is what settings did you use to get the DivX file so small?
I remember trying to do a WDE video tutorial a while back and at 12 minutes duration I had 75 MB file size, so I stopped. Any pointers you have regarding the DivX compression settings would be greatly appreciated.
SimonK: Hmm... looks like I'm running 1.4 Final. I think I ran into some other annoying problem in Beta 2, so I stuck with the 'Final' version.
As for getting the video to be a small size, I recorded at 10 frames a second. I don't think I did anything else special. The audio alone was about 20 MB until I compressed it as MP3.
As for getting the video to be a small size, I recorded at 10 frames a second. I don't think I did anything else special. The audio alone was about 20 MB until I compressed it as MP3.
magicman: Yeah, I wish the size was more useful for dial-up and other low-speed users.
And yeah, there are quite a few ways to make sprites interact. However, it seems to be good design practice to handle everything in the missile's script instead of the rock's script.
Attaching a script to any sprite is rather 'costly.' It consumes a script slot, and any local variables used in the script are taken out of the ~240 limit until that sprite dies.
And yeah, there are quite a few ways to make sprites interact. However, it seems to be good design practice to handle everything in the missile's script instead of the rock's script.
Attaching a script to any sprite is rather 'costly.' It consumes a script slot, and any local variables used in the script are taken out of the ~240 limit until that sprite dies.
The audio alone was about 20 MB until I compressed it as MP3.
I usually turn my sound off so my kids can sleep. I'll have to replay it in the daytime, so I can get full benefit of my dnld time.
uhmm, maybe you could offer a "no sound" package for people on dial-up. It might reduce the file size a bit".
mm.
I usually turn my sound off so my kids can sleep. I'll have to replay it in the daytime, so I can get full benefit of my dnld time.
uhmm, maybe you could offer a "no sound" package for people on dial-up. It might reduce the file size a bit".
mm.
I must say I was honestly surprised by the Dink Engine.
Each bomb blows up two rocks, this is done by a missile. There is just one &missile_target; global variable. But the scripts only have one &missile_target check, but blow up both rocks.
The Dink engine uses quantum physics? Heisenberg states that if you know the exact moment a rock blows up, you don't know anything about it's sp_x() and sp_y(), so could the engine think they're all on the same spot?
Okay, that last paragraph was nonsense, but I was positively surprised.
Each bomb blows up two rocks, this is done by a missile. There is just one &missile_target; global variable. But the scripts only have one &missile_target check, but blow up both rocks.
The Dink engine uses quantum physics? Heisenberg states that if you know the exact moment a rock blows up, you don't know anything about it's sp_x() and sp_y(), so could the engine think they're all on the same spot?
Okay, that last paragraph was nonsense, but I was positively surprised.
Sound 'only' ended up being about 2.36 MB (remember, that's 16 minutes!). I don't see that as reducing the file size enough to be worth it.
At the instant a bomb blows up, it looks around to see which sprites it damages. It calls the 'damage' function for *each* of these sprites.
So, if it would have worked correctly from the beginning, the bomb's damage procedure would have been called a total of 6 times.
So, if it would have worked correctly from the beginning, the bomb's damage procedure would have been called a total of 6 times.
About the only thing that will help reduce file size with DivX that I can figure out is the variable bitrate. On the hardness tutorial I used 175 and used 3 passes with Virtualdub - picture wasn't too bad. I've just gone and added a few little additions based on Redink1's comments and am now at 15 minutes so I've got a render going with 150 bitrate - have to see how that is.
