Digital Hijinks, (Game + Editor)Beta Testers Wanted! Rewards for commited testers. Options

[Resource Dragon]

Level Editor

This is the first project of mine in a long time that will be seeing the light of day. I won't be showing much at once, but I have different piece demo's I need tested by others. There is actually a lot more going on underneath the hood, even though it doesn't look like much. I have created these from scratch in C#, so it's a little slower going then an Rpg Maker, but I can do whatever I want with it.

I am currently looking for,

BETA TESTERS

Simply download the project, and follow the instructions in the README.txt. I need testers to report anything they find,
Whether it's a bug, glitch, or hidden feature. I also would like suggestions on how it can be made better, or features of it you would like.
DISCLAIMER: You only need to run setup once, to make sure you have the correct redistributables. after you have completed setup once, you never need to again for any projects from me that you download. You can just go in and run the DHLE.exe, I believe. (Unless, of course, microsoft upgrades to a new version, in which you should be able to just re-open setup and it will install it for you.) The redistributables can take a few minutes to download and install, but they are fairly common frameworks that a lot of games use.

---
Q. What exactly is Digital Hijinks?
A. Digital Hijinks is Imagination'd's first game released to the public. It is many things... Think about Smash Bros. mixed with Super Mario, with customizable characters, weapons, skills, levels, items, and the networking to play with up to 16 people online.(Whether it be Co-op in the story, or head to head in multiplayer.)

Q. What kind of features does the Digital Hijinks Level Editor (DHLE) have?
A. DHLE includes, but is not limited to;

● Tileset Importing
You can import you own tilesets so the levels you create are unique and your own.

● Tile Animation
Is built right in to the editor, so all you have to do is provide the animation.

● Damaging, Healing, and Destructible Tiles
You can flag a tile as damaging, healing, or destructible. (You can even set how much damage it does, how much it heals, or how much damage it can take.)

● Instantaneous Playtesting
With the tap of a button, you get dropped into your level, no pre-processing needed. You can dynamically switch
between the editor and the level. You can either play normally, or play with walk through walls.

[Show/Hide] Future Features

Finished

Animated Property
Directional Passability Property


Working On

Damaging Property
Healing Property
Destructible Property
Sloped Property
Movement Inducing Property (Such as a conveyor belt, quicksand, or escalator)



Not started

(Game elements such as character customization, weapons, items, enemies, a HUD)


Once I finish what's left of the tile properties, I'm going to clean up the interface and make it more user friendly.

Q. Okay, so what is the Digital Hijinks Level Editor (DHLE)?
A. It is a visual IDE (Integrated Development Environment) in which you can import your own graphics, tiles, and elements to play and share with friends. (Coding it before coding the game makes it easier on me to make the game, as an added bonus.)

Q. What do Beta Testers get out of it?
A. Beta Testers who continually show good feedback, on multiple tests, will not only be awarded a free copy of Digital Hijinks and the DHLE upon release, but will also have access to any and all DLC for free.
---

The current thing being tested is the Editor.

[Show/Hide] Current Beta Tester List

Magical_RuNE_Knight2001
Jonnie19
Kayden997

Beta Testing Forms

You can find the testing form in the corresponding post the editor version was released in.

[Show/Hide] v0.9.5 Screenshots (Updated)

[attachment=5869:DHLEMX.png]
 collidingpicDHLE.png ( 88.68K ) Number of downloads: 9

 DHLEPasstiles.png ( 26.53K ) Number of downloads: 8

Download

[Show/Hide] Outdated Downloads

 Box.png ( 972bytes ) Number of downloads: 1
 DHLE_BETA_v0.1.256.0.zip ( 353.61K ) Number of downloads: 4
(Outdated)

 Box.png ( 972bytes ) Number of downloads: 1
 DHLE_v0.9.5.zip ( 71.71K ) Number of downloads: 10
~ ^ Newest Download ~
* Last Updated 12/28/12*

Feedback, problems, suggestions, comments, questions, and concerns, are not only welcome, but are required. I want to make this amazing.

...Did I mention full Xbox 360 Controller support?*
*It doesn't right now, but it will in the end, it's, like, the easiest thing to do on my list... Xd

[Magical_RuNE_Kni...]

i wouldnt mind trying this. :2 It looks interesting, although im still not sure what it is. ('XD)
But sign me up. o/

[Resource Dragon]

Well, see, I'm making the level editor for my game before I make the game, so I can use the editor to make the game, if that makes sense. It makes it easier on me as an independent developer to visually see what I'm programming - most programs that come from scratch don't have the gift of visual placement, so you have to debug after debug, and it's fairly time consuming. Think of this demo as the Tile Selector in an Rpg Maker, but a little more elaborate. You can move it around, close/open it, and select your different tiles. It's also a sample of how the windows and buttons will work in the game. I'm working on incorporating resizing, snapping, and a locking mechanism on all the windows.

Also, go ahead and start if you would like. The download is already up.

[Jonnie19]

I'm up for it, just about to d/l it now. I'll do some Beta'ing for you

[Magical_RuNE_Kni...]

..Hmm, i can't seem to get it working... (...") (-D-")\ idk if u want me to fill in the form now, although i wont have much to report, lol.

i keep getting this error, regardless of whatever i try running:

[Show/Hide] .

This is an image of my graphic card/adapter properties, in case.. :

[Show/Hide] .

i run Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on an HP w/ an integrated graphics card, if that helps as well.

[Resource Dragon]

..Hmm, i can't seem to get it working... (...") (-D-")\ idk if u want me to fill in the form now, although i wont have much to report, lol.

i keep getting this error, regardless of whatever i try running:

[Show/Hide] .

This is an image of my graphic card/adapter properties, in case.. :

[Show/Hide] .

i run Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on an HP w/ an integrated graphics card, if that helps as well.

Ah, ok. I can fix this problem. It's my fault. XD I knew I should have just kept that setting normal. I'm updating the download now, it should work this time.

[kayden997]

I'll be happy to test this out for you... After I get back of course.
Just for reference, I'm running a Windows 7 (service pack 1).

(If no post being made after this one, I'll edit to feedback, bug reports, and suggestions)

--EDIT--
Alright, so everything seems to be running as intended. A suggestion would be to add a faster way to select tiles (holding down the D would repeat movement that way as opposed to pressing it multiple times)

[Magical_RuNE_Kni...]

Arg, crap, i almost forgot about this. /o\' Heres my feedback. /o/

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Im running Windows 7 64-bit.
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A.After the update, none. : )
Q. What do you like and not like about the Tile Window?
A.it can get dragged only from the top, so if u move the tile window offscreen too far, it can be hard to move it back. Also.. I think it might be good to write a small summary of what the program does/ is for in the negative space below the text. (Or add some spacing/ formatting to the text.)
Q. Of what you don't like, what could I do to get you to like it?
A.i think the snap feature u mentioned would be great. o/ the rest... I think i explained a bit above.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for features of the Tile Window?
A.i kind of noticed that the bottom outer corners of the tile selection cursor seemed to give the illusion of it slightly moving/ of an error.. maybe border the gradient pattern on the cursor with an opaque or slightly darker/ lighter colour..?.. o/
Q. Did you find any Bugs, Glitches, or Errors?
A.I dont think so.
Q. It currently only supports an image up to 256x512 pixels. Would you like it to be infinite?
A.if this program is for tilesets, i think the 512x512 size is good. If its for mapping, i think... maybe a limit of (max map size in VX)/2.
Q. The top left of the window has a preview of the selected tile, x16 or x32. Is this useful to you?
A.yes.
Q. Any other comments?
A.Sorry, i still feel a little lost about what... Well, what the program is for... > <"\ like if its for developping games, what specifically about games?.. And even specifically how.. (Im sorry, i really hope this doesnt offend, but u know, i hope u know what i mean. /> <)

[Resource Dragon]

[Show/Hide] Feedback

Arg, crap, i almost forgot about this. /o\' Heres my feedback. /o/

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Im running Windows 7 64-bit.
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A.After the update, none. : )
Q. What do you like and not like about the Tile Window?
A.it can get dragged only from the top, so if u move the tile window offscreen too far, it can be hard to move it back. Also.. I think it might be good to write a small summary of what the program does/ is for in the negative space below the text. (Or add some spacing/ formatting to the text.)
Q. Of what you don't like, what could I do to get you to like it?
A.i think the snap feature u mentioned would be great. o/ the rest... I think i explained a bit above.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for features of the Tile Window?
A.i kind of noticed that the bottom outer corners of the tile selection cursor seemed to give the illusion of it slightly moving/ of an error.. maybe border the gradient pattern on the cursor with an opaque or slightly darker/ lighter colour..?.. o/
Q. Did you find any Bugs, Glitches, or Errors?
A.I dont think so.
Q. It currently only supports an image up to 256x512 pixels. Would you like it to be infinite?
A.if this program is for tilesets, i think the 512x512 size is good. If its for mapping, i think... maybe a limit of (max map size in VX)/2.
Q. The top left of the window has a preview of the selected tile, x16 or x32. Is this useful to you?
A.yes.
Q. Any other comments?
A.Sorry, i still feel a little lost about what... Well, what the program is for... > <"\ like if its for developping games, what specifically about games?.. And even specifically how.. (Im sorry, i really hope this doesnt offend, but u know, i hope u know what i mean. /> <)

-UPDATES-

I have since revamped the window, it now supports;

~} Zoom In/Out
Dynamically zoom the camera in and out to get a bigger view of your level.

~} Show / Hide
Basically hiding/showing the window like before. (Although, some graphical errors were fixed, since it's drawn different.)

~} Lock
Will lock the window to it's size and position. (The said variables cannot be altered unless it is unlocked.)

~} Snapping
Will snap the tile window to the edges of the "Actual Window" so you can't lose it. You can turn this on/off.

~} Close Window
close the window

~} Resizing
Dynamic window resizing

~} New Window Format
The whole window now fits into a nice little texture;
 WindowBase.png ( 2.57K ) Number of downloads: 0


~} Suggested Features
I could easily add rotation of the camera(EXTREMELY EASILY, the codes already in my camera, I would just have to set keys/buttons), but can you guys think of any actual uses for this? Rotation seems kind of useless in this case, and it would probably just end up disorienting the user.

BUG FIXES

i kind of noticed that the bottom outer corners of the tile selection cursor seemed to give the illusion of it slightly moving/ of an error..

This has since been fixed. I noticed it too, it bugged the crap out of me. Took me a few minutes of staring at it to figure out why it was doing that.

COMMENTS

Sorry, i still feel a little lost about what... Well, what the program is for... > <"\ like if its for developping games, what specifically about games?.. And even specifically how.. (Im sorry, i really hope this doesnt offend, but u know, i hope u know what i mean. /> <)

Lol, no offense taken. Your fine, believe me. The next update will help you see more along the lines of it's purpose. It's a tool I'm building to build the levels for my game, and then just include it with the game as a level editor.

I'll have a new demo and screenshots out within the next coupla days, I'm working out a few kinks. (And making it actually usable.)

@Kayden
Could u fill out my lil form plz k thnx baii.

[Jonnie19]

RD...It's more Jinks than Kinks

Yey you've added snapping to the window. It's the reason why I WON'T use GIMP. Cause the Windows are all over the place.

[kayden997]

RD...It's more Jinks than Kinks

Yey you've added snapping to the window. It's the reason why I WON'T use GIMP. Cause the Windows are all over the place.

Completely off topic but I'll fill out forum
GIMP Updated so it just has one window now. You can't hate what is free forever!@
----------------

[Show/Hide] forum

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Windows 7, Service pack 1
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A. Nope
Q. What do you like and not like about the Tile Window?
A. The fact you cannot hold down one direction to make it repeatedly go (i.e) left is a real drag.
I liked the little preview of the tile on the top bar.
Maybe not the best choice for transparency... But it's quite unique.
Q. Of what you don't like, what could I do to get you to like it?
A. Add a hold movement feature.
Change the transparency squares across all areas.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for features of the Tile Window?
A. Change the colour of the transparant part to make viewing tiles easier.
Zoom up mode.
Page sorting for the following below:
Add a favourites mode to choose which tiles you want to use.
Add a recently used page
Q. Did you find any Bugs, Glitches, or Errors?
A. None that I can see
Q. It currently only supports an image up to 256x512 pixels. Would you like it to be infinite?
A. Infinite would cause problems... Maybe that could be the max for one page?
Q. The top left of the window has a preview of the selected tile, x16 or x32. Is this useful to you?
A. As stated, yes.
Q. Any other comments?
A. I'm pretty sure my "page" suggestions are not doable...

[Resource Dragon]

RD...It's more Jinks than Kinks

Yey you've added snapping to the window. It's the reason why I WON'T use GIMP. Cause the Windows are all over the place.

Completely off topic but I'll fill out forum
GIMP Updated so it just has one window now. You can't hate what is free forever!@
----------------

[Show/Hide] forum

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Windows 7, Service pack 1
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A. Nope
Q. What do you like and not like about the Tile Window?
A. The fact you cannot hold down one direction to make it repeatedly go (i.e) left is a real drag.
I liked the little preview of the tile on the top bar.
Maybe not the best choice for transparency... But it's quite unique.
Q. Of what you don't like, what could I do to get you to like it?
A. Add a hold movement feature.
Change the transparency squares across all areas.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for features of the Tile Window?
A. Change the colour of the transparant part to make viewing tiles easier.
Zoom up mode.
Page sorting for the following below:
Add a favourites mode to choose which tiles you want to use.
Add a recently used page
Q. Did you find any Bugs, Glitches, or Errors?
A. None that I can see
Q. It currently only supports an image up to 256x512 pixels. Would you like it to be infinite?
A. Infinite would cause problems... Maybe that could be the max for one page?
Q. The top left of the window has a preview of the selected tile, x16 or x32. Is this useful to you?
A. As stated, yes.
Q. Any other comments?
A. I'm pretty sure my "page" suggestions are not doable...

Pages, eh? Could probably be do-able, but is kinda pointless if you only have 128(x32) or 256(x16) tiles.

The other two suggested a hold down button to move tile selector type feature, I have added this to my list.

I have changed the transparency sprite in the new demo.

Zooming has been implemented.

----

Eh? Still two windows for me. Although, some of it's new features bug me. Like the fact that it doesn't save my settings anymore. Or that it's new rectangle select is to complicated.

Still the only thing I use though.

* EDIT UPDATE*

From Jonnie19; Having to keep pressing down on the key instead of holding it down.

From Kayden997; The fact you cannot hold down one direction to make it repeatedly go (i.e) left is a real drag.

Finished. Will add an option later to change the speed of the scrolling.

[kayden997]

Just a question, are these updates implemented already? I ask because it hasn't changed since the initial release for me

[Resource Dragon]

I'll have a new demo and screenshots out within the next coupla days, I'm working out a few kinks. (And making it actually usable.)

Posted last night at 12:10 AM.

I haven't updated it yet, I'm gonna adjust a few things, and switch out the keyboard input for mouse input.
(ATM I've got like 20 different keys on my keyboard being used for different functions... XD)

[Resource Dragon]

Nearing release of v1.0!!

I've been avidly working on the tile engine these last few days, and if I don't post a new demo tomorrow(might not since Christmas is a little busy), I will upload demo v0.95 on the 26th. I have gotten just about everything working correctly.

UPDATES

- Saving and Loading Levels

- Mouse Support

- Tile Painting

- Erasing

- Zoom, anywhere from 10% to 200%

USEFUL FEATURES

- Selective Erasing

- Erase All

- Snap zoom to 100%

- Snap Camera position back to (x0, y0)

- Various Bug Fixes

- x16 and x32 tile placement, on an x16 grid, can change between the two dynamically.

FUTURE FEATURES

- A Background, A Background Layer, A Collision Layer, and a Foreground Layer

- Playtesting

- Some other features that were just on the tip of my tongue but just forgot...

Also, just so I'm not leaving you guys completely hanging, an updated screenie;

[Show/Hide] Screenshots FTW

[attachment=5857:DHLEMX.png]

[Resource Dragon]

Okay guys, sorry for the extra wait time, but here is the update!

You'll find the new download here and in the OP(v0.9.5).

And, here is the new testing form;

[Show/Hide] Beta Tester Submission Form for v0.9.5

CODE

[b]Q. What OS are you running?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A.[/b]
[b]Q. What do you think about the graphical update?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. What do you like?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. What do you not like?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. Did you find any bugs / glitches / errors?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. Do you have any suggestions on features or other things?
A.[/b]
[b]Q. Any other comments?
A.[/b]

Couple other things;

1. Although I said future versions would work with the old install, I forgot to mention that after you install once, you can uninstall it. The game doesn't need installed to be usable. So, if you want, you can uninstall it from your control panel and just run the game, the installer was just for making sure your computer had the requirements to run it.

2. You can't import a tileset bigger then 256x512. If you try to, it just won't import anything. (Until I implement it.)

In other news,

next things on my list are layers, bigger tilesets, and playtesting.

[kayden997]

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Windows 7
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A. No
Q. What do you think about the graphical update?
A. Green is interesting. Goes along nicely.
Q. What do you like?
A. Zoom in/out feature is by far my favorite part of this update so far.
Q. What do you not like?
A. I somewhat hate the fact you cannot replace an existing tile unless you delete it.
I mean, it saves you from making a mistake but on the other hand it makes editing a bit more problematic.
Resizing the amount for viewing the tileset isn't much use to me.
Q. Did you find any bugs / glitches / errors?
A. Um, I clicked off my tile selector and don't know how to get it back.
Also the commands for snapping the camera is unknown to me (I don't know what D1 or D0 is)
Q. Do you have any suggestions on features or other things?
A. Option or replacing tiles or building around it.
Instead of closing the tile selector (and perhaps using a button to bring it up again), why not just minimize and maximize it on the top part (making more compacted when minimized by removing unnecessary buttons).
If resizing the tileset viewer, makes it follow the tile (meaning move the tiles as you can select out of one's views (more of a bug))
Q. Any other comments?
A. That was a huge leap in progress to be honest. I'm impressed with the average updates so far.

[Resource Dragon]

Q. What OS are you running?
A. Windows 7
Q. Did you have any trouble getting things installed and working? If yes, please state what went wrong.
A. No

Just gotta answer the standard questions, ya know.

Q. What do you think about the graphical update?
A. Green is interesting. Goes along nicely.

Thanks. I'm going to make it customizable eventually.

Q. What do you like?
A. Zoom in/out feature is by far my favorite part of this update so far.

Thought that would be helpful.

Q. What do you not like?
A. I somewhat hate the fact you cannot replace an existing tile unless you delete it.
I mean, it saves you from making a mistake but on the other hand it makes editing a bit more problematic.
Resizing the amount for viewing the tileset isn't much use to me.

Not a bad idea, I can easily add an option for whether or not you can replace tiles.
Yea, I kinda realized that after awhile, but it's cool to know how to code something like that. I might take the resizing out, or at least limit it.

Q. Did you find any bugs / glitches / errors?
A. Um, I clicked off my tile selector and don't know how to get it back.
Also the commands for snapping the camera is unknown to me (I don't know what D1 or D0 is)

SHIT. Lol, I knew I was forgetting something. Until I post a fix, Press the 'O' key to bring it back up.
'D1' through 'D0' are found at the top of your keyboard. The normal '1' through '0' keys are numberpad keys, which I don't have on my laptop. (The D is for Digit, which doesn't help anything.)

Q. Do you have any suggestions on features or other things?
A. Option or replacing tiles or building around it.
Instead of closing the tile selector (and perhaps using a button to bring it up again), why not just minimize and maximize it on the top part (making more compacted when minimized by removing unnecessary buttons).
If resizing the tileset viewer, makes it follow the tile (meaning move the tiles as you can select out of one's views (more of a bug))

Good idea, I can play with that.
I'm working on the scrolling, it's gonna be necessary for bigger tilesets.

Q. Any other comments?
A. That was a huge leap in progress to be honest. I'm impressed with the average updates so far.

Thanks, it's the first project of mine that might actually get somewhere. (And I don't have any obligations or compensations to anyone, It's completely mine and I can do whatever I want with it. ) Course, that means I also have to market it, but if it ends up decent the people will do that themselves.

That, and facebook. Lol.

Also, on a more systematic note;

On a quick test, I rendered a good 10,000 tiles without even a crack in the Frame rate(Stopped at 10k because, hell, who's going to make a level that big anyway?)
If anybody wants to mindnumbingly zoom out all the way and see how many tiles you can paint before the frame rate starts to drop, I'd be grateful.

Oh yea, and from my last post;

next things on my list are layers, bigger tilesets, and playtesting.

I forgot to add animated tiles to that list. :]

[kayden997]

I'll test that for ya.
By the way, how is the play test gonna work? Like with the character and the NPC's?

[Resource Dragon]

I'll test that for ya.
By the way, how is the play test gonna work? Like with the character and the NPC's?

There will be a little 'icon' you can move around in the editor, used for marking where you will spawn.
Then, once you have a spawn point out, you will just click a button to spawn a player to that location.

Kinda like the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Editor, except you get to choose your spawn point.

Oh,

next things on my list are layers, bigger tilesets, and playtesting.

I forgot to add animated tiles to that list. :]

And the option for different tiles to do damage to the player (Damaging tiles), after these are done.