Hey, sorry for the lack of updates here.. I have worked on the game and basically have the new demo ready but there were some complications and as such there is more delay.
I've mostly been posting on discord and now recently a bit on twitter as this is far easier than making a devlog for every tiny update so I suggest you keep an eye on either of those for small updates. :)
Both links are in the game description above.
And if you don't want to do either of those then I'm sorry but there's likely more silence to come.
But I would expect anyone who is even remotely interested in the game to at least bother taking the time to do some "research" on their own. (like reading the description and clicking a link like twitter for example)
But I understand what you're saying, posting one time every month isn't exactly unreasonable, it just didn't happen this time.
hi, i am working on running this on linux; is it possible to build a version of the Zordak executable with statically-linked libraries instead of dynamically linked ones? i know many libraries aren't offered as static libraries anymore in linux repositories, but if there's some way to build the necessary libraries in that would be neat since it looks for version 1.0.0 of like libcrypto and libssl, but for instance on Manjaro linux only 1.1 of each are available. or just including the libraries although i understand it might take some reading of the licenses to make sure it's all okay.
I found copies of the libraries in some gamefiles for Hyperlight Drifter but Zordak is segfaulting now, so i'm thinking those libraries might be for x86_64 as opposed to i386 but i'm going to see if i can find other copies to try as well.
just for the record, i also tried simply symlinking to libcrypto/libssl v1.1 but that didn't work well lol
a note about the licenses: i'd be very surprised if there were limits on commercial distribution of code for either libcrypto or libssl but i am definitely not an expert in this realm. the repo for libcrypto, for instance, indicates that commerical distribution is allowed: https://github.com/jrgleason/libcrypto/blob/master/LICENSE
sorry, last edit probably: confirmed that the libraries were built for 32-bit architectures so i'm not sure what's causing the segfault
Hey i just created a account for this website just to follow your project.. i have a suggestion for this game. Allow for the character to use D-Pad up button when your on edge so you don't have to jump for extra height. And Please make this game Worth it! I do really love this kind of Metroidvania Game! I'm Rooting for you !! Be Passionate creating this game <3 <3 Hopefully you do understand my grammar
i'm not joking. if he needs money then i'll have to not buy the game since told that i have 0 money with me. i'm not threatning i really want to play the game that's why
sir, i'm 13. please don't insult me. i only asked if it is possible then make it free. i have understood my mistake. i hope you all will understand. please do drop this topic. i won't put any post or comment like this. :(
Hi.
Thank you very much for the demo. I’ve been following the project for some time now and I’m really excited about its release. Cheer up and go ahead!
Greetings Apapappa, finished your demo of Zordak, it's visually impressive and fun to play. I've two critiques; When running it takes a bit to reach that full jog speed which feels great, but landing after a jump immediately cuts all your momentum while still moving forward instead of carrying with you like it should, so you have to build it up again. I don't know if you are going to add a speedboost mechanic (like metroid) in the future and that might interfere, but your character should still keep their momentum when running regardless.
The other less serious critique is the Max settings mode. The FPS drops to the 48 range frequently even though my rig should be able to handle a game like this easily (MH World runs at around 90-120 fps on max settings for me), but I also can't really tell the difference between the high (which runs just fine) and Max setting presets, I'm probably just missing the one culprit option that over taxes the gpu for whatever effect.
Hey, thanks for trying the demo and sorry for the somewhat late reply.
I've noted down these momentum issues, I'm pretty sure a system for this already exists and it's based on how high you fall from but with that being said, I'll take a look later since I know you get this slowdown when just jumping normally.
The Max Graphics Quality mode mostly just increases the render resolution but this shouldn't really be a problem on anything other than low-end PCs / laptops with integrated graphics.
Unfortunately there's no way for me to really know why you get slowdowns without more information like PC specifications and even then it might not help much.
I can only speculate this based on you being able to play monster hunter with that framerate:
It really shouldn't be a GPU issue, but you saying it only happens on max graphics indicates that it should technically be since 90% of what happens on max graphics vs high is GPU related.
It may or may not be a CPU issue depending on single core speed since the game is single threaded. (because GameMaker Studio is)
It could be that the fps fluctuates below the frame skipping threshold (I think it's 57 or 53 fps default) and as such turns on frame skipping for a few seconds and makes the fps go down to try and catch up, assuming the frame skip setting was set to dynamic.
So yeah, I can't really say for sure why you get FPS drops.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback, if you have any more information to give then feel free to do so. :)
Thanks for the reply. I'm using a laptop, but it's GPU is an RTX 2060 and it handles every other demanding 3d game at max setting with at least 60fps. Here are the specs. Again, not a huge deal, I care more about the mechanical game feel aspects so I'm glad to know the momentum thing is being addressed.
Hey, thanks for the extra information, unfortunately as I thought, it didn't really help that much.
So from what I can see now, it really shouldn't be a GPU or CPU issue and that brings it down to a few other things like these:
1 - Power saving features, if these somehow trigger while the game is running then these FPS drops can happen.. but I've basically told the game to use as much CPU as possible to prevent this from happening so it should be unlikely this is the issue.
2 - Windows had an update a while ago which caused some GameMaker Studio games to run at reduced framerate, never had this issue myself so I don't really know how bad it was but there were a bunch of posts over on the GameMaker forums about it.
No idea if this has been fixed in another windows update either.
3 - 240Hz monitor, I've read about issues with this on the forums as well (not limited to 240Hz but high refresh rate monitors in general) but never really had any issues myself running 120Hz or 144Hz monitors.
So not sure about this one either.
So basically what I'm saying here is that I have no idea what the issue is really and as such there is nothing I can do to fix it right now.
And with all this being said, this issue may or may not be solved once I update the demo again since the game is in the process of being ported to GameMaker Studio 2 which is a much more up to date version of the engine.
This also means the game will be switching over from DirectX9 to DirectX11.
So yeah.. this issue is on the backburner for now since once I release the new demo any old issue like this might become irrelevant.
Anyway, thanks for trying to help me out and sorry this post became quite big, it's just hard to explain these things in short.
No problem, I'm always interested in the nitty gritty technical aspects of these types of things. Good luck with the future updates, i'll definitely want to play the complete game when that becomes a reality.
Hi Apapappa, I just played the Zordak Demo and I love it! I run the YYC version on a 5 year old potato laptop with a Pentium and Intel HD graphics and it runs smooth, and I didn't found any bugs or issues.
As a possible feedbak, the only thing that I can think of is that it may be good to have a button to stand still while shooting diagonaly. Other than that great job!
Hey, thanks for trying the demo and I'm glad you like it. :)
Good to hear it ran smooth as well.
So, there's already two buttons dedicated to aiming up/down diagonally, by default it *should* be the shoulder buttons on controller and A/W on keyboard, otherwise you have to check the control configuration and then you can bind them to whatever you want.
Anyway, thanks again for playing and for the feedback. ^^
Hi Apapappa, sorry I didn't noticed before that there are these buttons for diagonal aiming. I tried again the demo and notice that they don't work by default, only after I went in the controller configuration options.
But, I said before I didn't find any bugs, well I think this might be a bug though. I'm using an Xbox Series X controller (later also tried an Xbox One and a PS4 controller). On both Xbox controllers the shoulder and trigger buttons started working only after I went in the controller configuration menu, even if I didn't change anything. But the left trigger for straight down aim never worked, even when remaping or reseting the controller configuration. Also on the PS4 controller I noticed that several buttons do not mach, for example, cross button is actually circle button, and most buttons had this issue on the PS4 controller. I tried this with only one cotroller plugged in at a time and relaunching the demo each time after swapping controllers. I may try the demo again later on a different PC to see how it goes, in case it has something to do with the PC I'm using. Hope this helps, and have a good day!
Hello again. I just tried the demo on another PC with the same controllers and this time they worked fine, it detected all shoulder buttons by default on both Xbox controllers and also the PS4 controller, with no need of going to the controller configuration. Also left trigger worked correctly when aiming straight down, so I guess it was a problem related to that particular PC. The only remaining issue is that the face buttons for the PS4 controller do not match (triangle, square, cross, circle). Anyway, I love the game, good day!
Hey, so, I don't know why it wouldn't detect the buttons before entering the config menu, never heard about this until now, I'll put it on the list but at this point it pretty unlikely I'll be able to do anything about it.
Not sure what's going on with the "aim straight down" button either, I'll put it on the list.
Regarding controller button names not matching, this issue has been around forever and I *think* there's still a message on the config screen telling you about this.
This issue is not very easy to solve since all controllers use different button IDs for each button, so lets take this imaginary example:
PS4 X Button ID = 0
Xbox A Button ID = 1
Off Brand PS4 Controller X Button ID = 2
Off Brand Xbox Controller A Button ID = 3
As you can see, this poses a big problem if Button ID 0 = X/A Button in the engine, it would now give you a completely different button name for Xbox A Button since it's ID is 1, same for the Off Brand controllers.
And this is why the buttons do not always match (or rather possibly never match) since there is no way for me to know what button I'm dealing with if they all use different IDs.
But as long as the buttons actually work as you bound them then this is somewhat fine, not ideal of course but at least you can play with the bindings you want.
And with all that being said, I'm working on an update to the demo which will be using a newer version of the engine and as such this may or may not be working better now, I can't be sure until it has been tested though, so we'll have to see if this is still around when the updated demo is out.
But yeah, glad to hear it worked better on another PC and thanks for telling me about these issues, as mentioned I'll be putting some of them on the list and try to fix them later. :)
One reason would be that if the character was naked then I may or may not have to list the game as 18+/adult or whatever which is not what the game is about.
But also.. is this something that *really* matters?
Well, nothing you've said so far indicates to me that there is some sort of bug happening so all I'm going to say is look around in a large open outside area.
If the link that brought you here didn't end in "itch.io/zordak" then run your antivirus now lol, that was a scammer using this game to pull some BS (THEY HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THE CREATORS OF THIS GAME, and you should still play it)
This game is very well done. I like it a lot. The visual with the lights were really special.
I spent 30% of the demo thinking that "power" was the ammo, and it wasn't goin down because it was bugged, so I was shooting sparingly. Once I got the first secret upgrade I was like ohhhhh and infinite ammo it is. It made the game much more enjoyable once I was firing almost constantly hehe. I was having so much fun with the rapid fire that I discovered that you can charge just after beating the boss.
Not being able to return to the start left a bad feeling of not exploring everything. The boss was alright, a bit on the easy side, but I guess that's perfect when it's the first you will probably encounter.
Hey, thanks for trying the game, glad you like it. :)
Yeah that's a bit unfortunate as power has basically no use in the demo, I've been thinking of hiding it until you get an upgrade that uses it in order to avoid confusion.
And you actually can't charge until after the boss so makes sense you discovered that after beating it. ^^
I guess it could feel that way, but that would only be a problem in the demo so I'm not too worried about that.
The boss is still not 100% where I want it to be but it's good enough for now, glad to hear it was easy though since that's not usually the response I get, it's mostly the opposite.
And yes, this would be one of the first bosses depending on route.
This game is absolutely fascinating. I loved everything about it the atmosphere, the controls, the levels and specially the boss fight! I thought it was way too hard at first but once I observed it and knew what to do it was a really excellent fight!!
And I really admire how accessible the game is, for crappy pcs
I'm probably gonna start binge reading your devlogs lol if you start making YouTube devlogs I am definitely watching
Hey, thanks for trying the demo, I'm glad you liked it. ^^
Nice to hear that the boss worked out fine, it's still not quite where I want it yet, too much randomness going on so I'll be trying to reduce that in the future.
But other than that the boss is pretty much complete.
Glad you appreciate the game options, I try to add as many options as possible because:
1. I see no reason not to since it's usually a quick and easy thing to do.
2. It will help people improve their experience playing the game.
But I will say though, I'll be refactoring the menu a bit in the future to make it easier to understand, there's quite a bit going on right now.
Well, I appreciate that, currently the devlogs are a bit slow and usually short but hopefully that will change in the future again.
As for youtube, I'm currently not in a position where I feel like I can do this, too much background noise and literally no privacy where I live.
I've played this demo twice, and I've gotta say, you have a great game in the making! I specially like the oxxygen mechanic, since it introduces another layer of tension for me. Well done!
I like the oxygen mechanic as well, I just have to be a bit careful with it because if I don't balance it out well, it will just get tedious for a lot of people. ^^
Hello! I recently completed a review of your game for my Youtube series “The First 15”! I’ve placed a link to the video down below, please check it out and keep up the AMAZING work!
Heeeyy, I've seen you are looking for some feedback and I wanted to help with my video and some comments about the game ^^.
-I've played a little bit but for now the concept seem pretty interesting.
-The gameplay mechanics and movement of the character are REALLY nice, I would only say that the controls need some polish on the input lag (I used a Logitech F710), hopefully it was only my controllers fault, but sometimes I've felt some of it on precision jumps.(Have you implemented some "coyote time"?)
-The visuals of the game are pretty awesome and create a nice atmosphere on the game.
Hopefully this is useful to you :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Hey, sorry for the late reply and thanks for trying the demo.
So I watched the video, didn't really notice anything weird happening so got nothing to comment on there really.
As for your feedback:
Glad to hear the movement / feel is good.
Not sure about the input lag issue though, I haven't really noticed anything when testing myself but I only test on keyboard and 2 different controllers so not sure if that could be a factor.
Other than that, Vertical Sync could be a factor to input lag, pretty sure I have this turned on by default, turning it off could improve input latency but at the cost of possible screen tearing.
There's actually quite a lot of coyote time, so much so that you can probably jump after falling for a full tile (horizontally) depending on speed before falling off the ledge.
Glad you like the visuals and atmosphere as well, these two things are a pretty big factor for me when making the game.
Anyway, thanks again for trying the demo and making a video. :)
Also, I'm probably not going to subscribe, sorry, I pretty much only subscribe to friends and the like, I liked the video and left a comment to try and help out a bit at least.
No problem ^^, the game controller I was using could be the problem as a few days later the batteries died so that low battery could be an explanation :)
If you've tried everything in the README.txt file then I don't know what the issue is.
It worked for me when testing it in a virtual machine and also for others running native Ubuntu, so other than that I don't know what to tell you right now.
Maybe try the Windows version in Wine or something equivalent.
Absolutely awesome game!!!! I played your demo and it has such a good vibe to it. It is a total tribute to Metroid imo. When are you expecting to release the final version ?? I will absolutely buy this game!! Keep up the good work.
I want to play your game but I only have a Mac and Linux box.
Linux: I have an AMD processor and cannot run Intel builds. Please upgrade to GMS2 and make an x86_64 build for Linux.
I’d love to see a MacOS build, but reading on the yoyogames site I see they really try to make you jump through hoops! No Mac developer really needs to use XCode or get certificates unless you publish to the App Store. I’ve made games with a custom engine and with Unity for MacOS without all that nonsense.
I don't think AMD processor is the issue here because people have played it on AMD before so something else must be going on.
I'm guessing there's some missing dependencies or if it runs into a segmentation fault it might be the same issue as the comment below by JMB9, so I suggest taking a look there for more information and a few possible solutions.
Other than that, I don't know what the issue might be.
And regarding GMS2, I will be porting the game over to GMS2 in the future but not until the game is done as it's not just an "upgrade and build" kinda deal and I much prefer working in GMS 1.4 anyway.
As for MacOS, I don't own a Mac computer so this is currently not a possibility, if I ever get my hands on one in the future then I will look into it but I won't promise anything.
Glad you like the look of the game though and thanks for the feedback. :)
Subject: Segmentation Problem under Linux solved (AMD GPU related) - new problem with Logitech F310 gamepad (detected but not usable).
Hi,
I had commented about problems under Linux with demo 0.30 on
08.11.2020 ... and yesterday I got a second GMS game (also 32 bit) where I got a hint about the segmentation fault under Linux.
It is related to new AMD graphics (maybe concerning the free stack used by GNU/Linux distributions) and can be fixed with a parameter - I had tried all and the 1st worked and showed that the graphics stack is responsible (but no HW acceleration ... no real option - but the demo ran in more than 30 fps) - the last one was correct for my Navi 10 (Radeon RX 5700 XT) graphics card - now showing just 60 fps constantly) - but maybe this list may help others - so I do give all options here (this worked with demo 0.30 {= 63} and the latest 0.32 {= 67}):
LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 ./Zordak # no HW acceleration - 1st test
R600_DEBUG="vs,ps" ./Zordak
R600_debug=check_vm ./Zordak
AMD_DEBUG=ps,vs ./Zordak
radeonsi_sync_compile=true ./Zordak # works for Navi 10
So now I can test the game and my graphics card no longer provokes a segmentation fault by GMS.
I tested on Kubuntu Groovy (20.10 STS; using Kernel 5.10.16 and Mesa 20.3.2 ;).
Unfortunately despite both demo versions (former 0.30 and current 0.32) detecting my Logitech F310 gamepad, both can not use it. Is this problem known - and maybe a workaround available?
Best wishes,
JMB
P.S.: Sorry, just saw now that controllers are not supposed to work right now. The other program had also controller issues, so I hoped this can be cleared here (due to detecting it) - in case it has something to do with GMS. So will check other possibilities. But would be nice if this could be addressed ... gamepad control would fit to this game. ;)
I'll add these parameters to my to-do list and then maybe include them in the readme file for the next version.
I'm going to have to look them up and see what they actually do first though, the first one is self explanatory but the rest, not so much, "vs,ps" is probably vertex and pixel shader but other than that no idea.
Regarding gamepad support, I have the exact same issue, no idea what the problem is so for now gamepads are unsupported.
I'm guessing the issue is likely because I'm using GMS 1.4 and the runner (the executable) is pre-compiled and from 2016.
I have plans to port the game over to GMS 2 which *should* solve most if not all issues but this won't happen until after the game has been completed.
So for now the Linux version is what it is, thanks for the feedback and posting possible solutions. :)
Hiya! I love the demo, you really nailed the atmosphere and flow and I'm looking forward to the full game!
So I was wondering what you made this with, as I've been getting into game making recently and don't have much of an engine or anything to use (except PICO-8 but that's intentionally very limited in what you can do).
Yw! I'ts not strictly neccesarry but the feeling of the game would turn out way smoother. I'm making a 2d metroidvania asa well atm and it feels a lot less video gamey and a lot more immersive now. Cons: really work intensive to get it right.
I'm not sure it will improve the smoothness of the game.. because even if I add an extra animation the old way would still be there since there are sections where you have to ledge jump from one ledge to another for example.
So adding this sounds like it's probably not worth the time if it's not going to be the only thing being used.
I mean.. I could do that, but I'm not sure why it's needed.
It adds more work for me and likely slows down the gameplay (only when climbing) but gives almost no benefit that I can see other than it may look more "realistic".
Yeah, it gives no benefit except making the game more realistic. Playing the game, I was under impression that realistic feel is your goal. Most of the time the game gives me Super Metroid vibes. Grim setting, the feeling of some unknown dangers waiting around the corner. I love it! And then... Hop! The immersion breaks. Each of those silly pull-jumps yanks me out of this grim world into the realm of cartoon. "Not very high on the list" is a perfect position for this issue as long as it actually is on the list.
tl;dr Mechanically there's basically no difference. Thematically it's a difference between full immersion and occasionally breaking it.
Yes, you're right in that I'm going for a somewhat more realistic style, but only to a certain point.
And well, even if I added an animation for the player to crawl up ledges the other jumping way would still be there as there are sections where you have to jump from ledge to ledge and such.
So I'm not sure if this will be worth my time, it's on the list but that doesn't mean it will be added any time soon or at all.
I get what you're saying though but.. I don't know, not very high on the list.
Very good use of particles! I'm grateful for the extensive customization options for visuals and controls. Default blaster feels really good to spam. Good sound design as well! I also like the steady progress in equipment at the start, felt very well paced, exploring in general was pretty enjoyable. My only real gripe is the protag's running animation feels a little odd when she's in her Geo Armor. That and I first walked past the helmet before quickly turning around and grabbing it.
I'm sure the animations will be improved over time but since they are considered pretty much "done", there won't be any major changes (as in complete rework) happening.
People running past the helmet is expected and hopefully makes them more aware of the oxygen mechanic.
What I could do though is to increase oxygen drain when the player has no suit to try and reduce the chance of anyone thinking there's some sort of timed running challenge going on there.
Yeah unfortunately I did not feel like I had enough content to post one.
I've been working on a somewhat large room and it's still not quite done.. but at least I'm working on new content now and not fixing misc demo issues.
This is probably not going to be in the demo for quite some time unfortunately, I'm not even sure it will be possible at all.
I have recently added support for a more standard font in my internal version but right now I can't say for certain what form of code table it supports, I'll have to look into that further later.
And yes, currently you have to replace the "en" localization file to be able to translate the game.
It's not really ready for localization yet so therefore only English exists in game right now.
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whats game engine? thanks.
Hey, sorry for the very late reply.. I'm using GameMaker Studio 2.
Hey, sorry for the lack of updates here.. I have worked on the game and basically have the new demo ready but there were some complications and as such there is more delay.
I've mostly been posting on discord and now recently a bit on twitter as this is far easier than making a devlog for every tiny update so I suggest you keep an eye on either of those for small updates. :)
Both links are in the game description above.
And if you don't want to do either of those then I'm sorry but there's likely more silence to come.
Yeah.. you're not exactly wrong there..
But I would expect anyone who is even remotely interested in the game to at least bother taking the time to do some "research" on their own. (like reading the description and clicking a link like twitter for example)
But I understand what you're saying, posting one time every month isn't exactly unreasonable, it just didn't happen this time.
The demo is really fun, I'm glad to see there's still work being done. I joined the Discord and look forward to seeing more as it develops.
hello.
i liked ur game, it was fun.
i made a video out of ur game with meme and humor hope u like it
hi, i am working on running this on linux; is it possible to build a version of the Zordak executable with statically-linked libraries instead of dynamically linked ones? i know many libraries aren't offered as static libraries anymore in linux repositories, but if there's some way to build the necessary libraries in that would be neat since it looks for version 1.0.0 of like libcrypto and libssl, but for instance on Manjaro linux only 1.1 of each are available. or just including the libraries although i understand it might take some reading of the licenses to make sure it's all okay.
I found copies of the libraries in some gamefiles for Hyperlight Drifter but Zordak is segfaulting now, so i'm thinking those libraries might be for x86_64 as opposed to i386 but i'm going to see if i can find other copies to try as well.
just for the record, i also tried simply symlinking to libcrypto/libssl v1.1 but that didn't work well lol
a note about the licenses: i'd be very surprised if there were limits on commercial distribution of code for either libcrypto or libssl but i am definitely not an expert in this realm. the repo for libcrypto, for instance, indicates that commerical distribution is allowed: https://github.com/jrgleason/libcrypto/blob/master/LICENSE
sorry, last edit probably: confirmed that the libraries were built for 32-bit architectures so i'm not sure what's causing the segfault
Hey i just created a account for this website just to follow your project.. i have a suggestion for this game. Allow for the character to use D-Pad up button when your on edge so you don't have to jump for extra height. And Please make this game Worth it! I do really love this kind of Metroidvania Game! I'm Rooting for you !! Be Passionate creating this game <3 <3 Hopefully you do understand my grammar
i'm not joking. if he needs money then i'll have to not buy the game since told that i have 0 money with me. i'm not threatning i really want to play the game that's why
You must be like 9 years old. Don't expect to get games for free just because you ask.
sir, i'm 13. please don't insult me. i only asked if it is possible then make it free. i have understood my mistake. i hope you all will understand. please do drop this topic. i won't put any post or comment like this. :(
Hi. Thank you very much for the demo. I’ve been following the project for some time now and I’m really excited about its release. Cheer up and go ahead!
Hey, thanks for keeping an eye on the project, I'll be trying to get it done as soon as I can but it's still going to take some time. :)
para cuando el juego completo
Oye, no hablo el idioma, así que utilicé el traductor de Google, así que lamento si la traducción y / o el idioma no son correctos.
Desafortunadamente, lo único que puedo decir sobre una fecha de lanzamiento es:
Está hecho cuando está hecho.
---------------------------------------Hey, I don't speak the language so I used google translate, so I'm sorry if the translation and/or language is not correct.
Unfortunately, the only thing I can say about a release date is:
It's done when it's done.
Greetings Apapappa, finished your demo of Zordak, it's visually impressive and fun to play. I've two critiques; When running it takes a bit to reach that full jog speed which feels great, but landing after a jump immediately cuts all your momentum while still moving forward instead of carrying with you like it should, so you have to build it up again. I don't know if you are going to add a speedboost mechanic (like metroid) in the future and that might interfere, but your character should still keep their momentum when running regardless.
The other less serious critique is the Max settings mode. The FPS drops to the 48 range frequently even though my rig should be able to handle a game like this easily (MH World runs at around 90-120 fps on max settings for me), but I also can't really tell the difference between the high (which runs just fine) and Max setting presets, I'm probably just missing the one culprit option that over taxes the gpu for whatever effect.
Hey, thanks for trying the demo and sorry for the somewhat late reply.
I've noted down these momentum issues, I'm pretty sure a system for this already exists and it's based on how high you fall from but with that being said, I'll take a look later since I know you get this slowdown when just jumping normally.
The Max Graphics Quality mode mostly just increases the render resolution but this shouldn't really be a problem on anything other than low-end PCs / laptops with integrated graphics.
Unfortunately there's no way for me to really know why you get slowdowns without more information like PC specifications and even then it might not help much.
I can only speculate this based on you being able to play monster hunter with that framerate:
It really shouldn't be a GPU issue, but you saying it only happens on max graphics indicates that it should technically be since 90% of what happens on max graphics vs high is GPU related.
It may or may not be a CPU issue depending on single core speed since the game is single threaded. (because GameMaker Studio is)
It could be that the fps fluctuates below the frame skipping threshold (I think it's 57 or 53 fps default) and as such turns on frame skipping for a few seconds and makes the fps go down to try and catch up, assuming the frame skip setting was set to dynamic.
So yeah, I can't really say for sure why you get FPS drops.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback, if you have any more information to give then feel free to do so. :)
Thanks for the reply. I'm using a laptop, but it's GPU is an RTX 2060 and it handles every other demanding 3d game at max setting with at least 60fps. Here are the specs. Again, not a huge deal, I care more about the mechanical game feel aspects so I'm glad to know the momentum thing is being addressed.
Hey, thanks for the extra information, unfortunately as I thought, it didn't really help that much.
So from what I can see now, it really shouldn't be a GPU or CPU issue and that brings it down to a few other things like these:
1 - Power saving features, if these somehow trigger while the game is running then these FPS drops can happen.. but I've basically told the game to use as much CPU as possible to prevent this from happening so it should be unlikely this is the issue.
2 - Windows had an update a while ago which caused some GameMaker Studio games to run at reduced framerate, never had this issue myself so I don't really know how bad it was but there were a bunch of posts over on the GameMaker forums about it.
No idea if this has been fixed in another windows update either.
3 - 240Hz monitor, I've read about issues with this on the forums as well (not limited to 240Hz but high refresh rate monitors in general) but never really had any issues myself running 120Hz or 144Hz monitors.
So not sure about this one either.
So basically what I'm saying here is that I have no idea what the issue is really and as such there is nothing I can do to fix it right now.
And with all this being said, this issue may or may not be solved once I update the demo again since the game is in the process of being ported to GameMaker Studio 2 which is a much more up to date version of the engine.
This also means the game will be switching over from DirectX9 to DirectX11.
So yeah.. this issue is on the backburner for now since once I release the new demo any old issue like this might become irrelevant.
Anyway, thanks for trying to help me out and sorry this post became quite big, it's just hard to explain these things in short.
No problem, I'm always interested in the nitty gritty technical aspects of these types of things. Good luck with the future updates, i'll definitely want to play the complete game when that becomes a reality.
Hi Apapappa, I just played the Zordak Demo and I love it! I run the YYC version on a 5 year old potato laptop with a Pentium and Intel HD graphics and it runs smooth, and I didn't found any bugs or issues.
As a possible feedbak, the only thing that I can think of is that it may be good to have a button to stand still while shooting diagonaly. Other than that great job!
I hope you'll have great success with this game!
Hey, thanks for trying the demo and I'm glad you like it. :)
Good to hear it ran smooth as well.
So, there's already two buttons dedicated to aiming up/down diagonally, by default it *should* be the shoulder buttons on controller and A/W on keyboard, otherwise you have to check the control configuration and then you can bind them to whatever you want.
Anyway, thanks again for playing and for the feedback. ^^
Hi Apapappa, sorry I didn't noticed before that there are these buttons for diagonal aiming. I tried again the demo and notice that they don't work by default, only after I went in the controller configuration options.
But, I said before I didn't find any bugs, well I think this might be a bug though. I'm using an Xbox Series X controller (later also tried an Xbox One and a PS4 controller). On both Xbox controllers the shoulder and trigger buttons started working only after I went in the controller configuration menu, even if I didn't change anything. But the left trigger for straight down aim never worked, even when remaping or reseting the controller configuration. Also on the PS4 controller I noticed that several buttons do not mach, for example, cross button is actually circle button, and most buttons had this issue on the PS4 controller. I tried this with only one cotroller plugged in at a time and relaunching the demo each time after swapping controllers. I may try the demo again later on a different PC to see how it goes, in case it has something to do with the PC I'm using. Hope this helps, and have a good day!
Hello again. I just tried the demo on another PC with the same controllers and this time they worked fine, it detected all shoulder buttons by default on both Xbox controllers and also the PS4 controller, with no need of going to the controller configuration. Also left trigger worked correctly when aiming straight down, so I guess it was a problem related to that particular PC. The only remaining issue is that the face buttons for the PS4 controller do not match (triangle, square, cross, circle). Anyway, I love the game, good day!
Hey, so, I don't know why it wouldn't detect the buttons before entering the config menu, never heard about this until now, I'll put it on the list but at this point it pretty unlikely I'll be able to do anything about it.
Not sure what's going on with the "aim straight down" button either, I'll put it on the list.
Regarding controller button names not matching, this issue has been around forever and I *think* there's still a message on the config screen telling you about this.
This issue is not very easy to solve since all controllers use different button IDs for each button, so lets take this imaginary example:
PS4 X Button ID = 0
Xbox A Button ID = 1
Off Brand PS4 Controller X Button ID = 2
Off Brand Xbox Controller A Button ID = 3
As you can see, this poses a big problem if Button ID 0 = X/A Button in the engine, it would now give you a completely different button name for Xbox A Button since it's ID is 1, same for the Off Brand controllers.
And this is why the buttons do not always match (or rather possibly never match) since there is no way for me to know what button I'm dealing with if they all use different IDs.
But as long as the buttons actually work as you bound them then this is somewhat fine, not ideal of course but at least you can play with the bindings you want.
And with all that being said, I'm working on an update to the demo which will be using a newer version of the engine and as such this may or may not be working better now, I can't be sure until it has been tested though, so we'll have to see if this is still around when the updated demo is out.
But yeah, glad to hear it worked better on another PC and thanks for telling me about these issues, as mentioned I'll be putting some of them on the list and try to fix them later. :)
Where do you planning on uploading this game? I mean will it be on itch.io as it was, or mayby somewhere else?
Not 100% sure if this is what you're asking but the plan is for the game to be available here on Itch, Game Jolt and Steam when released.
I'll be looking to make it available on other places as well but I can only confirm these 3 for now.
Yeah, that's right, I thought you might upload it to steam, but I wasn't sure.
what’s stopping you from having the player character be naked at the start of the game?
One reason would be that if the character was naked then I may or may not have to list the game as 18+/adult or whatever which is not what the game is about.
But also.. is this something that *really* matters?
sorry for asking such a question.
Is there anything more after getting the Geosuit, or is that the end of the demo?
There's more, a message will tell you in game when the demo is over.
I can't figure out where else I'm able to go. Every way forward I can find is locked.
Well, nothing you've said so far indicates to me that there is some sort of bug happening so all I'm going to say is look around in a large open outside area.
If the link that brought you here didn't end in "itch.io/zordak" then run your antivirus now lol, that was a scammer using this game to pull some BS (THEY HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THE CREATORS OF THIS GAME, and you should still play it)
This is correct and here's some more context to anyone else seeing this:
https://twitter.com/ApapappaGames/status/1431565069167562754
This is top tier. The only feedback I can offer is to keep doing what you're doing.
Hey, thanks, I'll keep trying my best. :)
This game is very well done. I like it a lot. The visual with the lights were really special.
I spent 30% of the demo thinking that "power" was the ammo, and it wasn't goin down because it was bugged, so I was shooting sparingly. Once I got the first secret upgrade I was like ohhhhh and infinite ammo it is. It made the game much more enjoyable once I was firing almost constantly hehe. I was having so much fun with the rapid fire that I discovered that you can charge just after beating the boss.
Not being able to return to the start left a bad feeling of not exploring everything. The boss was alright, a bit on the easy side, but I guess that's perfect when it's the first you will probably encounter.
Hey, thanks for trying the game, glad you like it. :)
Yeah that's a bit unfortunate as power has basically no use in the demo, I've been thinking of hiding it until you get an upgrade that uses it in order to avoid confusion.
And you actually can't charge until after the boss so makes sense you discovered that after beating it. ^^
I guess it could feel that way, but that would only be a problem in the demo so I'm not too worried about that.
The boss is still not 100% where I want it to be but it's good enough for now, glad to hear it was easy though since that's not usually the response I get, it's mostly the opposite.
And yes, this would be one of the first bosses depending on route.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback. ^^
This is a really good game and it looks amazing. What engine did you use for this, gamemaker or haxe?
Hey, thanks, glad you like it.
Currently I'm using GameMaker Studio 1.4, I will be switching over to GameMaker Studio 2 in the future though.
This game is absolutely fascinating. I loved everything about it the atmosphere, the controls, the levels and specially the boss fight! I thought it was way too hard at first but once I observed it and knew what to do it was a really excellent fight!!
And I really admire how accessible the game is, for crappy pcs
I'm probably gonna start binge reading your devlogs lol if you start making YouTube devlogs I am definitely watching
Hey, thanks for trying the demo, I'm glad you liked it. ^^
Nice to hear that the boss worked out fine, it's still not quite where I want it yet, too much randomness going on so I'll be trying to reduce that in the future.
But other than that the boss is pretty much complete.
Glad you appreciate the game options, I try to add as many options as possible because:
1. I see no reason not to since it's usually a quick and easy thing to do.
2. It will help people improve their experience playing the game.
But I will say though, I'll be refactoring the menu a bit in the future to make it easier to understand, there's quite a bit going on right now.
Well, I appreciate that, currently the devlogs are a bit slow and usually short but hopefully that will change in the future again.
As for youtube, I'm currently not in a position where I feel like I can do this, too much background noise and literally no privacy where I live.
But anyway, thanks again for trying the game. :)
Hi! What are you're thoughts on Metroid 5: Dread reveal?
Hey, I know nothing about it other than the name so I can't say I have an opinion.
This should be on steam
It will be at some point. :)
I would try to target the switch first
Since I pretty much exclusively use PC myself the game will be released on PC first, after that I'll be thinking about consoles.
I've played this demo twice, and I've gotta say, you have a great game in the making! I specially like the oxxygen mechanic, since it introduces another layer of tension for me. Well done!
Hey, thanks, glad you like it. :)
I like the oxygen mechanic as well, I just have to be a bit careful with it because if I don't balance it out well, it will just get tedious for a lot of people. ^^
this game good NO CAP
Thanks, glad you like it. ^^
Cool project! Very atmospheric and intriguing. Especially beautiful pixel art!
Hey thanks, glad you like it. :)
Hello! I recently completed a review of your game for my Youtube series “The First 15”! I’ve placed a link to the video down below, please check it out and keep up the AMAZING work!
Hey, thanks for trying the demo, glad you liked it. :)
I left a comment on youtube replying to your feedback.
Heeeyy, I've seen you are looking for some feedback and I wanted to help with my video and some comments about the game ^^.
-I've played a little bit but for now the concept seem pretty interesting.-The gameplay mechanics and movement of the character are REALLY nice, I would only say that the controls need some polish on the input lag (I used a Logitech F710), hopefully it was only my controllers fault, but sometimes I've felt some of it on precision jumps.(Have you implemented some "coyote time"?)
-The visuals of the game are pretty awesome and create a nice atmosphere on the game.
Hopefully this is useful to you :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Regards
Hey, sorry for the late reply and thanks for trying the demo.
So I watched the video, didn't really notice anything weird happening so got nothing to comment on there really.
As for your feedback:
Glad to hear the movement / feel is good.
Not sure about the input lag issue though, I haven't really noticed anything when testing myself but I only test on keyboard and 2 different controllers so not sure if that could be a factor.
Other than that, Vertical Sync could be a factor to input lag, pretty sure I have this turned on by default, turning it off could improve input latency but at the cost of possible screen tearing.
There's actually quite a lot of coyote time, so much so that you can probably jump after falling for a full tile (horizontally) depending on speed before falling off the ledge.
Glad you like the visuals and atmosphere as well, these two things are a pretty big factor for me when making the game.
Anyway, thanks again for trying the demo and making a video. :)
Also, I'm probably not going to subscribe, sorry, I pretty much only subscribe to friends and the like, I liked the video and left a comment to try and help out a bit at least.
No problem ^^, the game controller I was using could be the problem as a few days later the batteries died so that low battery could be an explanation :)
Regards :)
This game is not working on linux.
Sorry for the late reply.
If you've tried everything in the README.txt file then I don't know what the issue is.
It worked for me when testing it in a virtual machine and also for others running native Ubuntu, so other than that I don't know what to tell you right now.
Maybe try the Windows version in Wine or something equivalent.
Really enjoyed the demo! Looking forward to playing more in the future!
Hey, thanks, glad you liked it.
I left a comment over on youtube. :)
Absolutely awesome game!!!! I played your demo and it has such a good vibe to it. It is a total tribute to Metroid imo. When are you expecting to release the final version ?? I will absolutely buy this game!! Keep up the good work.
Hey, thanks for trying the demo. :)
I'm definitely going for the metroid vibe so glad you liked it.
And there's no release date yet, the only thing I can really say is: it's done when it's done.
Ok, well i will be keeping a close eye on your work. Keep up the good work!
Hey, thanks.
Yes, I use GML for the game and GLSL for the shaders. :)
Fantastic! Loved the vibe. Looking forward to this getting released!
Hey, thanks, glad you liked it.
I'm looking forward to everyone playing the full thing as well. :)
I want to play your game but I only have a Mac and Linux box.
Linux: I have an AMD processor and cannot run Intel builds. Please upgrade to GMS2 and make an x86_64 build for Linux.
I’d love to see a MacOS build, but reading on the yoyogames site I see they really try to make you jump through hoops! No Mac developer really needs to use XCode or get certificates unless you publish to the App Store. I’ve made games with a custom engine and with Unity for MacOS without all that nonsense.
Btw, updated Macs cannot run wine anymore!
Anyway, the game looks great so don’t give up!
Hey, so..
I don't think AMD processor is the issue here because people have played it on AMD before so something else must be going on.
I'm guessing there's some missing dependencies or if it runs into a segmentation fault it might be the same issue as the comment below by JMB9, so I suggest taking a look there for more information and a few possible solutions.
Other than that, I don't know what the issue might be.
And regarding GMS2, I will be porting the game over to GMS2 in the future but not until the game is done as it's not just an "upgrade and build" kinda deal and I much prefer working in GMS 1.4 anyway.
As for MacOS, I don't own a Mac computer so this is currently not a possibility, if I ever get my hands on one in the future then I will look into it but I won't promise anything.
Glad you like the look of the game though and thanks for the feedback. :)
Subject: Segmentation Problem under Linux solved (AMD GPU related) - new problem with Logitech F310 gamepad (detected but not usable).
Hi,
I had commented about problems under Linux with demo 0.30 on
08.11.2020 ... and yesterday I got a second GMS game (also 32 bit) where I got a hint about the segmentation fault under Linux.
It is related to new AMD graphics (maybe concerning the free stack used by GNU/Linux distributions) and can be fixed with a parameter - I had tried all and the 1st worked and showed that the graphics stack is responsible (but no HW acceleration ... no real option - but the demo ran in more than 30 fps) - the last one was correct for my Navi 10 (Radeon RX 5700 XT) graphics card - now showing just 60 fps constantly) - but maybe this list may help others - so I do give all options here (this worked with demo 0.30 {= 63} and the latest 0.32 {= 67}):
LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 ./Zordak # no HW acceleration - 1st test
R600_DEBUG="vs,ps" ./Zordak
R600_debug=check_vm ./Zordak
AMD_DEBUG=ps,vs ./Zordak
radeonsi_sync_compile=true ./Zordak # works for Navi 10
So now I can test the game and my graphics card no longer provokes a segmentation fault by GMS.
I tested on Kubuntu Groovy (20.10 STS; using Kernel 5.10.16 and Mesa 20.3.2 ;).
Unfortunately despite both demo versions (former 0.30 and current 0.32) detecting my Logitech F310 gamepad, both can not use it. Is this problem known - and maybe a workaround available?
Best wishes,
JMB
P.S.: Sorry, just saw now that controllers are not supposed to work right now. The other program had also controller issues, so I hoped this can be cleared here (due to detecting it) - in case it has something to do with GMS. So will check other possibilities. But would be nice if this could be addressed ... gamepad control would fit to this game. ;)
Hey, sorry for the somewhat late reply.
Good to hear that you got it running at least.
I'll add these parameters to my to-do list and then maybe include them in the readme file for the next version.
I'm going to have to look them up and see what they actually do first though, the first one is self explanatory but the rest, not so much, "vs,ps" is probably vertex and pixel shader but other than that no idea.
Regarding gamepad support, I have the exact same issue, no idea what the problem is so for now gamepads are unsupported.
I'm guessing the issue is likely because I'm using GMS 1.4 and the runner (the executable) is pre-compiled and from 2016.
I have plans to port the game over to GMS 2 which *should* solve most if not all issues but this won't happen until after the game has been completed.
So for now the Linux version is what it is, thanks for the feedback and posting possible solutions. :)
Hiya! I love the demo, you really nailed the atmosphere and flow and I'm looking forward to the full game!
So I was wondering what you made this with, as I've been getting into game making recently and don't have much of an engine or anything to use (except PICO-8 but that's intentionally very limited in what you can do).
Hey, thanks for trying the demo, glad you like it. ^^
I'm using GameMaker Studio v1.4 for this, GameMaker Studio 2 would work just fine though since 1.4 is no longer available to buy.
Awesome, thanks!
Works really well, but have to admit the ledges should also be something you can pull yourself up to
Thanks for trying the demo.
I'll just refer to my comment below regarding this issue.
Basically my question is: is this really needed and why?
Either way, this issue is not very high on the list.
Thanks for the feedback though. :)
Yw! I'ts not strictly neccesarry but the feeling of the game would turn out way smoother. I'm making a 2d metroidvania asa well atm and it feels a lot less video gamey and a lot more immersive now. Cons: really work intensive to get it right.
I'm not sure it will improve the smoothness of the game.. because even if I add an extra animation the old way would still be there since there are sections where you have to ledge jump from one ledge to another for example.
So adding this sounds like it's probably not worth the time if it's not going to be the only thing being used.
Anyway, good luck with your own game. :)
She really needs to be able to pull up ledges instead of jumping. Other than that, I guess I need to save money for the final release.
Hey, thanks for trying the demo.
I mean.. I could do that, but I'm not sure why it's needed.
It adds more work for me and likely slows down the gameplay (only when climbing) but gives almost no benefit that I can see other than it may look more "realistic".
So this issue is not very high on the list.
Thanks for the feedback though. :)
Yeah, it gives no benefit except making the game more realistic.
Playing the game, I was under impression that realistic feel is your goal.
Most of the time the game gives me Super Metroid vibes. Grim setting, the feeling of some unknown dangers waiting around the corner. I love it!
And then... Hop! The immersion breaks. Each of those silly pull-jumps yanks me out of this grim world into the realm of cartoon.
"Not very high on the list" is a perfect position for this issue as long as it actually is on the list.
tl;dr
Mechanically there's basically no difference.
Thematically it's a difference between full immersion and occasionally breaking it.
Yes, you're right in that I'm going for a somewhat more realistic style, but only to a certain point.
And well, even if I added an animation for the player to crawl up ledges the other jumping way would still be there as there are sections where you have to jump from ledge to ledge and such.
So I'm not sure if this will be worth my time, it's on the list but that doesn't mean it will be added any time soon or at all.
I get what you're saying though but.. I don't know, not very high on the list.
Maybe in a future ledge-pull DLC. :-)
Not a gamebreaker.
muito bom esse jogo, eu curti de mais, e estou ansioso para o jogo completo!!
Obrigado por experimentar a demonstração, que bom que gostou. :)
Não falo português, então usei o google tradutor.
Desculpe se esta mensagem está incorreta, é apenas o que o Google me deu.
------------------------------
Thanks for trying the demo, glad you like it. :)
I don't speak Portuguese so I used google translate.
Sorry if this message is incorrect, it's just what google gave me.
a mensagem esta correta, e já sou fã do jogo!!
This was a blast to play! Loved the small puzzle rooms, looking forward to a full release!!
Thanks for trying the demo, I left a comment on youtube. :)
Very good use of particles! I'm grateful for the extensive customization options for visuals and controls. Default blaster feels really good to spam. Good sound design as well! I also like the steady progress in equipment at the start, felt very well paced, exploring in general was pretty enjoyable. My only real gripe is the protag's running animation feels a little odd when she's in her Geo Armor. That and I first walked past the helmet before quickly turning around and grabbing it.
Hey, thanks for trying the game.
Glad to hear everything was mostly good.
I'm sure the animations will be improved over time but since they are considered pretty much "done", there won't be any major changes (as in complete rework) happening.
People running past the helmet is expected and hopefully makes them more aware of the oxygen mechanic.
What I could do though is to increase oxygen drain when the player has no suit to try and reduce the chance of anyone thinking there's some sort of timed running challenge going on there.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback. :)
Seems like no devlog news for this week.
But, still...I look forward to meet zordak full version.
Yeah unfortunately I did not feel like I had enough content to post one.
I've been working on a somewhat large room and it's still not quite done.. but at least I'm working on new content now and not fixing misc demo issues.
Can you make your game demo recognize the whole ISO-639-1 codes table? I had to edit over the en.txt to use my native language instead.
This is probably not going to be in the demo for quite some time unfortunately, I'm not even sure it will be possible at all.
I have recently added support for a more standard font in my internal version but right now I can't say for certain what form of code table it supports, I'll have to look into that further later.
And yes, currently you have to replace the "en" localization file to be able to translate the game.
It's not really ready for localization yet so therefore only English exists in game right now.