itch.io

Game Page:

https://apapappa.itch.io/trouble-thief

Info:

Hello everyone, just released my new game - Trouble Thief.

It's a mostly speedrun focused platformer where you steal treasure and bring it back to your hideout.

It features "heavy" feeling character movement and 30 levels, each with very challenging time trials and a no hit challenge.

Hope you like it, and feel free to leave any sort of feedback.

Trailer:

Post about anything related to the game here. (other than bug reports, they go in the bug reports section)

Just use common sense and don't be mean to other people for no reason.

Following this example is not necessarily required but should give you an idea of how to post a bug:

[FORUM TOPIC TITLE] Short description of your issue.

[ISSUE]

Describe your issue in full here. (I can't jump when pressing X on the controller / etc)

You can add images or a video showcasing the issue to the post as well. (if the issue is visible and can be showcased that is)

[GAME VERSION]

If possible put your game version number here, you can see the game version on the Main Menu Logo.

[OS]

Describe your OS here. (windows 10 / Linux / etc)

[COMPUTER SPECS]

If possible put information about your computer here such as Model (Lenovo ideapad 1i for example) or CPU / GPU / RAM / anything else that could be relevant.

[ADDITIONAL INFO]

If there is any other information that could be helpful then put it here. (maybe if you use some special keyboard or mouse or controller or something)

If you're only in it for the money then sure, it makes sense to bail if there's no funding, but that's not the case for me.

Sure, I want (and need) to make money but that's not the main reason why I'm making the game.

But of course I do hope I get something out of the game when it's all done, but I can't expect too much because that would just be setting myself up for disappointment.

Anyway, thanks, reviews and such would be much appreciated whenever it's time for that.

I have no plans for doing a Kickstarter but it's not like I'm completely opposed to the idea or anything.

Hey, once again sorry for the somewhat late reply.

Okay well, that's pretty much what I expected, that the controller technically works but the buttons are either jumbled or not detected.

I don't know what else to say really, if the manual is correct and GameMaker uses the same SDL library internally as you linked then I don't know why it doesn't work correctly.

We'll just have to see if it's fixed whenever I update my GameMaker version. (which will be "soon")

If it's not fixed with the update, then I don't know when/if it will be fixed but I will try to fix it at some point, it is currently not a high priority though.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and I hope I'll get it fixed at some point.

Hey, sorry for the somewhat late reply.

I don't really have a definite answer but I can say that almost every planned room exists in the game.

It is only version 1 of said rooms though which means a lot of them will be changed / are missing stuff.

But at least almost the entire game world is "done".

As for bosses, around 25% of them are done, so quite a bit left to do in this department.

Enemy types, can't really give any progress numbers here because this is not as planned out as the rest but I'm definitely not done with enemy types and more will be added.

Then there's the planned sound / music rework..

So.. there's still quite a bit to do as you can see.

There's been so many issues where I've had to rework parts of the game because the engine I use didn't play well with what I wanted to do and I'm hoping this particle stuff I've been working on (which is almost done now) is the last of these issues so I can get back to adding new content again. (namely continue working on bosses which was interrupted by the particle stuff)

Anyway, not sure what else to say, hopefully this gives you some answers.

Oh and just to clarify, I'm not trying to pass the blame on to the GameMaker devs, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.. I just don't get why standard controllers like this wouldn't work out of the box when the manual states the same SDL library is being used behind the scenes.

Hey, yeah it's still going and as always, hoping to pick up the pace again and get this done already. :)

And thanks, I'm trying to have the effect as non-intrusive as possible while still being intrusive enough to be noticed.

I'll probably make some changes to it in the future because there are aspects of it that I'm not 100% happy with yet.

Hey, thanks, glad you like it :) and sorry for the late reply.

The game will be on Steam at some point, not sure when though. (sooner rather than later..)

Hey, I'm sorry for the very late and once again giant reply.

Okay so, since you are using standard controllers and not some off brand ones, I don't think this is completely my fault in this case since why wouldn't GameMaker support these controllers out of the box?

It's not like I'm using anything special in the code when checking for controller inputs, it's just their own built in functions.

The manual even says this:

"While GameMaker comes with mappings for a number of different gamepads based on SDL Gamepad Controller DB "

Which is the exact same thing you linked.

So I don't understand why it wouldn't just work out of the box in this case since GameMaker is supposedly already using these SDL mappings.

The only thing I can think of is that my GameMaker version is so out of date that this hasn't been added yet but that seems unlikely since my version has the gamepad_test/get/remove_mapping functions.

And after looking around a bit more here, I'm not sure rewriting the controller input system will do much (since it will end up pretty much the same as it is now), UNLESS I go the manual route and *manually* keep a database of all controllers, check and set the mappings accordingly, which seems like a huge pain to do, AND that's assuming that will even work.

But with all that said, I'm not saying I won't do it in the future, I just don't want to spend time/energy on controller stuff right now.

And to answer your question about what controllers should be supported by the game:

Any/all controllers should be supported, I'm not sure I've ever gotten feedback where controllers are not working at all on Windows, it's only on Linux there are issues.

The only thing that currently doesn't add up on Windows are the button names, the buttons all have different ID's depending on controller so it's basically impossible to know the name of what button was pressed, once again, UNLESS you go the manual route mentioned above.

Anyway, after reading through all of this again, I don't think you told me what the actual issue was, so what didn't work for your controllers? Like were they not detected at all or just no inputs?

Also, since this reply is already gigantic, I'll just leave a snippet of my controller code here to show what I'm actually doing:

And there you have it, that's how I poll for button presses, not sure what else I could do here.

Okay so I'll start by apologizing for the length of this reply but I can't explain it any shorter I think, so sorry for the wall of text.

Ah, well I guess "gamepad_test_mapping" has to be a "new" function (new as in GMS2, I was using GMS 1.4 for the majority of making this game) since I don't think I've seen that one before.

So in theory I could do what you asked but it would require me to rewrite my controller support code which I'm not sure I want to do.

And even if I did, this only potentially solves the problem for a number of controllers since every single controller is different.

This right here in the GML manual:

"however due to the huge number of controller types and brands out there, it is impossible to map the GML constants to the correct inputs for every make and model"

And the issue you talk about is similar to that in which I have to manually add every single controller to a list and detect which one it is, which simply isn't feasible to me.

I know you only asked for a couple of controllers to be fixed this way but if I start doing a few then I have to do others you know (and rewrite my controller support as mentioned) and I'm not sure I'm up for that, depends on how big of a problem it is later.

And regarding "InputCandy", I won't be using any external libraries for various reasons, so that won't help.

Sorry if this is not exactly the answer you wanted but it is what it is for now, I'm sure I'll work on better controller support in the future but not right now.

Hey, so I use GameMaker for creating the game and because of this I don't really have any control over what is being used for controller button mapping.

So even if I wanted to do what you suggest, I don't think I can, sorry.

And on top of this, I'm probably not going to release another update to the demo until the game is closer to done so this will unfortunately not be fixed for quite some time. (if ever, it all depends on what has changed when I update GameMaker since I currently use an older version)

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, even though I can't really do much with it.

Hey, progress is happening, hopefully there will soon be some newer content in future devlogs for example.

And yes, the game will be on Steam at some point and if I'm honest, I probably should have put it up there a long time ago.

Anyway, I'm glad you like the game. :)

Hey, thanks for the offer but unfortunately I'm not looking for any publisher right now, sorry.

Hey, sorry for the very late reply..

I've had to deal with some personal stuff for a couple of months, basically since the new year, and there were not a lot of progress during that time.

But right now, progress is happening and there should be a new devlog out soon.

And for when to expect a final release, same as always, I have no release date and can only say: it's done when it's done.

Yeah I use Aseprite too, the problem is that importing sprites into GM is such a hassle.

Hey, thanks for the comment on the game / shaders, I try to do my best.

Yeah, I know you can import sprites and I'm already using Aseprite for all the graphics.

Problem is that I'm already using sprite sheets in Aseprite and importing parts of an image is so annoying in the GM sprite editor, like the copy/paste thing for example. (which apparently is being 'fixed' in a new release)

I don't know how to explain it really, I just do not like anything related to the GM UI, it just all feels so bad to use..

So I try to avoid using it as much as possible and if there was a 'code only' version of GM, I'd likely be using that.

Anyway, the sprite editor is basically dead to me right now as I'm going all in on my own sprite system, which is better in the long run since I can use it for future projects as well and never have to deal with GM sprites again.

Hey, sorry for the late reply, thanks for trying the game.

Ah well, I will likely not fix that bug since this is a jam game and I always just leave them as is after the jam is over.
Pretty sure it doesn't happen every time since I beat all the levels before releasing the game so it has to be some sort of edge case.

Either way, it is what it is, thanks again for playing. :)

Hey, thanks for trying the demo, glad to hear the lighting works out well.

There probably won't be any real jump scares or the like in the final game, well I guess it depends on what someone defines as a "jump scare" but yeah.

As for reading about the creatures, story and such:

I'm pretty much only focusing on trying to do some "environmental story telling" so there probably won't be too much reading in the game. (apart from item popups and a few exceptions)

Hey, sorry for the very late reply.. I'm using GameMaker Studio 2.

Yeah, I don't really know how to solve that problem.

Heavily considering adding a beep that beeps faster depending on oxygen level, but we all know how people feel about beeps.
There's already a beep in the game right now but it's very subtle, I'm talking *almost* a "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" low health situation for the new beep.

And there's also the fact that oxygen has not really been implemented how I want it yet, so expect there to be less oxygen drain overall and more specific rooms with heavy oxygen drain in the future.
Except for the no-suit part of the game, that will probably not change that much.

Okay well then I misunderstood what happened, and yeah if you can shoot then you're not softlocked, at least I don't see how it could happen.

So the door right beside the helmet locks when going outside?
If that is the case then that is not supposed to happen, you should be able to go back in as long as you haven't fallen down the room with the sentry enemies, because then you wouldn't be able to jump back up.
The hint here is supposed to be that the screen goes all, I don't know "smokey", and you start taking damage indicating that this is not what you're supposed to do.
And then I'm hoping that the player would "instinctively" run back, but if the door is locked, then.. you know, that doesn't work too well. ;)

I could make the helmet required before leaving the room but I think this way is more fun, because if you just run past it / miss it or whatever, then you have to think a little bit extra.
And sure, the player could think there's a softlock there or that the game is broken or whatever but to be honest, with the way I'm making the game, if this "barrier" can't be broken then there's not much hope of the player getting much further anyway.

But if the door locks as you said, then that is incorrect and will be fixed.
Oh and I just realized you might mean the left door in the room with the helmet?
If so, that door is supposed to be locked and does not prevent the player from anything, it's the left door in the room right after the helmet I'm talking about.

And for the Super Metroid way of doing things, this is exactly what I'm trying to do, except a tiny bit different depending on what item it is.
Like what we're talking about here for example:
You can leave the room without the helmet, but you can't get very far and you can return back (if you haven't fallen down the sentinel room, this is something I probably will change so you can go back), assuming the door isn't locked that is, which it shouldn't be.

Sorry for the reply getting way too long but I'm just trying to explain what is supposed to happen here.

Hey, thanks. ^^

I'll put the Ubuntu 22.04 fix on the list in case it's ever needed.

Is this on the current new demo?
Surviving all the way through when running past the helmet is not supposed to be possible, so if it is then something has changed.
But on the other hand, if everything works fine even when skipping the helmet, then maybe I'll just leave it in as an additional harder way to get through that section.

And the demo does not end after getting the red suit, assuming everything works because of the helmet thing, if you can shoot then I think it's fine.

Anyway, let me know if I'm right or wrong on any of these points.

Hey, thanks, glad you like it.

Nice to know it runs on the Steam Deck as well, I'd test it myself if I had one but I don't so, yeah.. :)

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.

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.

So there are multiple reasons why I don't want to do early access on Steam:

1. Once I release the game on early access then that's it, the entire game is now spoiled on youtube.

I'd rather leave that part until the game is finished and fully released, because spoiling the entire game on youtube is of course inevitable.

2. Releasing as early access means I'm going to release the game in an unfinished state, which is something I don't want to do, I want it to be as finished as possible before release, I'd of course have to fix bugs etc after release though.

3. I'm not really a fan of early access since it has not been getting the best reputation since it came out.

There were quite a number of games that used this in ways that were not intended, at least at first, I'm not 100% sure how it is nowadays.

So yeah, there you have a few reasons, I could probably think of a few more but right now that's all I got.

Hey, yeah, we'll see what happens, hopefully things go for the better.

The only concern right now is finding ways to make enough money for rent/food so I don't constantly drain my savings, so hopefully my side project / asset ideas work out.

Hey, thanks for the information, I already know quite a bit about streaming though (in terms of encoding/upload at least) so this isn't exactly news for me.

My internet is going to be 100/100 since it was the lowest and cheapest they offered, so the internet situation shouldn't be a problem unless they decide to throttle or simply don't give me the speed they said they would, but that's usually not something that happens in Sweden as far as I'm aware.

And I'll likely be going for 1080p 60FPS if everything works out.

Hey, glad you found it fun. ^^

Yeah, it would definitely benefit from having a map.. there's many other issues with this but since it was made for a game jam there's bound to be.

And I used GameMaker Studio 1.4 to make this.

Hey, I'm sorry but I don't think I really feel like giving out the full source code for this, it was written super quickly since this game was made for a game jam and as such is not of very high quality, besides, I'm sure there's better things out there like tutorials which are specifically dedicated to this sort of game.

Thanks, and yes, using appdata for storage is annoying to me as well.

I would have done this sooner but it was not possible in GMS1.4 without using extensions.. However, now that the game has been ported to GMS2 it is possible so it has been done. ;)

If I ever get my hands on a Steam Deck then I would start testing on it but as of now I can't really say as I don't know if it would work or not.

The game will be available on Steam when released though, not sure how much that helps in this aspect.

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. :)

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.

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.

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. :)

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. :)

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. ^^