SonicGDK 1.30.000

They're already in 2D. :specialed:

 

Is there currently a way to stop and start MusicInfo from playing? Also, would it be possible to have Sonic Lost World, or Mario Galaxy style gravity.

 

It may not be ideal, but you could use the Kismet 'Start Music Track' node, which would allow you to start and stop tracks. Down side to this though is when you get a life / invincibility, it restarts the track instead of continuing play like it normally would.

 

I would only need it for a boss area, but I've tried that "Start Music Track", and it didn't seem to work. I'll try it again in a bit. I'm planning on a stage with different phase. Each phase plays a different music.

 

yes its possible, I made a request for it already for AXSX, a lot of time and planning went went into this feature and related features (8 years worth of time between 2 game engines) and im not really comfortable in letting Xak share that source code.
However, there is a gravity power up you can look into using and modifying the code to make it work like Galaxy.

P.S. That Gravity shown in the Galaxy link looks pretty bad ass. Even more so than the AXSX System!

 

I use it for a boss area, and after the boss is defeated, it plays the standard stage's music. Here is a shot of how I'v done it. The sensor actor starts the boss fight, starts the music, makes the invisible walls etc. When the boss is defeated, a small matinee sequence plays with a few explosions, which then starts the stage's intro loop, which then plays the standard loop. It also stops the boss music.

 

Ah, interesting, but the thing is, my sound has a intro and loop, and while I could do that using the start music track, the boss/stage would play different phase of music depending on the phase of stage or boss.

 

You may want to experiment with the 'Attach to event' node then. I think that might be a solution.

When a new phase begins, have it attach to a new event (with it's own 'Start music track' nodes) which should override your old kismet nodes. (So the previous phase music shouldn't play anymore). I don't know if this would actually work or not though, I would be interested to know if you do try it and it works.

 

I know of the magnetic shoes power up, but it just lets you walk on walls and such. The method I would want is to have be a trigger instead of a limited power-up (even though I'm sure I can changed the time) and honestly, I don't know enough uscript and trig to pull something off like that. But it's nice to know something like this can be done.

 

That link you provided seems to have some Unrealscript examples in there of how to do the gravity stuff. Even far more advanced than what AXSX uses currently in some ways.
Maybe Xak may be interested in attempting to add that code to SGDK.. although I have a feeling if he were to do it than some other things may break or need total reworking like Sonic's physics to accommodate the new gravity system.
Also there is a huge problem that the gravity system may introduce which is related to collision with walls that are ceilings for example. AXSX suffers from these because of some limitations with in UDK collision system sadly.
I'll post this private video here for your enjoyment. ( AXSX collision system was changed a little to accommodate the level rotations from that of Sonic GDK's)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg7691HRwqQ
With the collision errors shown in the video imagine trying to jump up on a platform to have Sonic act as if he is hitting his head on a cealing which will send him to the ground canceling out the jump.


Edit: collision issues within the video!

1: Sonic Acts as if he is hitting his head on a ceiling when jumping next to a wall.
2: Sonic can't walk over steps smoothly when moving slow.
3: When walking around in an area with a low ceiling and walking near a wall sonic gets pushed into the ground. (He can not walk up a step to the this area) (The area is higher than sonic's collision Cylinder)
4: Level rotation collision is pretty funked up when jumping next to walls , effecting his jump height, jump speed and also getting stuck in the floor when landing.
5: Steps do not work on level rotation sections unless sonic is on the ground floor.

Also note:
That the second portion of the video with world rotations did not capture very well. it seems running fraps kind of fixed the wall collision issues (Somewhat) for some reason.
They are still noticeable though.

Edit again:If we could just rotate Collision cylinder when sonic rotates the issues would be fixed. (But noooooo way thanks to the lack of UDK source code)
Also if you want world rotations without these glitches I suggest starting or finding another game engine besides udk! ( im so deep into the current project that its to late for me to change engines again, although there are no alternative setups equal to SGDK with its features)
To be honest Xak has done a lot more with UDK than one would think possible with his Sonic GDK. He's one hell of a Genus programmer when it comes to the tangled web of unrealscript!

I've even attempted getting the collision issue fixed as a payed job for 500 dollars over on the udk forums at one point. So far 2 guys have attempted to fix it without any success.. and I still had to pay them something for taking a look .. I'm not a happy camper!

 

I've rarely had that issue, but when I did, it was mostly did to resizing Per Poly Collision meshes.

 

I don't even do any kind of resizing of collision mesh, everything is modeled at final size and reset x-formed in max.
My biggest issue is the second part of the video with jump height being extended and slowed down when jumping near walls , may have something to do with the collision cylinder's top and bottom becoming the sides when Sonic is rotated.

 

Hey Andrew, feel free to do some more bug reports with AXSX sneekpeaks :3.

In the second part, the one where the jump changes height, maybe it could be a glitch due the gravity gameplay. Like, somehow, when Sonic is colliding with the wall, the gravity is detecting for a fraction of second that wall being in fact a floor and adding a few inches on the jump (just a wild guess, please ignore if this doesn't make sense at all).

 

That's all of the bugs that are left with the gameplay system for AXSX that I'm aware of.
Me and Xak have known about these bugs for well over a year now. but there seems to be nothing that can be done about them. ( errr-- or so it seems)
Also on another note: There are some nice new features coming for destructible objects, kismet nods and star bumpers related to score... ( oops maybe I talk to much)

Edit: Actually there are a few other minor issues that remain like crushing blocks do not kill when moving upwards.
I had to do a workaround for this by adding an invisible crushing block in the ceiling that came down to crush sonic when the one he is standing on moves up to the ceiling. ( I don't think Xak will be fixing this issue)
Another issue lies with badnicks! When sonic gets hurt by badnicks, he becomes invincible for a few moments (which is normal) but the issue is that sonic can still touch badnicks and even bounce off or walk on their backs when falling.
This does not really bother me too much in a 3D sonic game like adventure. But In areas where Sonic is in a 2D play mode it gets in the way! ( For example in my GHZ 2.5D its easy to get hit by a buzz bomber's bullet which bounces Sonic back into the enemy which bounces him again)
(The buzz bomber bounce issue was resalved with a workaround of some sort. cant remember what it was though.) although the issue remains the same for ground based enemies.

There were a lot of other bug fixes and or improvements that had been implemented in the past few years using Classic GDK (variation of SGDK used for CD remix and GHZ 2.5D) and Xtreme GDK as a sort of bug hunt tool, Almost all the improvements were passed to Sonic GDK .
At one point there were so many issues or feature requests that I had to make huge lists to keep track of everything that needed to be done. That list is very small now. Although every few weeks or so new bug fix or feature requests are added to the list. Xak is usually infuriated at seeing updates to the Doom Lists.
Most of what remains on the the AXSX list is related to sprite animation stuff that's being handled by a paid programmer.
I'm sure if I started working on another 2.5D level or something Xak's Nightmare list would grow quit a bit with new level Gimick feature requests. But yeah there isn't much left to fix for the main gameplay engine itself.

 

A live stream I did on Youtube showing the new Proof of concept Block system that I'm working on to build levels modularly inside UDK without modeling skill requirements .
Materials are also modular in that you can resize them over multiple models seamlessly on X,Y, and Z ( diffuse, specular, and normal maps can be changed independently along with texture colors)
The idea behind this is being able to build levels in similar fashion to how levels in the classic games are built. you'll be able to build loops ramps and other complex level chunks out of the smaller blocks than clone them in clusters around the level. ( all without screwing with UV unwrapping.)
As it stands there are about 4000 block shapes done. It's taken a very long time to plan out all the base configurations needed. In the video I'm showing Block Pack A which are very basic ramp shapes For my Sonic Xtreme project. ( new blocks will be made later replicating the Classic Genesis game blocks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETAoG9fNGNc

 

As somebody who has no modelling skills, this is very interesting. I love it.

 

Not sure when I'll be releasing this, its going to take some time to finish up.
Also to note each block has been UV unwrapped for lightmaps which was a real pain, because UDK's lightmap feature really sucks so bad.
I got it working to the point that I was happy, but man what a nightmare! ( 4000 Blocks unwrapped twice ! Fuck my life ! )

Check out the lightmap thread I started over here!
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/976074-I-hate-UDK-lightmaps!

 

This is great Andrew, gonna love this!