Ghost ghost data? What an interesting bug. =P Anyway, this is looking good as always Hez, I'm eagerly awaiting this. =3
If you haven't already, you should set up an auto-update system for it. That way you can keep actively fixing it, and maybe do more interesting stuff later like new levels?
I could write something, if you so wish. That is, if you have somewhere that can handle the bandwidth etc.
MMF2 could handle it. You'd need to make a launcher program though. You'd have the launcher program connect to wherever you would keep your updates and download any new files, overwriting old ones. The launcher program could then launch the actual game. As a bonus, you could keep certain game options in an ini file (like starting fullscreen/windowed, etc) that the launcher program could allow the player to edit beforehand ala SADX. I'm pretty sure that this is trivial to do as long as you have the right extensions.
But never launchers that automatically download stuff through the internet. The concept of any other type of launcher is pretty simple. The launcher program modifies an INI file full of settings, and the actual game program has one frame at the beginning that looks at those settings and applies them accordingly before moving on to the rest of the game. I'm sure Hez knows that. There are MMF2 extensions that let you download stuff through the internet. I know MMF1.5 had an FTP object that let you upload and download, but that involves giving it your FTP password and that always seemed kind of sketchy to me. My copy of MMF2 has the "Download Object", where you feed it an HTTP address and a destination and it transfers it from there. If it was me and I had stable webspace for this kind of thing, I'd do it by: - Keeping version data in a local text file ("localversion.ini") - Upon opening the launcher, downloading another text file for the version on the server ("serverversion.ini") These INI files contain version numbers for every individual file included with the game. MMF2 then checks local file versions with server file versions and if the local file is of a lower number than the server file, it deletes the old one (with the file object) and downloads the new one in its place.
I was going to suggest something almost exactly like this until I scrolled down and saw I was beaten to it. If you need hands-on help Hez, I'd be more than willing.
if you can make a working .mfa example, I'm sure I would be able to work something out. I also have someone working on an updater from scratch as soon as I get him a beta. On that note, don't expect updates this weekend, as you know...its drink time for me.
I really don't mean to be offending or trolling but man, you've been claiming to have the game in its final build many times for the last weeks and you always ended up adding something else in the end, thus delaying its release. I really respect your work and your efforts but please, make sure to tease us about the game being completed when it'll be actually complete. Take your time man to make sure everything's perfect, don't be so hasty on the teasing, it's getting kinda frustrating after a while ^^'
He's claimed specific release dates, which kind of sucks when they go by and nothing happens. I'm glad that he cares so much about this project that he goes back and fixes things to ensure they're top-notch, but at this point I'd rather not get excited for nothing. I have no problem with waiting until its up to his standards, but I'd prefer that release times that aren't going to happen not be said until its 100% going to happen.
My thoughts are this nothing is ever 100% till it happens. I've never heard him say anything more than "maybe this weekend" or whatever. Its dumb as hell people ask and ask for specifics. Then when creators give in and do start getting specific and they end up being wrong and everyone criticizes them for it. There should be a rule criticizing people for release date misses because its ridiculous and there's no winning, someone is always pissed off. That's why I don't show more of my game because then people just nag nag nag.
