A few quick questions about MPAGD

[roolandoo]

Hi, a few quick questions about MPAGD:


- How can I invert the colours of a block in real time?
 (to make water or fire effects)

- What is the difference between the events "Main Loop 1" and "Main Loop 2"?


- How can I go back to the "Intro Menu" event when the game is over?


- Why do some emulators display the two brightness levels on the screen and others do not? Can I do anything to make them look on all emulators?

Thank you very much...

[Jonathan Cauldwell]

Some quick answers:

I assume you wish to alter the colours on screen in real time? The simple answer is with PUTBLOCK. If you're looking for something more sophisticated (for example changing colours of all CUSTOM blocks on a screen) that would require a small user routine.

Main Loop 1 and Main Loop 2 are called at different points in the main loop. Main Loop 1 is called just before the sprite events, Main Loop 2 is called just after.

The engine returns to BASIC so more confident developers can perform any additional routines then return back to the game with a GO TO. However I can see how it might be better to just jump back to the menu and let more experienced coders modify the engine if they wish to return to BASIC. I'll update the engine accordingly.

I thought most emulator authors picked the same RGB palettes for the colours. Are you running an emulator that supports ULAplus? ULAplus is a way of modifying the palette that is well supported now and allows games to display alternative colours on screen. You may not want to go all the way and redefine the entire 16 colour palette but it's always nice to give ULAplus users an extra colour or two, for example by modifying dark red to brown. Here's a video of a game using ULAplus:

[nra]

FLASH?

[Packobilly]

Hi.
The author achieves this effect by applying flash to the block when designing it, as nra says.

[roolandoo]

Thanks Packobilly, Yes, I know that. My problem is that I am using MPAGD and I don't know how to apply flash to a block at design time. I know that in classic AGD it is pressing "B" but not in MPAGD.

[Jonathan Cauldwell]

There's no flash in the MPAGD editors at present, it could be done but requires a little messing about editing the .AGD file and using a modified engine.

I'll take a look at adding it in the next version but if you want to release a game before then just let me know and I'll help you out.

Edit: A thought just occurred to me. You could try drawing the blocks in AGD, then importing your snapshot into MPAGD and continuing from there. You'd still need a mod to the engine but at least you wouldn't have to edit the .AGD file in Notepad

[roolandoo]

Thank you very much Jonathan Cauldwell, I think can wait for the next version of MPAGD. If all goes well, I still have several weeks of work left on my game.

[nra]

With a few exceptions (using thought position and OVER/INVERSE) the FLASH effect looks rather cheapish, so I wouldn't touch it unless as a metronome or to highlight something small yet important. So even manual attributes change is rarely makes it any better.

If it only were possible to REPLACE one BLOCK type with another, it could look like a group animation fit for 'water', 'fire', and alike.