HereComesTom

I can't be the only one who's obsessed with books

Game Maker Studio has recently switched to a subscription model. I'm currently working with an outdated 1.4.9999 version and from time to time I've been considering upgrading to GMS2 at some point. There used to be perpetual licences, which are no longer available for purchase.

With the newly introduced subscription model, now I'm sure, that if I'll ever want to switch the environment, I'll choose an another engine (was thinking of Unity or something), because screw subscriptions.

They call it "New, More Affordable Pricing For Sharing and Publishing Games", but whether it is actually more affordable depends solely on the aimed use of the engine. For someone who develops commercial games it sure is a great improvement. With a single not-so-expensive subscription one can release the game for many platforms, which previously would cost tons and tons of money for multiple licences. However, for a hobbyist like me who develops free games for desktop, the cost of about 10 months of subscription would surpass the price of previously perpetual licence. I use GMS for 3 or 4 years now, so if I had the subscription instead, it would cost me way more!

In general I despise the subscription model. It always gives that feeling, that if you're not using the software you subscribed for, you're simply wasting money. Take Photoshop for example. I rarely do art, so it would be plain stupid to pay for it for my needs. Such subscription models are targeted towards dedicated users who are sure they'll squeeze a good use out of these subscriptions. This would only make me feel bad for whatever I'd be doing, that is unrelated to the usage of subscribed software. It's nothing but an extra thing to worry about, having to be bothered by timing and all that. I love to just own the right to use the software without having to worry about anything.

So, unless I'll somehow make a game, that people would be willing to pay for, and perhaps play on multiple platforms, I'll stay away from the newer versions of GMS.  Thankfully it doesn't affect my perpetual licence for the current version I'm working with, so my projects are safe.

Australia is so cold at this time of year.

Oh and good morning.

In your face covid I SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAA HUHUHUHUHUHUUHUHUHUHUHUH 

yay I got up and google assistant sung a happy birthday when I asked her to turn things on, how nice.  It's so convenient to have her. 

Also thanks again @Windy Breeze for the artwork!  It was about time to change avatar. 

One thing's for sure: I can always count on my friends on the MLP Forums to make me smile  ^^ 

Two days of cleaning, moving stuff around, assembling the desk, placing stuff back and struggling with cable management - finally I can access my PC and enjoy having mooooore space!! The cable management is still pretty poo poo, but for sure it's better than the science I had on the previous desk. 

Now I'll be able to fit more than one monitor lol and I'm planning to order one soon. Working on games on a single monitor was such a pain. Programming alone easily covers the entire screen and would easily cover even more if I had that space. And there's also working on music/sound/graphics and managing files in meanwhile.. so much of switching between windows. 2 monitors still won't be enough tbh, but will suffice for now.

Yeah, yeah, funny story with the headphone stand. 

Good morning, I've not gone to sleep yet.

LOLOLOLOLOL

It's nearly 3:00AM

Tomorrow-- or since it's 4AM, today's morning my new desk should arrive. Finally I'll have more space on my desk, because my current one is small and clogged.

...and as always, I'm a bit anxious whenever I await couriers. It would be great to know the exact hour they'll try to deliver it, instead of me being worried they'll arrive when I'll be sleeping or something. I also hope the package won't be damaged or something, because that would suk the most. 

Hmmmmmmm 

I have a lot more Rarity art that I found and I can’t show it.

I have a lot more Rarity art that I found and I can’t show it.

Good afternoon

The pony game is almost ready to have its prototype released. I've patched all bugs I was aware of (mainly collision systems again lmao), added tons of minor things that prevent players from doing wonky things, like assigning odd keys in input configuration. The thing is, that there are key hints and stuff here and there, and not all places are designed to expect longer keys to be displayed. For example, in the pause menu there are "<A" and "S>" key hints for switching tabs in the upper right corner, and while it wasn't a disaster, it wasn't looking perfect when one has thrown "<SPACE" in it, for example. Besides, who in Equestria would put such keys for these functions anyway. So, I've limited the options to the main keys, that make more sense. Trying to assign odd keys will make the game go brrr.

Speaking of wonky things, I just noticed the help description mentions "Tab" being the hardcoded additional key for tab switching (when hovering over "Previous" or "Next" key). Well, it's no longer relevant, given the "Tab" key is one of the available keys to assign, which will result in potential conflicts. Gotta update that.

So yeah, pretty much these minor derps is what I want to polish / get rid of. Some settings in the options aren't functional yet, like "Device" currently doesn't allow to select anything else besides "Keyboard", for example, but now this is what it is, there's currently no controller support. Deal with it 

I've also did many more polishing all over the place. While stuff worked, I kinda went with cheap temporary design, but now that I actually aim to release it, it's about time to finish these features I procrastinated on, just to avoid having minor inconveniences reported by potential players.

An example would be the level up popup.

Initially, when one gained 10 levels at once, it was popping in and out, displaying stat increases separately for each level. Like it was "level 1>2", then "2>3", then "3>4" and that could take ages... if a moron like me used debug cheats for lvl up  It probably isn't something a normal player will see, but just in case, I made it work as I initially planned it to work, where the level ups are stacked, so that it can just display "level 1>10" once instead.

So... as far as I can tell, the game works. Played 30 minutes and nothing crashed lmao. I think it's ready to be released for science, but since for now it's more of a prototype with not much of content, I also wanted to at least add a lil secret, that maybe could generate some playtime for cheap.  Oooooh I nearly forgot to add VSYNC options! Gotta remember about this.

Everything would be ready today if not the paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain! It's so hard to focus!  Been constantly taking breaks to cri in misery and eat lots of painkillers that dun work. 

Welp, it's time to try going to sleep... Luna have mercy and put me quickly to sleep pls.

Goodnight everyone! 

Everything seemed to calm down and now week later the pain came back and painkillers no longer work. I wonder if I'll be able to go to sleep today... FUF! 

Who the hay designed humans? I demand bugfixes! 

Everything seemed to calm down and now week later the pain came back and painkillers no longer work. I wonder if I'll be able to go to sleep today... FUF! 

Who the hay designed humans? I demand bugfixes! 

Finally got that new phone; a black iPhone SE  . Just like my 7 except newer software and more memory  . It is basically an 8.

Oh yeah I'm definitely getting a new phone now.

Battery is crap, the socket is crap which is vital for a crappy battery, the total cost of repair is $140+. Its degraded. I can't even use it right now because it won't charge and the battery dies so quickly at the same time.

Hey guys  ^^ sorry I havent posted anything in the last couple of days. with the current situation in New South Wales, there's not much you can do. 

*sighs* Okay, I just wanna get this out of the way as quickly as possible. I know this is probably the last you wanna hear is me talking bout the virus, but this is starting to get on my nerves.

A few weeks ago, there was a MASSIVE protest in New South Wales AND in Victoria, and the people of NSW / VIC have the right to be angry. If anything, I’m just as frustrated as they are. I feel their pain. We don’t want to be in lock-down. I blame the international flights and the vaccine rollout. They are the reasons WHY we have COVID in New South Wales and it has spread across the other states of Australia. What they NEED to do is they need to STOP THE PLANES FOR A MONTH and approve EVERY vaccine that is available and get it into the country. Oh, and make it available to EVERYONE. It’s the ONLY way you’re going to get results and more importantly, get everyone vaccinated. There’s a VERY good reason why the vast amount of the Australian population is un-vaccinated: All we have is Phizer and AstraZeneca. Unfortunately, they are in short supply of the Phizer, which is the only GOOD vaccine we have, and they want all of us to take the AstraZeneca Vaccine cuz it's the only vaccine available and subject ourselves to blood-clotting. That’s f*cking stupid. Health experts? Health experts my arse. Honestly, I’m disgusted with the way they’ve handled the vaccine rollout. the rest of the world has rejected the AstraZeneca vaccine. The good news is the AstraZeneca Vaccine will be phased out in September / October. At this point, the people that are stranded overseas are irrelevant. (Makes me wonder why they left the country in the first place, especially at a time like this!?)

What they need to do is simple: NO flights for a month. Once the numbers start to go down, THEN you can allow them to enter the country, but only a few hundred a week. (Oh, and they have to be FULLY vaccinated and they MUST return a negative result BEFORE boarding the flight.) Every state should take their fair share and only their citizens.

Last time I checked, New South Wales had more than 3000 a week, which is ridiculous if you ask me. That should be zero!!! Honestly, I’m baffled. Yes, they’ve cut the amount of flights by 50%, but that’s not good enough. We still get around bout 1500 a week, which is way too much. From what I’ve heard, the other states get a couple of hundred / around 300 a week.

Every-time I look at the NSW Health Twitter page, there’s a few cases from overseas adding to the total number, and I tell ya what, it pisses me off. I’m sorry, but I’m at that point where I don’t care if they are Australian citizens. They are putting the rest of us in danger. They are sick and infected. It's only going to get worse. They are the main reason WHY we have COVID in New South Wales. Oh, and while you’re at it, make a single dose vaccine. That is the fastest way to get the whole population vaccinated. they’re bloody stupid, I tell ya. When everything is going well, ‘oh, lets have half price tickets for domestic flights’ and ‘oh, lets have a travel bubble with New Zealand / the UK’. This is what happened last year in December A.K.A the busiest time of the year. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOURISM AT A TIME LIKE THIS!!! 

*ahem* Sorry bout that ^^; I just wanna get out of this lock-down ASAP. 

I've been suffering from depression and boredom, and you can tell that I'm frustrated. Again, there's not much you can do when you're in lock-down. As it stands, we've been in lock-down for 7 weeks and the numbers have been going up ever since. (today, NSW recorded almost 300 cases in the community!!!)

Not only that, my birthday is under threat. they've extended the lockdown all the way til the end of August the 28th. With the current number of cases, I dont think we're gonna get out of this lockdown anytime soon. I tell ya what, it feels like a zombie apocalypse. It's too dangerous to go anywhere... 

Worst case scenario, I'll probably buy a $35 - $40 family pack from Hungry Jacks and get my dad to buy a bucket load of KFC (...and a cake) for my birthday. Better than nothing I guess...

If I was going to get a vaccine, I'd like to get a single dose vaccine. I f*cking HATE needles!!!  I dont understand WHY we have to get TWO doses of the vaccine. Yes, I understand it's to protect you from the virus. to me, that is not a proper vaccine. if you take a look at most shots, it's a single dose. I wish the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was approved. I'd take that over the other ones.  ...but hey, that's IF I had a choice. unfortunately, the only ones we have are Phizer and AstraZeneca. We'll be getting Moderna the MNRA near the end of the year, but that's not good enough. we need more!!! I need to take my mind off of this. seriously...

At this point, I'll just stay at home and wait. it's not safe to go out anywhere. Right now, we are in short supply of the Phizer Vaccine and we'll be getting more vaccines near the end of the year, so yeah, the best option for me is to wait. Once the numbers have gone back down to 0, then I'll go and get either the Phizer or the Moderna. I will not take the AstraZeneca vaccine and subject myself to blood-clotting just because they have an over-supply of the AstraZeneca. just the thought of needles makes me uncomfortable......

I'm just glad that I got this out of my head. I feel like starlight in 'All Bottled Up' 

On a more positive note, I'm happy that the next generation of My Little Pony is coming out next month and from what I've heard, it'll be rated PG, which is a bit of surprise :O I think this is the first time the show has been rated PG. (correct me if I'm wrong) So right off the bat, it'll be a lot more serious than FIM. Hopefully, it will deliver. ^^ (Honestly, I'm surprised FIM managed to get away with the tirek fight, considering how violent that was) 

...and while I'm waiting, I've got a whole list of cartoons / movies to keep me busy: 

- Transformers: Kingdom Netflix Series
- Star Wars Clone Wars 2003 Movie Volume 1 and 2
- Pokemon Movie: Raikou - The Legend Of Thunder
- Demon Slayer Anime 
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Yeah, I'm trying not to think bout it as best as I can. ANYWAYS, how are you all doing today and what have you all been up to? :3

I've added more classic Disney movies to my collection. ^^

Eh, I planned to release "literally anything" from the pony game by the end of my vacations, but it will have to wait a bit longer heh.

Today I had a rather tough day. I slept only about two hours, because I woke up in pain and had to get up to take some painkillers (I still feel bad, I'll take more painkillers before going to sleep and maybe tomorrow will be better). I kinda wonder if I won't end up having to take them everyday heh, something's going on... Nevertheless, I worked all day despite that, hoping to get something released today, but it's just not quite ready yet. I did clean & optimize tons and tons of code, I did implement various features like;

- woah Twi can actually die now, visuals for that are WIP though (coz for now twi just explodes kek)
- all spells have properly setup tiers and they can level up
- various new sounds and stuff
- ignore the "ducking" text, I keep it for collision testing and stuff

the prototype is pretty much ready to be released as the core features are covered, but I've encountered some lil bugs I'd like to fix first -- and maybe add few more minor things.

It's not like there will be anything epic to see yet, there's literally about a minute of actual content I guess. If you'd ask me, I wouldn't really recommend playing it, unless one would be curious about what's there and how the game plays. What I mostly want is to finally have something released, so that the game will start actually existing, so to speak.

This video shows pretty much everything there is atm. I'm still polishing core features, before I'll be able to put more content.
Also, all music tracks here are placeholder assets.

Now I better should go to sleep.