This is 1/2 a reply to the topic BELOW on using WinAmp for MP3 decoding, and 1/2 my own schpiel on Verge.

The new windows-based stuff (both the "official" release and tsB's release--geez, are they ever going to merge into one again?) seems to be moving in the right direction, but before we get all hot and bothered over MP3/AVI/MPG support and all that crap, let's iron out the problems that already exist.

Like... Why the HELL does WinMapEd's tile editor anti-alias/ultra-blur my damn tiles??!? Honestly, how is someone supposed to edit tiles when the pixel they're laying down is a big blurry circular thing? It's a mess!

Sorry if that was harsh. That's my biggest complaint for WinVerge.

I'd really like to see some better EDITING TOOLS created/implemented now. I mean, the engine's pretty good. We've got free movement, for example, and hi-res, hi-color. What else do you want short of full 3d? (NOT a suggestion, BTW.)

So let's stick with the good stuff we have and refine the editing tools. How about a really nice WinACE? I mean, I've seen character editors come and go, and some were good, but nothing has ever compared to ACE for ease of use.

And I think a nice addition to MapEd would be a thingy that lets you place multiple tiles at a time. Think of them as "objects." You make a 3x2 tile table, and place the whole thing at once as an object. The tiles would be linked and everything. Eh?

Also, a visual scripting interface (wow, this one's asking a lot, I think) would be cool, so we could slap together all our nifty events without actually hard-coding them. I'm thinking (analogy approaching) the way FrontPage is to HTML, y'know?

With really good, powerful, stable, and easy-to-use editing tools, we might see better games coming out more often (or even crappy games more often, for that matter :)

Just my 3 cents.

--Invicticide

P.S. AVI/MPG would kick ass unless someone can tell me how to create/use FLI/FLC whatever the hell it is.

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I think those are all good suggestions, even though they really amount to "make better editing tools."

The visual scripting interface like Frontpage, or WYSIWYG...that makes my mind BOGGLE. I'm sure there is a good reason for that, maybe tSB could explain. But I'm pretty sure it should make the mind BOOGLE.

What I really think should happen is VEW2 should incorporate all tools and be packaged with Verge in the "Newbie Pack" and in fact be called Verge so newbies wouldn't think they had to run verge.exe to "start it up." Of course, since it could get cumbersome, engine files should be availible seperately so you don't have to download the whole thing again.

That way newbies will have a place to script and a place to make graphics [with tSB's ubertool]. Also, right next to the newbie pack should be tSB's Sully Pi or Zara's EZV2. That way you can a lot of games with a similar feel, like those for RPG Maker 95 but also a few good and unique games like those currently under production.

Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and the filthy air! *Poof*

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Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks--those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest.

It's a bit easier to inflate a game with TONS of mp3s even though there are many acceptable musicfile alternatives, than it is to inflate a game with mpgs of which there is no alternative.

Many people couldn't/wouldn't make mpgs for their game. But cinema scenes are very popular and a standard for video games. I wouldn't discount them altogether because of a large size. Mp3s on the other hand aren't needed in most cases. I'm sure they CAN be implemented and it wouldn't be too bad, but I'm also sure that they never will because there will be more important things to do.

So, in conclusion, I'm not slamming mp3 integration, but it is generally seen as unnecessary by verge's users. And there are larger fish to fry.

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Although I see more potential in MP3s, MPEG support would be interesting. The FLIC format isn't worth much since it doesn't have an audio component, and MPEG support does open some interesting possibilities. Plus, thinking to the future, with high bandwidth connections becoming more widely availible, (not that I have one, live in the middle of nowhere) or perhaps even VERGE games distributed on CD (for the cost of duplication and shipping. Everyone has a CD burner now) very large scale VERGE games may someday be a reality.

Also, it would be possible to make availible large and small versions of a game. Either you download all the MP3s/MPEGs, or you download the version that just has "dummy" versions of the files so the engine doesn't choke.

-Devon

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--- Square's making money. We're making art.

I realized a tiny little problem just suddenly (but I think I caught it before it's _way_ too late):

Up till now I've been sticking with v2.6 for all my stuff. A friend and I have this big plan for a really cool RPG (yes it's one of those huge-scale things we're not apt to finish, but hey, what the hell, we're in high school and we've got a summer to kill!)

So I went and wrote a nice, clean, modular "window" system (lets me script up menus, etc. _really_ easy, and is quite flexible!) in VergeC.

Now your new Verge stuff is sounding really great and all those bugs will no doubt be ironed out in a month or two, and I'll be sorely tempted...

But I'll have to convert my code to Python! Aargh!

So is VergeC _easy_ to convert, or should I just start over? It's not like I've done _a_lot_ but still, y'know....

Anyway, if anyone's interested in my window system I might pack it up as a nice little add-on with some instructions, function lists, examples, and crap like that. Let me know, I'll consider.

Yeah, I'm kinda tired so I might be making little sense. I'm gonna watch Atlantis tonight (yes, a day before it's released... hehehe!) but don't know if I'll stay awake :)

--Invicticide

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Release it. It'll help the community out and I'll even convert it into Python for you if you want :P

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