[Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Topics on software tools like TileStudio, comments on documentation and tutorials (or the lack of) should go here.
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nicksen782
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[Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by nicksen782 »

Hi everyone!

I would like to create a set of guides/tutorials for creating Uzebox games. I currently have a 5-section guide in my mind that I could like to create. I have already created 2 of them and will be placing them on the wiki. I also really like the idea of using Youtube to illustrate the process as well although the guide itself will be my priority.

Technically, I am new to Uzebox and am writing up this guide as I learn the concepts myself. Please take a look at what I have written so far on the wiki. If you have any suggestions for changes/corrections I will take them happily.

I would like a better understanding of manipulating the Makefile for videomode changes. I also would like a better understanding of how vertical and horizontal scrolling works. I'll be putting that info into a guide too.

Link to the wiki page:
http://uzebox.org/wiki/index.php?title= ... s_And_Such

UPDATES: 2014-02-10: Tutorial 1 and 2 are completed.
UPDATES: 2014-03-16: Tutorial 3 is done. Please provide input if you have suggestions.
UPDATES: 2014-03-16: Tutorial 4 is done. It covers navigation in the video game world.
UPDATES: 2014-03-16: Tutorial 5 has been started. It concerns usage of the SD card in games. I still need to finish my inc2bin tool for this tutorial.
Last edited by nicksen782 on Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
shockdesign
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by shockdesign »

Thanks, I want to get a grasp on development on this platform, so will be following this. Will give you whatever feedback I can offer.
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by D3thAdd3r »

This is well done so far keep it going :)
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nicksen782
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by nicksen782 »

Thank you!

I have created the first two guides and put them on the wiki. Here are the direct links:

Main Wiki Page:
http://uzebox.org/wiki/index.php?title= ... s_And_Such

Individual Guides:
http://uzebox.org/wiki/index.php?title= ... zebox_Game
http://uzebox.org/wiki/index.php?title= ... First_Game

Progress report:
The first tutorial is mostly just information. Is it all accurate and should I add something else?
The second tutorial is completed. Uze said that I should use a different tilesheet for sprites which I'm going to do in the future sections of the tutorials. The whole goal of these first two was to get something on the screen. I'm currently working on Tutorial 3: Gamepad Controls and Sprite Manipulation. I'll put a full link up on the page when it is ready.

I really would like to make sure that the info is solid so I appreciate all comments here on this forum topic.

Oh, and any idea why there is that white block on the right and bottom of the last image? I figure it is because my background map isn't wide enough but when I tried to change the dimensions in the gconvert convert.xml file it wouldn't let me.
** EDIT ** I was trying to specify a map larger than what I actually had in my image file. I made that portion of the image larger and the problem resolved itself.
hpglow
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by hpglow »

There is a lot there. Good stuff I cant wait till I have time to read the whole thing.
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nicksen782
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by nicksen782 »

hpglow wrote:There is a lot there. Good stuff I cant wait till I have time to read the whole thing.
Certainly!

I'm not entirely sure that I am handling sprites right. They don't appear on the screen.

I think I should use different files for the sprites and tiles. I'm not sure how to handle that in gconvert other than having two convert.xml files where one is for background tiles and one is for sprites.
** FIGURED IT OUT ** My makefile had no kernel_options for sprites. Sprites themselves weren't turned on! Ha! I hope that helps someone!

... I also now have two gconvert convert.xml files. I script it in a batch file so it is still very quick. This seems like the best way with the separation. I will probably need to re-write portions of the tutorial. Oh well.

I really need to understand the makefile better.
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nicksen782
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by nicksen782 »

Tutorial 3 and 4 are up!

Please feel free to offer suggestions on edits here.
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uze6666
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by uze6666 »

Great! I'll give it a look tonight.
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by uze6666 »

Great write up and nice code example, congrats! Just wondering, you seems to be storing screens as 32x22 tiles. Screens are really made of 2x2 "supertiles"...why not store the maps as a smaller 16x22 then? That would be just 176 bytes per map. Though you'd then need a supertile set. I guess it's just more simpler with the SD card eh? :)
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nicksen782
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Re: [Project] Uzebox Tutorials and Such

Post by nicksen782 »

Great write up and nice code example, congrats! Just wondering, you seems to be storing screens as 32x22 tiles. Screens are really made of 2x2 "supertiles"...why not store the maps as a smaller 16x22 then? That would be just 176 bytes per map. Though you'd then need a supertile set. I guess it's just more simpler with the SD card eh? :)
I know that the original game had 2x2 setups like that. Honestly, if maps could be just 176 then I would want to load up the north, south, east, west maps at every screen load. (Speed? or maybe I could just grab other data as well?) 4 directions, 176*4 = 704.

Yeah, the SD card is awesome but it doesn't solve all my problems. I still need to figure out the multiple tilesets solution.

... How could I do what you just proposed? That sounds good actually.
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