Pre-release 3 of Rocks'n'Diamonds 4.4.0.0 available!

[Holger]

The 3rd pre-release of the upcoming new major release version 4.4.0.0 is available for testing now!

It contains the following additions and fixes:

• added support for smooth movement on conveyor belts in BD engine
• added BD default graphics for chasing rock and cracking nut
• added reading (more) scanned BD elements from BDCFF files
• added BD file format specific hacks (for things like diagonal movement)
• added support for zero delay for gravitation switch in BD engine
• changed some names and descriptions for some BD style game elements
• fixed speed of conveyor belt default animation for BD engine
• fixed various edge cases for smooth movement animation for BD engine
• fixed bug causing BD engine hanging in wrap-around scrolling edge case
• fixed bug with smooth movement speed in BD engine after wrapping around
• fixed BD elements at wrap-around cave position killing player instantly
• fixed broken scrollbar in hall of fame after playing with small graphics

Make sure to also update the BD level collection to the latest version (see the BD forum annoucement).

Now available from the download page!

[ncrecc]

in Marek Roth->Tutorial level 9 ("Teamwork"), amoeba is set to turn into an unknown element when enclosed.
relevant line, line 267, from Tutorial.bd:

Code: Select all

Effect=AMOEBADIAMONDeffect DIAMONDBIRTH0

i am using gdash-levels-0.9.3.

[ncrecc]

in Marek Roth->Tutorial level 15 ("Diego effects"), diamonds are set to turn into an unknown element when falling.
Tutorial.bd line 958:

Code: Select all

Effect=DIAMONDfallingeffect EXPLOSION0

maybe you could automate something to parse all the gdash levels and see if any of them have an element set to turn into an unknown element.

[ncrecc]

despite visually increasing the timer, clocks don't actually increase the amount of time you have to beat the level. e.g. if you make a level with 10 seconds to beat it, and place a bunch of clocks, it doesn't matter how many clocks you collect or how high the timer appears to be: you will lose after 10 seconds pass. this bug makes a lot of levels impossible if they start with a very short time limit and expect you to collect clocks to increase it.

if the clock is set to add a negative amount of time, that still works as expected and decrements time from the timer both visually and actually.

[amirnatsheh7]

OH YEAH!!!! COOL!

[ncrecc]

this is quite pedantic, but i'll mention it. if the only player element is a player in inbox (i.e. no standalone player is present), the starting timer is lower than or equal to the time penalty for crushing a voodoo doll, and a voodoo doll is crushed by a rock before the player exits the inbox, then the level acts like it's untimed. this is opposed to gdash, where you lose if a time penalty brings the time to 0 or less even if it happens before the player exits the inbox. (this may be an untintentional reuslt of adding support for untimed levels.)

[ncrecc]

flying rocks and butterflies don't handle the player moving diagonally well with smooth movement on:

bd_diags.gif (170.76 KiB) Viewed 13160 times

[ncrecc]

if you snap at something just before it turns into an explosion, then it looks like you walk into the explosion (but you don't)

bd_explosion_snap.gif (18.18 KiB) Viewed 13159 times

in this case i snapped at just the right time to collect the diamond

[ncrecc]

you can do the "pushing" animation while stirring a pot, even though you can't actually push anything

bd_push_in_pot.gif (22.96 KiB) Viewed 13143 times

[ncrecc]

two sound effect bugs:

• if you snap diagonally while you have a rocket launcher (assuming diagonal movement is turned on for this level), then the "rocket fired" sound effect will occur even though snapping diagonally doesn't fire a rocket
• if you're at the top border and get crushed by a rock from the bottom border, no explosion sound effect will play. same if you're at the bottom border and get crushed by a flying rock from the top border.

[ncrecc]

smooth movement doesn't apply to bladders bubbles moving perpendicular when you push them against a solid tile

bd_bubble_push.gif (72.58 KiB) Viewed 13137 times

[ncrecc]

some elements currently have no editor description except their name; here's some suggestions:

nitro pack:

this vial of nitroglycerin can be pushed around and will fall like a rock, but if it lands on something other than sand, it will cause a 3x3 explosion like a firefly.

glued diamond:

looks like a diamond, but you can't collect it, and it never falls.

glued sand:

looks like sand, but you can't dig it away.

glued rock:

a rock that never falls and cannot be pushed.

glued player:

this player doesn't get to move or even snap. they can still be killed by falling objects or enemies.

time penalty:

whenever this is spawned into the level by any means, your remaining time to get to the exit goes down. the "gravestone" tile can be used as a purely visual version of this.

(also, i would recommend having the voodoo doll's "time penalty if destroyed" property also be visible on the "time penalty" element (but under a different name) since changing that property changes how much time a time penalty deducts when it's spawned into the level.)

lastly, waiting rock should have the same description as chasing rock, but waiting rock should have "this is the sleeping version" at the end, and chasing rock should have "this is the awakened version" at the end

[ncrecc]

non-sloped wall has the same description as normal wall, including the part "even though it may not look like that, objects that can fall will slip off this wall to the left or to the right". this is incorrect, since non-sloped walls don't make objects slip.

[ncrecc]

these element pairs currently have the same editor appearances & icons despite being different:

• steel wall & explodable steel wall
• time penalty & gravestone [time penalty incurs a time penalty when spawned; gravestone looks the same but has no time penalty]

for ease of editing they should have different appearances, like e.g. normal wall and diggable wall do.

(there are also a lot of elements in the "boulder dash effects" categories that look the same, but many of those look the same in gdash as well, e.g. all the different cycles for bubbles and water, and most of the different explosion/birth tiles)

[ncrecc]

here's the graphics for sand balls and loose sand properly colored like sand 2, if you need:

sandballs_in_sand2_colors.png (1.48 KiB) Viewed 13113 times