Topic: Xenogears Fan Thread.

[Grey Ninja]

Alrighty... this one is going to be a bit of a story.

I was coding my game last night, same as always, but I had a problem that I just couldn't solve.  My backgrounds kept on messing up, and I didn't know why.  I fought with it for a few hours, then I eventually gave up and played some Secret of Mana.  That didn't last too long before I got the urge to code some more.  So, I put on the Conan: The Barbarian soundtrack, and got to work.

this is the result.  Instructions are included in the zip file.  I would actually appreciate it if someone had the guts to run it, as it's been a REALLY long night for me, and I recently discovered an annoying timing bug in it.  Not really surprising, as my timing code is precisely one line, and not very inspired, but I am curious about how it runs on other computers.  If it runs like crap, I can fix it later and release a second version.

I have been meaning to write this for a while, but I just never really got around to it before.  It wasn't that hard, but it took a while, as I had to learn Win32 programming all over again.    I have been using SDL for a while, and it was hard to figure out how everything worked without a wrapper.

[DrForester]

it works....

It's pointless

make a nice joke for Xeno fans though

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

It worked on my computer.

Were the text meant to scroll across the screen smoothly?  Because they didn't.  It moved at about 2-3 frames a second.

[Grey Ninja]

Yeah, I've got the whole Xenogears obsession going on again.  I would probably be out renting a PS2 right now if I had the money...

AiAi, the text is supposed to scroll across the screen, and be started on the next line before the sound finishes playing.  I am thinking you have a slow CPU maybe?  I haven't included any hardware acceleration at all, and the code isn't too pretty, so it's unlikely that it will run that grand on old computers.

I will make a new version with better timing when I get a chance though.

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

I've got a Athlon 1.4GHz.  Should be more than enough?

Or maybe I had too many applications running?

[Grey Ninja]

That would be crappy timing code then.  I will remake it with the proper timing later on today.

[Bartman3010]

I wish there was a way to close it, or know when it was going to end.

[Grey Ninja]

I suppose if you REALLY want a way to close it, I could release the debug version I keep for myself, which allows the user to exit by pressing Alt-F4... but I think it really detracts from the experience.    As for when it ends... it doesn't.  It will repeat like that until the end of time if allowed.  

Regarding the timing, it's been fixed for a while, but I forgot to bring it with me.

Anyways, how many of the people here are as obsessed with the game as I am?  It really sucks being a Nintendo fanboy sometimes, as it prevents me from playing many of the games I love from time to time.  It killed me when Final Fantasy VII was released on PSX, and it's killing me now that Xenosaga is a PS2 exclusive.  I wish they would release a PC version or something.  As soon as I get money again, I am going to be renting a PS2 again methinks, but that won't be for a while.  I might just start a new game of Xenogears soon.  I am trying to get caught up in all the other games I am playing right now though.  

[Grey Ninja]

Alright, the zip file I posted in my first post in this thread has been updated.  New features include the ability to exit via F4, and a timing function that should work on all computers.  However, I prefer the original release myself.    I like having to ctrl-alt-delete out of it, and the timing was more accurate on my computer.  The new version runs a little slow, but it's the best that I could do without a complete code rewrite, and I wasn't up for that.

Also, I have changed my avatar to better reflect my new obsession.  I might change to an Elly themed one later, but I thought that this scene would make a fine avatar.