Should I build my game on the stables or the nightlies?

Ask and answer questions about making games and related topics. Unrelated topics go in that other forum.

Moderators: marionline, SDHawk

Post Reply
User avatar
Ichiro
Slime Knight
Posts: 238
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:20 am
Location: john madden

Should I build my game on the stables or the nightlies?

Post by Ichiro »

I've been seeing some more games being released for the nightly versions which are somewhat incompatible with the current stable, and with the distribution options able to make full game packs, is there a reason to use the stable builds to make my game?
Image
User avatar
Taco Bot
Meat, Cheese, and Silicon
Posts: 484
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Santa Cruz
Contact:

Re: Should I build my game on the stables or the nightlies?

Post by Taco Bot »

Ichiro wrote:I've been seeing some more games being released for the nightly versions which are somewhat incompatible with the current stable, and with the distribution options able to make full game packs, is there a reason to use the stable builds to make my game?
Nothing comes to mind. I think James was working on pushing out a new stable as soon as he gets a few (somewhat major) bugs worked out. Just problems with midi looping (I think) in Windows and sticky keypresses in Linux (I'm sure).
Sent from my iPhone
User avatar
Spoonweaver
Liquid Metal King Slime
Posts: 6462
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:07 am
Contact:

Post by Spoonweaver »

You should stick to stables unless there's a feature you really need in nightlies.
TMC
Metal King Slime
Posts: 4308
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:19 am

Post by TMC »

Full game packs? Are you referring to Android packages?

All games made with the current nightly build are incompatible with the last stable release, but maybe you meant that they are making use of nightly-only features.

Spoonweaver's advice is good. It's been a long time since the last stable release, nightlies seem to be quite stable at the moment, so we will soon want some testing for the next release.
User avatar
Taco Bot
Meat, Cheese, and Silicon
Posts: 484
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Santa Cruz
Contact:

Post by Taco Bot »

I haven't really seen any real problems in the Windows and Mac nightlies, would anyone actually want to have that slight added layer of stability at the expense of missing out on the new features?

I mean, dissolve animations on slices, in-editor Android and Ouya settings, scrolling checkered backgrounds for maptiles, etc.
Sent from my iPhone
TMC
Metal King Slime
Posts: 4308
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:19 am

Post by TMC »

Surprised to hear the chequer-pattern transparency mentioned; I've only heard complaints about it so far.

Actually there are frequently minor bugs which no one seems to report until James or I finally notice it a day or a year later. For example I broke most pop-up messages and other 'press a key' pauses over a week ago, but most people using nightlies probably only download one every few months.
Last edited by TMC on Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Taco Bot
Meat, Cheese, and Silicon
Posts: 484
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Santa Cruz
Contact:

Post by Taco Bot »

TMC wrote:Surprised to hear the chequer-pattern transparency mentioned; I've only heard complaints about it so far.
I'm legitimately surprised by that. I use it often... :/
Actually there are frequently minor bugs which no one seems to report until James or I finally notice it a day or a year later. For example I broke most pop-up messages and other 'press a key' pauses over a week ago, but most people using nightlies probably only download one every few months.
I try to download the new nightly once a month, but it usually ends up every two or three. I haven't fallen upon a version with a horrible bug yet!
Sent from my iPhone
User avatar
FnrrfYgmSchnish
Metal Slime
Posts: 741
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:37 am
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Post by FnrrfYgmSchnish »

I've also gotten a good bit of use out of the "scrolling checkered background" option for maptiles. Very useful if you have any tiles that are solid black (or close enough to mistake for it if you're not careful) and don't want to mistake them for being blank.

Can't imagine why someone would go through the effort of complaining about it when it would be so much easier to just... not use it? Unless maybe their complaint was "make it into a different transparency-indicating pattern" or something.
FYS:AHS -- Working on Yagziknian NPC walkabout sprites
User avatar
Gizmog
Metal King Slime
Posts: 2622
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:41 am

Post by Gizmog »

Yeah, I'm for it as well. My only complaint is that the first time I saw it, it scared the hell out of me.
User avatar
kylekrack
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1240
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 8:58 am
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by kylekrack »

Gizmog wrote:Yeah, I'm for it as well. My only complaint is that the first time I saw it, it scared the hell out of me.
Image
My pronouns are they/them
Ps. I love my wife
TMC
Metal King Slime
Posts: 4308
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:19 am

Post by TMC »

There's no option to disable the chequer pattern in the map editor or pick a custom transparency colour, so I should do that.

That reminds me of the animating tiles now displayed in the map editor, in particular the tile-picking screen. Those were really jarring and seizure-inducing (especially if we increase the screen size so they'll be in your face every time you hit Enter), so I added a key to enable them, off by default.
User avatar
sheamkennedy
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1110
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:29 pm
Location: Tama-shi, Tokyo, Japan
Contact:

Post by sheamkennedy »

TMC wrote:There's no option to disable the chequer pattern in the map editor or pick a custom transparency colour, so I should do that.

That reminds me of the animating tiles now displayed in the map editor, in particular the tile-picking screen. Those were really jarring and seizure-inducing (especially if we increase the screen size so they'll be in your face every time you hit Enter), so I added a key to enable them, off by default.
Yes, choice of transparency colour would be great! I was playing around with making a game that was purely black and white. I found it really frustrating to draw black stuff on the black background. I ended up drawing everything in red then going through the entire tileset and replacing the red with the colour black. What made this most of all difficult was when I wanted to draw new tiles I had trouble telling where the old ones were already drawn. Also in the map editor it was difficult to see what tile I was choosing unless it was red like before I replaced all the colour. I think doing something like this could result in more people implementing a larger amount of black in their games which would be great!
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
TMC
Metal King Slime
Posts: 4308
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:19 am

Post by TMC »

Have you tried a nightly? Because that's already implemented.
User avatar
sheamkennedy
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1110
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:29 pm
Location: Tama-shi, Tokyo, Japan
Contact:

Post by sheamkennedy »

TMC wrote:Have you tried a nightly? Because that's already implemented.
Oh I see. I must have overlooked that since I tend to download a new nightly ever few months...
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
Post Reply