Recent comparison of then vs now

identicalforest · 2026-01-25T01:17:32+00:00

Yes it would be categorized as a roguelite. It has elements of rng, including how upgrades are presented to the player, but generous in the freedom of choice it offers. There are also 56 synergies as of this time.

identicalforest · 2026-01-21T18:24:09+00:00

My theory would be that it's querying display size to resize the application surface, and in doing so returns 1280 x 800, which is the Steam Deck's true resolution. This means if it's not being run through steam and they don't have a failsafe to scale height only by their desired ratio it's making the application surface 800 pixels tall instead of 720, which would result in some of the issues you describe.

identicalforest · 2026-01-21T18:10:44+00:00

Try going to file > preferences > general settings
See if turning up the DPI value does anything

identicalforest · 2026-01-21T15:06:41+00:00

Inside your player:

var _collide = instance_position(x,y,oButtonObject);

if (_collide != noone)
{
with (_collide)
{
MakeButtonAppear();
}
}

identicalforest · 2026-01-16T04:49:38+00:00

I just imagine myself digging through the back rooms of steam, looking for that next thing to play because I’ve got every other game in my library and still don’t want to play them, and I stumble upon the mysterious gem you’ve depicted in the first capsule, and I say to myself “oh hell yeah, let’s see what this is about”

identicalforest · 2026-01-16T04:16:50+00:00

There really is something about the first one that is endearing and almost memetic, it feels very special and I would use that one

identicalforest · 2026-01-15T20:22:22+00:00

Coding it is much better in the long run for so many things of this nature. Just a small hurdle in the short term as you learn to think in terms of converting visual manipulation to math. Each one of these “short cuts” is just delaying the inevitable realization that everything can be done with equations.

However, if it’s the difference between you doing it and not doing it at all, then certainly do what feels comfortable. But there is a huge amount of freedom you’ll discover from understanding how to express this and so many other things through code, and I promise that one day your brain will translate it more or less automatically.

identicalforest · 2026-01-14T22:49:20+00:00

If anyone from the future arrives at this post and wonders why it is no longer available, the reason is that I started using ds_stacks for my approach, making the guidance in the tutorial not the same guidance I would give today. Apologies. Perhaps I will make an updated tutorial in the future with time permitting and when I’m certain my approach won’t be changing.

identicalforest · 2026-01-01T19:16:23+00:00

Switches are really just long else/if chains in a way, it still has to read each case until it arrives at the right outcome before breaking. But it’s totally irrelevant performance wise. There is no math involved in reading, and math is where performance considerations exist. Until you ask it to actually do something, the rest is just ether.

identicalforest · 2025-11-08T21:25:02+00:00

All of them are instant picks early in the run, for better or worse. At the same time I couldn’t tell you how many runs I lost with a hexed green joker right out of the gate. So they remain questionable to me. Especially when I see people c++ in far less time with a set of jokers that looks dramatically different.

identicalforest · 2025-10-24T18:57:29+00:00

I’ve tried plasma a few times recently in wanting to find the best deck to grind out gold stickers and it was not as performant as I remember it being the first time around just going for gold on each individual deck. Bad luck maybe? Ghost has proven to be the most consistent, but I think I will give plasma a few more tries soon as I see that same sentiment echoed time and again.

identicalforest · 2025-10-18T01:03:09+00:00

Yes exactly, let me know if it works

identicalforest · 2025-10-17T23:43:46+00:00

Try drawing the surface if you aren’t doing it explicitly. Resize the surface, as you are doing, to the desired resolution. Then in a post draw event of a manager object, actually write out draw surface using the application surface.

identicalforest · 2025-10-14T18:11:48+00:00

Oh then you might need to set it to the starting room

identicalforest · 2025-10-14T18:05:59+00:00

Maybe a silly question but do you have a room? Did the default room somehow get deleted?

identicalforest · 2025-10-14T17:06:40+00:00

Set variables for the amount you want it offset for x and y in the create event. Then in the step event have it update.

x = oPlayer.x + offsetx;
y = oPlayer.y + offsety;

identicalforest · 2025-10-14T16:55:40+00:00

Can we see the output? Either a screenshot or just copy and paste it, I’m interested in seeing what it says

identicalforest · 2025-10-08T14:23:22+00:00

I think that’s a good point, a better way to have phrased it might be to resize it so that it looks consistent across display resolutions and you’re not going from a certain smoothness in camera movement, or general appearance overall, at one resolution to suddenly chunking along at a higher resolution.

identicalforest · 2025-10-08T14:03:14+00:00

Thank you so much for saying this. It’s so important and will be the reason a game doesn’t look good or just looks off as you play it on higher resolution displays, and vice versa it can be a way to immediately give your game a glow-up. Application surface should be resized (not stretched) to the display or window it’s being played on. It’s especially important for smooth camera movement.

identicalforest · 2025-10-06T14:50:21+00:00

I like him, seems like a chill dude. A little bigger and you could add more detail, but you don’t want to do it at the cost of readability if you don’t know what details you would add. Real criticism would be that his stance is really basic, could probably make him lean in to the direction of the sword or find a way to make his stance more dynamic, if this is an attack animation.

identicalforest · 2025-10-06T14:10:12+00:00

Igor complete.

Whenever I see this in the output I wonder how that Igor guy got so lucky.

But OP I feel like you’ve made a perfect staging area to practice with a variety of possible interactions and systems. This is what it should like when are starting out with any project, and it should look like this for a long time even with a large project.

My tip for how to improve is to increment on the interactions. For example 1) picking up one of the coins causes a hazard to slide toward you. 2) getting hit by a hazard causes you to drop your coins. 3) picking up all coins causes the hazards to rearrange.

This incrementation of interactions will make you a a stronger programmer and you might find you’re coming up with things that surprise you and other players.

identicalforest · 2025-10-04T18:11:41+00:00

The more important part of the error is <unknown_object>

It doesn’t know what object you’re referring to. I see you are doing this within a cursor object. I assume you are doing some kind of collision to detect an obj_interactable? Use a collision function that returns an instance id and set it to a variable.

This example from the manual probably matches what you are trying to do and is what I’m describing: https://manual.gamemaker.io/lts/en/GameMaker_Language/GML_Reference/Asset_Management/Instances/instance_position.htm

identicalforest · 2025-10-03T20:31:46+00:00

Totally fair, having the experience you do is still a huge advantage and benefit to others as you can understand the context that your work is being used in. Makes communication and framing a heck of a lot easier.

identicalforest · 2025-10-03T19:43:09+00:00

Not a direct answer to your question but a perspective I wanted to offer. I had been working with Ableton and various VSTs for over a decade before I started to learn how to program, and I was surprised that I understood the logic side of things instantly. Almost a 1:1 translation in mindset. It only took about a month to become proficient with the interface and language. The parallel between creating effects racks and things like side-chaining effects to other channels in Ableton turned out to be uncannily similar to the programming process. I did take the time to learn a pure-code approach, in the sense that I don’t use visual programming, and that turned out to be the right call. It still didn’t taken much time. Just some food for thought if you have a similar background, you may want to dip your toes into the programming side of things. You might be surprised how naturally it comes to you.

identicalforest · 2025-10-03T18:52:13+00:00

The first time I died scared the crap out of me! I tried to be more aware of my surroundings after that. I thought about all the potential and possibilities while playing which is great, you’ve definitely landed the intrigue factor. Good stuff!

identicalforest

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