Technical Guide

So I need to finish my technical guide and then move on to the vast desert expanse of evaluation, and finish it before thursday. Easy? I think not.

Nearly done with this stupid implementation

Hurray! I'm nearly finished, now all I have to do is shove a record structure in there and I'm done c:

Stacks? STUFF? wHAT?

WHY CAN'T STACKS POP TO ARRAYS
OH MY GOD
I'M ALMOST AS ANGRY ABOUT THIS AS THE VISIBLE BUTTON THING
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Leaderboard

So my leader board should use a lot of my AH techniques - stacks, writing and reading from file, a bubble sort and etc. The only problem is implemnting them - the bubble sort is driving me insane. Soon there will be nothing but snotty tears on this blog, I swear to God, this coding is driving me insane.

Old School?

8 bit music was a definite yes, but because I am about as musically gifted as a teaspoon I converted some popular music into 8 bit. Like it? Who would have thought that Britney Spears converted so well? Credit to the people who converted it is in the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uD_ga98rEM - Britney Spears I wanna go (background for Fantasia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuHy5oOTjko Mulan Ill make a man out of you 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhoZ8KY4Ro8 - Applause Lady Gaga (Doge)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99N75s9RJlE&list=RD99oT-3VSElU - smooth criminal MJ (JB)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99oT-3VSElU&list=PLEDCD460358ACDA5C - Daft Punk Credits and/or Hipster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xp-CJF_LlQ Skrillex Bangerang  Boss battle? Idk man, Ill figure it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_xnkegXtXA&list=PLEDCD460358ACDA5C - Mad World Fluffy Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVABQuSAm1s&list=RD99oT-3VSElU Skyrim 8 bit

UPDATE

SendtoBack function was full of it. Hide() was what I should have been using and I am SO happy that my options now actually go away when they need to.

New Year, Nested Loops

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Also nested loops suck. I'm doing one to populate my array with dummy graphics (more on this later). It took me a while to understand what was wrong so then I swapped around the outside loop and the inside loop and it kinda works. Kinda, because my dummy graphics only last for 20 pictures, on the first level.

Dummy graphics was a genius idea. Because I haven't actually finished drawing all my graphics yet (um... oops), I've just substituted different basic graphics for the files so I can code away at school. Yay c:

Sample of my dummy graphic! The numbers are the level and the picture number.

Graphics, gahhhhh

I have 40ish pictures to do over the Christmas holidays so I'm going to be quite a busy girl. But Merry Christmas dear blog, and whoever marks this.

Much Computing, such code, Wow

Short update: I'm coding the function for the cheat codes so I've spent some time just to find the best cheat codes I can come up with..... oh and implementing my 2D array. Woo.

Dum da dum dum da dum dum dum

So now I'm looking for music for my program - quite difficult because the music has to be "background" and have the same tune in it, just progressively creepier as the game develops.... I'm sure I'll find something online. Meanwhile I'm sorting out errors in my existing code (not much of it). I'm still working on my array work and the file handling should be the music so it will tick all the boxes in the criteria.

Send to back? Seem legit.

So I have a problem where my menu pictureboxes keep showing up on the new slide, and I've been looking for a way to fix it. I found a neat little function online - SendtoBack(). Simple right? No. It still shows up. Maybe one way to fix it would be to send the main picture to the front? I'll wait and see what happens.

Hunting Paper

So by the end of today I should have finished ALL of my paperwork so it won't hang around like a bad smell. I don't have much to do - just a GANT chart and a structure diagram. My pseudocode needs to be updated but I don't really know what else to write.... maybe it'll come to me later.

Coding like Ada Lovelace (I know she didn't code, I'm just trying to sound smart OK)

So now that I'm finished with my pseudocode (Hurray!) I'm getting on with coding because I've been chained to vb for now, instead of drawing. I'm trying to figure out how to sort out my picture boxes but because stupid VB never figured out how to use transparent picture boxes I have to now screenshot and paste every single image. I mean, WHAT? WHAT?! WAS IT THAT HARD TO MAKE A TRANSPARENT PICTUREBOX?! Seriously, not cool. Ugh.

On the bright side I figured out how to implement 2D arrays into my program to make it easier for myself. So now I don't have to type out each file path when I load the pictures. :)

Oh, Almost Forgot

The Evil Overlord - dressed in pink because she is SUPER EVIL

Psheudocode

I'm in a catch 22 situation -I have to write the pseudocode for the deadline but to write the pseudocode I have to write the story but to write the story I have to draw the graphics WHICH I CAN'T DO BEFORE THE DEADLINE. Do you see my issue?!

I've settled for a half way house - write the story with rough graphics on paper because I can't deal with rough graphics on the computer as it makes my inner perfectionist come out and rage against the machine so I'm just doing it in a jotter for now. After I've worked out the kinks of the story, I'll write the pseudocode for the entire thing (loud cheers from the crowd). Seeing as the deadline is TOMORROW (boos from the crowd) I better get my skates on. (god I hate that expression)

The Most Exciting Part (sarcasm heavy)

I'm slowly tapping away the pseudo code which is SO exciting, I could possibly die. Here is a racy titbit;

     Pseudocode

      MENU

1.   Show Menu Home Page in Picture Box

2. IF Settings button is pressed, then load input box

  2.1 User enters cheat code into box

  2.2 IF correct cheat code is entered then go to appropriate level

  2.3 Else display “Wrong code!” message

  2.4 A button on screen can take you back to 1 if you wish

Example Screen Grab

Paper Monsters

I'm slowly trawling through all the paperwork needed to document Fantasia., which has been so entertaining. I'm nearly done and am about to start on the pseudo code which is going to be pretty intense seeing as I have only done simple basic coding on the project so far. I haven't even started thinking about how to implement music but I'm sure I'll get there with coding help form w3schools. :)

Feasability

Feasibility Study

Legal Feasibility

Even though I will be helped by other people to create my project, I will draw all of my own graphics and write all of my own code. Because I will be using drawing all my own graphics I won’t be using any images that are not my own and are therefore subject to copyright, so I won’t be breaking the 1988 Copyright, Design and Patents act. All the text will be written by me as well, so I won’t be copying any patented text without permission, so there won’t be any plagiarism.

Schedule Feasibility

Most of my time will be spent drawing graphics and writing the text for the game. I have used Visual Basic before, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble coding the program. Overall I have to complete about 40 – 50 individual graphics and write the text for all of the characters interactions but if I have a reasonable plan I should fit in within the time schedule.

Economic Feasibility

All of the resources required will be provided by the computer department, so even though I do not personally own a graphics tablet or Windows Office at home, I can use these resources when I am at computing to draw my graphics and document my project, Therefore I shouldn’t need to purchase anything for my program. I can use a multitude of free coding help websites online if I get stuck, so that would be extremely useful to me.

Technical Feasibility

My program will use a range of mixed media such as music, graphics and text, all of which all versions of Windows support, so there shouldn’t be a problem with loading any of these things. The program can’t run on any other machine but Windows, but it will be able to run on many different computers, as long as there is enough RAM and Hard Disk Space. I’ll try to minimise the amount of RAM and Hard Disk space needed by eliminating all unnecessary processes, so the program can function on as many machines as possible.

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