Could the lost flag and captured flag messages be reinstated as they were? or atleast in some way become easier to see? I've been trying to get used to the old colors for weeks now, but I just can't.. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who found the change quite bad in this aspect

I think that would be a good user option actually (like wallclimbing on/off). I personally like how the capture messages are set apart from kill messages, but I can see how other people might not like that.

On that topic, I've also thought that maybe the colouring would work a bit better if it was tweaked a little. Basically right now, stuff to do with the blue flag appears in blue, stuff to do with the red flag appears in red. That's fine, but what if it was made so stuff that was good for the blue team was in blue, and stuff good for the red team was in red? For example, if I'm red:

I capture the blue flag (message appears in red).
I lose the blue flag (message appears in blue).
I score a point (message appears in red).
Enemy loses the red flag (message appears in red).

The reason for this is it would probably make the stuff a bit easier to "track", because if you see a message in the opposite colour of your team then you know it's something bad.


Here's another random idea: what if the captured/lost the flag/scored messages appeared in yellow (instead of red) and turquoise (instead of blue)? Those colours are fairly "similar" to red and blue, and that would make them REALLY easy to see, and they are obviously the most important messages of the game. That might be going a bit overboard, I don't know. It would definitely make them stand out from chat.


You could even combine the two suggestions for extreme change! Of course, that's what user options are better for...

Sounds good, and yeah this would be where scripting your own output would be nice!

TBH, I think that console messages (joins, leaves, captures, deaths, bans, etc) and the chat should be separated, but that's only my daydreaming. The whole 640*480 jj2 resolution doesn't offer much more room for HUD improvements.

Originally Posted by Cpp

A visual effect would be much preferred over a cheap name/text effect. I would personally attach some existing lightning effects to the player sprite.

That is an nice option! Now u don't need edited the sprites to much, only adding white sprites to the sprites of Jazz, Spaz, Lori, Birdie and Frog

The scripting part would be harder I gues

Originally Posted by EvilMike

On that topic, I've also thought that maybe the colouring would work a bit better if it was tweaked a little. Basically right now, stuff to do with the blue flag appears in blue, stuff to do with the red flag appears in red. That's fine, but what if it was made so stuff that was good for the blue team was in blue, and stuff good for the red team was in red? For example, if I'm red:

I capture the blue flag (message appears in red).
I lose the blue flag (message appears in blue).
I score a point (message appears in red).
Enemy loses the red flag (message appears in red).

The reason for this is it would probably make the stuff a bit easier to "track", because if you see a message in the opposite colour of your team then you know it's something bad.

I suggested this before! >O [but yeah I heavily back this]

Originally Posted by EvilMike

On that topic, I've also thought that maybe the colouring would work a bit better if it was tweaked a little. Basically right now, stuff to do with the blue flag appears in blue, stuff to do with the red flag appears in red. That's fine, but what if it was made so stuff that was good for the blue team was in blue, and stuff good for the red team was in red? For example, if I'm red:

I capture the blue flag (message appears in red).
I lose the blue flag (message appears in blue).
I score a point (message appears in red).
Enemy loses the red flag (message appears in red).

The reason for this is it would probably make the stuff a bit easier to "track", because if you see a message in the opposite colour of your team then you know it's something bad.

Yes! Agreed.

I never got used to the 'player lost flag' messages. But I've been very inactive in JJ2 lately so don't worry about my opinion.

I can't isntall JJ+ to TSF, is that right? (Version of JJ2 not supported)

Originally Posted by Hunter

Quit using the LK Avalon version.

Ok, that's it Thank you.

Hey BlurredD

My JJ2 bot is now able to read out almost all plus-packets, but I don't know if they really are plus packets or normal JJ-packets. Examples are packets 68, 69 and 71.
I can receive spectate and such, but only if a player enable/disable it when bot has already joined. How to find out what players spectate on start?

JJr-> Alles über Jazz Jackrabbit | JJr-> All about Jazz Jackrabbit (inactive)

Change to Jazz Jackrabbit über alles? :- D

Will it be possible to let boss events not be at the ending of the level? That the same level would continue afterwards?

Originally Posted by arjandevries

Will it be possible to let boss events not be at the ending of the level? That the same level would continue afterwards?

The issue with this is there would need to be some new flag added to boss events... otherwise it would break backward compatability with every other level that has a boss. Also, how would this work? The boss activates, you kill it... and then what? If the level doesn't end, does the player just move to the next area? In that case, can't they just run past the boss entirely? I can see one use for this: having a boss fight where you have to kill a man boss (say devan shell) and he's backed up by other bosses, which can be killed but don't end the fight.

Other than that, it wouldn't really do much. Maybe if the boss event was tied to a trigger somehow, and when it dies the trigger is activated? That would at least force the player to fight.

Bosses are offline play related. To improve chances of implementation I add the following:


Allow bosses and other enemies online.

One question: How do I use commands?

I am probably a super-noob, but I looked through the plus-readme. I kinda want to use pestilence and last rabbit standing.

Originally Posted by Varkarrus

One question: How do I use commands?

I am probably a super-noob, but I looked through the plus-readme. I kinda want to use pestilence and last rabbit standing.

Host a server and type them in chat.

Bosses have plenty of room in their bitfields... I could see a Trigger field, and if it's non-zero killing it activates that trigger instead of ending the level. Like most any other game. (Or there could be an additional bit used for a Miniboss flag and THEN the 0-31 trigger, but that's silly, and trigger zone already doesn't work with 0, so I don't think people would mind too much.) I think this would make for a lot of really interesting design possibilities, but I'm biased towards anything JJ2+ could do that would benefit single player, so...

Personally I think the way Mike did it with a boss in The Resistance is just fine. That suggestion is really just a cosmetic fix.

Originally Posted by DoubleGJ

Personally I think the way Mike did it with a boss in The Resistance is just fine. That suggestion is really just a cosmetic fix.

What, you mean that frog-drop, the Bilsy fight and then the next level? Yeah, sure, that works just fine. It even gives you the opportunity to have a music change, seeing as JJ2's singleplayer scene won't see much Plus features in the nearby future.

Originally Posted by CrimiClown

What, you mean that frog-drop, the Bilsy fight and then the next level? Yeah, sure, that works just fine. It even gives you the opportunity to have a music change, seeing as JJ2's singleplayer scene won't see much Plus features in the nearby future.

I actually used that technique twice in that episode... and I would have rather found a way to not force a level change, at least for the 2nd boss fight (in the ruined city). I find the way the level ends and starts in the same place to be a bit sloppy. It works ok for the bilsy boss level though because there's a little conversation after you beat him.

Plus should prevent flying on levels with no Air boards/Fly carrots. Although I don't think this cheat is used very often.

A possible JJ2+ feature called "Mass Trigger" fell into my head.
Here it is:



Of course, "Area ID" could be any unused event instead. I have no idea whether this is actually possible or not. I imagine that it would at least be desirable to make the participating 4x1 data blocks "unique" in JCS, e.g. by creating some single frame animations.

I like this idea because:

- It would allow for great versatility within a level without dozens of cumbersome animations and trigger scenery events.
- It would probably work on flipped and animating tiles.
- An extra property in the event could specify a layer number, allowing for (mass) triggers on layers other than 4.

I have some more ideas, but I'm too sleepy to reproduce them right now.

Oh, nice! I like that idea.

Is it also possible to add that music changes after you get to a certain point in a level?

Lol, that was my idea

See, blur, we want it

There already is a 'changemusic' command so implementing it to an event wouldn't be too hard I guess..

I'm waiting eagerly for a fix that will make boss music work again. Maybe the way it's repaired could be somehow connected with the above. Maybe that could even improve it.

in other words.. the ultimate boss system would be that it activates triggers (after dieing) instead of ending a level. i mean atleast being able to do that.. and choosing your own music for in the boss music field.. or that the music doesn't change at all. also the music switch would be fine.. the problem is making it giong smooth from pattern to pattern of the music is pretty annoying to build.

Originally Posted by WadlCury

Originally Posted by arjandevries

Is it also possible to add that music changes after you get to a certain point in a level?

Originally Posted by FawFul

in other words.. the ultimate boss system would be that it activates triggers (after dieing) instead of ending a level. i mean atleast being able to do that.. and choosing your own music for in the boss music field.. or that the music doesn't change at all

Well... I don't know if I am allowed to disclose, and this will come a long way before it's done, but expect something amazing to come, eventually.

You mean something like:

void OnGameTick() {
	...
	
	if ((player[0].x > 40 && player[0].x < 50) && (player[0].y > 25 && player[0].y < 30)) {
		if (music.filename != "cooba.mp3") music.play("cooba.mp3");
	}
	
	...
}

When player enters the zone [[40,25][50,30]], a new music starts to play. Although I'm guessing that the whole thing would be better off using an object oriented approach.

In a more practical use:

void OnGameTick()
{
	...
	
	if (player[0].x == 25 && (player[0].y == 25)    //once the player crosses [25,25]...
        {
		if (music.filename != "cooba.mp3")
                        music.filename = "cooba.mp3";    //...the music will change...
                        music.play("cooba.mp3");        //...and begin playing
	}	
	...
}

Hehe, I could point out a few bugs in that code e.g. music.play("filename.ogg"); automatically sets the music.filename to "filename.ogg" so no need to set it manually. Here's a better OOP approach (just a concept):

class MusicTrigger : public Trigger (string music_filename, int tile_x, int tile_y) {
	.....code...
	virtual void Tick() {
		int pl = GetLocalPlayer();
		if (player[pl].x == this.x && player[pl].y == this.y) {
			if (music.filename != music_filename) {
				music.Play(music_filename);
			}
		}
	}
	...code...
	... constructor, destructor code...
};

MusicTrigger muse1("cooba.mp3", 25, 25);

EDIT: The best part of this OOP approach is that players don't have to write their own code, they can simply declare existing classes and pass parameters along just like placing events in JCS.

The OOP approach is definitely the best one... it does seem more complicated at first, but in the end it makes the most sense, and the code is a lot more readable too.

Though personally I'd write that class so it allows you to define a range of tiles and not just an individual tiles, because that way you could have it take any shape (a single tile, a rectangle, or a line). Would need 2 sets of x,y coordinates for that (instead of just 1), but it would be more flexible, and therefore more usable. By not just limiting it to a single tile, you can have it so when the player passes a certain mark (say, enters a room) the music changes. Otherwise, with the example above, you'd need to spam a whole bunch of MusicTriggers, one for each tile. This might make sense to people who are thinking in a JCS mindset (where you often have to spam tiles like this), but in a script there's really no point in doing that.

I'm too lazy to bother rewriting it as an example but you get the idea!

Now that we are somehow jumping to the subject of computer code...

Some random piece of code that is probably valid in about 70% of programming languages.

if(false){
  //Releae 1.25 patch in 5 seconds
  ReleaseOneDotTwentyFivePatchIn(5000); //in ms
}
else{
  Download("Lori pictures");
}

(Also valid IRL)

For the OOP approach I'm basically following the unrealscript-style of coding. What you have here is a set of existing classes that each does its own job. Now in order to use the scripting language all you have to do is place instances of the classes, initialize them with appropriate parameters, and let the existing code do the job. This is certainly better as users can focus on script usage rather than script design e.g. having to write their own code from the bottom up and then be stalled by a number of bugs present in their scripts.

Originally Posted by Cpp

For the OOP approach I'm basically following the unrealscript-style of coding. What you have here is a set of existing classes that each does its own job. Now in order to use the scripting language all you have to do is place instances of the classes, initialize them with appropriate parameters, and let the existing code do the job. This is certainly better as users can focus on script usage rather than script design e.g. having to write their own code from the bottom up and then be stalled by a number of bugs present in their scripts.

I am looking forward to this sooo much.

Originally Posted by cooba

Well... I don't know if I am allowed to disclose, and this will come a long way before it's done, but expect something amazing to come, eventually.

That's wonderful news. That may even inspire me to create levels. I have some great ideas but I doubt I have the talents for it.

Truth be told, tools don't make up for skills all that well. But it's best to have both, of course.

Skills can only take you too far before you get bored. I've made so many levels that I feel like anything I make now will just be treading on old ground. Pointless, in other words. I'd rather quit while I'm ahead. That's why I don't make new CTF levels, and why I don't think I'll make any new SP levels without some new tools.

I'm still interested in game design as a hobby but for me now, the option is basically either make my own game (art will be a problem, but I'll manage) or have a whole set of new options available with JJ2. At the moment I think the former has a higher chance of happening, but we'll see.