GML: From Ninja to Pirate - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 268

The Problem with Giants
So we'll begin with a bit of a jump. Load shadows0.gmk from the Chapter11/Games directory on the
CD. If you run this version of the game, you'll find we have already taken a number of steps
toward converting the zoolgml.gmk framework into a fledgling version of Shadows on Deck (see
Figure 11- 6).

Figure 11-6 . Zool is a shadow of his former self, and quite a big one at that

Changes Made to Create shadows0.gmk

1. Sprites. Zool's character sprites have been replaced with those of our new protagonist,

Flynn. Flynn's sprites are much bigger: most being 128x192 pixels compared with
Zool's 48x48. We've only made direct replacements at this stage (so no new
animations) and we've removed sprites that Flynn will never have, like spinning,
kicking, and skidding.

2. Names. If it was called Zool before, it's now called Flynn, everything from the names of

sprites and object resources to the appended letter of state constants have been
altered to reflect the name of the Pirate's son.

3. Functionality. We'd like to reuse as much functionality as possible, but there are

certain things that are definitely surplus to requirements. All the ninja attack moves
that Flynn doesn't need have been removed. All the enemies and user-interface
elements that won't feature in the new game have also been taken out of this version.
We've also removed the automatic drifting mechanic that maintains horizontal speed
even after a horizontal collision. Shadows on Deck will not rely on a super-slick
movement mechanic like Zool and this approach can have unintended side effects.
Therefore, we've chosen to stick to setting hspeed to 0 when there's something in the
way.