I wouldn't download a 1GB game - not even if it's commercial quality.
There's really no need for a klik game to be anywhere near that size anyway - you just need to keep as much as possible of the graphics and sound external, so they can be compressed more efficiently (certainly stuff like large background images).
File size more a graphical concern. high res graphics dramatically increases file size. Im a graphics man hence the size.
Im very surprised that it's an issue in a day of tb hard drives and broadband.
I think it's a little sad that a community for indie games will dismiss anything over a certain file size with no interest in the game.
I honestly never consider size when down loading. Im more interested in the game and work someone has put in.
I agree that I could probably decrease file size with better coding but im not the best coder.
Dont take any of this as rant, I'm only expressing opinio.
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There's really no need for a klik game to be anywhere near that size anyway
Why not?
Did you not read the rest of that sentence?
MMF2 doesn't store graphics efficiently - that's why the filesize gets so huge. If you load the graphics from external files, you can use other compression methods and save a lot of space. There's no way any klik game is going to contain 1GB of graphics if they're properly compressed (.png or .jpg - whichever is appropriate).
Im not up to speed with external graphics. Tried once with terrible outcome. Perhaps it could be lowered. How do I load graphics
externally?
Thanks for the honest opinions and perhaps there is a very important clicking lesson for me here.
Depends.
For animated sprites you can use the active object's "load frame" action. It might not be worth it for sprites though, as they're probably going to be fairly small anyway - unless they have a huge number of animation frames.
For large background images it's definitely going to save a lot of space if you load them using picture objects. Using tile-based graphics would obviously help too, but might not be suitable.
And then there's the surface extension, etc...
I don't actually know what MMF2 does about music files. I would like to think that if you import compressed ogg/mp3 files, it will keep them in the original format and bitrate, in which case it wouldn't help to keep them external.
I think there is a valid reason for a klik game to be 1GB, and in this day and age 1 GB is really nothing much at all - if memory serves me correct one episode of Dr Who in HD is approximately 1 GB. Nobody complains about that for 40 minutes of (alleged) entertainment...
I think people are making the assumption of a classic klik game scale, trouble is with HWA you are not limited to such scales anymore. Just as people have a reason for working with small sprites (to emulate classic consoles) some people may also have the desire to use large sprites (such as myself hehe) to try and get a certain look - or to emulate certain isometric games.
TGF may have choked up with large sprites, but MMF HWA does not - why not use them if it suits the game
There's also Dropbox which is totally awesome. It's free and you start off with 2GB of space, and they let you share your file. They will shut you down temporarily if yo have too much traffic though. I don't know what the limit is.
Not sure if I am going to download a game that's that huge, I even try to stick with linux live cd's instead of dvd's because of their file size.
Just make sure that people know they are downloading a big file, so they are prepared and will wait for the download to finish. There probably will be an issue about download speed too, although that depends largely on the way your hosting your file. Compressing (or just storing) your file in a splitted archive is a good way, but make sure that the files are interchangeable and hosted on multiple filehosters like: rapidshare, megaupload, etc Because of the speedcap those hosters imply after a certain amount of downloaded megabytes.
And on a personal note: I like the small games, but that's because I live in the pre psx period of time. I just love it when games are like 8 mb in file size and features ton of fun.
O perhaps, when you've played with external files, you could built a low res and a high res pack of your graphics. The same could be done for the mp3 music and sounds, but that's probably not going to be the biggest part of the game.
Have fun programming and in the meantime I'll wait for a vid on screenshots.
I totally agree about 8bit and 16bit games. I have a huge love for them. Thought i would see what else can be done. Ill be uploading a vid soon. Ive worked around with it abit and should be able to keep it under the 1GB line.
Originally Posted by Hayo Personally I never download a game when its over 10mb, but that is because I am oldtimey.
I'm with you man. There is no reason for a click game to be any bigger
I guess using MMF for other things than 8/16 bit platformers is a bad thing then? HWA can do some pretty impressive things (in terms of 2d graphics ability) - we are not stuck to using tiny sprites as we was in the TGF era. That said I do love good pixel artwork - but there is other options with HWA...
There is no way Midget Machines could ever be 10 MB. It's currently about 38 MB compressed, for one level and one car type.
I agree hagar. 8 bit and 16 bit is awesome however MMF is going no where if thats all it can do. Ricky 10MB is pathetically small! why wouldnt you down load anything over that? strange for a guy who states "loves left for dead 2" if that was made with MMF (which i know if impossible but) would you disregard it due to file size if it was free?
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Edited by GamesterXIII
jenswa.neocities.org
HWA can do some pretty impressive things (in terms of 2d graphics ability) - we are not stuck to using tiny sprites as we was in the TGF era. That said I do love good pixel artwork - but there is other options with HWA...