Super Mario Bros. X Forums

Magician wrote:If there's a powerup anywhere in the level when that happens, the game could still outright freeze, I think.

If it were me, not using LunaDLL (though I'm not sure why I wouldn't use LunaDLL), I'd restrict this kind of thing to like a technological setting where the area is self-destructing. There'd be a lot of various-sized monitors as BGOs with a countdown display, and I'd probably make the layer sink off screen at 0.

Doesn't this mean you can only have 100 seconds max?
Wait... Maybe you could have an npc that showed 5 numbers, an after those five it would go to the next one.

You'd have a certain amount of maximum units. The units would not be required to conform specifically to seconds. It's not as if the original Super Mario Bros. timer went by proper seconds, so it wouldn't be unacceptable to use a unit of time equal to every two seconds, or five seconds for that matter. Players would be able to acknowledge this very easily and without any detriments to the gameplay (though it probably would be preferrable not to stretch the unit by a large amount of seconds).

Moreover, the end of the timer doesn't really have to be the end of the level regardless of how long it could last.
It'd make for interesting gameplay if the timer was meant to run out at a certain point where you'd find a vertical shaft, and then start climbing it as the level sank. There could be a checkpoint there to initiate the event for players who arrived early.

FanofSMBX wrote:Wait... Maybe you could have an npc that showed 5 numbers, an after those five it would go to the next one.

Near at this advice what I was thinking about that Message:

bossedit8 wrote:What I can think of is make a 30 Number Timer (Custom Graphics) and slowly counts down without having to waste a lot of events and much slower than the original seconds Timer...

Also what he said.
I'd just worry about the synchronization of the NPCs if I did that. I don't think it would work as well as you'd hope.
For example one time I used NPCs with frame manipulation in order to try and make an animated glowing tileset. It didn't work out because the NPCs fell out of sync constantly. I renamed them all "Fuckthisshit" or something and I gave up.

You could have a timer show in the screen the whole time by having the level auto-scroll and having the timer move along. It's really restricted, though. I'd just use LunaDLL, I doubt it's all that complicated anyway.

No offense, but I feel as if this was common knowledge. =/

Kley wrote:No offense, but I feel as if this was common knowledge. =/

If it's common knowledge, than people would of already made use of it by now. Silver's Challenge is the only SMBX episode that features a time limit lacking LunaDLL.

Kep wrote:

Kley wrote:No offense, but I feel as if this was common knowledge. =/

If it's common knowledge, than people would of already made use of it by now. Silver's Challenge is the only SMBX episode that features a time limit lacking LunaDLL.

Or maybe people just didn't wanna us this method lol, because frankly, it's kind of primitive.

Kley wrote:Or maybe people just didn't wanna us this method lol, because frankly, it's kind of primitive.

I see what you mean, but it's a bit more than primitive. It could be complex to those who have no knowledge about layers and events, and there's a lot of room to make mistakes if you misread the tutorial or incorrectly did it.

Kep wrote:

Kley wrote:Or maybe people just didn't wanna us this method lol, because frankly, it's kind of primitive.

I see what you mean, but it's a bit more than primitive. It could be complex to those who have no knowledge about layers and events, and there's a lot of room to make mistakes if you misread the tutorial or incorrectly did it.

I suppose. it IS a way to incorporate a timer I guess, but in my opinion, not the best way. It just seems sort of sloppy to do it this way. Stick to LunaDLL.