HM3: Working on saving

The latest on HeroMachine 3 development is that I am working on the Load/Save code, which we've been badly in need of for some time. The good news is the fundamental trick that was needed turned out to be much easier than I feared it would be; I know how to do what needs to be done and have that basic bit already in place.

The bad news is all the other stuff that has to surround that heart. There's a lot of it, and it's going to take a while to crank out.

To elaborate, I have the bit in place that takes all the items you've put together and saves them to your local hard drive, then reloads them -- IF you already have all the preview sets loaded up. But I still have to write the part that cranks through each item set you need, loads it up, then moves on to the next one until they're all loaded. And I have to write all the error checking and dialog boxing -- "Are you sure you want to load/save a previous character, this will lose your current one" and "Which character do you want to load" and the like. For each of those you have to provide functionality based on what the user picks -- ok or cancel -- and all the associated baggage that goes along with it.

Along the way you have to be sure you're resetting all the other stuff that needs to be reset like variable names, toggle button settings, arrays, and the like.

So while the basics turned out to be easy enough, there's still a lot of grunt work to go through to make it all work usefully. Which is going to take a while, probably about a week.

In the meantime, I head to Oregon tomorrow for a long weekend, which means I won't be back to work on HeroMachine stuff till Tuesday.

I've got posts scheduled to go up while I'm out, and I should be able to access everything through my iPhone to approve moderated posts and such, but I won't be releasing any new updates or items or anything.

14 Responses to HM3: Working on saving

  1. JR says:

    thx.Jeff i hope you will be able to relax and finally you have done great. i think at least from what I remember this will probably be the first time you can meaningfully say: THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY! 😀

  2. Jeff Hebert says:

    Thanks JR! Although honestly, any day I get to work on HeroMachine stuff is a great day. No joke. I love doing it, I am so so grateful I get to do it, and I can’t wait to get back to doing it whenever I have to be away from it.

    Getting to work from home drawing super-hero stuff all day is, literally, a dream come true. I couldn’t be happier working on all this stuff, and I am even happier that you guys are getting a kick out of using it.

  3. violodion says:

    Enjoy the weekend. Disconnect everything, though… 🙄

    Somehow, I think we’ll survive, if only by wearing a hole through mousepads everywhere.

  4. JR says:

    yor the best, dude. and you earned it. 8)

  5. DJ says:

    Hopefully

    Jeff doesnt die of dysentery.

    Or lose any of his oxen.

    Remember man…Oregon is tough place.

  6. Eric says:

    Only getting to Oregon is hard. Once there, it’s the perfect life.

  7. RSC5 says:

    Forge the river, Jeff! Don’t be a pussy and take the ferry!

  8. Cavalier says:

    DJ – Oregon Trail reference FTW!! That made my day. I played the original in junior high; and it’s still going-

    http://www.virtualapple.org/oregontraildisk.html

    Jeff – Thank you for getting to the Save option. I’m thankful it’s not so difficult after all. I love what HM3 can do but time, computer, and bugs make big projects daunting.

  9. Tim says:

    Have a great weekend Jeff. A little R&R to recharge your batteries lol. Definitely sounds like the complete save/load buttons will take some time, good thing patience is on my side 😉

    @DJ & Cavalier: Hahaha I remember playing the Oregon Trail in elementary school! Still a great game 🙂

  10. RJ mcd says:

    jeff all joking aside your a great artest and that you can make our wishes come to life enjoy you vacation

  11. Loki says:

    I hope you like rain Jeff!

  12. Force32 says:

    I think you should be working on bugs not on saving. Especially how the hand items can not have patterns.

  13. Timespike says:

    Enjoy the weekend! You sir, have truly earned it. 🙂

  14. Zorbas the Awesome says:

    I LIVE IN OREGON!!!!!!!!!!!