formlesstree4
Member
A month or so ago, a friend of mine was working on making a way to distribute multiple games. While it was clear the idea of making a menu system modifiable without releasing its source was challenging, it was possible. He and I talked together, and I took his idea and put it on my first priority list. After a few hours of hard coding, SMS, or Simple Menu System, was created.
Version 1.0 was very difficult to use, with the file directory structure looking something like this:
http://i42.tinypic.com/21ch5s3.png
and the main form looking like this:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2qn1944.png
Satisfied with this, I declared it version 1.0 and released it. But soon, I was asked if it was user-friendly enough for people to use it. Disheartened, I realized it wasn't. I attempted to fix this in future versions, adding on new features, and making files less complex.
After some time, I had finally released 1.1, with some new features, such as the ability to have color to your text, using BBC style codes, similar to this forum. Colors supported were the default rainbow colors (red - purple) and an absurd color, Khaki, which was requested. You could also bold the text, or italicize it, but not both due to a bug in the way the program processed the data.
1.2 was extremely complicated to navigate in the source code, and was hard to add updates to add colors or more features. So, over the series of a few weeks, I developed 1.3 Alpha. This program was very different in terms of how things worked. Instead of using files spanning 7 directories, I had combined them all into one file, called Data.txt. The data file pointed to the files using Relative file paths from the main executable (Simple Menu System.exe). The directory structure also went under some changes, to make it easier to add your games and custom files.
1.3 had less features than 1.0 at first, but as I progressed, it got more defined. Encryption schemes were added to the data files, and I created the Data.smsdf format, or the encrypted file format for the menu system to protect your information from being modified without your permission.
Currently, the Menu System is at Version 1.4.1, and is very stable. It is usually able to detect when you have made a mistake, or if a data file is missing.
An up to date list of features:
Almost every aspect of the form is modifiable.
1. Form Title
2. Main Text
3. Description Text
4. PictureBox
5. Background music (looping)
6. path to your game
7. path to your project file (if debug mode is on)
8. color support (bold and italics at the same time is possible now)
9. Almost every button text can be changed.
10. Form is able to be resized, but only affects the description text right now.
11. Anything else I might have forgotten.
Please keep checking this topic for more releases and (if requested enough) a HowTo on using the system.
Download Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?z2zyz2jtn2j
Version 1.0 was very difficult to use, with the file directory structure looking something like this:
http://i42.tinypic.com/21ch5s3.png
and the main form looking like this:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2qn1944.png
Satisfied with this, I declared it version 1.0 and released it. But soon, I was asked if it was user-friendly enough for people to use it. Disheartened, I realized it wasn't. I attempted to fix this in future versions, adding on new features, and making files less complex.
After some time, I had finally released 1.1, with some new features, such as the ability to have color to your text, using BBC style codes, similar to this forum. Colors supported were the default rainbow colors (red - purple) and an absurd color, Khaki, which was requested. You could also bold the text, or italicize it, but not both due to a bug in the way the program processed the data.
1.2 was extremely complicated to navigate in the source code, and was hard to add updates to add colors or more features. So, over the series of a few weeks, I developed 1.3 Alpha. This program was very different in terms of how things worked. Instead of using files spanning 7 directories, I had combined them all into one file, called Data.txt. The data file pointed to the files using Relative file paths from the main executable (Simple Menu System.exe). The directory structure also went under some changes, to make it easier to add your games and custom files.
1.3 had less features than 1.0 at first, but as I progressed, it got more defined. Encryption schemes were added to the data files, and I created the Data.smsdf format, or the encrypted file format for the menu system to protect your information from being modified without your permission.
Currently, the Menu System is at Version 1.4.1, and is very stable. It is usually able to detect when you have made a mistake, or if a data file is missing.
An up to date list of features:
Almost every aspect of the form is modifiable.
1. Form Title
2. Main Text
3. Description Text
4. PictureBox
5. Background music (looping)
6. path to your game
7. path to your project file (if debug mode is on)
8. color support (bold and italics at the same time is possible now)
9. Almost every button text can be changed.
10. Form is able to be resized, but only affects the description text right now.
11. Anything else I might have forgotten.
Please keep checking this topic for more releases and (if requested enough) a HowTo on using the system.
Download Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?z2zyz2jtn2j