Dave Hailwood's Forum Posts

  • Kurz

    my Newgrounds submission has about 200 or so objects on the screen at the same time (mostly static), but still gets about 60 fps on the ipad (though it can lag a bit on mobile phones, but this is probably down to bad programming and wasteful memory management on my behalf). I do get a bit of slowdown when the enemies spin off the screen (due to using rotate, probably), but it's only brief and acceptable.

    I have discovered that sometimes just one small mistake in the programming can be enough to half your frame rate. For example, during the early stages of creating my game I accidentally had it set to constantly move one of the sprites to the top of the layer. As soon as I added 'trigger once' to the event, the frame rate doubled.

    I did encounter issues when originally trying out your Space N Time game on the ipad (shortly after it was submitted) - I basically got an explosion of noise all at once. When I first added music to my game I got the exact same thing, but soon discovered I had the music constantly trying to play itself again and again. So a lot of the time the performance issues are call by good ol' fashioned inexperience on our behalf. Also, the fact that different browsers seem to have different strengths and weaknesses really doesn't help keep things consistent.

    Anyway, best of luck with the competition. It's been really nice to see such a wide variety of games.

  • Although there's not as many C2 games on the app store as there is on Android etc, there's a couple that I'm aware of (none of which are anything to do with me, but it's always good to draw attention to fellow C2 creator's projects. So, here's some links:

    Title: Pigo

    Author: Heinui Durand

    Price: Free

    Genre: Shoot 'em up.

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pigo/id582447647?mt=8

    Title: Chaotic Cubes

    Author: Daniel Garrett

    Price: Free

    Genre: Reaction

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chaotic-cubes/id591291388?mt=8

    Title: Turmoil Deluxe

    Author: Martin Edmaier

    Price: $1.99

    Genre: Shoot 'em up.

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turmoil-deluxe/id587081651?mt=8

    I think the other games that Martin has on the app store might also by C2 games.

    Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. If anyone knows of more, shove 'em up here.

    0plus1 well done in getting your games on the app store (I know you've had a lot of hair-tearing moments in doing so), and very best of luck with them.

  • harrio

    some jolly good questions concerning potion stacking. At the moment I have it configured so that if you get a potion whilst you have a status power in effect it cancels the effect out (that way, when you have more than one hero on the board and you're about to land on a potion, you can choose whether you want to risk losing your current status for something potentially better, or stick with what you've got).

    Once I've got special hero skills implemented I may have 'Potion Stacking' as one of the mage heroes skills (so they can be invincible, light as a feather, and still pick up any instant use potion). The special skills feature is going to take me a while to finish, as I have to come up with 9 unique skills for each hero, and they're all likely to be game changers or game breakers as is possibly the case.

    I noticed that Talisman game the second it was released, and definitely intend to get it at some point. I still have many other games to work my way through first, though (and might pick up Star Command when it comes out on Thursday)

    thanks for the input and suggestions. Appreciated, as always.

  • ebrar

    Just had a quick play on my ipad3 (safari browser) I got as far as level 8 in hardcore mode. A very nice path drawing memory game. A simple idea, but effectively carried out.

    Well done, and best of luck with it.

  • onur

    Firstly, well done in getting your game in so close to the deadline!

    I know the feeling about getting rid of one bug, to only find you've created more bugs. I thought I'd got them all in my Newgrounds entry, but have discovered three so far.

    Anyway, I tested your game on my ipad3 (perfect size for this sort of game). In Safari the training worked okay, but in the main two player game the timer failed to count down which made it unplayable. It worked much better in Chrome though (although on some occasions the game failed to notice that I'd removed my finger from the ipad).

    Well done on completing your first game, and best of luck with the competition

  • Ah, I see. I take it he hasn't given you html5 access on your account yet then? If that is the case, since you've sent him a message ahead of the deadline mentioning that you have a game to upload I'm sure he'll include it.

    It's always possible that he's at work or something and just hasn't got back to you yet (in America I think its probably around 3pm right now). Use the time you spend waiting to do more testing, and convert the exported project to a zip file.

  • ebrar

    Unfortunately the deadline is just a date with no time attached, so its difficult to tell whether that means today is the last chance to get your work in, or tomorrow.

    You could always play it safe and get your entry into the most polished state you can, upload it today, then if it turns out there's another day left update it tomorrow with any fixes (though this might effect what players think of the game if its excessively buggy).

    Good luck, and do the best you can in the time you've got left.

  • entire3d

    the main problem you're likely to run into is the need to use large images (and many of them) which in many cases might fill the entire page and take up a lot of memory (not such a problem for a PC game, but thinks can get tricky when it comes to mobile).

    With optimisation or creative thinking however, it can still be done. One link worth checking out, which I've included here, is the game 'No-One Has To Die' simply because that shows how to tell a good story with puzzle elements and not over use the visuals

    No One Has To Die:

    http://www.scirra.com/forum/topic66054.html

    Another useful links is the Performance Tips from Ashley/Tom.

    Performance Tips:

    https://www.scirra.com/manual/134/performance-tips

    Also, if you can turn large images into tiles rather than one gigantic sprite this can save memory, as can turning the export option for the artwork to 'PNG-8' rather than 'PNG-32', which can be done from the Edit Animations screen within Construct 2.

    Test on your Android device as you go using the preview on mobile option, and set up a text box to display how many frames per second you're getting (if you get 30 or above, then that's perfectly fine. If not, optimise more) Also keep an eye on the memory display at the bottom of the screen (I think I read somewhere that games for mobile should aim to be at the very least under 64mbs memory size).

    Anyway, best of luck with the book. I look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming months. Fortunately you're in good company as there's a lot of really helpful people here (and whenever I've got stuck, I've always managed to find an answer by doing a quick search in the Forum or Tutorials section).

  • rocky10529

    Good to see Magnetized is listed as a 'Featured' game on Kongregate (along with No One Has To Die). It's been a good month for C2 creators!

  • StuStuTheBloo

    I gave this game a go over at Newgrounds, and was fully engaged. I really liked the minimalist style in which you tell a well written and gripping story. I liked the circular nature of the whole concept, and enjoyed the puzzles (though I could've done with a few more to tax my brain). I think this is definitely a game style that you can really build upon, and would love to see a longer game of this sort with more characters and unexpected twists (it was kind of like playing a Choose Your Own adventure book for me, as I always used to die within several minutes of playing those as well).

    Congratulations on having made such a well received game, and creating something inspiring.

  • harrio

    sounds like we grew up in the same era. I was born in the golden year of Star Wars (the real star wars, not that Phantom Menace sh*te). I also did a bit of the ol' D & D, though I never really graduated beyond Blood Bowl (the Warhammer books just used to baffle me, and by the time I'd set the table up everyone else had lost interest).

    If I could get Board Horde on ipad etc that'd be quite something indeed, though I may have to take the android route first as I don't own a Mac and can't afford the expense of shelling out a hundred quid a year for a developers license.

    Anyway, I shall continue to add to the game for the next few months, test out a few markets, and then get stuck into my next project (which will probably be based on one of my many past comic projects).

  • Excal

    one very minor thing that I've just noticed about the game is when I get it to play in a separate window on the Newgrounds site it seems to still have its FPS counter in the top right corner (though it doesn't when it runs normally in the main wondow).

    Although I doubt this would affect your chances in the competition, I just thought I'd mention it.

  • Here's the link to my Board Horde fantasy board game entry.

    http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/616297

    Good luck, folks!

  • harrio

    I apologise in advance for not having devised a way to make your name twinkle magnificently in the moonlight!

    Board Horde is finally out of the Under Judgement category, though hasn't yet been bundled in with the other touch jam entries. I've found and fixed two bugs, though I'm afraid of updating it in case it goes under judgement again, or anything.

    Whatever happens, I'm very pleased with how the game's turned out. I've only been using Construct2 since Christmas, have no prior programming knowledge and this is the first game I've ever created.

    C2 is a rather marvellous piece of software!

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  • Hi Excal,

    I did attempt to review your game don Newgrounds, but typically for a Touchbased game competition it wouldn't allow me to check the 'I have read the terms and conditions' button on my ipad!

    I'll try again when I'm next on my PC.

    Got to wave 21 on the ipad, so those touch controls are working well once you get used to them.