eli0s's Forum Posts

  • Rayek , thank you for your time and effort! In some cases this is even worse than the thing I experience and complain about!!! I tried some of the games at codeincomplete and the stuttering exists for me also. This indeed has to be browser related and it looks like we can't do anything about it. I hadn't had the chance to play Shank2 or Rogue Legacy, are those two HTML5/JavasSript games that run on a browser? Is this the reason that you do a performance comparison with them?

  • Monumental I am still not sure what exactly you're after. You want the "green bar" Sprite to cut a hole on the "radar" Sprite...? If yes, Perhaps an other blending mode is needed. Check the capx.

  • Can you post a capx and a bit more about how you want the masking to work? When you say " to be masking a sprite under it" you mean that you want the first Sprite to mask out (make it invisible) the second Sprite?

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  • Dear Colludium , I don't even know what "eloquently" mean!

    Ashley , thanks for the thorough reply!

    So, if I understand you correctly, for the most part (beside the part that C2 has a big engine that needs to be compiled), the problem lays mostly on the browser's side. On the one hand I am relieved that since this might not be inherent to HTML5 gaming it can be improved-fixed, on the other hand I feel helpless and on the mercy of each browser's developing schedule. I have mixed feelings about this and I am leaning towards the uncomfortable side.

    On my system the best viewing experience comes with node-webkit, followed closely by Chrome (38). IE (11) and Firefox (33) fall behind. I don't know how to interpret this, it's just that I have strong feelings against this unwanted behavior and I simply can't accept it for any finished project (well not any project, but certainly not for the ones that have prominent moving graphics). I know that you do your best, on my book this is a priority issue and I hope that the Universe will conspire and address it immediately! (Dear Universe, please, also create out of nothing a masking system that use any Sprite to mask any other Sprite or/and layer. Finally, make C2 have a 2.5d workspace with a "real" camera and z-depth! Oh yes, and a path system! Thank you! Your random blob of molecules, eli0s)

  • skelooth , if C2 wasn't fantastic for the most part, we wouldn't have had this conversation It's because it does what it does so good, that what it doesn't do, or fail to do, stand out!

    Also, I don't think Colludium compares apples with oranges with the GTA reference, it's just that it's simply expected from any modern platform to be able to perform some basic staff. And you can't have anything more basic than smooth movement. Imagine a super-duper high end TV with 3D, bells and whistles, perfect blacks, a gazillion shades of gray and colors that make nature shy for her lack of chromatic pallet etc, but every few seconds it skips a frame or two... Would you be able to ignore that? For me it will make watching the movie unbearable, even more because it depicts everything else so great!

    Lunatrap , do you mean Colludium 's example, mine or both? I understand that you've come a long way in your game development, do you encounter this problem in your game?

    Joannesalfa , Tokinsom , thank you for your input. I myself had reported and unintelligently whined about this in other topics too (that and wanting a dedicated and proper masking system!). I brought this forward now, because I am about to get serious and invest time in game development, while in the past I was just testing, fiddling and learning C2 (I still do). So, something so basic and, in my gamer eyes, distracting, really pulls me off and discourages me to begin with, because I won't accept that my final project will intrinsically have this behavior, regardless of optimization and resource restrains.

    Again, I am not trying to flame C2, Scirra or ASHLEY. C2 is an amazing software, I am having a great time using it, it's very creative to work and learn with it and in every opportunity I have I spread the word about it in my social and professional environment. That is exactly why I feel so passionate about this issue, it's a deal breaker for me, I just can't accept it as a normal byproduct of HTML5, JavaScript, or whatever technology. It shouldn't exist in an interactive multimedia environment. It breaks the immersion, the experience that otherwise we try very hard to create. So, I need to know, is it something that can be fixed? Will it be fixed?

  • ... At least not like what I was experiencing.

    You mean what you were experiencing with my example or with any capx that runs with webGL disabled..?

  • Colludium , I experience exactly what we describe above on my desktop. Although the simple graphics at first makes the problem somewhat less noticeable, if I run around from start to end back and forth it begins to be very noticeable. Also, I believe that the more detailed and refined the game is, the more evident the problem will be, because it's one thing to look at a solid square jumping around and an other thing to see detailed animations get chooped for no apparent reason.

    By the way, very instructive and useful line of sight system you have there! I learned something today

  • skelooth , I made the test so to force the fps below 60. I'd the rotate behavior added to the spawned sprites but I wasn't using them as reference for performance. I was checking for jitters or any other performance artifacts with an other Sprite that had the platform behavior and I was jumping around the layout an other sprites with the solid behavior. Basic stuff. My point for cross referencing the other topic is in relation to your earlier post in which you mention low frame rates. My purpose was to refrain the connection between frame rate drops and the jerkiness I describe. They seem to be unrelated for the most part. Even at the beginning of the layout in which the jerkiness is more evident (as Colludium also notice), although the frame rate is also lower that 60 for a few seconds, I don't think that there is a direct relation between them.

    Colludium , I thought so. That happens to be the jittering that I mostly care about, because at least at the start of the layout you can find ways to hide it (a cutscene for example), but during the gameplay is super underwhelming to cope with... Please do post a demo, it will help all of us to underline and better understand the problem.

  • lucid oh, I sooo much crave for tutorials on those subjects!!!

  • skelooth , I don't know how to check if it's reported incorrectly, I am able to run very complex scenes with tons of webgl effects in constant 60 fps and the jerkiness will be the same. If my card is somehow blacklisted and my tests run on brute force with a handicap that takes the form of stuttering, I would very much like to know how to check and fix it, although the same will hold true to any other user that will try to play the game and will be vulnerable and hopeless against the Browser's capricious blacklisting. Also, if this isn't the case, I wonder what good is disabling webgl in C2 is for, if it creates this kind of fundamental problem. I don't think that's the case.

    On the other hand, contrary to the issue mentioned in this post , I don't encounter these crippling problems that are mentioned there when the frame rate goes below any reasonable value. I made a test that spawns sprites until any given fps threshold and up to 17.000 sprites or so I get 60 fps. If I continue to spawn sprites the game still feels ok until 20-25 fps (around 27.500 sprites), at that time it just doesn't feel responsive anymore. The jerkiness issue that I have exists in every intermediate frame rate value, but when the fps drop as low as 20 or so it's not anymore a noticeable or relative issue.

    Also, in your last post if you are referring to Colludium , he has Intel HD graphics, I am the one that mentioned the 660 ti.

    Colludium , are you sure that you can't detect the issue after 10-15 seconds? Remember that it comes and goes sporadically and it's evident if you keep following the square with your eyes (in my example). Otherwise, you need to have some kind of interactivity to notice it (like a platformer that moves and jumps around), or infinite scrolling backgrounds that move at constant rates.

    And yes, I feel too that changes in scenery (like moving into an other area of the layout) affect this issue. I just don't even go that much ahead, I want to nail it and see if it exists even at the basic level.

  • Also, one should keep in mind that html5 is a relative new way of game development, that still is in it's beginning with a lot of things to improve. I think in the future we will have less problems, as browser support, performance and stability will improve for sure. But until then, one should consider if C2 is the right tool for his project. If you want make fast, heavy action games with lot of things going on, maybe you should choose another tool, like Unity or Game Maker, that offers 'true' native export. I don't say, that Scirra should not try to improve and fix these issues, but everything has it's limits and maybe they just can't be fixed right now.

    I can't accept the fact that HTML5 is a new gaming platform for this particular issue. Having a constant, smooth movement is a foundational premise and one should build the rest of the game upon that. I am criticizing the fact that in any simple capx with 10 sprites and 3 events the user's experience will be compromised by this kind of jerky behavior. I don't think that I should need unity to create something as elementary as the example I posted here and run it without hiccups.

    skelooth , I use chrome to check my tests, I find chrome to be the fastest browser and more reliable in sound issues currently. Yes, the webgl is enabled (not disabled in the chrome://flags), I have an nvidia gtx 660 ti on my system and my graphic drivers are up-to-date. I repeat that the capture does not represent reality, the jerkiness in this video is very frequent and evident most of the time. I am posting it however because it captures and portrays the thing that I describe and name "jerkiness", just to make sure that we are all on the same page. In reality, every few seconds (between 5 and 10 or so) this "thing" happens, it lasts for a fraction of a second and it looks like the object that is in motion goes back and forward, occasionally with ghosting frames in-between, just as you can see in the video.

    Perhaps my eyes are hyper sensitive to the motion, frankly, I am puzzled that this subject isn't brought up more often by other users. I don't think that they don't experience it, my guess is that they choose to ignore it as a minor issue. However, I don't accept it as something trivial, I believe that this is a major flaw for any final project. I am not trying to blame Scirra for it, I just have to know if there is something that can be done about it or not.

  • ...Or stuttering as it has been described on other topics. This is starting to get on my nerves, while it is certainty subtle, this jerkiness on moving objects, scrolling backgrounds and anything that has to have a smooth movement in general, the more I test and fiddle around with Construct, the more evident and annoying it gets. In this topic R0J0hound gives some intelligent input to the non educated like my self, I keep the garbage collection procedure as one candidate for the problem, the issue is how to eliminate this thing. I can not accept this as a handicap on C2 generated games. As a little issue that perhaps the average angry bird user wont notice. It's a real problem both aesthetically and gameplay wise in fast paced & tight controlled games.

    I've finally made a 60 fps screen capture of a simple test capx. The problem is vastly exaggerated from the video capture, but it is indicative as to how this jerkiness looks like. There are some parts in the video that the movement is smooth and notice that the fps are 99% of the time at 60. In reality, on every layout cycle the jerkiness will happen 3 or 4 times. So, this means than every 5-7 seconds (on average) the user will experience an unwanted jerkiness that will disconnect him or her from the desired gameplay.

    Here is the video file zipped:

    [attachment=1:9elj9hqt][/attachment:9elj9hqt]

    And here is the capx.

    [attachment=0:9elj9hqt][/attachment:9elj9hqt]

    —, if this HTML5 & browser related and can not be fixed, then it's a serious problem on the direction Scirra has taken with no native export. This isn't something that needs benchmarks to see, it's obvious to the naked eye and it should be addressed. My question is, can it be addressed? Is it something that Scirra can do to fix this?

  • abasel you'd want to keep the "on key is pressed" for the jump. While construct is smart enough to know and the player wont go up flying, some times is better to make the jumping with the set vector Y action and a negative number (-650 will have the same result as the default jump). This can be useful for wall jumps and other non standard cases.

    Have in mind that there are things that act as triggers (press this and a light turns on) and other things that need constant feed in order to execute (like gradually moving something a distance over time). Jumping falls in to the first category, as you can only jump once per jump and only if you are grounded. The movement on the other hand needs constant input feed in order to know for how long should the player move.

    Events/conditions that act as triggers are depicted in Construct with a green arrow on the left side of the event. Otherwise, the events run every single tick. If you want an event to run only once and act as a trigger, you can add the "Trigger once while true" condition. This can be found under the system conditions.

  • togamario

    codah

    The Objects bar does allow you to select all instances of an object at once. I think that this by it self is very useful.

    Of course the ability to select instances in the Z order bar would be a major workflow upgrade, it has been asked before and I wonder why Ashley hasn't implemented this functionality yet. Perhaps this issue also falls into the subject that the IDE that C2 is programmed on makes changing stuff in the software a difficult and time consuming task. Usually those kind of topics end with a "C3" reference

  • I want to add some more thing to setup before I made it "official" (like possibility to choose Destroy method)... but looking at OP's avatar just couldn't resist posting it

    LOL

    oh and btw. Fade Adv will always fade from current object opacity (even opacity set by events). It will not set it to 100 and then fade, like official Fade does !

    OMG shinkan , that's super useful, now I can fade out sprites with random opacity values, without the annoying "flashing" that comes with the default fade behavior when applied on a sprite with opacity less than 100!!! Before I had to use instance variables to control the opacity and do the fading/deleting, it's so much easier now!!!

    Again, thank you so much for sharing!!!