kittiewan's Forum Posts

  • Hmmm. It should be there...

    <img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/57899112/SetAngleTowardPosition.PNG" border="0" />

    Maybe you're creating an event instead of an action.

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  • Lobo93 - I can't believe I forgot to mention the easiest way of all to fix the problem: Make your layout taller and then move everything so that the ground isn't at the very bottom of the layout. Then you can still use bound to layout and the sides will work the way they do now, but the bottom of the layout will come after the hole collision.

    EDIT: I just checked your original project, and it is at 39 events so far. (The number of events is in the status bar at the bottom of C2).

    You can do a lot with a 100 event limit. Keep in mind you can have as many actions on one event as you want. It is only the number of events that makes a difference. So you can combine some things in clever ways...

    For example, if you have a zombie and a skeleton as enemies, combine them in an enemy sprite with different animations and they'll share many events. Look for other ways to do that, like combine the player and dead player into one sprite--or perhaps better in your case, the dead skeleton and dead player into one sprite with different animations.

    You can have many different kinds of pickups using the same penny sprite. Add some instance variables to help customize them...

    You could have many different traps using something like the death trap. Each animation--and each frame of each animation can have its own collision poly, so that really opens up what they can be like.

    However, despite all of the possibilities of what can be done with the free version, I'll never regret the money I spent on C2. It was well worth it.

  • I have a lot to do today, but I made a few quick changes to your project to show you one way to handle the issues you mention. There are probably many other ways--probably even better ways, but this should help you move on.

    1) Remove bound to layout behavior from player.

    2) Moved the player's start position up in the sky just because I can. ;-).

    3) Placed a condition that if the player's X is < 0 or player's X > Layoutwidth, set the player back to 0 or LayoutWidth so he can't go past the edges of the layout. (The yellow walls don't really do anything. They could be deleted. The ceiling does still keep player from going any higher than the ceiling.

    3) Create a condition Player is outside layout and then test several sub conditions, like if player hits hole, dies, or if player falls in death trap, loses a life, but can jump out of it. You don't have to nest the two conditions below the player is outside layout condition. I just wanted to show a way you could get more control. For example, if the player hits the death trap but is still inside the layout, no harm. Only if the player falls down deep enough to be outside the layout does he lose a life.

    Notice one of the advantages of using a sprite instead of tiled background for your hole would be that you can create a custom collision polygon like I did for the death trap. Also I'm not sure how efficient tiled backgrounds are, so you should only use them where you need to, like the repeating grass and ground.

    Oh, yeah! Almost forgot the link. Lobo_changes.capx

    PS Just wanted to say I like your game a lot and look forward to seeing more.

  • In my memory match tutorial I used one sprite with two animations for all of the cards. One animation is the card back, with just one frame. The other animation has multiple frames, one for each card. Doing it this way means there is just one sprite to manage (and just one card back graphic for all the cards), which may make it more memory efficient.

    You can download the completed game from the arcade, or from the first page of the tutorial.

  • Here's an example that shows coordinates at start and end, with . . . while in touch.

    TouchPosition.capx

    One thing to check is that you have Use mouse input set to Yes if you are using touch on a computer where you have a mouse rather than touch device. Forget to do this and it will seem like on touch start isn't working, mostly because...it isn't!

    PS. One other thing you should check is the type of variable you are using. In this example I used global variables. But if you are using a local variable, it could be you have a "scope" problem. Local variables are only visible inside the construct where they are created. So if you create a local variable inside a loop, it is only available inside that loop, and it gets reset back to its initial value (default 0) each time the loop starts.

  • The artifacts showed up in chrome, firefox, IE9. They did not show up in Safari or Appmobi. The problem was solved in the various games by inserting blank frames around the problem frame which lead us to believe it is a bleedover problem.

    As I mentioned, I can't come up with a simple case. If we can put this on hold for a few days, I'll try to reduce one of the games down to a minimum and send it to you.

    Meantime, I don't see the problem showing up in 103, so perhaps it resolved itself with your other changes/fixes.

  • When a sprite with a transparent background ends up right up against a sprite that is filled up to the shared boundary on the spritesheet there sometimes ends up being an artifact on the sprite with the transparent background. This does not show up on all browsers, but is clearly visible in these images.

    It's hard to create a simple case. The problem has shown up in multiple games we are working on. Since they are a client's games I can't post a link to the games on the forum, but I can PM a link if that will help.

    The workaround is to insert transparent frames on the side of the sprite that is showing the artifact, but that isn't always practical.

    <img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/57899112/sr_artifact_bug.PNG" border="0" />

    <img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/57899112/mp1_triangleproblem.PNG" border="0" />

  • You don't say what kind of game you are making, so I don't know if this will help, but here is a simple example I made to change the animations of butterfly sprite that has an 8-direction behavior.

    When the butterfly sprite isn't moving its animation is set to an animation called idle. When the sprite is moving the animation played depends on how fast the butterfly is moving. If moving relatively slow the animation played is one called fly. If going relatively fast the animation played is one called flyfast.

    You can do something similar with platform behaviors, too. You can change the animation when the player jumps, is falling, is going left or right, etc. Examine the events for a behavior to see the places where it may be appropriate to change the animation. Of course you can always change an animation based on your own custom criteria.

    ButterflyFly.capx

  • jchamplain - Thanks for the links. I hadn't seen some of them before. I'll check them out.

    EyeHawk - I'm no expert on spacecraft, and probably couldn't draw one very well--and certainly not quickly enough to make sense economically. But I'd guess you could expect bids in the hundreds for something pretty decent from someone who loves drawing spacecraft, especially if they want to see their work in a game (which is worth something to someone who is trying to build a career or just wants the personal satisfaction.) I'm sure you'd get many much cheaper (and more expensive) bids, too, but at the end of the day, I'd expect hundreds, because it should probably take more than a day but less than a week of work. Don't forget to budget for the environment (background, planets, starfields, asteroids...), UI and SFX and music, too. Whew!

  • jchamplain -- actually, I was thinking of myself as the artist, not the employer. I've been hungry. I've bid really low on projects because I really, really needed the work, or really really wanted the job. Quite recently, in fact. It really pisses me off when...Never mind. You've already said your mind is closed.

  • Try putting the unpin action and the physics force action in separate events like this. (Note the boolean to trigger the launch.) I also added an outside layout condition to the the missile. You should probably destroy it (or recycle it) when it goes outside the layout.

    <img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/57899112/launchpinnedmissle.PNG" border="0" />

  • EyeHawk

    You don't describe what your game is, so it is hard to know how to answer your question about how long it takes and how much it will cost. Just compare the art requirements for a 1-person, but totally amazing game like tiny wings to some mega game produced by the big studios.

    Rovio started out making mobile multiplayer RPGs in 2003 and grew to 100+ employees before market conditions forced them to scale back and switch to to smaller casual games (12 employees when they made angry birds, about 50 now). Huge difference in cost between the two. Took them 8 months while working on other contract projects to finish angry birds. (

    )

    Also, since artists are individuals and work at different speeds, it is often the case that employers want a fixed price for the job rather than paying an hourly rate.

    That was a really long way of saying that it would help if you point to another game that you think yours is close to, and then you might get some estimates of the time/effort/cost involved.

    In the meantime, have you made your game with placeholder graphics, and is it fun to play? If not, it may be early days to worry about where the art is coming from. If it is already shaping into a great game, you will find it much easier to attract a team and might even go to some place like kickstarter and get some contributions to help pay for awesome art using your working demo as a teaser (either video or actual play.)

  • It makes perfect sense. People are always more willing to accept lower paying jobs when they are desperate for money. It doesn't seem right to take advantage of that fact. At least not to me. Honest pay for honest work is always the best solution in my opinion.

    [sarcasm]Yeah. I always think it is so much better to let the artists that are desperate for money starve rather than possibly run the risk of taking advantage of them.[/sarcasm]

    This isn't a political decision. It's an economic one. If you don't like this type of site, don't use it. If you use it, use it with your eyes wide open, and take advantage of it as a way to make connections, develop relationships and build careers and businesses. If you find a project you really want to work on, you're willing to take a loss to get your foot in the door. As an employer you look for the best value to get the job you need done. You aren't going to waste money by choosing the lowest bidder if that bidder produces garbage. Likewise, if you find a talent that you really want to keep, you take care of him and work to ensure you can always get his attention when you need it.

    The best of these sites provide a means to connect those needing work done with those willing to do it, and also provide a way to ensure that both parties are treated fairly by ensuring that the money is there to pay the worker and that the money isn't paid out until the work is complete. Yes, the sites get a piece of the action, but they service they provide is of real value, and they earn it.

  • Do you mean on your web page or in the game itself? In the game, go to the layer's panel and click on the default layer in the game. This layer is set up with a solid background, while all other layers are set up by default with transparent backgrounds.

    Once you have that default layer selected, go the the Properties panel and you'll see a field for background color that you can change.

    If you mean the "envelope" or "bars" around your game that appear because of scaling, they should automatically be black. If they are not, I'd report it as a bug. (In appmobi right now I'm encountering a white bar on the rhs that is due to some sort of scaling problem, but I assum you aren't using appmobi.)

    If you mean on the web page, that is just like you'd change any web page.

  • I hoped you were going to ask that question! Instead of using bullet, you can use the same 8direction behavior that you use on the player object. You just need to turn off the default controls and manage it yourself using collisions with walls and other things.

    For example, in the example you show, when the monster hits a wall, add 90 degrees to the monster's angle to help turn him around.

    Here's a quick example I threw together. There is much more you can do. In addition to managing the collision with the walls, this one has some controller objects that turn the monster left, right, up, down, pause, slow down and speed up. During the deployed game, turn the visiblility for the controllers layer to invisible and no one will know what is making the monsters behave the way they are.

    8directionPatrol.capx

    This is based on some of the great platformer patrolling examples out there, like JohnnySix's patrolling example in the arcade. Of course, his is very polished, while this one was thrown together in under an hour.