Lou Bagel's Forum Posts

  • Not a game. Thought this might be useful for those that need randomly generated names (for example: zombie survival game where you randomly find another person to add to your party; random name suggestions for characters, etc.)

    I made this a while ago so a little rough looking and no frills added but serves its purpose as an example:

    Preview: http://www.loubagel.com/RandomPeople/index.html

    (click on sprites to see the randomly given names and location)

    capx: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vkn2q2c8zfcl6 ... .capx?dl=0

    In my example the XML Contains:

    Top 100 male first names in US

    Top 100 female first names in US (not used as I was too lazy to make female sprites)

    Top 1000 last names in US

    Most populous States cities in US (maybe top 250, can't remember)

    I took these all from internet lists I found, copied into Excel and converted to an XML file.

    Using random value between 1 and nodeCount it will randomly assign a name and location.

    For those not familiar with XML you can take a look at the path expressions here and that's pretty much all you need to know to use with Construct:

    http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/xpath_syntax.asp

    (boo W3schools all you want but best explanation I've seen for beginners)

    Let me know if I can clarify anything, any thoughts/ideas, or have any questions about it.

    I've found XML very useful and an organized way to deal with a lot of aspects: lines of text for the story or that characters say, enemy stats, instructions at beginning of game, even calling Construct functions from it. Just saying this as if you have any other XML related questions feel free to ask me.

    Hope some people find it useful!

  • There is a plethora of effects to choose from that come with Construct 2—I haven't really used any.

    I was hoping to make an open thread where people can post rather simple effect techniques they find useful.

    Simple: so those new to effects like me can grasp and try out quickly

    Useful: as in describe the circumstance/situation you have used it in or the desired effect you were looking for. The effects all have descriptions in Construct so it is not an explanation of effects that would be helpful but practical circumstances to use them (where they would add value visually).

    Examples:

    To show which option in a menu is selected you can use ___________ effect to highlight the text/sprite.

    In a Multi-player game you can use the color replace effect to make each team a different color using the same sprites.

    I have seen some threads on more advanced effects but not for beginners.

    I know I can search out specific tutorials/forums if I have a desired result in mind, but I was hoping this to be more of a thread to browse and find something that makes you think "oh! I haven't thought of that!"

    Please share any tips and tricks you have discovered in hopes that many find this thread useful!

  • For an in game menu is it a good idea to just have hidden layers for each menu screen?

    I don't have a good understanding on the factors that will cause slow down issues. Will a bunch of hidden menus have much effect?

    Instead of hiding (visibility) should I get used to spawning and destroying the menus? How beneficial is that?

    Example:

      Options Controls Inventory Upgrade Character Load/Save Etc.

    Is it worth making a separate layout for certain menus?

  • I know this is a very old thread but what did you find was the best way?

    I was just thinking about this and was considering animating the whole arm for each weapon and attaching a the shoulder.

    For the z-index part of the question couldn't you set the arm/weapon equal to z-index of the character's sprite?

  • Solved

    Didn't realized I used "while key down" instead of "on key pressed" so it was constantly running (and replacing the variable more than once). Changing to "on key pressed" or adding "trigger once" both solved.

    Sorry and thanks.

  • Player gravity is 2000

    Trigger on button:

    Set instance variable to Player.Platform.Gravity

    Change Player gravity to 300

    On button release:

    Change player gravity to Player.instanceVariable

    Why does instance variable get change to 300 instead of 2000?

    Checked in debugger and instance variable is 300. Why does this seemingly go out of order? I would think that it would be set to 2000.

  • That makes sense - that is what I originally expected.

    Thanks oosyrag

  • Wait does not block. You would have to include each subsequent test also as a sub test. You mean 'case:switch' with a fall-though? Otherwise 'case' is just a simpler elseif.

    Yes, with fall-through.

    But apparently my example is flawed due to using wait. This was not a post directed towards wait.

    If the waits were replaced by an intense calculation that took even fractions of a second would they go in order? Or would they all fire at once?

  • ugh, can I not post images?

    On event start:

    Test1 : wait, append text

    Test2: wait, append text

    Blank test: append text

    The last will append before the first two.

    . . . but if you are capable of answering the question I doubt you needed that

  • I was under the impression when an event triggered it would start top down synchronously. So if multiple conditions were true it would take care of the first before moving onto the second.

    But from this simple test all events nested on the same level are fired asynchronously:

    Result:

    This is not a complaint as it will work great in most situations now that I know. But is there a way to have something like this performed synchronously?

    A 'case: switch' is basically what I am looking for. Else and ElseIf won't work as multiple or none can be true. Signal and function would be more tedious than necessary and would have to create a line if none is true that it would fire the signal/function.

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  • Tried again! Still couldn't get up there! Are you sure there is a way?

    FYI - it got stuck twice for a small amount of time (10 seconds) after getting hit - not everytime though

  • Has anyone come up with an efficient way to create a game with spaces/tiles? If you are not sure what I mean think checkers.

    I have seen a couple of ways people have been working on it (and seemingly struggling) and have thought of a few ways to do it. But I feel like there has to be a simpler and more efficient way.

    Is there a table object I'm missing? The rows and columns of a table would work fine. Has anyone used an array to keep track of the contents of their 'tile' game?

    I'm almost hoping that a 'tile' behavior (and object?) will be added. Could be paired easily with a tilemap (if you want a space in the tilemap to equal a space in the game). That would be a great help in making games like strategic combat games (like Xcom; FF tactics), board games, old school RPG type games, or sim games (like SimCity, Harvest Moon). Simple commands/events like 'if tile occupied' or 'move x tiles' would simplify some of these events sheets I've seen in examples.

    I have digressed, sorry. Let me know if you have tackled this. I don't usually mind finding complex solutions, but I feel like if basic html can create a table then I don't feel like spending my time reinventing that.

  • You don't need to try to lure anyone to the wonders of unpaid gigs, just say you're making a game as a hobby and you're looking for a hobbyist artist. Lay out your idea and what you're looking for and you'll find someone in no time

    haha, thanks. I'm realizing I type too much . . .

  • ***Not Paid*** (or at least no guarantee of money)

    ***No Commitment or Deadlines***

    Why would you be interested in this then?

    I have a day job but love the idea of making video games as a hobby. I am looking for someone in a similar situation but with art. I keep spending so much time with the art side and am not satisfied - I want to spend more time designing, developing and coding. I am in no place to make any promises on how skilled I am so I don't expect you to either.

    If you are in a place where you aren't confident enough to sign up for a paid gig where a certain quality is expected and deadlines must be met then hit me up and we will chat. (you just have to be better than me, which isn't saying much! ha)

    Right now I want to work on a game that is all in an office setting - so not real complicated and not that much needed. 'Pixel art' is perfectly acceptable, if you are old like me (okay I'm not that old) I'm talking around SNES level of graphics is fine. Contact me for more details.

    If office setting isn't your thing but the rest sounds like you contact me as I have other projects I stopped because I was depressed from looking at my poor art.

    My goal is to get a fun little interesting game completed and published to AppStore. It would be free to play (none of my friends pay for phone games and I would want them to check it out) - just want to get something out there.

    So let me sum up some Pros for you if you aren't enticed yet

    Pros:

    • Work on your art and see it in a project
    • Add to your portfolio (credit you on title screen)
    • No deadlines or commitment
    • Networking (if work together well could do it again - maybe for money next time)
    • Website - if you don't have a website but are interesting in getting one I do web development, too. If establish a good working relationship could help you out in that area.

  • Just use multiple layouts. No need to deal with xml or databases.

    I've used xml before and enjoyed it since as I'm using web browser I can edit it without having to export and upload each time.