Rayek's Forum Posts

  • Rayek, if you are just making it for iOS, why not use Ejecta? It works great, and is fairly easy to get working. There is a tutorial for it.

    I've tried that before - however, I could not get it to compile in xcode. A simple test did work initially. I have read there are issues with tiled backgrounds as well (which are used quite a lot in the game).

    Today I tested the game in the Cocoonjs launcher on an ipad 2 with the latest iOs release: the result was quite sobering indeed. It crashes while it loads or crashed in the menu, or when starting the first level. We tried about 6 times, and the game would crash at random - never reached the point of actually playing the game.

    In iOs 6.1 on an identical iPad2 and the Cocoonjs launcher there were no problems whatsoever - it at least played smoothly with no crashes at all!

    Either Cocoonjs launcher has issues with the latest iOs, or the memory requirements are heftier... Not too sure.

    Is anyone else having issues with the Cocoonjs launcher and the latest iOs?

  • It's very frustrating to say the very least. Of course, I should have done more research before deciding on Construct for this project: Construct is brilliant, but Ludei is terrible.

    For the last month we've been trying to get our game to run on iOs through Cocoonjs - to no avail. It displays a black screen. The stupid thing is that it runs well and smooth in the Cocoonjs app. We're not using any physics, merely rather simple events and base objects.

    Thanks for the heads-up about Game Closure - I am going to attempt that this weekend.

  • I used Photoline for all the graphics conversion and creation in my first Construct game Victor.

    Version 18 of Photoline is out now! This time 15(!) new beta versions were made available to registered users (including myself) and tested through their core. This update focuses on workflow improvements accross the board, as well as adding interoperability with other editors.

    One of the old-age criticisms made against Photoline (the limited configurability of the user interface) is now, for the most part, history.

    Photoline already supports a full 8/16/32 bit per channel workflow, allows the user to set any layer to any image mode in the same document (each layer can be set to RGB, CMYK, Lab, Grey or Monochrome), and delivers a mostly non-destructive workflow with full adjustment layers and layer effects, as well as virtualized/cloned layers. A layer supports any number of layer masks and layer mask groups. Layer masks behave like any other layer, and also support adjustment layers and layer effects.

    An impressive list of new features:

    • the user interface's look has been updated. All panels are dockable and can be moved around individually
    • the interface can changed to a dark theme (colour of the interface is controlled with a slider)
    • non-destructive distort tool
    • straighten tool
    • the brush settings have been expanded to include dynamic settings like random position, colour, brush angle, and so on.
    • a new more flexible hue editor
    • boolean operations for vector objects
    • external editors and plugins can be invoked. For example, send a layer or the complete file you are working on to (let's say) Krita, make changes, and send it back to Photoline
    • multiple windows per document, and each window can display a different page you are working on. Incredibly handy when working with cloned/virtualized layers/groups of layers! Place all your source images on one page, and use clones on the other pages.
    • guides and grids can now be dynamically activated while holding down the <alt> key. The exact behaviour is configurable
    • WebP import and export. The web export also supports this new web format
    • pdf import and export was updated
    • metadata now uses the xmp standard. auto-completion of meta data in the information dialog
    • vector layers and gradients now work in full 32 bit per colour
    • adjustment layer mask softening setting
    • move and zoom with the hand tool can affect multiple windows now. Handy when you are working on a mask in one window, while checking the result in the other (windows)
    • display layer masks in one window while showing the result in another window.
    • virtual copies/clones of a layer or group of layers now update in realtime when the original is adjusted.
    • virtual layers can be used to create mirror painting setups with any number of axes
    • mask layers are now displayed in the channel pane

    Other smaller workflow enhancers:

    • pages can now be named
    • curve editor usability enhancements: holding down the <shift> key limits movement in vertical axis only. Esc cancels.
    • cloud filter now supports gradients and 48bit (16bit per channel)
    • document list can be converted to a tab-like configuration
    • content lying outside the work area can be hidden now
    • panel layouts can be reset back to their original state
    • the ruler origin can now be adjusted
    • create your custom tool bars.
    • automatically saving a pld file alongside a format like jpg. When you open the jpg the pld file with full editability

    is opened instead allowing you to work on the original layers.

    • MacOs Retina screens: zoom works on physical pixels
    • colour adjustments affect layer effects now
    • colour temperature range increased from 2000 to 20000
    • extended colour selection: values can now hold <0% and >100%
    • brush cursor adjusts dynamically while painting/drawing. Very handy when working with a wacom tablet and pressure
    • documents that are activated now check if they were changed externally and, if so, Photoline will ask you whether you

    want to update to the most current version or not.

    • single-click now sets the colour in the colour selection dialogs.
    • TIFF with psd support. Read: photoshop tiff compatible
    • tools like the finger painting now work with full 96bit internally (32bit per channel)
    • vector editing improvements
    • SVG import has once again been improved

    And many, many bugs were corrected, as well as many other small improvements.

    pl32.com/pages/rnote.php

    Available NOW for Mac and Windows, and runs in Wine for Linux. The installation file for Windows is 21mb(!) ;-p.

    pl32.com

    A fully functional thirty days trial version is also available for download.

    There is no subscription option :-) Once purchased it is yours to keep and use.

  • Have you played it a bit? What do you think?

  • I thought I'd post a couple of screenies?

    <img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/2e1eq81.png" border="0" />

    <img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/287ox9j.png" border="0" />

    <img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/2j0xbfr.png" border="0" />

    <img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/21j6dco.png" border="0" />

    <img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/jqst37.png" border="0" />

  • Help Victor save the animals! Play through three graphically unique levels and use your paint gun to colour the poor grey beasties and pick 'em up. Make every shot count, because shooting paint depletes your paint level. Replenish your paint by picking up coloured animals!

    A joint effort of graphic design students at VCAD in Vancouver. A simple shoot'em up with a twist.

    We wanted to upload this to Scirra's Arcade, but unfortunately the game is 20mb - and yes we did a LOT of optimization. It's just quite heavy graphically, and we did not want to remove the music.

    Game is now available for free through iTunes:

    itunes.apple.com/ca/app/victor/id706400946

    The game's website is up (very simple website - remember that this is a volunteer project - requires Chrome or IE to play):

    bigsixgames.com

    Best played on normal level ;-)

    Hard is very, very difficult. I've been able to almost reach the fourth level, but haven't finished it yet on that difficulty level.

    A full screen version can be played at

    estructor.biz/victor

    (the only caveat is that the browser width affects the position of the player - do not make it too wide - I will fix this later)

    Comments are welcome.

  • Photoline all the way.

    I have used Photoshop in a professional manner since version 4, and up to CS6. About ten months ago I switched to Photoline - no 3d or video fluff, extremely lean (17mb windows installation file!), and the layer system sweeps the floor with Photoshop - really.

    Its workflow is mostly non-destructive, and offers adjustment layers, layer effects, live filters that do not require smart objects, virtual instanced layers which update in realtime when the original is updated, as many layer masks as you want per layer, grouped layer masks, layer effects and adjustment layers can be applied to layer masks(!), multiple page support, full vector layers with pixel alignment(!), photoshop files with adjustment layers and layer effects compatible (which means they remain live in Photoline), Photoshop brush library compatible, each layer in the layer stack can have its own custom image mode set(!), and so on, and so forth.

    Also full CMYK, RGB, Lab, Greyscale at any bitdepth (8,16,32bit) PER layer.

    Aside from the 3d and video components, it is on par with Photoshop, and in a number of essential areas actually an improvement!

    The newest beta version (only available to registered customers) was improved substantially again. (dark interface setting anyone?)

    For example, I currently use Gimp and Krita as "plugins" to Photoline - imagine that! This way I am working on an image in Photoline, and when I need a specific Gimp plugin, I fire up Gimp from within Photoline, apply the effect, save and quit Gimp, and happily continue. It connects directly with (almost) any software that works with bitmaps. Most generic Photoshop plugins are compatible with Photoline as well (I use FilterForge and NoiseNinja, for example).

    For my latest game I prepared, converted and built all the graphics in Photoline. It was a much more pleasant experience than Photoshop.

    And I would have never thought I would ever say this, but: when I return to Photoshop CS6 it feels awkward. Photoline's workflow is mostly better. Not everything (every software has its strenghts and weaknesses), but overall it works more efficiently.

    The website is pretty dire, but do not let that detract you from trying out Photoline: it's actually quite amazing. (Un)fortunately I've become a Photoline zealot. And for the price of two months of Photoshop CC, you actually OWN a perpetual license that runs on both mac and pc. It also runs off a portable drive or usb key.

    The new version should be out in a month or two. So far the devs have listened to about 12 suggestions of mine, and added those requested features to Photoline!

    Oops, forgot linky: pl32.com

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  • Yes, I did - I have no idea where that dependency is coming from, and I haven't spent too much time on it to fix it.

    Next project will be compiled with Ejecta. I was able to get quite good performance in Cocoonjs and worked around the bugs.

  • Construct 2 itself is a third-party solution to programming games.

    If you want to avoid those, you should code it yourself in native language.

    You are misreading what I meant: I really like Construct 2, and come from a developer's background myself. The thing that causes alarm bells to start ringing in my head is Ashley's response that it's up to Ludei to fix things. Who's to say Ludei will not respond in like manner, and tell us that Scirra should adjust their code?

    Ludei's Cocoonjs is closed source as well, and we have to trust them not to change the license the day after tomorrow. Updates have been quite slow as well compared to other mobile game ecosystems.

    For me personally at least, it creates a somewhat fragile environment to rely on for my development. That is why I have been investigating Ejecta as an alternative, and I got simpler projects running quite nicely through xcode. It also frees me from being dependent on Ludei, and I have far more control over the output. That, and the benefit of working with an open source, means I can fix things myself if required.

    With Ludei I cannot fix anything myself, nor can anyone from the community. I do not have the time to debug to get our game working in Ejecta, so for this project this late in the dev process I just have to workaround known issues. Which I did today. It works quite well in Cocoonjs now.

    For the next project I will absolutely NOT rely on Cocoonjs - that is what this first dev experience with Cocoonjs has taught me. Most probably Ejecta. If that proves to be unsatisfactory - well, lots of other options out there, including mobile game frameworks and libraries.

    It will probably be years before out-of-the-box support for anything is added. Like I mentioned, making the game yourself in native language will provide all the solutions you're looking for.

    Any ecosystem has its issues and bugs. I am very pragmatic about it: if one tool or ecosystem/framework has too many caveats, I will switch immediately. There's only one way to really find out whether it is robust enough or is lacking, and that's what I did: I relied for this project on Cocoonjs. Next time I will not! That simple. :-)

    Cocoonjs tries to provide a non-technical way to publish to iOs, and I applaud that. It may work for others, but for me: I will avoid it next time.

  • You should report these issues to Ludei, since we don't make CocoonJS and can't fix any problems with it.

    9-patch has a property in the C2 editor to turn seamless mode on/off - that might help.

    Android might be better since I think the Android CJS launcher is one version ahead (on 1.4.1 right now, whereas iOS is still on 1.4 since the approval process is longer).

    Hi Ashley,

    Thanks for responding! Seamless mode on/off does not solve the display issues with the 9-patch object. Since I only have two panels in the entire game making use of this object, I removed those, and replaced them with my own version (corner graphic sprites, and rim repeating backgrounds.

    I believe these issues have been reported to Ludei a while ago already.

    I just don't like the idea of being dependent on a third party solution that is beyond the control of you and Scirra to provide solutions for.

    In my next project I may have to reconsider my options, and perhaps use a different tool, or start with early Ejecta testing, and go from there with Construct.

    Perhaps you could reconsider to offer out-of-the-box support for both iOs and Android. Ludei has proved to be quite troublesome for me so far, and for a while there jeopardized our project.

  • It cannot find the jQuery object.

  • For now I am going to work around the main two issues in webgl mode. I will replace the nine-patch objects with my own constructed panels, and I should be able to remove the fringes by creating two or three repeating cloud objects.

    I did a couple of other optimizations, and got the game running at a healthy 50+ fps now in webgl mode (it's a shoot'm up of the different kind).

    Needs to go up this weekend, so these workarounds should fix the last couple of issues.

  • Question to Ashley: I checked the c2runtime.js to see if I can change some values for the nine-patch so that it removes the seams when run in webgl Cocoonjs. Which variables should I adjust?

    • with extremely wide repeating tiled backgrounds, the edges become more fringed the wider they get. In webgl mode I get fringes, in canvas2d mode at some point retro-like huge pixelated edges start to appear. They actually GROW.
    • nine-patches work in canvas2d mode, but in webgl mode seams appear all over the place, rendering them unusable.
    • in canvas2d mode flickering lines appear at random here and there along sprite borders. I did add a 1px wide margin for all my sprites. It worked properly in 1.3

    Any solutions? It's very frustrating: both canvas2d and webgl in Cocoonjs cause graphical defects, and I tried running the game in Ejecta, which will not work either.

    In short, I cannot publish the game. And the client is waiting.

  • I'm in dire need of some help.

    Our game compiles in Xcode, and runs on the ipad, but after displaying the ejecta standard startup screen, it fades out to black, and then...

    Nothing!

    I tried running only our intro screen, and that runs. But trying to run the entire game, and no intro screen - the game will not display.

    Any suggestions would be VERY appreciated.

    Additional info:

    • no physics used
    • no external plugin used
    • game works in Cocoonjs