stuatk's Forum Posts

  • and I thought updating a sprite was really bad...... then I dared to do something really complex like..... update a sound -

    so there's no "reload file from disk"..... so I thought ok, just re-import it, a bit crap but hey, and... as most of you know it rename the sound!!!!!!!!

    Importing and managing assets must be improved before adding new features like lighting!!!!!!!!!

  • Problem Description

    I have a sprite which has 5 animations.

    when I copy over the files inside each separate folder for each animation - and return to Construct and open said sprite in the sprite editor, all the frames have been updated (interestingly I don't need to select "reload files from disk" for the updates to happen) the bug is this: all the frames of each animation have been updated except for the very first frame in the first animation (just for info, this animation is only one frame).

    So there is no point attaching a capx, or filling out the rest of the form. Just try it with any sprite.

    The fact that all the animations are split over multiple folders makes updating sprites so time wasting and tedious I believe it to be a very serious issue. Updating assets must be improved before any new features are added!

    Attach a Capx

    ____ Upload a Capx to this post ____

    Description of Capx

    ____ Concise description of what this CapX does ____

    Steps to Reproduce Bug

    • Step 1
    • Step 2
    • Step 3 etc.

    Observed Result

    ____ What happens? ____

    Expected Result

    ____ What do you expect to happen? ____

    Affected Browsers

    • Chrome: (YES/NO)
    • FireFox: (YES/NO)
    • Internet Explorer: (YES/NO)

    Operating System and Service Pack

    ____ Your operating system and service pack ____

    Construct 2 Version ID

    ____ Exact version ID of Construct 2 you're using ____

  • Thanks for your thoughts, glad to hear its not just me suffering when trying to update files..

    As far as this problem being on the "to do" list - it should of been discovered immediately, there should have been an artist along side Ashley, who after a few hours of trying to update his sprite would have turned around and told him how time consuming and tedious it is. That's what makes me think there was no artist/designer doing any testing.... and like all the game engines out there, the creators focus on putting new features in (like lights) to create headlines in the hope of finding new customers... while allowing fundamental issues untouched.

    Having said this, I know Ashley is really active with the community and does his best to fix bugs... but its becoming obvious its too big now for one person to code.

  • I keep finding so many oversights and problems (that I'm pretty sure could be fixed without too much stress) that it feels to me that construct hasn't actually been tested/pushed very much.

    A super simple example: update animations of a sprite - output from a third party art package (pro-motion)

    After you have created all your animations - stand, run, jump, walk, punch... etc all the image files are moved into separate folders, so back in my package of choice I have all my character's animations in one long animation (standard practice). In order to update the animation in Construct (using "reload files from disk") I have to individually save each frame from my source animation into each folder that has been created for each animation by the system. It takes far too much time to do this - and it should of been thought of from the beginning - and I can't believe it hasn't been brought up before and has not already been addressed.

    meta data should be saved that stores where these files were loaded from the very first time - so I only need to replace my original images - and a function needs to be added - "refresh files from original"... this is how it is done properly!! i.e Unity, unreal etc.

    The most frustrating thing is, a fundamental work flow issue like this should have been discovered during TESTING, never mind by the community after release.

    And on a lighter note: it's so bloody frustrating because Construct is so close to being brilliant. It needs more investment - more programmers and testers!

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  • thanks farflamex, I was thinking about setting my own values at run-time like you suggest, I think that would be the clearest and simplest way...

    I think I'm finding some stuff very confusing because I've spent so long using the Unity engine... but I really like the idea of using Construct for bashing out some fun little html5 games.. but with Unity soon supporting webGL I'm not sure it's worth getting to know Construct too intimately.

  • cant get it to work - before I spend anymore time trying to track it down could anyone let me know...

  • thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm adjusting the way I work to take into account there is no 'prefab' version of a sprite...

  • Has anyone found a way to reset the data stored by the persistent behavior - seems like such a waste that this great behavior exists but there way to reset it.

    Does anyone know if this has been reported, any Ashley is aware of the oversight??

    Is browser reload the official way we're suppose to clear it?

    Thanks.

  • Right.

    So, it this right: The very first instance of a sprite placed in ANY layout acts as a storage for my default settings?

    so if I have a layout called "myObjects" and when ever I create a new sprite I should place here first, so if I want to adjust my 'default values' of the physics behavior, I go back and always adjust this one? So sprite(0) always stores the default values for behaviors???

    This is my thinking.

  • Please help, I'm super confused about how I go about changing the 'original' sprite.

    I'm a very experienced developer coming here from Unity , I have a very good understanding of classes, instances, inheritance... etc) I've worked in the industry for over 20 yrs - I was the lead animator/designer on Tomb Raider II... just to give you an idea of my experience....

    I love Construct 2, all ready got a fully working version of 'Jet Pac' done..... But I'm VERY CONFUSED about this:

    create new blank project.

    create new sprite. (right click in project view)

    drop sprite in layout.

    Add physics behavior.

    change density to 100.

    delete sprite.

    -- now... later on I want to put the sprite back again...

    drag sprite from project view to layout.

    select sprite in layout.

    -- now the physics density is set back to 1... not 100.

    So if I had set up all the physics values to be just right, got my object working just right.... then all instances were deleted for now.... and I put the sprite back later on.... BANG! All my values are back to the default values. As far as I can tell this happens with all behaviors....

    So how do you go about 'storing' your own default setup? - I maybe super confused coming from Unity (I'm kind of expecting it to work like prefabs).

    Am I expected to set the values back up for and sprite that has had all it's instances deleted??? Surely my default values should appear in the properties bar when I select the sprite in the project view...... but when you select a sprite in the project view it selects all the instances of it in the layout view??? Is there no such thing as 'my default settings'??

    Oh... I'm probably wasting my time writing this... there's something really nice about Construct... but the fundamental approach is starting to feel a bit flawed....

  • turns out to be a different problem - if the player is holding down a direction control key when the layout is changed, the physics system seems to detect this before the event has chance to place the sprite in the start location - making the sprite sometimes appear in the wrong location.

    Solution - for about 0.3 of a second disable player input when layout starts.

    Seems like a hack to me. But it works. For now.

  • I assumed something that I expected the engine would do... any advice or opinions would be great.

    I'm a seasoned Unity user and expected the following:

    When using the On Start Of Layout condition I would expect it would not be fired off until ALL instances in the scene were created first... an example:

    I have a player sprite and two other sprites in the layout - one called "start_position_A" and the other "start_position_B"

    I have an event sheet which contains the "On Start Of Layout" condition.

    When "On Start Of Layout" is triggered there is a global variable test, depending on the outcome it either chooses

    "start_position_A" or "start_position_B" - and uses the position coords to place the player.

    when testing sometimes it worked, sometimes it didnt. Thats because sometimes the instance being referenced existed and sometimes it didn't. I added a wait 3 seconds action - it worked EVERY time, because by then the instances existed.....

    So, does anyone else think that "on start of layout" should not be fired off until ALL instances have been created in the layout?