twotimingpete's Forum Posts

  • 13 posts

  • Please check your PM's; I'd like to talk to you more about Ghost Song!

    I read your message. The site won't allow me to reply to PMs until I have more rep. <img src="smileys/smiley32.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    I sent you a contact request on your gchat. I'm always on gchat.

  • thanks guys for the nice replies and comments :)

    I also recommend using the platform behavior over physics and C2s built in behaviors as much as possible.

    I looked briefly at this and I didn't like it because it felt like I wasn't in control. In stencyl, I built my platforming by setting up logic for when I'm on the ground, when I'm in the air, every step of the way, what happens -- for example, if I'm jumping upwards and let go of the jump button, I'd set my Y speed to a third of itself for fine height control.. I plugged in the prebuilt platforming behavior in C2 and I honestly wasn't sure where to begin if I wanted to start modifying it. what if I wanted to start adding more aerial maneuvers or even do the aforementioned "make the jump stop going upward if I let go of the jump button"?

    My game is a game that goes beyond run and jump, there are a number of special abilities that need to be implemented, so I think I need some flexibility.

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  • It's not redundant, because I'm executing those things in the group if the group is active, and I'm controlling whether the group is active by the button press.

    Still looking for this "trigger once" business. Don't kill me.

    edit: figured it out.

    and take it easy on me. I'm a moron. but I try really hard. I learn better by doing and asking questions than trying to read manuals. but the end result is I have a lot to offer in terms of game development (IMO).

    one last thing.. is this the way to base a condition on if an object's boolean is false?

    <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18592720/temp2/notboolean.jpg" border="0" />

    I didn't see any direct way to check if a boolean is false (it only seems to check if it's true).

  • Oh, I see that. But how do I make it unmoveable? I don't see that behavior, if it is one.

    And just in case you think I'm COMPLETELY incapable of learning on my own, I did figure out how to call a subroutine.. in stencyl I'd frequently execute actions or sequences by setting up "custom events" (static sections of commands that don't do anything unless called). I was trying to figure out a way to do this in C2 and I think I figured it out.

    <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18592720/temp2/subroutine.jpg" border="0" />

    I made a subgroup to see what it does. I saw that you can turn them on or off. They keep firing if on, though, every frame. So inside of the subgroup I made it turn itself off. Seems to work for firing, one time, a section of code with a command.

  • so "families" are basically collision groups, I see.

    just the one more question for now.. why won't my sprites collide with eachother? I tried putting the "solid" behavior on them both, and the character still falls through the "tile" after I set up a gravity force.

  • Is that the "custom movement" behavior? I started playing around with it and noticed my character going through tiles. I'm curious about how to set up collisions and -- in stencyl we had "collision groups". you set up as many collision groups as you wanted, and any given "actor" (aka object in c2) would belong to one of the collision groups. and you specify which collision groups connect with which.

    edit: I've since noticed the "physics" behavior (duh). I see the stuff here. The problem is my sprite and the tile sprite still won't collide with eachother, even if I attach solid behavior to each.

  • sounds good.

    is there a way to add momentum/speed to an object? to set its speed? stencyl has a built in physics engine, so there were command blocks to either set the speed of an object or "push" it with momentum, making it simple to manage forces and movement.

    I'm trying to get started on how to figure out gravity and forces and motion using the event sheets. I don't particularly want to use prebuilt behaviors, I need to be able to understand this stuff myself.

    Can anyone point me in the right direction about how to set up gravity, and set up movement based upon input? I'm looking at the actions and I'm a bit confused so far.

  • so if I want to make common event sheets (for things such as player controls or enemy behavior) I have to manually embed each and every one of those into a given layout's event sheet?

  • I think what I'd have to do is use stamp style graphics to dress everything up... bigger graphics.

    As a newcomer, it IS a little jarring to see that there's no form of tile editor whatsoever. It seems like C2 has everything else but is missing something obvious.

    Does anyone know if I can attach an event sheet to a specific object, in the sense that if I put that object into a layout, it'll bring the "behavior" with it automatically?

  • Hey everyone. I'm new to Construct 2. I love its features, and for the longest time have been wanting to learn it. I've been using Stencyl in the past, but it's lacking in some areas that I feel are holding me back.

    Since platforming action games are my area of interest, I've decided the best place to start would be to try to learn how to rebuild the functionality of the game I already had, but this time in C2.

    This thread is to chronicle my process here and be a place to ask the many questions I'm likely to have while trying to figure out C2. I'm an artist, not a programmer, learning new stuff like this is always a bit painful. I'm slow on the uptake.

    The game I was building in Stencyl is called Ghost Song.

    <img src="http://www.ghostsonggame.com/miscd/battle-s.gif" border="0" />

    <img src="http://www.ghostsonggame.com/screens/sc1.jpg" border="0" />

    <img src="http://www.ghostsonggame.com/screens/gshot01.jpg" border="0" />

    I built the game entirely using the design mode in stencyl, where I built the logic and functionality outward by the same few principles -- setting variables, conditions, and things that happen as a result. The game has a map, new abilities to gain, stats, crits, a pet, all kinds of stuff.

    Having so much experience with stencyl, it feels a bit odd starting back at square one. But here I am, with the dumbest questions imaginable.

    I've taken a cursory glance at the interface and poked around the beginning tutorials. I've identified what seem to be the key points for making stuff work -- Make a layout (this is a scene in stencyl), attach an event sheet that controls the layout. And it seems that I'll want to make separate event sheets for most objects (such as the player character or an enemy) so I can embed those within the main event sheet for the layout, so they can easily work from one area to the next.

    I'm getting started with my experiment. My very first questions are sure to be idiotic. I managed to figure out how to lay down my backgrounds (tiled background object then drag it over the area).

    Next up, I've already encountered my first problem:

    ----

    I wanted to start implementing my tiles from their tilesheets. I wasn't sure how, so I looked up the platforming tutorial, which describes making a sprite object for your tilesheet, and cutting up your sheet into separate animation frames -- and then hand placing instances of the sprite over and over and manually setting the frame number for each one.

    So... yea. For me, this is already incredibly impractical. This may be fine for small tilesets and small areas, but this is what a tileset of mine typically looks like: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18592720/temp2/162.png

    When I cut them up into a sprite object, I get an indecipherable list of graphics. Hundreds of small tiles that are relatively small and not super obvious what is what, when viewed out of context. I can't see what my sheet looks like and where I should place each tile to make a coherent section of terrain. It's like dumping an unassembled puzzle on my lap and telling me to build stages from it. And then that I have to manually set the starting animation frame for each tile, when I'll have hundreds and hundreds of tiles on screen... It's not doable.

    Any suggestions about how to tackle this issue? Should I simplify the tile process and instead use larger sections as single graphics to cover up the tiles?

  • can you use blending modes in C2? like setting an object or layer (not sure how the software works yet, haven't tried it) to, say, "overlay" and then that object or layer will blend with things under it?

    I rely on this a lot for how I've set up the visuals of my game.

  • Thanks for the reply. I find that in my experiments, the .SWF's that stencyl produces (at least in terms of the games I make) perform better or worse almost completely based upon what CPU the user's computer has. Graphics card seems to matter little or not at all.

    I take it HTML5 does not work this way?

    (Stencyl can export to various platforms, including HTML5 and standalone, but in my tests, my game has issues with exporting to those things as it stands right now.)

    And to answer your question, I'm interested in making games for the computer, be it in a browser window or stand alone.

  • Greetings. My name is Matt. I'm an artist who has recently taken a lot of interest in game development.

    I've been using another such program, Stencyl, for the past 8 months, learning it, getting pretty good at it. I'm generally not very good with programming concepts and math and so on, but through persistence I've been able to accomplish a lot.

    I have some concerns, though, and I was curious about how C2 compared.

    I'd like to show you a demo for a game I've been working on in Stencyl, and then state my concerns and pose some questions about C2. This is a metroid-style game, where you explore a large world.

    It's highly unfinished, and note I've added artificial roadblocks to keep you guys from getting too far into the map. It's just not ready to all be seen yet.

    You'll have to copy/paste this link, it won't let me set up a hyperlink:

    http://www.ghostsonggame.com/playghostsong768hx_alt2.html

    Z jumps (hold for higher jump), X shoots cannon (hold for charge up), C executes a dash (hold for longer dash). Note you can dash through bullets/enemies to avoid harm.

    In addition, you can hit space to switch to alternate fire mode and try different weapons (cycle them with F).

    (To find enemies quickest, go down the shaft and take the first left. The game structure is not really in place yet so you start with some powers and can't die.)

    Concerns with my game in Stencyl:

    • Performance. I do things to accomplish the look and feel I want that also have the result of making the game run worse on some computers. Namely, the use of many "actors" (what stencyl calls individual objects that can be given behavior) to simulate sparks and motes and debris and various other things, and my use of actors as environment dress up pieces. The most intuitive way I've figured out to design environments is to use Stencyl's tileset functionality (simple grid based tiles) to put the structure in, then place many individual objects (chunks of rocks, plants, whatever) to make it look how I want it to look. I can do this while maintaining good performance on some computers, but have found that the game runs poorly on other computers.

    I have a great desire to dress up my environments in an intuitive way without thinking mainly (or at all) in terms of grid based tilesets.

    I also have a great desire to make my game flashier by using many effects, which, as I've learned, is difficult in Stencyl and generally limited to finding clever ways to simulate real particle effects systems, which can be limiting and drain performance more than it ought to.

    So, if you've read what my goals are and what types of things I want to do, and looked at my demo, do you think C2 may be worth learning? And if anyone here is experienced with both programs, how does C2 compare in terms of ease of use?

  • 13 posts