Zantium's Forum Posts

  • It's not a bug, it's the bottom row of pixels wrapping back to the top. It's just how computer graphics work, nothing specific to Construct 2 here.

    Not in a games context but I've been working with computer graphics / images for about 20 years now and I've never come across that before. I'm assuming you mean just in the context of games graphics and tiling images but I'll take your word for it - it's clearly intentional. <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    The last time I programmed a game and used tiled backgrounds was on the Spectrum 48k iirc, I may have some catching up to do.

    The workaround: add an extra row of pixels to the image, or resize the image ever so slightly smaller. For example, make the image 32x33 to add an extra row of pixels along the bottom, and make them the same color. Or, just resize the Tiled Background to be e.g. 64x31, so the last row of pixels doesn't wrap around. Or, just position the other backgrounds to slightly overlap and hide the seams.

    OK, just to clarify before I start altering all my images then;

    Power of two images are recommended for tiling aren't they so if I use a 32x33 image, won't that occupy the space of a 64x64 one being over the 32x32 size?

    If I went a little smaller instead, how does that prevent the bottom row from wrapping - does it only wrap with power of two sizes?

    Thanks!

    Oh - crash wise, drivers are up to date etc. I think it's always when previewing and then switching back to the C2 window but I'll make notes and bug it.

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  • Hi Michael

    I tried switching sampling methods and turning smoothing on and off, none of this had any effect.

    At least it's designed like that and not a bug, is this feature documented anywhere that you know of?

    It's a bit of a pain that I can't turn it off for certain textures but I can work around it.

  • Hmm, it appears to be a bug. <img src="smileys/smiley18.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    I've worked out that it seems to be replication of roughly half the bottom line of the image. If I remove the bottom row of pixels I can work around it, though that's a bit of a pain.

    I suppose it could be a designed in overlap to help with tiling but really if it's pixel perfect, it shouldn't need it.

    Having issues with the software crashing too since the recent update, don't recall having issues before. <img src="smileys/smiley11.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

  • Ashley answered one of my posts the other day and recommended I use sprites and tiled backgrounds instead of painting a whole detailed level. As per the "not wasting memory" blog.

    I've started working on this and have noticed an issue. Tiled background images all end up showing a bounding box around them as per this picture.

    Is there a way to get rid of this or have I somehow done something wrong?

    <img src="https://m2r9qg.dm1.livefilestore.com/y2pt8Fl6tvIWr1lDOHg8VE0LBeNl9dm82Fl5KZy23kPf5R8UNoLwSZgvp7OEXjyCVERllZGaD4jDxmZECXlyHP70ykzKnYlpdGdFY_6VW0mSsk/Tiled%20background%20border.JPG" border="0" />

    (It's a very early test of tiling/sprites btw to see if it'll work for me)

  • I think the next step for me is I'll make a few basic images for fore/middle/background sprites, create a large level with lots of basic platforms and plaster it with "random detail".

    That'll give me some sort of idea on what it'll run like without any other gameplay elements (movement, enemies, dangers etc) on top.

  • I think I've seen one or two of his videos already but hadn't taken a detailed look - watching on virgin tivo box (while feeding baby) so the interface/search/subscribe is limited. Subbed on my PC now though.

    I have to say, I don't think I've ever actually chatted to anyone on steam before but I'll try and say hello next time I'm on.

  • Sulli Oh, I like the program, no worries there. I was also looking at GM:S on steam when I saw this one. It's nicely laid out and intuitive as I mentioned and I read one of the tutorials, watched a couple of youtube videos etc while feeding the baby. <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    Platform feel wise, my initial tests were good, with a little tweaking the movement and jump motion felt right and I was able to set it up with a controller no problem. I honestly spent much longer drawing this animation sequence than I did actually setting it up in game - which is a good thing!

    youtube.com/watch

  • Oh dear, I'd actually started reading that article when I first looked at the software and forgot to go back and complete it. <img src="smileys/smiley9.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    So, what I'd planned to do is basically bad design practice (though perhaps technically possible on a desktop).

    Even if I chopped up a large imaged level into smaller tiles, it wouldn't make any difference. It's still the same number of bits in use as a total loaded into memory as Construct 2 loads all the required assets up front for each level.

    I had thought that a single background with lots of space/transparency would be more efficient than lots and lots of sprites to make up the scenery, but the engine rendering the transparent parts negates that.

    OK, I think I fully understand why it's bad now and I need a different approach. What I need to do instead is build myself up a "palette" of sprites for each level with a different design look and make up the levels using these. That would be a bit like using the stamp tool in photoshop rather than painting in with a brush.

    That Rayman Origins example is really good too, it doesn't look repetitive at all. There are a couple of things that spring to mind with it however;

    1. There are a lot of sprites highlighted in that one image (23), with a large level, can Construct 2 handle that sort of number 500-1000? and in using sprites does it impact CPU or RAM? (I'd guess being objects, it would hit the CPU more)

    2. In the image there are a couple of different trees, while these look like individual images, there are similarities so these too may be build from multiple layers of "tree parts". So, should practically everything in a level be build from sprites on a layer of tiled image/texture e.g. the grass/ground should use a tiled image as a basis and highlights are added as sprites?

    Thanks for your help so far. :)

  • Thanks for the welcome. :)

    I guess the foreground would be the big image with the most detail in it and the background would be a muted parallax scrolling type affair that would follow or match the foreground - at least in my mind. ;)

    So then, if I sliced a large design image up into 512x512 segments but had a total level area of perhaps 4096x4096, how would that help?

    The only way I can think of is if the engine dynamically loaded the currently viewable graphics/screen and unloaded ones that you'd passed from memory.

    If it works like that, it's not a problem, I can draw a big picture in photoshop or SAI and just chop it up.

  • First of all, I'm impressed with what I've seen so far;

    Nice company/devs

    Seems intuitive to use (it only took my a couple of hours to get an animated character running and jumping around on some basic platforms)

    No need for coding (I'd like to code, but I've only done simple scripting so far)

    Reasonable pricing for the Personal Edition

    Good community!

    By day I'm a Cisco/firewall/telecoms engineer with a general IT background, I'm also an avid gamer and a hobbyist artist. Recently after watching Indie Game - The Movie it suddenly brought back memories of the platformers I played when I was growing up when gameplay ruled. I bought FEZ, loved it and I decided that instead of just painting pictures that I never look at again, I could channel that into making a game.

    I have no illusions on making any money, I just what to make something that I'll enjoy as much for the process as anything else...

    So, that's where I'm coming from. What I'd like to build initially is a platformer with painted backgrounds and foregrounds and fairly large levels. I don't really like the tiled effects of some of the older/retro style games but from what I've read so far, using big images in Construct 2 is pretty much a no-no approach.

    I did have in my head that I'd basically paint a full level on the front layer, stick some basic sprite objects to make up the solid platforms behind that layer and that would work for me.

    Now, while I like the software, I'm not sure there's any way to achieve what I'd like to do with it?

    Am I looking at the wrong software for my ideas or are there different ways to achieve the same sort of thing in Construct 2?

    PS - I only really need to run the game/s on Windows, but I guess a web option would be nice too. I'd also like to be able to create save games easily.