Oh, so webgl mode doesn't always dump textures immediately? In one of my projects I had a large object that caused a pause every time it was created after all its instances had been destroyed, so I assumed it did. Does that have something to do with the instance pooling?

I dunno, if you make the pieces you're creating and destroying small enough, like 256x256, make sure each piece is a entirely different object and not a different instance, and only create 1 each tick, I would think it should work fine, actually. That way it's basically 'streaming' textures to the graphics card and dumping them based on proximity, keeping memory usage down (as long as webgl is being used).

The trick is definitely to try to not send too much image data in a single tick. As I hear the bandwidth for doing that isn't very high on most systems, which is what causes the pause.

Only the transparent pixels of the objects on the layer, unless you've set the layer to be rendered as a texture, in which case I'm not sure if the segment with objects is cropped or if the entire layer is drawn.

Use the system condition compare values, object.count=0.

Yeah, I design all my projects with the globals in their own event sheet from the start to make sure I don't have to. :/

If you cut the global variable, then paste it in the other event sheet, all the deleted references conditions and actions will reappear. I agree it's terrifying though, and would still prefer some other method like copying the variable then pasting it removes it from its previous location instead. Or maybe the method the windows file manager uses for cut and paste, where the file is still in it's original location with reduced opacity until it's pasted, basically resulting in a move function. If the user wants to delete the variable they can use delete instead of cut.

Allow me to disagree about the difficulty of a turn based game. The state of who's turn it is can be represented in a variable. Then use the variable compare condition in events to control when things happen. That is pretty much the main aspect that makes it turn based.

After that you can tackle each other aspect individually. The computer AI will be the most difficult but is doable.

Oh, the basics are simple. I had a basic version of the battle system of loot pursuit running very quickly when I first started on it years ago when I didn't know what I was doing that seemed to work just fine at the time. It's all the extra layers of the rest of the stuff that's not basic working with all the other tons of systems together smoothly that becomes a very complex problem if you don't know what you're doing from the start, one that I would not recommend for someone starting out with construct (though it did end up being quite an effective learning experience for learning how to use construct for me). RPG's in particular at first seem simple to make, but are extremely deceptive with how complex they end up being.

Also, you are one of the top level programmers around here, so what's easy for you, as I'm sure you're aware, might not be easy for someone else. :)

I'm inclined to agree with R0J0hound on the ease of developing a turn based game... for someone who knows how to work with Construct.

I still maintain that even with experience, anything past the most basic of RPGs is going to be a much more complex task than it seems. I feel confident stating this objectively as I have read many other people agreeing to the same thing who have attempted making RPGs.

C2 is capable of making a turn-based strategy game, but it's one of the most difficult types of games to make. As far as I know, there are no tutorials for how to make one because of that fact. You should probably start with something simpler to learn how to use construct 2 well before attempting to make something so complex.

Yeah, I also want to be able to set what opacity it will fade to and such via events, like in CC.

That will result in overdraw where they overlap, yes. Option 3 is the most efficient for the rendering process. You could also use option 2 and try to reduce the amount they overlap as much as possible. Also remember to set 'clear background' in the project's properties to no, as that takes up draw time too.

mcdan - the landscape performance problem on ipad was fixed a while ago.

It might be downloading the new version as you play the old one. Try using the browser object's 'is downloading update' condition to see if that's the case, and the 'on update ready' trigger to reload.