Those are really sweet features and make it much easier to create levels. However, what if the sprites were not separate, but in a tile sheet? Especially a tilesheet that isn't in a perfect grid (has extra space, etc that you don't want to import). It is MUCH easier to import these in other tools than in Construct. Using the import frames feature, under animations, in Construct doesn't seem to work well on many tilesheets. For example, you have to manually determine what size the sprites are by using the picture editor. It would be nice to have that feature built into the import tool. Also, I'd love if someone showed an easy way to import a tileset into Construct and have it where you can use the tiles in many different objects.

For example, a tileset that has three characters with 4 pictures per characters. All I know how to do is to import the tileset automatically into one object using the import tool. Then cut and paste the different animations into new objects. This way isn't terrible... but is there a better way?

I gotta agree with Attan on this one. As far as "level editing" is concerned I don't think Construct is one step ahead of other tools. I'm not knocking Construct on the whole because I think it is amazing, but I think other tools are just as easy or easier to use for creating levels.

That being said I don't think its that hard to make levels, but it could be better. Working with tilesets seems to be a weakness of Construct. For example, there is a video on youtube on level creation

. It "seems" to be easier than the way Construct works, but maybe I haven't used Construct enough yet. This is probably a 2.0 feature though... or a plugin.

Thanks for all of the comments! I've been really busy with work, but I plan on getting back to writing part 5 within the next two months. I'll probably do something on inventory, positional sound.. the rest TBD.

btw... nice example misfitbyte on how to have scrolling text/edit boxes. It seems to have disappeared from the tutorial section.

I use the Layout object mainly for compartalisation. Say I'm doing an RTS. The Worldmap may be the layout object while the UI may be in the layout itself. When you want a little compartmentalized object with its own coding and actions, use the layout object.

I believe someone used the layout object really well when they were making a "Two camera" game a few months ago.

Thanks for the info. Great suggestions for how to use it. All experiment with it some more and hopefully get a good wiki entry up within a few weeks.

MisfitBYTE hmmm very interesting idea. I'm not sure, but I'll have to experiment with it. A workaround would probably to just put the layout object to the front and it wouldn't matter if the main layout was invisible.

OMG Radix's Standard Waiver is amazing!! So freaky....I can't believe I never heard of it before either. We need a list of "Best games in Construct" or something.

Yes, that would be awesome!! Any Python improvement is a good thing. That was the main thing that first caught my eye with Construct, so it is really disappointing that the Python doesn't work well.

Another improvement that I would love to see is support for external libraries.. see my post on the Python forum. This would add tremendous extensibility to Construct and allow those that don't have Visual Studio or don't have C++ skills to still add additional features. For example, I was going to incorporate an AI chat engine into Construct using Python. However, importing the library simply doesn't work. It seems easier if I write a c++ plugin to do it which shouldn't be the case. Also, I think it would attract more people to Construct if they had some other programming options.

Nice game Minor. Looking forward to playing it. Looks like it has some cool adventure elements.

I don't know if this would save any memory because I haven't tested it out yet but......Perhaps instead of having one massive layout you could have like 4-8 smaller layouts arranged in a grid. Then on your one big layout you would place the 4-8 smaller layouts on the grid dynamically using the layout object. So lets say you are in layout one and you are approaching where layout 2 is visible. Then you would show layout 2 and your player would eventually transition to layout 2.

Of course this complicates events because you have to deal with layout transitions. The huge benefit is it could make it where only the layout your currently in is consuming memory, but still give the visual impression of a massive layout.

I think video tutorials are only practical for very simple examples/games. I agree though it would be much nicer. I started to try it for my adventure tutorial but gave up because on how time consuming it was. You have to be able to add everything flawlessly the first time, which is rarely the case.

If you install version 0.99.5 I show how to move back and forth between layouts in Part 4 of the adventure tutorial in the tutorial section.http://www.scirra.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4421 There are other ways to do it as well, but you could straight copy the code from the tutorial and it would work for you. The steps (shown in the tutorial);

1. Place your main guy via an event in the first layout.

2. Physically put an object (door, etc) in the first layout.

3. Add an event when your guy touches the door, move to layout 2

4. In layout 2, set position of guy to an object (or just x,y coordinates) in the second layout. Do not re-create him.

The actual code/events for this are in the part 4 tutorial.

for this I'd go with Teh Pythons.

Agreed, Python would be far more powerful when manipulating text. You probably would need that power for a text adventure game. Plus, I'm pretty sure all the Python text manipulation stuff works since it is part of the standard install.

The text manipulator object would suffice for a really simple game... but I'm still trying to figure out how it works!