You just solved my problem. I had never heard of containers but it seems like a logical idea. Imma give it a shot in the morning and see what I can come up with.

So, I've been scanning the forum for answer (like a good little forum user) but I've come across a question that needs professional help. Lol.

So, I'll just post the .cap and let you examine it as I'm asking these questions.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33283294/zombie.cap

Basically, what I'm attempting to do is program the AI for a zombie game. They way I started was just using the Line of Sight behavior. It was awesome and worked perfectly. Until I turned my sprites solid. Then, that ruined it because as I learned, the LOS runs off hotspots. So, back to the forum. I learned you can shoot an object at the player if is within the LOS of enemy and if it hits him, viola!

However, this only works with one enemy onscreen. I want individual enemies to have to see the player before attacking. The way I have it (since I don't know what I'm doing) is every zombie will fire a detector at the player (which works) but as soon as one hits him, ALL the zombies go after him. I need a way to make the zombies INDIVIDUALLY aware of the player. (by means of a private variable)

Is it possible to take a text object and pick the individual characters from it?

For example, Text = "Lorem Ipsum..."

Text.GetChar(1) = "L"

Text.GetChar(2) = "o"

Text.GetChar(3) = "r"

Text.GetChar(4) = "e"

Text.GetChar(5) = "m"

I wish to have a separate app allow the user to input information and have it generate a keycode based on that input.

To correct the Z sorting you need to move the hot spots in all the Hero and Hero_det animations to the bottom of the frames, and move the hot spot of the Tree down about 8 pixels.

Ah, thanks! I got it working now. However, I changed from the pick method (because I really have no idea what it does) to just a regular on collision. It works really well, unless I have another prop (for example, a bush) close to the tree. If Hero.Y is less that Bush.Y, the collision with the bush sets the player behind the bush but also places it on top of the tree. I read somewhere about Families of objects. Is it possible to set props that I need to calculate the depth for into a family and affect the family instead of the individual objects? Once I add more characters and props, I really loathe the thought of adjusting the depth for each individual character/prop.

Hello! Unfortunately this is a introduce/example/help request thread all in one! I thought I'd post it here as I am uploading an example of my work with Construct so far. (BTW, I've spent a total of 30 minutes working on this example.)

*Skip down to the bottom for a clue as to what this thread is about without having to read the boring stuff.*

So, first, my name is Wesley. I've been an amateur game maker for almost 8 years. I started with the RPGMaker series and I recently decided to find something new to use as the programs are severely limited with what I need to do. (For example, pixel-based collisions and movement. I hate grid based movement.)

I spent about an hour looking up tutorials and especially the Platform tutorial. I found that quite understandable for the most part. But, I've never really been a fan of platforming games (aside from Metroid) so, I thought I'd work on something different as a way to break myself into the program. I'm a big fan of the Zelda series (and any game of the 2D action/RPG style) and I thought, "It may be worth a shot to give a Zelda engine a go. I don't mean to rip off the series but I figured, once you get the main systems down, everything else is basically plug and play.

***

So here's what I've got:

1. Controllable character (a necessity, obviously)

I use the sprite Hero_Det(ect) to control where the actual player sprite goes. I use an 8 Directional behavior on Hero_Det and have the Hero sprite mirror it's X and Y. Reason being, in Zelda games, there's usually some force like wind or a conveyor than moves the player. By using the Hero_Det sprite, I can allow the 'force' to detect the when Hero_Det, which is actually only a 16x4 sprite in a bounding box of 24x32 (the same as the hero sprite) and push the character in a certain direction.

2. A 'working' layer order (sets foreground objects above character, background objects behind character)

I say 'working because it's not perfect. In fact, it's terrible. It does what it should BUT when the objects change layer, they often overlap other objects in a way I don't find aesthetically pleasing. For example, I cannot put my trees overlapping each other because when they change order (relative to players Y position) some will appear to be planted in anothers branches.

Also, creates the problem of other objects/characters needing to be obscured or above other objects.

3. A working 'Force' System

Easy, pushes the character in a certain direction.

4. HUD

I have half of what I want for a HUD, mainly the HP (no MP yet) and gold.

Planned:

1. Battle System/AI

I plan on either using and image point to place a sword sprite over the Hero's sword animation and animate the sword to move as well.

2. Menu

Zelda style, separate layer, show/animate when menu button called. (Disable hero/enemy movement, disable environmental damage?)

3. Many more things

***

Anyway, if you have any ideas/suggestions, I've more than open to them. And remember, I've had about 30 minutes to play around with this software. I'm really loving it so far, but I've got a long way to go. The graphics are stuff I pulled from RPGMaker projects. (If you have any ways to implement some of the things I've planned or have a better way to do the things I've already done, please do so and upload a cap. I plan on updating this thread with newer versions each time I work on it. Also, I've attempted to add proper comments, if you add on, please do so as well with your username in the beginning like I have.)

I'd prefer information on z elevation first, so I can get the depth order perfected.