or the water.

*Insert profanity here*

Tulamide is 100% right. I ran through the game with an uncapped frame rate twice, once at 1280x720, and again at 1920x1080, both times I saw highs of close to 300 fps, and the lowest point each time was just over 60fps at the area with tons of water and waterfalls. That was enough to prove I'm CPU limited more than GPU limited, which for an overclocked i7 2600k... is not good.

I then ran through a third time with the water events disabled, and never dropped below 150fps. The waterfall area never dropped below 180fps. So yep, that lovely dynamic water that ripples and waves as the wolf runs through it has to go. All that time and work <img src="smileys/smiley6.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> I guess I'll need to work on a decent warp effect to give the illusion of water movement, and just add splash effects as the wolf runs through it.

I'll go curl up in the corner now, gently rocking back and forth.

But on a positive note, the framerate has improved drastically, and that expensive water effect also required a full screen blur shader - so it will be an improvement to GPU processing time as well <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Ahhhhh, that's probably slightly more worrying <img src="smileys/smiley5.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Artwork and resources I can easily scale down, rework, find different ways to animate etc. I've made so much headway with the waterfalls and cutting out blur shaders by pre-blurring in Gimp!

CPU optimization though... that mainly comes down to the event sheets right? That's the part I suck at <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> which makes sense I guess. I have a heck of a lot of events running every tick. I think I'll spend tomorrow going over all of my events, and taking a look at what I can condense down. Are there any tips and tricks for this?

At least the GPU optimization I've already down can only help. It's not like it was a complete waste of time (I hope!) <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Oh, bummer. Well the plasma at the base of the waterfall (used as spray and foam) does have a layer blur effect applied to it, so I would be swapping out two plasma effects for each waterfall (one for the waterfall itself, and the other for the foam) for a tiled background with a bounded warp effect, and textures for the foam. I'd also be removing the blur effect.

So it sounds like it would be an improvement, just not a huge one. And there's the issue that if I use textures for the foam instead of plasma, I would be having the game create new foam textures every couple of seconds at the base of each waterfall on-screen, and possibly adjusting the foam's angle every second to have it spiraling slightly.

Man, optimization is a pain in the <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Still, the waterfall as a tiled background and warp effect seems like an improvement over plasma, so I think I'll go with that at least. Especially since I can turn the warp effect off when the waterfalls are off-screen. I might have to go without foam completely... or create an advanced graphics option for it? Oooo. Controlled by global variables, and turned on or off through the main menu. That could be nice.

Alright, that's enough of a brain dump for one day. Thanks for the help <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I'm trying to optimize my game, and I have one section with several waterfalls - all created using plasma effects. Each waterfall also has a spray effect at the bottom, which is also created with plasma. I'd like to know if plasma is a fairly intensive effect?

If it is, I have a different system which I think looks better - A small tiled background (blue, with 50% transparency) stretched to the size of a waterfall. A canvas object is placed underneath it at the same size, grabs the cliff texture beneath it, and applies a bounded warp effect. It gives the illusion of the tiled background waterfall warping the cliff behind it. I'll then place some small simple textures on top of the waterfall to imply movement, inspired by this image.

So the main question is pretty much: Is the Plasma object more or less intensive than the Bounded Warp effect? I'm afraid I'm completely hopeless at discovering these answers myself <img src="smileys/smiley5.gif" border="0" align="middle">

Many thanks for your time <img src="smileys/smiley12.gif" border="0" align="middle">

I thought this was a deliberate design for Halloween at first. The colour choice is a sickly green, as though the website looks ill. Great for Halloween! But can we get back to the version that didn't look grotesque once November rolls around? I don't think my eyes can take much more than a fortnight of this.

-Silver-

I wouldn't recommend using the "y"-key. Different languages use other key layouts. For example, the "z" and "y" key are swapped between english (qwerty-layout) and german (qwertz-layout) keyboards. There are also azerty- and qzerty-layouts. As long as CC doesn't report key-codes but characters, it might be best to let the user decide which keys to use?

Ahhh, thanks, didn't know that. I didn't plan on using the Y key for keyboards, but for 360 controllers. As in the Y, B, A, X face buttons, colour coded to match the elements. I transfered their positioning to the arrow keys for the keyboard. If players want to use arrow keys for movement though, I think you're right and I'll have to let them set their own preferences for ability keys <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

And yeah, whoever thought this green colour scheme was a good idea needs a clip behind the ear. Ugliest layout I've seen in years <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Back at my desk! Thanks for all the feedback you sent my way. I'm going to optimize as much as possible <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Looking back through the thread I noticed a couple of questions I missed:

MrMiller: I'm curious to know how you got the music to run without a music folder? I've always had to have a sound/music folder included with my .exe. Maybe this is a fix that now works for CC 2.0?

I used the resource folder, in the same list as the music folder is in. I think you just right click it to add files to the folder. Then you use the "play music from resource" command in the events. Though there seems to be some limitations, since I can't alter its volume (for fading in and out) nor where in the track the music starts playing from. Hopefully I can figure that out.

Gelidaer: Does the movement use a custom plugin and is it easy to do the angle detection for the slopes of branches?

It's not a custom plugin, it's Tulamide's genius mind at work. The wolf has two small invisible sprites on either side of him, set to constantly move down the Y axis until they hit a solid or platform object. Witchraft ensues, where the sprites somehow set the wolf's angle based on the difference between their Y values. There's a limit to how far down they can move, and if one of them moves all the way down to its limit without hitting anything, then the wolf's angle is set to 0, and an animation is played where the wolf is balancing on an edge.

Thanks again for all the feedback, and hopefully you'll get to see an updated version before too long <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I love the music and the art style in this game, but like a few people said, the arrow keys would be better since people are used to using WASD when using a mouse as well.

This is what I would recommend:

Arrow keys for movement and space for jump

Down and space for dropping

If your elemental attacks can't be changed later on, this might work:

Double tap left or right for dash

Down arrow for shield

Z for flaming jaws

X for rooting

I also got a few quick questions, does the movement use a custom plugin and is it easy to do the angle detection for the slopes of branches? Thanks for the demo and keep up the good work <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Thanks Gelidaer!

I might try uploading a beta when the level is complete with multiple different control options for arrow keys, and see what people prefer. The arrow keys for abilities were based on the setup I want for the 360 controller:

Y for wind

B for fire

A for earth

X for water

Colour coded, and so I just kept the same layout for the arrow keys. But I can certainly see how people would prefer moving with the arrow keys. I wonder if using the number keys 1-4 would be useful for abilities too? I plan on using a modifier to access the second tier of abilities, holding down shift while pressing them to use a different skill.

I'll create and upload and some different variations <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

1.Performance is ok but can be optimised

2.Gfx is good , but the forest needs more variety ie more plants different trees.

3.I also vote for the arrow keys instead off wasd keys

4.Music is on par for this game.

5.More effects ,when running the wolf should kick up some dust or leaves.

I dont know if anyone else has this problem ,but sound fx does not seem to work on my laptop when playing classic construct games.

1) Definitely. I'm pretty sure it's GPU heavy rather than CPU heavy, but if anyone could confirm this that would be ace.

2) Yes, that's another thing I should have mentioned in the OP. I'm leaving the little details to the end. If people tell me the level is too short; too long; some parts are too simple or difficult; there's not enough of... whatever, then as it stands I can easily re-arrange the layout, add more, fill out certain areas etc. Once I'm happy with the layout and have all the mechanics working as intended I'll be adding ferns, plants for colour, shrubs and small trees, hanging plants and ivy for the cliffs (which look really plain and repetitive atm). So that's definitely coming!

3) Noted <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

4) Not sure if that's good or bad <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

5) I've been thinking about this too. It's related to number 2 in that I want to get the mechanics and layout nailed before adding the little cosmetic touches. I would love grass and water kick-up effects at least, but I'll have to see how far I can push these effects based on how intensive the game is when it's complete.

Thanks for your feedback! Oh, and sound effects aren't in the game yet, which is why you aren't hearing anything <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I bolded and capitalised it too <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Yeah, it's also trying to ensure that it isn't resource intensive, which the wobbling water is. I used to have all three layers of the water wobble, with waterfalls creating ripples when they hit it. But that was really expensive. The wobbling water is made of 4 pixel wide blocks lined up next to each other, which led to thousands of objects on-screen at once in the waterfall section. Had to change it so that the back two layers are just static tiled backgrounds.

I'll play around with GIMP for a while when I get back home and see what I can come up with. If only it was as simple as painting a damn waterfall <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Another vote for arrow key movement! I'll definitely include the option from now on <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I don't like the waterfalls much either. I don't think Plasma is going to work for them, since they don't start flowing until they are on screen. I have no idea how to paint and hand-animate water though, so this will take a while to find an attractive solution. I enjoy artistic challenges though! It's the programming challenges that give me headaches <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Interesting point about the fire effect. It might be because I'm using a kind of pastel colour scheme, whereas the fire is a really bold colour with high contrast by comparison. I'll look into that one.

You're right about the speed too. I was mainly playing in 1280x720 when developing, and the smaller screen size made him feel faster. In full screen it does feel a bit too slow. I don't want to speed him up too much, since a higher level wind effect doubles his movement speed for as long as you channel the ability. But it certainly needs tweaking.

I think that's a good suggestion about the branches too. If it comes across as a mild annoyance, then it shouldn't be there at all. And I can see how many players will try running straight across from one branch to the next, only to fall down.

Thanks for the feedback! <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />