There's actually an object timescale event you can use instead of the system one. Maybe put the rest of your game objects in families for simpler events, then set the object time scales of all of those and your player wouldn't be affected then.

In the plant example, you could just make each one its own animation within the same sprite object. That's definitely the easiest way. For custom stuff, you can replace frames/images from a URL or project file. And, lastly, if you want multiple objects stuck together, either use something like the program Spriter (which is made for stuff like that) or put them in a container and place them relative to directive image points on the base sprite frame.

C-7 Nice video.

How are you doing the Z-sorting ?

Hey thanks! I have all of the possible sprites in a family. I filter those down to what is on-screen and on the Player's layer then loop through them with a for each ordered by Y and move them to the front (thus ordering them). Then I loop through all of the player and npc Spriter objects and insert them into the order relative to their respective invisible dummy Sprites (of which all of the code runs from). The rest is simply placed on layers above or below the player.

This thread should have your answer, I think. Much of the problem is actually the solid behavior in this case. Using that method has made everything great for my game with the 8 direction behavior.

And another post this week--this time about mapping!

Here's damainman's playthrough of the C2 prototype for our next title Battle Princess Madelyn

More info on the game in official thread: https://www.scirra.com/forum/battle-princess-madelyn-from-the-makers-of-insanity-s-blade_t165299

It looks stunning! Great job!

Here's a video showing some of my map-making process in C2!

I added a new feature today about mapping! See some of my C2 workflow:

Just go to your bottom-most layer and change the layer option Transparent to "yes". It will be transparent in the browser then.

Double check it isn't already in your project. If not, reinstall. The browser object is still there and fully functioning.

A nice way to go with your prototyping is to make a small, playable game (for yourself or not) that uses a few of the core systems you want. Individual systems are great, but the combination can sometimes be the tricky part. For instance, you could work on your pathfinding, layout abilities (try things like elevation, proper z-ordering, etc), and in-game events by making something simple like leading a group of units through to specific points and having something happen when you reach them. A few small things like that will give you complete ideas on where you want to go with it all, it would teach you everything you need, and you would be able to follow through with completing more bite-sized chunks of stuff. You could do a personal example strictly based on UI-handling and number management. Prototype your battles with just single units vs single units, then groups, squads, armies to make it all more manageable. Those three demos/prototypes for yourself wouldn't take incredibly long to achieve, but you would be FAR ahead of the curve in a couple months when you could start cranking on the real deal. It's much harder learning each of those individual things along the way.

Soon after those are done, and probably while you're working on implementing everything (quickly now!) into the main game, do some concept art tests to make sure your development art will line up with how you want the game to finally look. It would stink to get everything nailed down then add in art only to find it all looks wonky. Just do a bit of graphical planning alongside your systems implementations so you don't have to rework things again later.

And lastly, don't forget audio! You don't have to make it all until later, but you should have an idea in your mind about how you want to implement it all. IE, decide what cues what and possibly set up your functions sooner rather than later so you really can just plop in the audio files and be ready to go with some mixing.

It sounds like you're going about it logically, I'm just encouraging making sure your prototypes are truly useful creations that can possibly kill a few birds with that one stone. If it all sounds like a lot, though, it's because it is.

I'm sitting at about 4500 events so far, but I'm not targeting mobile at all. Some of them get a little heavy, of course, but good optimization can help with that.

I added a short write-up about an important character to my Patreon page as well as some art work for her. Check it out and consider chipping in to help development and get some good stuff.