Hello everyone -

I've definitely read and seen some good stuff on this forum pertaining to open world style games, metroidvanias, etc. I've played around quite a bit and I've seen some level of success using the rexrainbow TMX plugins, namely their ability to read tile data, load layers, etc. I guess it gives you a good amount of freedom and abilities that the built in TMX parser just can't give you.

For example, with a single layout you can essentially explore an entire world with zelda style level scrolling, permanently destructible features, enemies that can just be placed through some simple values in Tiled, keys, doors that open under certain conditions set in Tiled, placing animated tiles, etc. All the fun Zelda 1 type things that guys born in the 80's are pretty into.

To that end though, because you're essentially placing multiple sprite instances based on your TMX grid, that's probably not the best practice for mobile development. While my engine seems to run great (of course) on my machine, my tablet and phone (both androids) naturally take a big hit.

I don't know if this is quite 'best practice' (because I'm a forum n00b still...) but here's the web version:

http://threesevenhosting.com/builds/adventure/

(arrow keys and space - feel free to try it on your mobiles. might have to hit refresh a second time if level loading doesn't work. simple graphics with reused palettes at this point to mimic game boy color)

I guess my question then is this: is there a way to accomplish these sorts of gameplay features without killing the system memory? From what I read, maybe not - at least not yet. But maybe there is?

It seems like, if you could say, load a level and the surrounding levels using the built in tile map features, you could get the same scroll effect by actually scrolling to that part of the layout instead of moving the entire level, destroying the tile sprites when they're too far from the layout, while moving in the next level piece by piece - but then when it comes to actually placing and loading enemies using the built in features you would be at a loss. Is that correct to assume that?

Also - does it even matter that I have 1 layout that is dedicated simply to the main game engine, as opposed to having multiple layouts? Is there an advantage to that? I've always thought that there would be, but maybe not?

Thanks guys. Learned a lot from the forum.

rexrainbow this is a huge leap. Thank you so much for all your work. I'm trying to block out time to apply this to my project.

RecGames nothing to be ashamed about in my opinion... not many of the features of Tiled are supported in C2 currently, and I'm sure someone will inevitably come along with this same question and probably find the answer here. Looking forward to seeing what you're working on, looks interesting.

Selgeron Otherwise I suppose you'd have to do it by hand.

Selgeron, I'm no expert in the matter, but I don't currently think it's possible. There are some other third party plugins like this one, which may be able to accomplish it, but it's a bit more involved than the built in tilemap functionality:

rexrainbow that's a huge undertaking - you've contributed quite a bit! Thanks so much Rex.

rexrainbow, I think this plugin along with your other plugins are fantastic - they really push the limits of what Scirra can accomplish. Is there any way you could consider posting a more comprehensive and documented example of this plugin in particular, or does one exist?

This looks great! I know that isn't very constructive... haha but still. Great job!

Thanks! I think R0J0hound's example is a bit more simple and applicable to what I'm hoping to accomplish, but I did come across that example. Would work great for a platformer, considering the platform physics are utilized.

This is exactly what I needed... thanks so much! I was starting to think about detectors, too. I really appreciate how efficiently you did this with such few events.

:(

Hello Construct Community!

I've been haunting these forums for a while and have been able to glean much useful information. I used to pour a lot of time into Multi Media Fusion back in the day, along with Click and Create and, before that, Klik n Play (SP?) and I've been pumped on Construct for a little while. However, I've finally endeavored to jump back in and actually make something a bit more worthwhile (albeit on on my spare time). At any rate, thank you everyone for making this a thriving community with honest participation, encouragement, and correction. The internet can be a dark place.

On to my question - I'm working on a bit of a retro throwback type game, similar to the original Legend of Zelda in many ways. I've nailed down the movement engine and some basic behaviors, but I'm wanting to test some enemy behaviors now. I was curious as to how to create an enemy that does the following:

1. finds the nearest solid object

2. moves along the solid object until it hits the edge and turns, or keeps moving along the next solid object

An example would be the zoomer from the original metroid - you can do a youtube search for "Metroid Wiki-Zoomers In Action" and see an example of this behavior. (the same movement as the "spark" enemies found in Link's Awakening - just couldn't find a good video of just them)

I had thought from the pathfinder description that it was possible to use that behavior, but I haven't found an adequate example as of yet. I would appreciate anything anyone is able to do to point me in the right direction. Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone! I'm betting the answer is pretty really simple.. haha