Thought I would add a link to a Construct project exported as a web project, just in case people haven't seen one not hosted on a site that adds a bunch of extra stuff, ha:

http://bit.ly/Ninja0619

Hello,

I have my own websites and pay for server hosting but not sure what others do. I know there are places you can upload your game (Scirra arcade, Facebook, Kongegrate, etc - many places) but I am not familiar with them and not sure what hoops you have to jump through or cons to these sites (like required advertisement banners or requiring to sign up before you play).

Anyway, just wanted to test the waters and see if people are in need of a place to upload their game to that is hassle free and could provide a direct link.

I have also implemented high score tables before and thinking about setting up tracking players while playing so I can see how long they play and such in order to use as feedback to improve the game. These are aspects that many seem to struggle with so thought I would mention that as well.

Any feedback on this idea appreciated. Let me know if there is a site where many are happily uploading their games or if people are struggling how to share with others.

Thanks

First thing is usually art and aesthetics because a screenshot (or packaging) is usually the first thing you see. "Graphics" aren't a huge deal to me but if it looks like they didn't put a lot of effort into the art then they probably didn't put a lot of effort into the entire game.

Next is a hook, either some kind of story or unique feature of the game. Something that when you hear/read you think 'hmm, that seems unique. I want to hear more'. This could be in the text description of the game or a video. I don't want to play a game that is a copy of others with nothing original. (unless it is a copy of a favorite game, I guess)

What really gets me hooked on games though is making me think, to put it simply. Someone mentioned Zelda games earlier, they are great with puzzles, strategy battle games such as Xcom and Final Fantasy Tactics, even first person shooters that aren't just run and gun but have stealth, cover, tactical vantage points, etc. Hitman was a favorite of mine due to having to monitor the guards and think what is the best way.

"Progress" is another good point. Leveling up in RPGs, getting better weapons in FPS, more money and bigger towns in games like SimCity type, Clash of Clans, etc. People feel good when they can see progress but I don't think it keeps people there if it gets repetitive.

Another important part is that it is challenging but fair. If it is too easy it gets dull from, well, basically not having to think. But it is frustrating if a game is 'unfair' such as you die or lose from no fault of your own, as in there was nothing you could do to stop it.

Hope this helps. As I'm becoming more comfortable with Construct I've been thinking more about what makes a game fun so I don't just make a game, but a fun game!

Did you check that the animation speed isn't set to 0?

I didn't follow your link you posted previously but do you have a capx or screenshot of your events to share?

Anyone can help me?

Did you try my suggestion above? I'm not sure why it wouldn't work...

I don't have time to cover every detail right now and not on my computer with Construct so I can provide a capx or anything but thought I would try to explain and you can ask questions on what you don't get.

Lerp(pointA, pointB, position)

So lerp will move something from pointA to pointB and the position tracks where it is at between pointA and point B. So the position is from 0 to 1, where 0 is equal to exactly point A and 1 is equal to pointB exactly.

I have seen two methods implemented

-every tick

--set x to lerp(viewport.x, pointB, 0.02)

So this will calculate the distance between where viewport is currently and point B and move it 2% of the distance. The distance is new every time since viewport.x is constantly changing. Therefore the movement will start out fast and slow down near the end. (maybe never reaching the target exactly because the position is never set to 1)

The other way, lets say you are moving from 500 to 2000

Global variable position = 0

-every tick

--set x to lerp(500, 2000, position)

--add 1/60 to position (so maybe about a second, you may want to make this frame-rate independent)

So this will be a smooth movement as you are moving the same distance every tick.

So the second version I would to this:

Global variables

StartX

StartY

FinishX

FinishY

Position

Group (start disabled)

-every tick

--set x to lerp(StartX, FinishX, position)

--set y to lerp(StartY, FinishY, position)

--add (how fast you want it to go) to Position

--If Position >= 1

---Group Disabled & set Postion to 0

Function Camera move

--Set all the Global variables

--enable Group

Hope that is a good starting point for you!

I found 2/3 easter eggs

I bet if I could see an over-view map I could find the third- I couldn't figure it out! That second one was very clever though! I knew there had to be something on that screen.

Nice work! Congrats on being the first!

I see you are missing the green egg. That is actually my favorite I will send you a map as requested when I get a chance because I'm not sure that will help you as much as you think!

That worked perfectly- thanks so much!

Now I feel challenged to find an easter egg... Ill have to try again after work tonight

Great! (to both)

Hint: two of them require very detailed observation to surroundings. The other, a little creative thinking, but most likely luck in discovering it.

Happy hunting!

I avoid Wait for anything but the simplest things. Timers give you 100% control over your timing.

Thanks, makes sense. So easy to throw in a wait without thinking about it. Need to get out of that habit and get more familiar with timers.

If you don't mind a follow up question: How do you organize your timers? (or more accurately name them)

So lets say it takes a small amount of time for the main character to do certain actions (cast a spell, open a treasure box, prepare special attack, etc) but if hit by enemy that buildup is stopped. So if you had a timer tagged "fireballSpell" & "openChest" & "superPowerUp" etc. you would have to add a stop timer for each one of those tags in the event for the character getting hit, no? Or can you stop all timers for one instance? (of course that might lead to issues stopping all timers, not just relevant timers, for that instance)

Or I was thinking have an instance variable, lets call it timerFunction. Then could do:

On key/button pressed:

-set timerFunction to "fireball" or "openChest" or whatever they are doing

-start timer "mainCharacter" (always keep the tag the same)

On timer "mainCharacter"

-call function character.timerFunction

On main character hit

-stop "mainCharacter"

Sorry I am using you to think my thoughts through but it seems as you are filled with wisdom

Are you sure you don't have more than one tile selected in the editor?

Ugg. My first instinct when I saw your code was to blame Wait, but as is, it does work, except of course if you destroy the Monster that is then later still referred to, as you painfully found out. So switch to using a Timer on Monster instead. Then if the Monster is later destroyed, the timer will be cancelled automatically. Sorry I didn't speak up sooner.

Ahh. So in general it would be a good idea to replace any waits with timers when dealing with monsters and combat and such?

No worries!

~Sol

Actually, it is still doing it but I think I figured out why.

This is basically what I have

On timer

--animate

-- Wait short time (0.3 seconds or so)

-- Monster spawn bullet object

-- Set bullet direction

I actually thought this through while away from project and testing but I think this is why it is happening:

If the monster is hit/damaged and destroyed between the timer going off and the spawning (so 0.3 seconds time window) there is no new bullet spawned. Only one monster is picked and it is destroyed so no monster is left picked to spawn a bullet. And since no bullet is spawned then setting the bullet direction will pick ALL of the bullets.

So I was thinking of changing it to:

-- Monster spawn bullet object

-- Set instance variable (to the angle)

On bullet created

--Set direction to instance variable

So even if monster is destroyed and all bullets are picked it will just set an instance variable that won't be used again.

Will the On bullet created fire before the instance variable is set though? Should I put a miniscule wait in there? How small? 0.05 seconds?

Or can anyone think of a better solution?