All sounds like it should work in theory. If you could post a capx, that would make things easier.

Yeah, if all you want is simple gravity, the physics behavior is way overkill. It's better to use something like platform or custom movement.

The grid is great. Also, remember that you can have an asymetrical grid. For example: 10x20, 64x16, etc...

spacedoubt already straightened you out on the layout.

One little tip for spritefont: use a spritefont with a resolution in excess of it's ingame size (memory/performance permitting). Make it display smaller by adjusting the scale of the spritefont. This way, construct will downsample the spritefont, which will look sharper. It'll also look sharper on higher rez displays (assuming you are using high quality scaling). Finally, if you want to make your text a little bigger, you won't have to regenerate your spritefont, or put up with a blurry render quality.

Horse plop it may be, but buddy, you're gonna have to elaborate. What exactly is the problem?

Every tick does not scale as the framerate gets lower. So, if your framerate is 10fps, an every tick action will seem to take place at 1/6th the proper speed.

On the other hand, dt scales to lower framerates. Thus, actions will appear to happen at the same speed, though dt controlled animations may look very choppy.

Generally, dt is preferable. However, for some games (for example, puzzle games) it is preferable to handle things with per tick logic, as the timescaling effects of dt can cause glitchs such as collisions not registering.

It does seem like older games put more of a priority on boss encounters. Contra is a good example.

I guess if it were me, I would look at Castlevania for some inspiration. A plethora of excellent bosses drawing from mythological sources, both biblical and otherwise.

In terms of unique, original gameplay, it's hard to top the bosses in Metal Gear Solid. Too many good ones to name.

Artistically, an excellent reference for imaginative biblical imagery is the work of Hieronymus Bosch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch

Keep in mind, all of this imagery is public domain. Early Netherlandish paintings in general are a good source for unnerving, beautiful images, many containing explicit religious themes and overtones.

In terms of programming, a simple state machine works fine if you are hearkening after old school pattern based bosses. Make each different behavior state into it's own group, then create a handling group to enable/disable states as you like (with timers, by health, however you want).

P.S. Whoops, just noticed the last three digits of my rep score...maybe you should be wary of my advice... <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_twisted.gif" alt=":twisted:" title="Twisted Evil"> <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt=":mrgreen:" title="Mr. Green">

Followed Tom's link and upvoted C2 on Slant. Looks like we're clobbering the competition. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_surprised.gif" alt=":o" title="Surprised"> <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy">

List:

http://www.slant.co/topics/341/~what-ar ... me-engines

C2:

http://www.slant.co/topics/341/viewpoin ... onstruct-2

Just figured someone might find this useful:

http://slickdeals.net/f/7210322-free-li ... lopers?v=1

Regga354

Thanks for the example! I'll check it out too.

Is this really the best comparison? It's herky jerky even on my desktop, and that's running in a tiny window.

Realtime raytracing is probably the most demanding thing you can ask a computer to do; without a dedicated gpu, you're not getting anywhere.

iOS 8 performance is interesting though. How about some c2 games? Have you tried anything on the arcade, kongregate, newgrounds, etc?

LittleStain

Essentially, but I want a system with a little more flexability...jayderyu makes a good suggestion.

jayderyu

Never thought of that...much better than triggering a bunch of functions or groups by name. Will also make it easier to load control setups in/out from text files, etc. Thanks!