What I usually do is put my globals at the top of whatever event sheet I'm using (I don't always opt for a dedicated sheet, depends on the game) and sort them by using empty groups for categories (Player, Enemy, UI, Misc, Debug, etc...), with separate comments for any var that need additional explanation. Visually, I love this.

Early on, I wanted to be able to put globals in a group, but, actually, at this point I'm fine with the way it is.

Fimbul

Doesn't construct already do variable nesting? Like, if I drag a global into a group, it only functions in the scope of the group. Or am I misinterpreting your meaning here?

As for instances vars...I've never had a need for that many, but...yikes. Yeah, if I was in that situation, I would want folders too...

This would be kind of nice. A lot of other programs work with the 'tab to next element' command.

Talking about properties: What I would really like is for duplicate to actually inherit the properties of the duplicated object. Like...if I dupe a particle, why do I have to reset all the properties? Okay, sidetrack, but still...

8601! ;D It's the final countdown! *cue music*

Rhindon:

Actually, no, I think the metroid prime hud is great...but it's definitely not 'minimal'.

I'm playing around with a 'disappearing' hud now, but...meh...still tinkering.

pixel perfick

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And, I'll concede that system shock is a bit of a cheap shot since it was very complex game. I could never really get into doom for some reason, but I do remember the bloody face thing.

It occurs to me though...I can't really think of any hud I actually 'liked'. I guess the best hud is one that doesn't interfere or distract, and maybe even adds to the experience.

Hmm...actually, I do remember liking the way GoW did the hud, how it would go away when there weren't enemies around, and how the camera would reframe in a really cinematic way for setpieces and the like. And the hud/menu system for Resident Evil 4 was cool, especially how you had to arrange things in your suitcase so they would fit.

Though...I wonder...where was leon keeping that suitcase?

Well, I think there is a general push in games now to reduce the hud as much as possible, and integrate it as part of the game world. Metroid Prime is a poor example of the former, but an excellant example of the latter...though I can see how it might look a bit overbearing to some. Remember those massive huds some of the early pc fps games used?:

Or even nowadays:

And, of course, then there's WOW:

Anyway, all gags aside...it's trickier for games that need to present a lot of information, like rpg's and, at the extreme end, strategy games. Also, it's harder to eschew onscreen huds when you are doing a non fps game, or need to communicate anything more than player health.

I'm really stuggling with this right now with my multidirectional shooter. I don't like sticking clutter anywhere on my screen, but I need the info there. It's all about finding the least intrusive way to do it.

This is really helpful! Thanks for commenting things so well too. This will probably be used in one of the games I'm working on.

Cheers, T

This is very interesting. I had wondered why some people took the approach of using a sprite object plus an invisible 'logic/mover' sprite...though, somehow it seems like using 2 objects versus 1 would have to be slower logic-wise, even if one is invisible and one has no cols. Guess I'll have to try and see...

How does this work outside of WebGL, or has anyone tested it?

Cortex command is...a frustrating game. It's compellingly bad in that very special way that really ambitious -- but very broken -- games are. There's nothing quite like it.

I actually put together a mockup of this kind of terrain destruction using a tilemap with 2x2 pixels, and spawning physics objects which then turned back into tilemap blocks when they slowed down enough. Basically, the same approach — However...when things got even the slightest bit crazy, my framerate was down in the single digits...and that's on my well clocked quad-core and just a tiny map.

So...yeah, using tilemaps/physics doesn't cut it.

Though, it would probably work for characters as they are quite small. Just use sprites with tilemaps to mask them. So, the tilemap erodes, and your sprite erodes, etc.

Using the canvas plugin might work, never thought of that.

Would love to see a cortex command-style game -- that was actually playable -- but I'm not convinced it would be possible in C2 at this time given the state of the technology.

I experimented with this at one point.

It seems like the way construct works is that it renders objects in the order of their uid. If there is a string of the same object type occupying a range of uid values (say, 1 thru 100), some optimizations kick in (don't exactly know what).

OTOH, if they are all jumbled, the renderer is constantly switching to a different object, and it slows down the draw calls. Thus, if you have a lot of objects that are spawned randomly, draw calls go up, even if you only have a couple different types of objects.

I imagine having the same object with each instance having a different frame would cause a drop in performance compared to the same object with each instance having the same frame. But I could be wrong, as I haven't experimented with this.

Here's the thread I started where this was discussed:

Ashley's response partly covers what I'm talking about above, except for the UID sorting, which I inferred from my own tests.

I saw this awhile back. I was impressed with the demo; it ran pretty acceptably even on my ancient netbook, and the art looked really good. I wish you luck with your indiegogo campaign. That being said, a bit of constructive criticism.

1. You should have a few pictures up. Your video is good, and video takes priority, but some screenshots would really liven up the page.

2. Your goal is, honestly, a little high. It really shouldn't be, but the industry is what it is, and there have been many games on kickstarter/indiegogo that had to struggle to raise even a few thousand, much less 15k. Most of those which raised more were by people with established track records and fan bases, or who came from the industry and thus have contacts in media, with other developers, etc. to promote their project.

3. You might want to reconsider your title. It kind of ludicrous at this point in time, but the F-word (even obfuscated) is still somewhat stigmatized and might cause you some problems reaching a younger set. Especially considering that the context sounds a little suggestive. I know it's a zombie game, and your zombies explode into gorebags, but frankly, with your art style, it's really not M-rated stuff, so I wouldn't discount that market. One idea:

Grandma vs Zombies: A play on Plants vs Zombies. Simple and to-the-point, sounds 'familiar', but also a little different, humorous, and intriguing.

Badass Grandma: If you want to capitalize on the 'badass grandma' aspect, and downplay the zombies (there are a lot of zombie games...)

4. You might want to refine your copy for your campaign. For one thing, the english is a little rough around the edges. I don't mean offense here, but it is what it is. Also, some of your language and proposed features are described in a vague way that implies you don't quite know where the game is going. This might not be the case, but you definitely don't want to undermine the confidence of potential contributors by coming off that way. Promise less, deliver more is the best approach.

5. I do not know if this is possible with indiegogo, but if you could embed a demo of your game on your indiegogo page, you should. Most games on kickstarter/indiegogo are basically just pictures and videos and a lot of jaw-wagging. Having a demo right there would make your game stand out, and make your project look more serious. The demo I played a couple weeks ago looked very slick, and made a good impression. You should hit people with that right off, if you can.

6. You should target mobile. Period. Your game would control fine on mobile, and the performance seems quite good even on my weak netbook, so you should be able to scoot by. There are some definite headaches/limitations with mobile games for C2, and there will probably be a lot of devices you won't be able to support, but you should still go for it. Desktop is a much harder market, as the competition is more fierce, and there's less cash to go around. Of course, there's no reason not to support desktop too...but mobile should probably be your priority, if possible.

Wish you well with your project, hope you find some of that helpful.

Cheers, T

[quote:2pwht6i7]Perhaps whats needed is some sort of program that teaches how to do events properly

This is a great idea...as long as you could turn it off if you wanted.

It seems like the core concept of construct is to have an easier learning curve, and a more streamlined workflow. Having some built in context sensitive feedback would be a great way to teach new users good practices.

And, it would be great for more seasoned user working on larger games, where it's easy to miss something redundant among hundreds or even thousands of events.

AND, since C2 is making a point of targeting schools and educational institutions as well, this would help take some of the load off of teachers by empowering students to solve simpler problems by themselves.

Basically, it would help everyone.

Maybe start with some simple 'gothcha's', like

'Hey, you know you tested the same two objects for collision in this other event, right?'

'You have the same loop over here, redundant loops can really slow things down'

'You are filtering your instances before testing for collisions; this forces brute force collisions and will result in worse performance in most cases.'

I could see how this could be annoying if done wrong, but generally striking a balance between ease-of-use and depth-of-control seems to be a strong point for Ashley.

P.S.

What would REALLY make this feature awesome is if you could generate a project-wide report with potential glitches, errors, and warnings.

Maybe Ashley can add it to his todo list. Which reminds me: how many file cabinets does that thing take up now?

This is just...beautiful. The ships, the title screen, the great use of parallax...how the hell did you do those pillars?

The gameplay looks really slick too, what an intriguing mixture.

BTW, maybe it's just me...but Penelope brings to mind another firey haired, futuristic heroine with an eyepatch.

Nah, I'm probably just being a dummkopf...