John Cutter's Recent Forum Activity

  • I have a bunch of standard .json files that define components. I was hoping I could use C2 to parse the .json files and create a .png image; but it seems that Scirra uses a special .json format.

    I've got the File Chooser working, and I can grab the text of the file using AJAX. But there doesn't seem to be a good way for me to parse the data. Is it possible?

    Here's what my .json data looks like:

    {

    "name": "basic_gun",

    "columns": 4,

    "rows": 6,

    "tileWidth": 32,

    "tileHeight": 32,

    "tiles": [0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 3, 7, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 10, 1, 1, 14, 1, 1, 1, 1],

    }

    There are only 15 values that can go in my grid (which can be variable in size). My plan is to have a 32x32 sprite for each value and lay them out appropriately by columns and rows. Then I'm hoping to be able to take a snapshot of the canvas and invoke a browser save. I'll have to change the canvas size dynamically after reading in the .json file... Is that possible?

    I have a huge amount of respect for Ashley and the crew at Scirra. Construct 2 is a great piece of software and I've enjoyed using it! But like many others I feel compelled to weigh in on the new subscription model. I completely understand the reasoning behind it, but it doesn't work for me at all.

    I've been a professional game designer for many years, but I like to make little side projects in my spare time using C2, Gamemaker Studio, and Fusion 2.5. Unfortunately, I frequently get very busy at work and it's not unusual for me to put my side projects on hold for four or five months... sometimes more. With that kind of usage schedule I just can't justify spending $99.00 per year. Last year I probably used Construct 2 for a total of a month...

    The reason for the subscription is due, I assume, to the high cost of becoming a web-based service, right? I can see where this change would be beneficial for Scirra, but I'm not yet clear how it benefits us users? (That's a legitimate question -- I haven't done enough research yet.)

  • Man, I'm such an idiot. It took me 10 seconds to find the problem when I looked at it this morning. (I was setting myvariable to "1" when sprite0.y was < 768. <head slap>)

  • I'm trying to do something pretty simple, but it's not working and I can't figure out why. (Clearly my C2 skills have gotten rusty...)

    Here's my pseudocode:

    if left_button clicked then set y of sprite0 to 1
if sprite0.y >= 1 then add 1 to sprite0.y
if sprite0.y >= 768 then: 
     destroy sprite0
     set myvariable to 1
if myvariable >= 1 then add 1 to myvariable
if myvariable > 50 then [do something]
[/code:32ads55e]

The global variable "myvariable" is never getting larger than 50.  When I run this code in debug mode the variable jumps up in big numbers and then resets back to 1.  Does anyone know why???  There is probably a better way to do all of this, but for the moment I'm really trying to understand why this isn't working...  It's driving me nuts.

  • I have used Clickteam products for years, but when I needed to make some HTML5 prototypes recently I purchased a copy of Construct 2 and I haven't looked back. It's an awesome tool and I keep finding new features that just make me shake my head in wonder. "I didn't know C2 could do THAT!"

    I'm a professional game designer and a big part of my job is prototyping new game concepts and features. I'm about to start on a new project this morning and I would LOVE to use Construct 2 but there is a Clickteam feature (and an even nicer implementation of the feature in GameMaker Studio) that I use all the time but I don't think C2 has anything like it. Specifically, I'm talking about paths.

    I need the ability to draw a path on the screen and then have my object follow that path with a simple line of code. Is there a workaround? Is there a Construct 2 feature I'm missing that would make this easier? How do YOU make objects follow complicated paths? How would you make a Zuma-style game in C2?

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  • I created an app to help me (and others) learn French. Thanks to Construct 2 it uses both text-to-speech AND voice recognition (for browsers that support it).

    The main application is on a non-secured (http) page and it works perfectly. I have a loading page that checks to see if there are updates, and if so it downloads them before continuing.

    I am mirroring that page to a different page that uses a shared SSL certificate. (My host does this for me automatically.) This is necessary for users who want to use the voice recognition feature.

    Here's my problem. When I update my app by uploading a new word list, the non-secure app updates perfectly. The secured version does NOT update... unless I use Incognito Mode in Google Chrome.

    The secured app is just a mirror of the non-secure app. They are identical... Does anyone have any idea why this might be happening?

    If you are curious, the app is here:

    http://www.cuttergames.com

  • About six months ago my wife and I moved from the United States to Paris. The hardest part about the relocation was moving away from our 26 year old daughter, Autumn. The other day my wife suddenly said, "Do you realize that this will be the first time we haven't had an egg hunt for her on Easter morning?"

    That's when it hit me: I can use Construct 2 to make an egg hunt game, using pictures of our old house! So I grabbed some photos from the real estate website, pilfered some egg and bunny images off the internet, grabbed some audio from a cheesy YouTube video, and put together a quick game:

    http://www.cuttergames.com/autumn/

    When my daughter saw it Easter morning she said, "Awwww... Dad... you're going to make me cry!" Thanks to Construct 2 I made her day! (And her reaction made my day.) <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":-)" title="Smile">

    UPDATE: I made a new game for 2017. See my link at the bottom of this thread!

  • I have a single sprite consisting of 36 different animations, each representing a different character in my game. On a game over condition I want to freeze the screen and STOP all the animations of all the characters. How do I do that?

    I thought that simply putting in a Stop event for the sprite would work. (It didn't.) Then I tried: For each [sprite] -> Stop [animation], but that didn't work either.

    Do I need to cycle through all 36 animations and tell each one to stop playing? What's the best way to do that?

  • [quote:2ybi0baw]Try "Add to Home Screen" under the Safari Share button.

    Otherwise you should consider making a bug report.

    I've never used the "Add to Home Screen" feature. Is that basically just a bookmark that brings up Safari and loads the page? I don't think that would change anything... Unless it allows you to play the app offline, but that won't work because I am constantly adding new vocabulary.

    I thought about submitting a Bug Report but my app only fails on my wife's iPhone... it seems to work okay on our other devices, so I don't think there would be a way for Ashley to reproduce the bug.

    [quote:2ybi0baw]What is that wonderful job where you can work with C2?

    I've been a professional game designer for over 30 years and I'm currently working for a large casual game company in France. Yesterday I took a break from writing design specs and creating levels to mock up some spell effects. (Our Art Director was sort of stuck and looking for ideas.) As I mentioned, it was a FUN day!

  • [quote:2mysty13]You can try closing the app manually by double tapping the home button, swiping left or right to the app, and then swiping up.

    Yeah, that doesn't work. The only way I can get the app to start working again is to go into: Settings/Safari/Advanced/WebsiteData, find my website and then swipe across to delete it.

    Maybe I should have her download Chrome. That might work better.

  • So, I've been using C2 for several months now... and struggling a little bit. For my first program I decided to tackle a Flashcard app to help my wife and me learn French, and I got a little hung up on Local Storage, Arrays, .json files, text-to-speech, voice recognition, etc.

    Today at work I actually got to use Construct 2 for something more... graphical... in nature, and I had a great time! I just kept finding one cool feature after another. I had to import some sprites and it was MUCH easier than I expected. Then I realized that the sprites were in spritesheets. No problem for C2, it cut them out for me. Another nice surprise.

    I've been wishing there was a way to replace just an *object* on an event line; today I found "Replace object" in the context menu. <head slap>

    Last week I was moaning about the lack of a MoveTo behavior but this morning I started using "lerp" and it's really nice and super easy. After that I stumbled across the "Choose" expression. Then I wanted to shake the screen and C2 provided there, too.

    And don't even get me started on all the Sprite effects I found! About an hour before lunch I had a great feature prototype to show my Art Director (it ran perfectly on his Mac) and I told him I hoped to have another prototype ready before the end of the day. Nope, I finished that sucker before lunch!

    My only complaint about C2 at this point is that my wife's iPad stops loading my Flashcard app after a few plays. (Just brings up the C2 loader bar and then... nothing...) I have to completely remove the webpage from her device before it works again. (The app works fine on all my other devices. Can't figure it out.)

  • Awesome! Had a great day working with C2 and this was just icing on the cake!

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John Cutter

Member since 11 Dec, 2015

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