I've not done any testing in terms of performance, but for me, it was down to preference. I didn't want to have loads of different objects even if they were nicely sat in a folder! I assume it would still work using a different object for each item, but I've not tried it!
I did a ton of research into different games to try and make notes on their crafting systems (including things I liked and disliked about each - like only being able to make one item at a time in Animal Crossing!) But I never realised Super Paper Mario had crafting!
I think I'm off to YouTube to take a look, thanks!
I can definitely recommend JSON as a way of storing recipe data - helps keeps your events down too! Good luck with your project!
Glad you're enjoying the blog posts! Work on the actual game has slowed somewhat while I build out these smaller projects to test the mechanics. So there will come a time soon where I have to shove them all together and hope they work!
JSON is relatively new to me, but it's proving to be a really useful way to store data. So far it's being used in the dialogue and inventory systems, and I like how it fits into crafting so it'll probably end up in the final version of this system too!
Found and fixed. Thanks for highlighting that
You should take a look at the rest of the course (linked on the left). The next tutorial covers branching dialogue.
Great thanks, found and fixed!
Essentially yes - I write the dialogue in the spreadsheet so I can assign the IDs, and any other data I may need down the line, then I add the dialogue lines to the JSON file.
I may be giving myself more work, but it suits my style of thinking.
The point of having one dialogue file is to keep the dialogue events cleaner. In my main game file, I have the dialogue events stored on my 'global' event sheet to make sure it can be called from wherever. I suppose you could use separate JSON files, but you then end up with a lot of AJAX requests etc for each file, and things will probably start getting a little complicated when you come to call each specific file.
I started in my game having about 3 different systems and files for dialogue and quickly came to the conclusion that I'd prefer having just the one.
The large JSON may get complicated, but I find having a separate spreadsheet with all the data in (including IDs, where they link etc) really helps.
It's probably not the most elegant way of doing it, but it's working and it's a good starting point. So I hope some people at least find it useful! I'm hoping to get the example project up today or tomorrow.
I saw your post about your game on the forums, nice job!
I agree with you on the pen/paper thing - it's great to be able to scribble ideas down, erase things, annotate things and quickly compare sketches side by side as you create stuff.
Hi Tom, appreciate the comments!
Yeah, I've had that pad of paper kicking around forever, so it's good that it's getting some use! When you're designing a game that's based on a grid, the squared paper makes it much easier to visualise ideas - well, it does for me anyway!
Glad you're making good progress on your games! People ask me why I didn't start by making small games. And realistically, I probably should have. But actually focussing on one mechanic at a time has been quite useful and has taught me a lot about the engine that I was clueless about - JSON for example. We all progress in different ways!
Good luck with your projects!
Interesting idea, but not sure it'd fit the game.
Definitely PC, mobile development is not my idea of fun!
I'm a little confused as to where you think the mistake is, if you could elaborate that would be great, then it can be fixed if needed.
Afaik, the only mention of arrays in this tutorial is in reference to the Array data type within the JSON file, not Construct's Array object.
Thanks for the comments Tom, glad you're enjoying the blog!
In terms of scope, I have a notebook filled with all the mechanics I want to add, with plenty of space to sketch out how they might look/work. I definitely don't have a schedule, but one of the things I'm looking at in how I do things and when is based on what I can make into a tutorial. So, the dialogue system for example, as that got built it became a whole tutorial series. Because while this is a great exercise for me and something I've always wanted to do, it's also a great opportunity for us to expand the Construct tutorials section!
The 'updates' are weekly, but I can't guarantee the level of content haha seeing as like any side project, I spend varying time on it each week. But I could probably do a little video at some point to show how it's all going. :)
Member since 3 Jun, 2016
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