mystazsea I thought about using instance variables and the On created event which looks like the only way to do it. However the example I gave wasn't really concrete enough.

The sprites are blocks and there can be say 5 sizes (32x32, 32x64, 64x64, 128x32, and 128x64). Given a level I want to spawn a random number of each types. I thought I could create a single block (32x32) then spawn it and size it based on say a "blocksize" instance variable (which would be 0-4).

For example:

Level 1: 3@1, 2wvn@3

This would produce 3 blocks sized to 32x64 and 2 blocks sized to 128x32.

To set it up I use System => On start of layout and set the instance variable (blocksize) to 1 then spawned 3 objects then set it to 3 and spawned another 2 objects.

Then I setup block On created with a condition when blocksize == 1 and the action to set the size of the block to 32x64.

This didn't work as everything created is still the original size.

Without having to create a different sprite for each size I'm not sure how I can do this.

Why is setting the size on each instance dynamically so hard? I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here.

Thanks.

Hi guys,

Given an object (a sprite) I added an event on the start of the layout to generate a few of these. The problem is that I want to generate them at different locations and different sizes. The location is easy as it's part of the create object parameters but how do you size the sprite instances at runtime? For example let's say my sprite is 32x32 and I want to generate 5 of this size and 5 at 64x64. I can't imagine I have to create two different sprites in my layout and generate each size separately. The create object doesn't give me back an ID or something so I really can get back to the object to set any properties except going through all of them.

Thanks.

Actually it worked fine for me the first time (Chrome on Windows 7).

A couple of suggestions:

1. Include some instructions. I had no idea how to play so I went through about 6 times trying various keys and mouse clicks and I still don't know how it works, what the goal is, etc.

2. The animations are a little jerky so I would look at lerp functions and other techniques to smooth some of them out

3. The start and end screen feel out of place with the game graphics. Consider using your main game background as a background for the menus and try reducing the number of fonts used. Maybe a creepy font to go with the theme of the game.

4. The end screen is a little insulting (especially with no instructions) telling the user the game is very easy. Try to be more sympathetic with the user and encourage them instead of deflating them.

Fun stuff!

bsimser I believe a 3rd party merge utility would certainly be appreciated.

I have some spare cycles as I'm trying to put together some games (and trying to get things in for the Windows 8 competition).

I built a quick and dirty reader for the .uistate and the c2project xml file (.caproj) and can merge basic objects right now (sprites with animations, mouse, platform). For an hour or so of work it's crude but works. I think I would need to build my own classes for each plugin and behavior type.

I'll plug away on this for a couple of days and put the code up on github and we'll see where it goes from there.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Actually importing a .capx file into an existing project doesn't look that hard. If you rename a .capx file to .zip you'll see it's just a regular zip file. There's a .uistate file that describes what makes up the project, a folder called Event sheets with 2 files per event sheet, a folder called Layouts (again with 2 files per layout). All of the files are in xml/text format so easy to parse.

I've only looked at a few simple files so importing something bigger might be more challenging and there's the issue of collisions (names, etc.) and following the rules for a project (for example it seems you can only have one instance of a function object).

The problem is with third party developers I couldn't write a plugin in javascript to do this. First off you don't have access to the file system and I don't know of any zip functionality in javascript. While I'm fairly confident I could write an importer as a stand-alone program it would be nice to hook into the existing system. What would be nice is a plugin model API that I could write a DLL or something and have it call it from a menu.

In any case, I could do a stand-alone tool if anyone were interested (and the Scirra guys didn't object).

I too love the old LucasArts games (Maniac Mansion is my fav followed by Sam and Max, the Indy ones are great too). Construct 2 is pretty flexible so building one of these games isn't too hard.

Your challenge is loading large screens for backgrounds. While there will be dynamic content and animated sprites for characters walking around, a large part of the screen is going to be static. So on 800x600 this is a lot of pixels in your layout.

The rest is pretty straight forward. An area to display sprites for commands, a hotspot list of locations on the screen where commands are valid (probably use an Array), sprites for animations and your player character, etc.

The real hurdle with using Construct 2 for this isn't the technology. These games really have a rich story, vibrant characters, and exceptional game workflow attached to them. So technically you can build one, you really need a strong story behind it before you commit to the tool.

Or just a simple x,y cursor position reading (as used in many graphics programs) at the bottom of the screen perhaps?

That would be good but when you're in the event sheet setting the X, Y value you can't see your layout page (or even get to it). If the developers go to the trouble of making the layout available (via a popup or a button) might as well just click on the layout and record then transfer the co-ordinates back to the position dialog.

I would suggest to only use the Platform Behaviour. I vaguely remember Joust, but the flapping is practically just a "Jump-In-Air" in my eyes.

Pretty much like a Double Jump.

No need for custom movement.

rock on,

Michael

With just the platform behavior the character looks like it's jumping rather than flying. Or is just a matter of tweaking the gravity and jump strength so it doesn't fall/rise as quick?

Hi guys,

I'm trying to get the hang of the behaviors and have flight control (aka like Joust). Left to fly left, right to fly right, space to flap and rise up. I've tried 8Directions (set to 4 directions) but that doesn't seem right. I suppose custom movement would be the answer here?

The other thing is getting the physics right (without maybe having to use the physics behavior? I have the platform behavior attached). Are there settings to tweak on key presses during runtime (I don't see anything on a sprite and don't think setting the platform values dynamically is right).

Thanks for any guidance.

Another suggestion.

With dialogs where you specify the position in X, Y terms it might be nice to have a button or something that would let me visually determine the position. Something like a colour picker where it would pop up (or switch) to the layout via and let me zoom and pick a location (then copy that back to my dialog).

Just a thought...

Hi guys,

Just a suggestion for consideration. Might be nice if there was a reset values button or something for a behavior to bring things back to the defaults.

Many times I'm tweaking a behavior trying to get the right number but things are not going the way I want so I would like to get back to default.

I know there's a reset settings on dialogs but that's pretty global and probably undesired. I'm talking about either resetting a single behavior value (for example Max speed on the Platform behavior) or an entire behaviors values (all settings for 8Direction for example).

As a UI suggestion the single value reset could be done in the context menu of the setting. Right click, "Reset to default", done. For the entire behavior I suppose the Behavior dialog would be appropriate. Select the behavior and click on a (new) button in the toolbar to reset all values to default.

Not sure if anyone else thinks this is a good idea so just throwing it out there.

Thanks

Hi guys,

Thought I would introduce myself. I'm a 40-ish year old programmer who's been around writing games back since the 80s and 90s (working on mostly titles nobody has heard of but spent some time working on AAA titles and utilities for Activision, Maxis, and EA).

Construct 2 is the cats meow when it comes to creating 2D games and HTML5 is the way to go. I'm loving the tool and loving the community so you'll see posts, tutorials and samples from me shortly.

Thanks!