Alon's Forum Posts

  • Of course. Have you tried it?

    That's AWESOME! I would love to try it,

    But I don't really know how yet... I only messed with the Sounds for sound effects so far.

  • Thanks for the reply Ashley,

    What about inbetween Layouts MUSIC:

    Music that continues from: Layout 1 to Layout 2, Layout 3 etc.. is this possible?

  • Hey All,

    As I'm still working on the design of my first official game, I'm still learning Construct 3 and have much more to learn and understand.

    Since my question is specific for my game I'll give some information so you can understand and share your opinion and suggestions.

    1 - My game is based on half-HD resolution = 640x360 using full screen by default.

    Means it's not so heavy for most modern PCs compare to heavier resolutions.

    2 - Each level will be placed on 1 room, which is based on 640x360, no scrollable stages.

    3 - Each room is random generate some elements first, then the game starts. (pre-load is a must here)

    4 - My basic idea is: Every Level is built from X rooms, every level = different environment.

    Every room is individual, not connected to other room!

    5 - Pixel Art is mostly 32x32 but I will have other sizes for the backgrounds, bigger creatures, etc..

    6 - I'm building and testing my game on NW.js

    GAME DESIGN + LOADING:

    Just like the title, I'm wondering what should I choose for the best of the game and the player's experience of course.

    1. I'm curious if it will be too heavy, too slow to load all X levels (rooms) ahead in 1 big layout.

    or

    2. Should I go for each level room will have it's own layout?

    By default I would choose each stage (room) on it's own layout, but the problem that I'm "afraid" of is... no smooth pass from stage to stage: if it's graphics transitions and MUSIC that goes on while moving to the next layout.

    I'm not even sure if it's possible in Construct 3 or not, is it?

    Current TESTS and RESULTS:

    So far from my tests I have 1 random generated room (testing room), no main menu, or other layout before that yet (I'll work on it soon) and it's loading SUPER fast, I can't even see the loading bar.

    I'm not sure if it's because of my current PC Specs, my computer isn't a super computer it's from 2013 after all but it is decent, my guess is because the game is still very light on content even that it looks reacher every time I update it.

    My Main PC SPECS:

    CPU: Intel i7-4770K 3.50 GHz

    RAM: 32 GB

    SSD: 512

    GPU: Nvidia GeFoce 980 4GB

    OS: Windows 10 64bit

    Of course, once the game will get closer to a DEMO, I will make sure to test it on other PC's but the specs above are what I'm using as I'm working on my game.

    SO... based on all the details, specific for my game:

    What would you suggest me to choose and why?

    Please consider the 2 options and tell me why should I choose the other, not just "CHOOSE THIS done" the reason is because I would love to understand.

    * Dear Ashley, if possible I would love to read your opinions since you know C3 best.

    Thanks ahead to anyone who can help in this, it will help me makes the game much better!

    WIP: 1 Room is still considered empty, more creatures, platforms and graphics will be added.

  • Thanks again —! :)

    Yes, I understood how Arrays basically are the right and easiest way to manage items but as I explained before for me it's much easier to have each item and put it's own "rules" since it's not sharing the same rules of the others all the time anyway. also it's MUCH easier for me to find using that dedicated ITEMS event sheet split into groups.

    Anyway, I don't mind add instance variable to each Item if that will help me to make it work, so far I have few items because it is much easier to test the game, but I'm planning to add so many (I already have a huge list with the descriptions and such).

    I will check out the local-storage, it seems like it's what I'm looking for if it will save or let me RESET specific data and not just everything at once. I'll have a look.

    Thank you!

  • Thanks —! this is very helpful!

    So if I understood correctly: I can make a global variable call it something like "UNLOCK" and I can easily apply it to any item that I want.

    And the next step is to make WHEN a new item will be discovered.

    So, I'm trying to run this in my head to see if I can make it work:

    At the start of the game, ALL these specific items are unlocked: UNLOCK = 0

    and once the Player did something specific (I have many ideas of course) I will make a specific item to change to: UNLOCK = 1 (or just true/false using Boolean, same idea).

    Did I follow you correctly so far?

    If not please feel free to correct me, I do have much more to learn.

    If I'm close to the idea, can you help me out with the SAVE SLOT part?

    I know it's a bit "off topic" but I'm very confused even after reading about the different options I have in C3 to save.

    Is there a good C3 video tutorial about this that you can recommend me? or in general can you explain how do I even start?

    The reason I'm confused is because there are things I may NOT want the game to "remember" when saving other things such as the "UNLOCK" status of each item that already discovered.

    I'm thinking about have 3 SLOTS and an option to RESET them, but I'm afraid it is too complicated.

    Maybe I should do just 1 slot and a Reset for start.

    Sorry for the confusion, I'm still scratching my head to complete these 2 tasks: UNLOCK + SAVE SLOT

    Your advice is very appreciated!

    Thanks ahead! :)

  • Hi All,

    This is going to be hard for me to explain because of my bad English, but I'll do my best:

    First of all, I'll try to explain what I already use on my current game and hopefully you'll be able to help me with what I'm trying to do:

    1. I have X number of Items. (I keep adding more and more as I work on my game)

    2. Once the player pickup a specific object: Only 1 RANDOM Item appears.

    3. I split the items into GROUPS: "Common", "Rare", "Legendary"

    So far, it's working exactly as I want and I'm very happy with it.

    Note:

    After many tries, For the items I chose NOT to use Arrays / Array Editor because it confused me and slowed me down a lot. So I code all the items I need individual, each item have it's own groups that contain the "rules" I need. For me it's very organized, very easy to follow, change, tweak and add more items that way.

    The reason I explain this is because I know smart people would choose Arrays for such thing, but... it's too "SMART" for my brain, I can only follow the way I just described and I'm happy with it, oh.. and it's working great!

    Current Situation:

    When the player playing for the first time "A RUN" the player will discover NEW items every time since I made the object to choose RANDOMLY from ALL the items.

    WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO:

    Once the player Died, he can try again from the very first level of the game, so far so good.

    1) - I want to LOCK all the items in the "Legendary" group ahead (in the code) and let the player UNLOCK and DISCOVER NEW RANDOM ITEM from that specific group.

    2) - Once the Player UNLOCKED an item, ONLY THEN The specific item can appear in a future "RUN" randomly like the rest of the items.

    The rest of the items could appear at anytime normally, while Items from the "Legendary" group can ONLY appear IF the player discovered them before. (in older RUN).

    3) - How do I make the game "REMEMBER" that the player already discovered: "Item 41" and "Item 381" so they will appear on the next time he will run the game (even after he quit the game and didn't for a few days).

    I understand that #3 is related to SAVE SLOTS or something like that which I didn't got into yet because I don't know which of the save slots will work best for my game since there are different saving options on C3.

    But question #3 is just in case I want the game to remember the discovered items, before I'll get to #3 I would love to understand how to do the #1 and #2 of course.

    I hope it's not too complicated to help me here, any related video tutorial or visual example will be much better for me to understand.

    Sorry about my bad English and thanks ahead! :)

  • Pro Motion is super ultra complicated and you end up wasting more time than saving from using something with less features like pyxel edit or aseprite, it's made for old people who used old software that isn't available anymore

    I must agree: if you want to get into creating fast just start play with Pyxel-Edit or Aseprite.

    Pro Motion NG isn't for old people. it's inspired by Amiga work flow and it's out there for a while and works on Windows 10 and still updates and new extra features are still coming on every update and it's used by "old people" or should I say talented artists such as Yacht Club Games team, the makers of "Shovel Knight" and others.

    Pixel-Art isn't a new digital art style invented yesterday and still kicking to these days, it's not a time machine... yet. ;)

    In my opinion Pyxel-Edit is very confusing with it's spread-sheet-like layout frames all over the place, you can see that on the video above it's very confusing and harder to follow compare to working with 1 screen, 1 frame on the timeline + onion skin options like in Aseprite which is much simple UI again, this is my opinion.

    Maybe you'll like Pyxel Edit, maybe Aseprite or Pro Motion NG?

    only you can tell.

    * Sorry about my bad English

  • I use photoshop almost everyday (not for pixel art, it is too slow for an animation workflow).

    I have Pyxel Edit on my PC, I even used it for some tiles but for animation I don't know, it's not simple as in Aseprite where I do both: Animation and Tiles.

    The newest software I purchased is Pro Motion NG which is the most advance of all of these, it have so many features of almost any professional 2D Animation software I used but it's dedicated for pixel-art.

    I should give it a try, the Tileset in Pro Motion NG is the most amazing one I've seen for designing and tweaking full levels in a super simple way based on their UI, but still... I need to give it a try as it's already installed and waiting for me to try it.

    For now... Aseprite is my best friend as it's a lite software and I already got used to it's workflow.

    I do recommend you to try other tools.

    All these pixel-art softwares are wonderful and mostly lite especially Pyxel Edit and Aseprite, not so hard to learn them compare to Photoshop or Pro Motion NG which are much more complex and rich with many extra features that not everybody needs.

    On my daily job (Animator at the Studio) I'm using Toon Boom Harmony and it's a none-pixel art animation software, it works on Vectors and Rasters (Yes, even combined!) so I believe it will have a dedicated work flow pixel-art environment in the future but, consider it's price it is not for everyone.

    My best tip for you:

    1 Software that does many tasks will provide you a much faster workflow than few softwares together for example Pyxel Edit + Photoshop I do all in Aseprite, and probably it will be easier in Pro Motion NG.

    I hope this helps

  • Thank you so much Ashley THIS was super simple to follow and understand.

    Not only that it is VERY encouraging and inspiring for me, I'm hyped and can't wait to see C3 stable and more new features to come is always a great thing.

    I guess I'll better stick to the C2 Runtime while working on my game as you suggested, at least until it will be stable and ready to use.

    Now you made me curious about the upcoming Debugger, I wonder if it will have a NEW LOOK / UI :)

  • I'm a professional Animator for many years, Pixel-Art is VERY new to me but animation isn't.

    Since pixel-art workflow is very different than what I'm used to (frame by frame animation, vectors, post production effects, etc..) I had to try something new.

    I started with a software called Aseprite, it is very easy to use in my opinion, you can make animated pixel art, you can animate, you even have dynamic onion skin so you can see any number of back/forward frames.

    I still have much more to learn about pixel art, but as I'm working on my first official game I'm learning the art... of pixel art. I believe that the secret is to practice like in anything else.

    There are many softwares out there for pixel art, just choose one you feel isn't too complex or scary for you and start creating simple things, after that you will forget about the UI of the software and as you'll get used to it you will focus on the CREATION progress which is the most important thing.

    I hope that some of my tips helped you or at least encourage you to give it a try.

    I wish you good luck with your creation journey! :)

    * Sorry about my bad English

    Example of a simple character IDLE Animation I made in Aseprite:

  • Hello All,

    For my very first game I'm using Construct 3 as I'm learning it on the way.

    So far my game starting to take a shape and I'm enjoying using C3, also this community is very helpful and I'm thankful for that.

    Since I'm just an animator and music producer and not a traditional programmer (or programmer at all),

    I don't understand many technical things for example new improvements on the new C3 Runtime.

    I start working on my game using C2 Runtime as it was and still is default for the current stable version.

    I'm trying to use ONLY stable versions on my game as it is a long official project of mine so I don't want to take any risks.

    I just tested my current game state using the C3 Runtime, I didn't see / feel any difference from C2 consider speedup or fps changes, it is acting exactly the same based on the debug data I looked at as well.

    Of course my game isn't "HEAVY" yet, but it will have more and more interactions, objects, particle systems and many events as I still developing it and I see it grows a lot everytime I add something.

    It's GREAT! that the game isn't slowing down or anything like that but I would LOVE if someone can explain in SIMPLISTIC words to me:

    1 - What are the BIGGEST differences between C2 Runtime to C3 Runtime?

    2 - Is C3 Runtime much more POWERFUL compare to C2 Runtime or there are only minor changes?

    3 - How can I Test/Feel some differences right now on my game using the current C3 Runtime stable release? (R111)

    4 - Should I keep working with C2 Runtime for now on my official game project? or not? and why?

    5 - Will C3 Runtime be complete and default soon? and is it already safe to use it on official project?

    I tried following the C3 Runtime blogs but as I said, I can't follow all the technical stuff as I'm just a visual artist, that's why I would love to hear about it in a more simplistic way if possible.

    If not all, at least the major differences.

    To be honest, I'm very curious about C3 Runtime's POWER... so thanks ahead!

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  • Oh, well NW.js does allow you to switch to fullscreen on startup. If it doesn't work in the C3 runtime when it used to work in the C2 runtime, please file a bug.

    Thanks, I didn't realize it's a bug, I just reported it. :)

  • Thanks for the reply Ashley,

    I'm a bit confused now because it works on my current game.

    I do have Fullscreen applied perfectly fine on the default Construct 2 runtime.

    BTW - My main goal isn't to make my game for general browsers, but for the NW.js as .exe to run on Steam or any other online store.

    I understand it's also a browser that runs HTML5 but my goal is a standalone .exe based on the NWJS

    So far I didn't use the NW.JS at all, not sure if I needed it yet but I used the Browser object for the Fullscreen option when the game start.

    So... what is the solution on the NEW C3 runtime, how do I make it run on Fullscreen?

    Thanks ahead and sorry about my bad English.

  • Hey all,

    I start working on my game originally on Construct 3 but the runtime by default was C2.

    I'm trying to move to the new C3 Runtime now as I'm curious to see any differences and just getting used to it will be stable in the future.

    I used this for Full Screen on my game: 

    System | On start of layout | Browser | Rquest fullscreen > Centered

    but as soon as I change to C3 Runtime, the screen is black and my game is on the top-left so the Fullscreen isn't working as it was.

    What do I need to change on the code so the Full Screen will work in C3 Runtime?

  • Hey All,

    I'm still kind of new to Construct 3 and I'm learning it as I work on my first game.

    Out of curiosity, I tried to run my game on Construct 3 Beta using the NEW C3 Runtime since it was announced.. but I get my game in small size (probably original 640x360) on the Top-Left while the rest of the screen is Black. (like my layout color).

    In Construct 3 (C2 Runtime) I used:

    On Start Layout >> Browser >> Request Fullscreen Centered

    And it runs my game smooth on full screen based on my Layout size which is 1280x720.

    I have no experience with how C3 Runtime screen resolution / view / browser works so I guess I need to change the way it works on Start Layout, but I'm not sure... that's why I'm here.

    I would like to know a solution for that so I can play around with the latest C3 Runtime,

    Thanks ahead! :)