Alon's Forum Posts

  • That might be an interesting feature request, but how would it update?

    By save, or export, etc.?

    OH! I never thought about it as a feature but... maybe it could be? not sure how as well.

    I think it should stay something that we do manually but for now I think people still doing this manually by updating their X-Sheet with each Bug-Fix / New-Feature and somehow... throw a number tiny, or big based on the measure of the change.

    I don't think people really care about this much, but I found this very interesting for some reason. :)

  • Hi All,

    I've tried to do this by myself but got confused during the process so I'm here for help.

    I thought it will be simple for me to do since it's "just" setting values after all... but I got lost every time either with the knobs position or the values where off even when I set them manually... couldn't sync them together like the original initial slider value code.

    .

    I'm trying to have "RESET" button for each slider so it can bring back both Variable and Knob Values to the original / initial numbers that I insert on the Instance Variable "Value".

    Here is an example file, please ignore my disabled attempts (you can remove them)

    DOWNLOAD Example C3 File

    Thanks ahead for any help!

  • In general you update the version when there is a new 'release'. Some minor bug fixes you increment by .X so 1.1 and major features you could think about updating the version number so 2.0.

    Thanks plinkie, so it's similar to my example as I thought it's more like throwing numbers in a way :)

    But it's good to know that I didn't miss some common or known system, I was curious about if there was anything organized like that or not.

  • Hey All,

    Just to be clear I'm not talking about our Project Files which could be named anything on our backup Hard Drives...

    I'm talking about the actual published Splash Screen or About > Version we usually see on any software and also available in C3's Project properties.

    .

    Since I'm new to developing I wonder about how it's done:

    How do I "calculate" what number of version to update after every X changes?

    Are there any common "rules" that are known between developers instead of just throwing numbers around?

    For example:

    For every X Bug Fixes + 0.001 to the current version number

    For every X New Features + 0.1 to the current version number

    etc..

    I'm just curious if there is an actual known system of doing this correct or I just throw numbers which seems weird to me but may not be that important, it's pure curiosity but please feel free to share your knowledge. :)

    Tagged:

  • Thanks for sharing newt :)

    It's not exactly what I'm trying to achieve but this is VERY useful!

    EDIT:

    After playing with it for few minutes, I've managed to make it work nicely, here is the example if anyone interested:

    DOWNLOAD - Example C3 using Rex Push Out Solid plugin

    This is one of the tools I wish it was built-in as a part of C3, maybe as part of the Drag-N-Drop itself instead of extra object, but anything works! :)

  • AllanR, dop2000 and Ashley your tips are very helpful for sure, I take nothing for granted!

    I appreciate your encouraging message Allan, it is true that as a non-programmer + LOTS OF HELP from the community I could actually bring a VERY useful toolset to life. I don't see how I could do anything close to it by myself without hiring someone do program it.

    .

    I'll just have to deal with what I have and hope that people won't go MAD when the size will become insane compare to what it's actually includes.

    Ashley does have a point, steam users usually download so many things... I hope they don't mind because it's a bit different than grabbing a solo file and notice it's obvious size.

    .

    As I said I'm learning new things every day thanks to this amazing community :)

    Thank you everyone!

  • I'm still on developing stage but my main goal is to sell it on Steam, they were asking for .EXE or NW.js with EXE when I last talked with them.

  • I totally agree, it make sense when it comes to GAMES they could be HUGE! no doubt about that.

    So I can say for my future game project, I don't have to care about this. :)

    But if you're like me using creation softwares (and I use LOTS of them) they are about 10-50 MB those with examples and presets and assets may get to 100 roughly and barely that... while mine is still without much assets and already about 120 MB.

    I don't mind if my software will be around 150-200MB on first release, because the thing is that I will add more and MORE assets in the future updates means it will keep growing, that's the reason why my after the smallest size as possible for starting point.

    Things I did so far but didn't help much:

    - Use PNG compression when possible (I didn't like how the quality looks)

    - Crop the PNG images to minimal space (no extra empty space around)

    - Preloader sure can help the user for something to look at "splash screen" while loading (working on it)

    .

    Ashley can you please give me some extra tips on the NW.js compression options?

    will it hurt the PNG quality? anything else I should be aware of using or not using from your knowlege?

    Other things I can consider "get rid" of? to make the final build size smaller?

    Anything related to my non-game / software / project will sure help.

    Thanks ahead! :)

  • Tell them to read the case against native engines. Construct 3 has a sophisticated engine and compares well to native engines. I'd guess their impression is 5-10 years out of date. If you want a small export, you can always go for a HTML5 export - which is far smaller than most native apps could ever achieve!

    Thanks for the reply Ashley, I will email the link to my colleague since I don't understand the technical details explained, All I know is what works and what not, All I know is that I would love to have a native .EXE as an EXTRA option, again... For my project or future game project I don't need the HTML5 as I don't make anything for mobile or website, All I care as a user is a pure Windows OS / Mac OS / Linux build with the smallest size.

    .

    At the end of the day if I want a standalone .EXE (which is the case) my project is getting HUGE I don't have other option such as native .EXE and if I had... my project will be much smaller without all the extra stuff that around the NW.js which makes my project HUGE for no needed reason.

    Conclusion: as for my current project I'm not interested in HTML5 export as you suggested but only in standalone .exe because I don't want it to work on mobile or browsers, but ONLY on PC operation systems, so... NW.js is my only option by using C3 and the size of my project is too big before I even added all my extra assets, this is scary!

    .

    I need a solution:

    Can you suggest me at least how can I reduce the final size of my project beside compression?

    Are there any "secret" things I can do? since native .EXE is not there to save the day and I'm stuck with NW.js in order to get a wrapped browser as disguised standalone .EXE

    .

    Any magic I can do to reduce the build size? it will REALLY help me out here, any good advice, tips beside the compression will be GREAT!

    Thanks ahead :)

  • If your current export is, say, 100MB, it will only significantly grow in size if you add more assets to the project - images, sounds, big files. Other things like the amount of code, plugins used etc. are negligible.

    Oh... this is scary, I just had a conversation with one of my colleagues, I showed him my work in progress and he was defiantly surprised from it (consider it's not finished yet).

    After he played with it a bit I brought up the compile subject and he suggested to export it using native .exe I explained to him that I'm using a game engine called "Construct 3" and there is no such option and the closest thing is using NW.js (after he done laughing at me) he explained to me that by using NW.js my project will become HUGE! which means also slower loading times and download, and it's not efficient in code since it's based on a browser wrapper etc.. and many other details I honestly don't understand as I'm not a programmer and he know that so he tried to explain it "slowly"...

    .

    After I explained to him that C3 is my current choice since I'm NOT a programmer (and he knows that) he still insist that I'm wasting my time working on my current project with such limited game engine which he never heard about before he was surprised how come it can't even export to native exe file which is industry standard for years and it will remain for many future years ahead with all the respect to HTML5 and so on blah blah blah (technical things that I can't even follow here).

    .

    At the end, he suggested to either wait for the game engine I'm using (C3 obviously!) will add this basic feature unless they have reasons to not do so (probably true) the other options are to port my project to either pure code or based on a game engine that actually supports native .exe which will be MUCH more efficient and size wise. (EASY for him to say) as he's a very experience programmer and I'm NOT! ;)

    After few tests I'm afraid he was correct as I didn't even start importing my assets (which will defiantly make the project bigger) it's already around 120 MB ! (for Windows OS) and it's pure UI which doesn't make any justify to the size of the build and I don't see any info yet about NW.js getting smaller or change in size for other OS... this is sure bad news for me.

    .

    Unfortunately, as for now I have no choice but to use C3 and NW.js but these facts totally discouraged me to be honest... for now I'll probably keep working on this project using C3 because porting it is something else will cost extra $$$ that I cannot afford anyway at this time.

    With all the discouraging vibes... I still LOVE C3 I think it's a good start to learn how to program basic things, and I love learning new things every day I ran into an issue, so back to work! :)

  • Thanks for sharing your solutions, I appreciate it.

    I will give it a a try soon!

    Any other/extra solutions are welcome, it's always nice to learn from different options.

  • Hi All,

    I'm messing around with 2 sprites trying to understand how can I make each one STOP when colliding each other no matter what speed I will be dragging it...

    Should I use Solid? should I not? I don't know.

    What is the most efficient way to do it? or easiest? or basically any way will be interesting for me to learn how I can achieve that.

    In case you want to show it to me, here is the project:

    DOWNLOAD HERE

    Thanks ahead!

    Tagged:

  • Hello All,

    My current project is still in development and my goal is to build it using the NW.js to aim for PC Windows, MacOS and Linux.

    Since I'm not finished yet with the software I noticed that build it takes some time but couldn't estimate the starting file size of the NW.js even BEFORE my C3 files and assets that I will add as I keep working on it.

    .

    Instead of just build again and again for every little change, I wonder:

    1 - Is there an estimate starting Size for the current NW.js and will it CHANGE drastically on every release?

    2 - Will the FINAL NW.js export always be the same? smaller, larger for Mac OS, Linux, Windows?

    3 - What advice can you give me to REDUCE the overall final size of my application?

    If you're wondering, YES... I actually build few times the UNFINISHED project but it takes time so this is why I'm asking for some pure NW.js SIZE information if you already know an estimated / rough idea how it works, will it change? can I reduce it? etc.. questions above.

    OF COURSE! the obvious test is to build an Empty project with NW.js won't answer all my question fully because my Software also contains different assets so I rather know a bit more information about how it works, this is WHY I'm asking you guys that you know deeper information and have more experience than me for sure! :)

    .

    Any other suggestions, ideas related to this subject will be helpful and appreciated.

    Thanks ahead everyone!

    Tagged:

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  • UPDATE:

    I'm not sure if it's the best solution or of it's the most efficient one compare to the situation I described on the original thread above, but what I did for the TOP MENU is as soon as the LOAD is completed to PIN all the buttons (family) AGAIN to the Top Menu:

    An EMPTY save file was about 17kb now after the 'NO SAVE' added to the buttons it's about 13.5kb !

    I guess it's an improvement but I must see if it's the same FIX: Re-Pin on Load Complete for the floating panels... since they're code is different and more objects and sliders it's more complicated but I will give it a try.

  • Hi All,

    While I'm working on my big project, I started to add "NO SAVE" behavior to some objects.

    I'm starting with the most obvious (for me) the Buttons, Panels, Menus etc.. but right away I ran into a strange thing and after trying to solve it with no luck I'm not sure how to handle it.

    Should WORK like This:

    So as you can see, I have a TOP Menu Panel (sprite) which uses the TWEEN behavior for smooth animation, when I press the 'ESC' button it toggles Up / Down. there is a "NO SAVE" behavior on it and when I SAVE and LOAD it keeps working.

    All the BUTTONS (sprites) are in a FAMILY: "Top_Menu_Buttons" and they have PIN behavior (connected to the Top Menu Panel) and also a Tween behavior to go along with the animation of the Top Menu Panel (so they're synced together) this is how it looks:

    THE PROBLEM:

    As you can see the Buttons Family works well as I use the 'ESC' button as described above.

    BUT! after I added a "NO SAVE" behavior to the FAMILY: "Top_Menu_Buttons" then SAVE and LOAD... the buttons stay on their place, I tried to understand why or how to fix that... but it seems like I have the same situation on any other Buttons (sprites) that have anything with position change (not just the top menu, but also other panels).

    This is how it looks when I Save, and then LOAD AFTER using 'NO SAVE' on the Buttons Family:

    I'm not sure if this information helps but ALL buttons, panels menus, etc.. are sitting the same dedicated Layer called: "GUI" as I always try to keep everything organized as much as possible.

    .

    What should I do to make the 'NO SAVE' behavior also works on the Buttons? I have many buttons on my project, there is no reason to save them as they are part of the GUI,

    Could it be because of the TWEEN? or something else?

    I'm a bit confused because I couldn't solve this by myself, and it's time to add 'NO SAVE' to many other things as well...

    Thanks ahead to any help!

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