Thanks a ton, I'll try changing up the cell size and how the pathfinding works a bit. All my enemies calculate new paths very often and at the same time so that is probably the problem!

What pathfinding cell size are you using? Is there enough "space" between your objects for the characters to properly and easily fit through? Have you tried running a quick function for "regen obstacle map around sprite.object" to see if that helps?

Those are just the first few things I can think of that may be causing an issue.

*EDIT*

I just watched your video link. The lag doesn't seem super noticable to me but I can see a tiny bit of jank. How many enemies in total are in the layout and how big is your layout? Large layouts will cause jank when using pathfinding because of the sheer amount of calculations gets exponentially increased as the layout size gets larger. Also, lots of objects calculating paths all at one time can cause this.

~Sol

I'll try those suggestions you have, but I'm not sure if they will do anything considering you mentioned that lag can happen with large layouts and lots of enemies. My game has a layout size of 1708 x 1708 and is a wave / horde survival shooter kind of game. At max there are maybe 30 enemies? And at least there is 9 so I'm not sure if that is what is making the lag so bad but it probably is. Not really sure what qualifies as a "large layout" that is large enough to create lag.

Hello, I've been recently experimenting with solid objects in my game where all the enemies use pathfinding (and update their paths about every 0.35 seconds) to track the player and at least in theory, navigate around solid objects.

I've had this problem earlier when trying to make a building and adding walls to it, and the AI had massive trouble getting around and often getting stuck running in a circle at the corner of the wall they were supposed to walk around to get inside and then get to me. I've given up my efforts on that for now because I've tried everything to try and make it work, but that's not why I'm here. It's a similar problem.

I have this one very small solid object that is used as an upgrade station for the player. The shape of it is a simple rectangle (it's currently supposed to look like a metal table but that's very wip and being changed) and only used 4 collision points for it's collision box. When I put it in the game I noticed over time that when you were standing at the table or very close to it there would be massive lag that would slow everything down. I didn't know the cause until I played it without enemies and realized that it only lags when the enemies are trying to find a path to me to kill me. I've assumed this is related with that other problem I mentioned in the last bit of info a few lines up where the AI seems to have trouble navigating around seemingly simple objects. Funny enough, this time the AI doesn't get stuck in a loop of running in circles, they pursue me normally but if I'm near the table it will still lag massively.

I have a video showcasing the game and the lag associated with this to make it easier to visualize and understand. Lag happens at around 0:03 and 0:14.

If anyone has any idea as to why this is happening and has any solutions, suggestions, or ideas please comment below. It would be extremely appreciated as I would hopefully like to add actual obstacles and improve on the map I have in the game currently but simply can't due to the lag and pathfinding issues. Also, if anyone has any questions just in case there might be something I haven't mentioned contributing to he problem I would be glad to answer them!

Thank you very much, this was crazy helpful!

Hello. I'm currently trying to make upgrades for a character in my game and I was trying to make a mechanic where there is a chance not to consume ammo in the current magazine every time you shoot. That is simple enough, just make the percentage into a fraction and use the choose action on a boolean variable (or a number variable using 0 to stand for using ammo and 1 for not) to randomly pick whether ammo is used on the shot or not (choose(0, 0, 0, 1) for a 25% chance not to use ammo / 75% chance to use ammo, etc.). Now the only problem is that I want an upgrade that increases the chance to not consume ammo every time you hit an enemy up to a maximum of X percent (which would be like hitting 20 out of 40 bullets in the magazine to reach that cap where the chance not to consume ammo does not go up anymore) until you reload and it resets the chance to consume ammo to 100% / having the chance to not consume ammo be set back to 0%. I've already done the math, and if I want the player to reach the maximum of a 25% of not consuming ammo by hitting at least 20 bullets out of all the bullets in the magazine I would have to add 1.25% to the chance not to consume ammo (or subtract 1.25% from the chance to consume ammo if I wanted to do it that way around but it's pretty much the same thing just a different way to look at it) everytime a bullet hits an enemy. Unfortunately I don't think I can use choose on this, otherwise I would have to make an event and choose action for each seperate 1.25% containing different fractions that would be very unsimplified (I remember subtracting 1.25 from 100 and then converting that into fractions and the most simplified conversion I got was 70-something / 80-something. This means I would have to type out 0s and 1s and match the fraction perfectly in the choose action like the example above). This would take a long time to do, meaning I would have to make around 20 events just for this. And considering I want an ability that automatically bumps the chance to an additional 25% chance not to consume ammo for a few seconds means I would have to make like 40 events if i were to have the upgrade while using the ability. I'm pretty sure you can see how tedious and complicated this can be.

So, I was wondering how I could make a percentage-based chance into an event like this where every time a bullet object is created it would have that random chance to consume ammo and how it could fit in with the upgrade I'm trying to make where the same percentage / variable is constantly being changed and has about 20-40 different total unique percentages.

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing and maybe someone will be able to help me out with this? Thank you for just reading this, even if you don't answer and if you do then I'm very grateful (especially if your solution works out).

I feel like asking this because I'm personally having a problem with it, but how do you (if you are a developer) and maybe other developers approach fonts for their game(s) and how they decide to make it look a certain way, or even what specific areas to put it and why? Is there specific process that is used to determine what kind of font would fit with the style and aesthetic of the game? Or is it simpler than that, where it doesn't really matter, or good to simply use the most available / free / 'good-looking' font?

I personally want to know since I am making a project of my own, but I'm also just curious about how developers in general approach this since it isn't commonly mentioned at all.

Hello everybody, I two had this issue a few times. If your game uploads and has a black screen or some error message floating in the game field. Try recompiling the game with out minify checked. This seams to be happening more and more with newer versions of construct 2. Not only does it effect The Scirra Arcade, but also other exported file types. Currently I Recommend not using minify code unless you really have to.

Hope this helps. Jeremy C.

Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to try it! I just hope not minifying will break it or something since it's recommended

In my game everything is quite pixelated, and when point-sampling is on linear the background is completely blurry and looks horrible, BUT the sprites such as my UI and characters look perfect. https://gyazo.com/a09609aacf55a163e50e269f6ff63db7

While if I put point-sampling on point, than the sprites and characters look scratchy when performing actions or in general but the background looks normal. https://gyazo.com/4314a5b2172fb6035d46a5e0de11b311

Is there any way to make the background look normal and the sprites like characters and UI look perfect? Or do I just have to deal with it? I would appreciate an answer! <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy"> <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" title="Embarrassed">

Okay this is legitimately pissing me off now.

Alright, thanks!

I want to use my game atm for just me and the people who work on it with me, but the only option I see is to take the game off the arcade completely / not making it playable? I would like an option for it to be private if there isn't one already where only people who have an accessible link to the game can actually play it.

I've been noticing that I can only update one version daily, or atleast mostly once a day which is going to create many problems. Just now I updated my game, but realized there was a game breaking bug and I fixed it, uploaded a new version, but it still hasn't updated to the most recent version.