[Plugin] Spritefont (28th August 2012)

It's stopped happening since I changed the size of the font, however in the picture I linked, I had the same effect as he described.

I'll dig out the capx and pm you a link.

Essentially the 'flash' occurred each time I spawned an object (sprite) with an effect on ( in this case additive ).

Here's a link to the latest version, using the pixel font "bienvenu"

http://www.johnnysix.net/games/Bang/

<img src="http://www.johnnysix.net/games/Bang/Preview06.png" border="0">

<img src="http://www.johnnysix.net/games/Bang/Preview05.png" border="0">

BTW - if you're able to make use of this - I don't have the ability to save .ico format - but thought something like this would fit in with the new Scirra icon scheme.

<img src="http://www.johnnysix.net/games/SpriteFont.png" border="0">

[edit] - just found a website to do it online - www.convertico.com/

Ico format version

<font size="3">TIPS</font>

1. Sprite Font can also use tilesets, not just font strips, basically anything that is a grid of images.

— Is it possible to load each font letter as separate tile? I could not find how to do this. I want to use fonts that are not equally spaced. Splicing each letter using a font strip does not work very well for the font I am using.

JohnnySix: That baffles me, I have no idea why would the spritefont flash whenever an unrelated object with additive effect would spawn. I don't know how to recreate this, either.

Guess I'll dig into the source code and attempt to work effects in. Also, thanks for the icon, it'll be used for the next release! :)

simwhi: I want to keep the spritefont simple, loading by individual tiles would have introduced several drawbacks and complicate the already messy source :P I've used non-equally spaced fonts as well, basically I placed them manually in an image editor with grid enabled. A lot of work if your font contains a lot of glyphs, but only needs to be done once.

Right, guess it's time to look into those effects...

What happens if I load a tileset image instead of a charset? It would be the beginning of a tileset editor?

<font size="5"><font color=red>Update: 7th May 2012</font></font>

Revision 6

• added effects; this should force spritefont's own effects and prevent other objects' effects from spilling in. Hopefully.
• new icon! Thanks to

  —

pedro.thiers, you can use SpriteFont as a tileset editor too, yeah :) Some people have used it that way to create levels. But well, its primary purpose is as a sprite font!

nice =]

Double function! \o/

— Thanks for the reply. I will try this out.

Was gonna say, for the kerning/spacing thing, without making it super complex, you could have an optional csv string property, with the widths of the characters in the same order, defaulting to monospaced as before if left blank.

For example with numbers :

Char set :

0123456789.-

Widths :

16,5,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,3,16

At least as a very quick and dirty workaround. :)

Thanks for the update Mipey,I really appreciate your hard work!

My bug has does not occur after disabling webGL, and this update does not fix that, but at this point in my project I can live without webGL.

I was going to try and make an every tick set effect to none, but I am not seeing an effect action. Sorry for the odd question, but how do I set the effect?

Greg: through spritefont properties in edittime or Set Effect action.

Hmm, guess the "fix" didn't fix it after all, but hey, at least the effects are there for sake of completion. Heh.

I hate to insist, but I can not find the Set Effect action or an effect option in the properties. I cleared my internet cache, deleted my spritefont folder, redownloaded your may 7th update, and installed it again. I create a new project, added a sprite font, and checked the properties and created an on on created event and checked the actions, and still nothing. The icon in the zip is the old spritefont icon, and the most recent file in the zip is edittime.js 2/21/2012. Is there another download location I am missing, it appears what I am downloading is out of date.

GAH!

My apologies, Greg, I didn't actually upload it, forgot to sync the dropbox folder. Should be uploaded now.

Geez, what's wrong with me these days...

Again, apologies :(

Not a problem bro! I thought I was going crazy!

Downloaded it, installed it, and it works like a charm! No more bug while using webGL and so now my game is looking much better.

I wanted to mention, having the ability to use effects with the text is invaluable for making stylized text. Being able to make it glow, use it as a mask, and creating "flashlight" text opens a lot of doors for stylistic choices.

Thank you so much for your hard work, I owe you a beer! <img src="smileys/smiley32.gif" border="0" align="middle" />