The Dotted Lines in New Project

Refresh me please. What are the dotted lines, forming a corner box in the top left of the layout, when you start a new project?

Thank you.

They are a representation of the project window size.

Yep, it's in the manual now too.

he dotted rectangle in the top left indicates the window size in the layout.

Thanks. Sorry if it was too silly to have been asked. I probably should have known better, but never realized.

Just thought of another question. Tried looking but I think it is more of a logical question than any. If the default playing size is within the dotted area, why the rest of the area? Why not just have that dotted area as the only white field we see to start with? From there, change size if needed (might be nice to have a drag bar to eventually do it).

So that, and what do the four corner lines mean that I see in the layout? Boundaries where the layer end?

Thanks again for these.

The manual should answer your question/doubts.

Many RTS games have scrolling views (actually pretty much all of them are like that) in which the map is much bigger than the actual screen. But that is trivial and adjustable in a few seconds. The four corner lines are (I believe) the margins of your layout.

Cheers,

--allan

If the default playing size is within the dotted area, why the rest of the area?

I think you're getting a little confused: the dotted area is the size of the window and the rest of the area is the size of the layout.

If you want your game to be able to scroll, you usually have to have a bigger layout than window area!

By default the layout is bigger than the window because we got tonnes of "how do I make the game scroll?" questions in Construct Classic which were all people who hadn't made the layout bigger than the window. So C2 makes it that way by default. It has no effect at all on games that don't scroll.

Ah, that makes sense. I kept looking at the manual, like I said, but my question was not seemed to be answered by it, as I was asking in a logical sense to my thinking.

Window size, layout size, and layout margins. Got it!

One feature I would like to see in the future regarding the dotted rectangle is the ability to drag it around in the editor as a way to set the scroll starting position. It seems like an expected functionality for it.

Dragging is easier at times, yea.

Along with coordinates of where the cursor is hovering over. Maybe just me?

You already have those coordinates in the state bar at the bottom of screen.

Oohhh. I never noticed. Might have to adjust my glasses. Might be hard to see.

I see them now. On the bottom right of the program. A bit too blended in color for me to have noticed the first time.

Indeed. I hadn't noticed the event count there either at first.

But since I know it's here, it's pretty useful.