How to make a Window showing complete Layout

Hi everyone...I need some help with my new game,

So Imagine a big layout of 2000x1000px

And the window size to be of 500x1000px

Now the player would see the playing area of course (500x1000) when he plays, but what if I also want the player to see the rest of the layout (in real time) in a little box at top of screen.

If you did not understand what I am trying to say... See the image below.

There are a few ways to do this. Have you tried searching the tutorials for a method you're comfortable with?

construct.net/en/tutorials/basic-mini-map-536

construct.net/en/tutorials/dynamic-mini-map-612

There are a few considerations. Is the map a fixed map? You can just use a separate minimap sprite, and cover sections of it to simulate fog of war. Is the map randomly generated? The drawing canvas can be used to dynamically create a map. Or you can make a simplified representation of your layout with lower resolution pieces. You can maybe even have a duplicate of your entire layout on a separate layer and scale that layer down.

What if i dont want to show a map but real time feed of rest of the layout.

Let me explain with an example,

Look at the image below....

This is a classic tower stack game ... remember those? Now i can see the play area ie. the top of tower and sky. Right? But what if i want to show my player a mini version of the complete tower build so far in a small window at top corner of the screen ?

Now doing that will require capturing an image of the whole layout (not just the window size). How can i do that?

The simplest method I would try first would be to have a copy of all relevant objects on a second (non interactive) layer, scale that layer down, set parallax to 0 and scroll it to the desired position.

See if the result is satisfactory. You can try applying some visual effects to the minimap layer as well.

I liked your idea, but it would cause a significant performance drop especially in a game with 100(s) of physics objects.

Any other solution? .... Like i said before, one approach would be to take a snap of whole layout (not just window size) and then using your idea of putting that image on a layer scaling it etc. is there a way to do that?

Not certain, but the drawing canvas object should be able to do that. It will be similar in concept to a split screen set up. I'd need to experiment a bit though to see if it works.

Alright i will try that.

oosyrag

The Drawing Canvas Plugin can show the canvas snapshot but what about the rest of the screen that is not visible?

you would have to adjust the layout scale to make everything fit on the screen, take a snapshot, and then set scale back to what it was. that is how people have done similar things (like split screens)...