Newbie Questions

It would be helpful if you pinned topic like this, so people with small questions don't have to open new threads

anyway

1) I'm trying to come up with a good way to organize files and events so I don't run into problems later. If you could give me some general hints it would be cool, but my more specific question right now is, Can I include files in construct? I mean can I say make separate file that has all Combat and AI events, and then include it in another master cap file? Or is like one cap file per one game?

2) How does loading new level\layout work? and will some info be lost when new layout is loaded?

to be specific : a) Can I make new levels load seamlessly like in Braid ?

b) Can I teleport player back and forth between two layout? and do so without loosing data like players health?

Thats all for now but more will be comming

thx in advance!

1) I'm trying to come up with a good way to organize files and events so I don't run into problems later. If you could give me some general hints it would be cool, but my more specific question right now is, Can I include files in construct? I mean can I say make separate file that has all Combat and AI events, and then include it in another master cap file? Or is like one cap file per one game?

It is one .cap file per game. If you find yourself using the same basic template over and over again, you can make an actual template. But as of right now, there is no capability to import event sheets and such from other .caps.

2) How does loading new level\layout work? and will some info be lost when new layout is loaded?

to be specific : a) Can I make new levels load seamlessly like in Braid ?

b) Can I teleport player back and forth between two layout? and do so without loosing data like players health?

a) Yes

b) Yes

You can store information like Health and such as a global variable that is accessible from all layouts.

Or make your characters global objects so they persist over layouts.

So, if one cap = one game, is there any way to make some sort of collaboration possible? E.g. several people working on multiple levels simultaneously, or one working on character controls/mechanic, others doing some fx etcetera. Is it possible to merge these efforts later on?

Maybe export levels in some sort of text data containing position/rotation of level sprites and then read that text file and arrange sprites on layer according to imported data?

Sorry, that's not possible right now, unless you design your own level editor. However, it might be possible in Construct 2.

If you use the program DropBox to share caps across computers automatically its pretty easy to do collaborative work. Also You can make level editors/loaders/saver fairly easily.

I see thx,

and how does construct handle the resources then? I mean if I have many levels with many unique graphics will that slow down load times to hell? I could not find option for construct not to export all graphics in one .exe and have them in separate files that load when necessary. does this mean construct will load every single piece of my game in Ram when game is run? noob question here, but I never seen games that store everything in one .exe and am not sure how this works in regards with memory.

[quote:37x0zhyi]Also You can make level editors/loaders/saver fairly easily.

do you mean using construct or externally? my programing skills are realy on the PHP level right now [meaning I know only PHP[web sites] language well]

You shouldn't have multiple people working on cap files unless it's for prototyping only, because you will have to do all the work over again in the master cap file since construct can't copy paste .cap data. If you want to collab, make one person make the art, one make the sounds, one programs in construct etc. WARNING: DON'T ALL WORK ON DIFFERENT CAPS THEN EXPECT TO IMPORT EVERYONES WORK. As people have said, the only way to make one person design levels without working on the cap is to make a custom level editor once all the art and code are done.

edit: You can make the level editors in construct, it's a powerful tool.

Also, with 98.9 and lower versions, all images are loaded at runtime. With newer builds (however they are buggy atm) one can choose to load images into vram per layout, all at once, or manually (< I think..)

Vram? video card memory?

When is stable release of this never version planned approximately?

less then several months ? 3~4

Construct tends to release once or twice a month with new updates. and since it is feature complete for the most part the next few builds will focus almost exclusively on bug fixes. .99 was a major revamp and there are a lot of bugs to be fixed.